I feel like having a deep hatred for what you've created halfway through an art-project is part of the journey

Man he really said "I want to try painting" Then jumped straight into the deep end

You sell yourself short. The painting was pretty impressive for doing it in VR.

*Paints purple line “Why is it blue?” *Colorblindness intensifies

14:50 “Is this what real painter go through?” This is awful.” Yes and yes lol

Honestly, I’m pretty impressed. For 24 hours that’s super impressive IMO

quick tip, a higher framerate severally helps with motion sickness. I've personally seen people die of motion sickness on quests 68 fps but be fine on quest 2's 120.

Alternate title: Our boy learns color theory

These "going outside your comfort zone videos" are honestly quite inspiring for someone as afraid of failure like me. So thank you!

Funnily enough saw the Mona Lisa last week. I think the funniest shit is that it's just an okay pretty small painting. And on the wall across from it is this super impressive painting that takes up the entire wall.

I like videos where it's just a person not knowing what they're doing trying new things.

AustinMcConnell: “Paints and canvas will cost an arm and a leg” Also AustinMcConnel: uses a VR headset that costs around $400

Hey, Austin, professional painter here. This was immensely entertaining for me to watch. I'd love to get the opportunity to try out that program myself someday, and see how much it differs from the real thing. A few thoughts: - First of all... you're definitely too hard on yourself. For all of the limitations you were dealing with (time constraints, motion sickness, colorblindness), the end result is actually quite impressive. On the flip side, I can't say for sure how close your experience comes to the process of using physical paints, but there are a number of factors which are definitely taken out of the equation by using a virtual set-up. There's no drying time; that affects your process, whether you're using oils or acrylics. Since there's no clean-up, that means you're not handling fuming chemicals like turpentine or mineral spirits, or constantly having to meticulously clean off your brushes. And it looked to me like you had the advantage of being able to use a color picker tool directly on your reference images of the Mona Lisa to get the exact colors you wanted, which-- yeah, actual painting doesn't have that. We have to mix our colors manually, relying on our knowledge of how colors work. - For the record, I don't think you're a lightweight, either. I don't have a *lot* of experience with VR headsets, but from my limited time using an Oculus Rift... the motion sickness is definitely a real thing. - "I have a newfound respect for people who practice this artform. It takes a ton of patience and foresight, and a level of chromatic understanding that I do not possess." And this, right here, completely made my day. You have no idea how rarely I hear acknowledgements like this. Far more frequently, professional artists deal with non-artists who think what we do is easy (including people who think it's *so* easy that we shouldn't be charging a living wage for something that's essentially "a fun hobby"). The truth is, painting requires juggling a number of different considerations all at once-- composition, anatomy, proportion, color, perspective, different types of lighting, not to mention the actual emotions and concepts behind our content and our understanding of the work in a broader context of art history. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from trying painting, but it isn't a cake walk-- well-trained painters make it *look* easy, just because they've had tons of practice and time to figure out what they're doing.

"Why is it blue?" I have some bad news

Nice to have a VR endorsement from Austin! ^^ Should have used a Quest 2 for comfort though. It's much lighter, doesn't get as hot, and the facial interface is nicer. Mad man to do such a large canvas.

I'm starting to think that squarespace loves you

I quite like the end piece, honestly. This video pretty much feels like a perfect summary of the art process in general as well.

Dude I was genuinely surprised how well you did given your experience and your…unusual medium. Far better than I could do in real life. Good video

Mate it's nice to see you come back!

It's funny how he had (presumably) very little knowledge of VR and almost no experience in painting so he decided to make the Mona Lisa

Omg as an artist, seeing this was so interesting. Art is such a time consuming and frustrating process but I have a few tips in my experience in case you ever feel like doing this again: - take FREQUENT breaks! People tend to get tunnel vision and get frustrated when they work on one thing for too long. Taking a break to do something else and looking at the piece with new eyes can be refreshing! - study color theory (kinda obvious but) listen it’s way easier to help pick colors to shade and to highlight with if you know what something like complimentary colors are. The reason the original Mona Lisa’s skin was more orangey was because the piece as a whole was more warm- thus the skin would be too. - do the background first that way you don’t have to paint over the main subject of the piece when adding details (some people do the background last for different effects though) - use guide lines!! It helps with proportions and to keep the drawing looking right - it’s okay to start over! Experiment with different compositions, ideas, colors and staging! Many artists use “thumbnails” (small messy sketches) to help map out the piece. -practice the stuff you are bad (for me, it’s clothes and objects) That’s all I have off the top of my head but good luck to anyone else doing art :)

“I’m scared that if I keep going I’ll make more mistakes that I have to paint over” I felt that in my soul

I love how Austin starts these videos being optimistic but by the end of it he looked like he's done with everything

I feel as if this video is an unintentional ad for "Painting VR." This looks like a whole lot of fun (despite the motion sickness one might feel from extended vr) Makes me wanna buy it.

Austin, as an artist who struggles learning painting, I hope you feel comforted by this: Every single artist will always encounter a moment where everything they're doing looks awful and they hate it. I've never seen it not happen. Messing up and second-guessing and sometimes getting a little dispirited is a natural part of the art process. And for what it's worth, you did better as someone who is colorblind, inexperienced, and in VR than most people just starting out! And your bravery to give it a try instead of saying "I can't even draw a stick figure" is something I wish more people would do.

I clicked this after looking at the thumbnail and thought, "cool, a nice 3-day project". I know doing it in 24 contiguous hours is better for the click rate, but any time I see this sort of thing, I always think what a better result you could get, and how much better you'd feel if you did this sort of thing over 3 days working 8-hour blocks. I mean, you're going to be useless for two days after working 24-hours straight, so may as well spend that time getting a better result and respecting your body (and yes, I watched the video, and know he has a nap and coffee breaks and such). To be clear, I'm a big Austin fan, and I'm not picking on him specifically, more querying the rushed approach. There's a reason companies with longer work hours have terrible productivity, and I wonder whether videos of this sort (again, not picking on Austin - you're awesome mate, stay golden) just reinforce the unhealthy work mindset. Anybody else feel this way?

Better title: Austin does a good job experiencing the life of an artist and translating that into a video.

Can’t wait for Austin to become God and create the real world in Minecraft in 24 hours

That looks great! Maybe needed some extra detail on the neck, but for your first time AND being color blind? That's incredible. I'm buying this game now. I want to try it myself.

"whatever I did last time, we're not gonna do that this time" Learning 100

17:43 looks like monalisa with nausea 🤢 due to motion sickness after using the vr headset. Congrats Austin, you painted (expressed) yourself very well through your masterpiece. And that's the real purpose of art.

“Painting costs and arm and a leg” * Proceeds to solve the problem using a VR HEADSET * ...

Simulation sickness kills me after about twenty minutes, so frankly, I was impressed with