4:00 "perfection is the enemy of growth" thank you for putting it into words.

I love your tips for cafe sketching because I think when you start framing an illustration like that, you’re working on other skills too- storytelling, layout, maybe lighting it acting.

What really annoys me about myself is, if i try studying something new (lets say perspective) and i dont succeed within a few drawings with something i like, itll lowkey ruin my whole day. I still do it, but its really rough on me. Been like this for years now.

Just when i started to notice that all my notebooks look like the wall of flesh with angry faces in every corner, I gotta mix it up and learn some anatomy, or interiors, etc.

I like to trace my favorite pictures then draw it side by side then redraw it without the image whenever I’m in a rut. Works for me

This is so true. I knew someone who would only paint the same exact character in every single painting they made, their self insert. Often they complained and vented about how they don’t like how their art looked, how they felt stuck. I mean I tried to tell them to step outside their comfort zone, stop painting the same exact subject for every painting, and do something new and different, but they said they didn’t want to. To this day they are still stagnant in their artwork and mindset.

Thank you for this! As someone who has finally made it to my dream art college, I need to start diversifying my art and diversifying HARD. You experience and wisdom really shows through!! :D 💕💕💕

I don't know how this was posted 8 hrs ago and already in my watch later, but this is exactly what I've been needing for months. I find myself needing the comfort of successes (or easy wins) to combat some pretty serious Big Bad feelings, but the lack of challenge feels like a shackle. Thank you for your inspiration, advice, and weirdly perfect timing.

I really want to follow this advice but I’ve been having a difficult time finding motivation. I’ve been drawing for so long and still don’t feel good enough. I also barely have any time, so when I do find time to draw, I only want to draw things I enjoy. I wish so could go to an art school and be taught, but it feels like you have to be skilled in the first place to even hope of getting in.

dude the "drawing a story" instead of drawing a hand or face etc is life changing wtf

The marker tip is a great one! I work in a coffee shop and I often draw on sticky notes when it's slow. I only have access to markers and I inadvertently have increased my drawing confidence a ton since I can't erase. I also found that I have a tendency to "over detail" and make something look busy when I feel like I made a mistake. This is also a sign that I need to start drawing people and move away from reference drawing. I only really draw realistic animals I find online lol

Perfection is the enemy of growth, well put

Great advice! The workout analogy is spot on- I hadn't thought about it that way. I feel like that's what makes actually boarding a scene, SO helpful with improvement. You're forced to draw things you might avoid otherwise.

I love your list of comfortable drawing benefits, because I never think of it as beneficial. Maybe I should mix that perspective into my reps

I always stand by the pen over pencil tactic. Truthfully I never used it as a "tactic" per se, it's just that it was easier to get away with doodling in class or studies if I used a pen. It's comforting for me, even if I can get the details right with a pencil, there's smth about using a pen and basically doing "fk all" with it that makes the process fun. And you really learn to not care about the mistakes. Over time, I managed to control my line width even while using thicker pens. I'm a pretty big victim of the "draw same thing/character over and over again" though. I don't run from drawing hands and legs or even trying anything new, it's just that when i do, they come out bad most of the time on traditional art, or I always end up getting sucked away into drawing a new piece when I'm drawing digitally. Motivation isn't an issue for me, but time is. So I just draw whatever it is that I enjoy when I can, and rarely put in the time for fundamentals. There's no doubt that's what holding me back. Cafe sketching sounds fun, but where I live, casually going to a cafe (especially alone) is really not a thing, and ordering anything from there is pretty expensive, regardless of which cafe I visit. I can try emulating the experience though, pretty sure videos and images of cafes are all over the internet.

this pops up on my recomendation and thanks for the tips, sometimes it is just hard to draw something you're not comfortable off, but yeah you have to try other things aswell.

Omg I feel like I've been stuck just the way you described and even though I know thw answer to the problem I just don't do it 🗿 this video was a wakeup call. "Perfection is the enemy of growth" I'll write that down on my sketchbook for sure!!

Some great tips here, great to see some Messaging about just drawing and trying to get the word perfection out of artist mindset as well.

going to use this advice next time i hit a drawing rut!

getting out of the comfort zone is somethin i actually love to do, seeing what i can improve on. "the legs im drawing looks odd" forced/made sure i drew full bodys as much as i could. "damn i cant draw pony's like in mlp" focused on drawing a character i liked from the show a great thing i like tellin myself when im struggling and seeing cool artists is "one day i'll be able to draw something like that"

Bro you've changed my perspective on drawing and am getting more confident with my work

Hey Daniel! Great advice, as is the video itself! You approached it kinda like a storyboard too :D

I recognize some of my own mistakes. Going to take your advice! 👏 🐝

Please make a vid about actually picking up the pen and draw, i always get this feeling of there's nothing i can draw even though im holding a pen sitting down and looking at the sketch book. Also really good video, its a really big eye opener for me. Hoping to see morr

Thank you, this is an amazing video with lots of tips I'll be sure to implement next time I'm out sketching. I know that I avoid the tough parts of drawing, just need to face it so I can see actual, tangible improvements.

Trueee. Practising what you're afraid to is great advice.

i love your art and advice.

What should you if you’re worried someone will see you sketching & call you a creeper for staring at them? I kind of stopped cafe sketching because I’m always afraid of that situation happening

I liked a lot! My friend and I are doing one challenge of drawing 50 different heads that we found on Pinterest. And we chose to draw with pen to feel the power of challenge and embrace the chaos of "I can do this without erasing and even we make a mistake, ok" :P

Thankyou so much for making videos like these keep on going this is helping me as an animation student

This man is a legend👑

Here's a funny story. When I first entered high school months ago, I took a drawing class. It was amazing because while we didn't learn too much (it is an intro class designed to familiarize yourself with the mediums) I still improved way more than I did the previous year simply because it was a class focused on realism and it forced me to try new things. I have improved so much

I agree with you, it can be very gard but if you keep going at it to can help a lot

People can be comfortable and draw at the same time? What?

This channels a hidden gem

Awesome tips, thank you! 💖

This was so helpful! Thanks so much.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS i really needed to hear it

This is very helpful, thank you, I enjoyed the video❤

Great advice, Daniel!

This video was really helpful, thank you!

Fantastic advice!

Thanks, honestly I got too complicit in some of the things I draw. I’ll use your advice ❤️

So good Daniel

Love the tips !

I need to draw with pen. There are designs I do with pen, like zentangle, but those rely on mistakes being okay, and my own perfectionism carrying me. (That same perfectionism being what kills drawing)

Great advice!

Fabulous! Thank you!

Haven't really hit a rut ruts are boring practicing doing poses/anatomy getting the shapes and perspective right although seeing this video reminds me I need to practice more hands, feet, perspective, and composition been practicing arms and legs recently used to be awful at it few weeks ago

Great tips!!! Snug approves 👏

Thanks I needed this

Lol, in my case its the opposite, i cant get comfortable drawing haha. Im trying to work out my consistency and style, anatomy, diversity in character design and 3dimentional aspects of it/perspective, especially that im in the animation field. Its really interesting seeing people stuck in their comfort zones, because it shows! Wish i had one tho even for a moment lol, it can get pretty frustrating

bro thank you so much man

Do you think you'll ever consider general art tutorials like learning the basics of anatomy, angles and such? I've always wanted a more simplified look to my art over something more realistic and looking at much it the character art in this video, while I do see something very similar to what I want to achieve visually, it also makes me realise how much more complex it is than it seems on the surface. Very good video btw :]

Good stuff! Got some stuff to practice lol

What if my comfort is working on the things that scare me? I bounce between surface level exploration in subjects I find challenging, and can never seem to stick around long enough in each one to make a difference. That initial feeling of facing my fear satisfies the need to break away from whatever routines I developed in the short-term. Short-terms breakthroughs & long-term stagnation.

Great advice :D

The horse part jumpscared me I peed my pants (Joke)

A few years ago, I decided I would no longer draw the same ponies over and over again (MLP), and start drawing anthro animals as a stepping stone for myself towards drawing human beings, as the act of drawing a human face brings me so much frustration. Now, I'm feeling pretty confident with the human body (shoulders down), and this year I'm trying to dedicate a portion of my drawing time to drawing human faces, even if it pains me to see what's wrong and not know how to fix it. Though, that's where references comes in handy. Especially referencing how to break down the face in the way that I'd like, because realism brings much more frustration than progress. (For me, in this instance at least.) I've been specifically trying to do something with each drawing this year that I've not done before, be it drawing plants, a landscape, or a dynamic pose and new lighting, I think this year is gonna have a lot of growth for me. The first 3 drawings alone have shown tremendous progress and I can't wait for more. Good luck drawing, everyone! Remember! References are your friend, and tutorial breakdowns can sometimes be useful to understanding things like how to make metal look shiny, or gems look... gem-y.

I saw a shorts or a video about being satisfied with what you have will limit you from other paths or potentias...? Idk how to English so forgive me. And I also saw about videos about how having the perfectionate mindset is bad. Thanks for making this video!!! I hope more people see this. This is the first time I've said that more people should see a video.

This goes for both the subject matter and your technique

Great Tips!

So true!

Early on I pushed myself to never purposefully hide hands, which helped me out a bit now. Feet still suck to draw.

This video was very helpful! I’m always trying to draw new things out of my comfort zone, but every time I do I get frustrated and impatient sketching and erasing and sketching and erasing and sketching and erasing and end up making no meaningful progress. I think I’ll try to sketch with a pen next time and see if that helps!

Amazing

i have all these bad habits and as he listed what i should do i was actively screaming "i dont want to"

Good video

Thank you so much for your hard work, I have a question, when I do Cafe sketching does it matter if it's on a sketchbook or digital/application?

I wish I was good enough at drawing to have a rut😭

"...and then, all of a sudden stopping when they reach the hands and legs..."

“Oh cafe sketching! I can do that.” **cut to my third world country where i probably shouldnt bring out electronics in public for too long** **cut to me being a kid who cant really go anywhere without my parents and they probably wont let me start doodling at restaurants**

ily

Fucking called me out in less than a minute 💀

How did you know... HOW Although I've been making a template for heads generalistically to be able to draw over for each character for reference. Maybe this isn't the same thing. I've been trying to draw heads that look up while facing forward and I can't figure out how it'd look because it's a reaaaally weird angle... I hate that angle despite it being important for certain scenes...

If you’re still taking video suggestions, would you please make a video of people making original characters for themselves and not for social media? For example, some people on Twitter will only follow the artist for a specific character, but not the other characters the artist makes along side them. Those people then tell the artist non stop to keep making that one character over and over, instead of letting the artist draw what they want to draw.

Always improve...always be pushing that bar up. I agree that it's good to take that thing that gives you problems, and work on learning to draw it. Think about where your art will be in five years. I'm currently in that hole where I need to draw something different, and I know it.

I really don't like the pen thing, I've tried it multiple times and it ALWAYS just leads to me giving up.

ok but why would i draw horses if i get money from drawing people

In short: Draw more intentional

I just don’t draw people… at all… huh- I do want to… HMmMmmMmmmmmm I’ll try, being scared of it is sad :,) My mind: I MUST GO FIND A PEN NOW…

Great tips but you wanna specify a little more, your improvement in other areas shouldn't necessarily be in understanding completely different subjects like going from character drawing to tackling architecture or background art, but rather exploring different parts of the fundamentals better. Like instead of drawing the same couple of angles with small modifications draw from more extreme or exaggerated angles. Try out different rendering styles, experiment with anatomy more, etc.

This came at such a perfect time for me. Been struggling to convince myself to draw for a while now. Thanks, Dan 🫶

Time to sketch furries and backgrounds

I hate drawing people cuz they move

1:30 “what if you get an opportunity for a show about cars?” well i would ignore it because there’s nothing interesting to me about drawing cars. or men. or horses. everyone’s so focused on making yourself “employable” as an artist. what happened to making art about emotions or just what you love? why is it every art rut has to be solved by learning to draw shit you don’t care about? why is the focus of a video, about struggling to express and draw something new, employability?

Im scared of women, thats why i draw them.

Bill Watterson consistently illustrated the same character for a decade, eventually stepping away, yet he's now a millionaire. What's your rationale for not achieving the same? And spare me the 'I'm not Bill Watterson' spiel, as numerous other creators have amassed wealth by staying within their comfort zones. So, what's your justification now?

Whatever happened to drawing for fun? You make a lot of assumptions about the viewer- that they want to "improve" in your sense of the way, that they want to be employable, and that they ought to value being employable over just drawing because it makes them happy...

don't tell me what to do.

Ok sooooo.... what does your week look like?.... what type of job do you have? Yeah... you just don't learn much sitting down once a week smh. Or I'm slow in the head. Sock of this type of content. Even if it's true. Only ppl with lots of time seem to have a chance.

I always stand by the pen over pencil tactic. Truthfully I never used it as a "tactic" per se, it's just that it was easier to get away with doodling in class or studies if I used a pen. It's comforting for me, even if I can get the details right with a pencil, there's smth about using a pen and basically doing "fk all" with it that makes the process fun. And you really learn to not care about the mistakes. Over time, I managed to control my line width even while using thicker pens. I'm a pretty big victim of the "draw same thing/character over and over again" though. I don't run from drawing hands and legs or even trying anything new, it's just that when i do, they come out bad most of the time on traditional art, or I always end up getting sucked away into drawing a new piece when I'm drawing digitally. Motivation isn't an issue for me, but time is. So I just draw whatever it is that I enjoy when I can, and rarely put in the time for fundamentals. There's no doubt that's what holding me back. Cafe sketching sounds fun, but where I live, casually going to a cafe (especially alone) is really not a thing, and ordering anything from there is pretty expensive, regardless of which cafe I visit. I can try emulating the experience though, pretty sure videos and images of cafes are all over the internet.

Great advice!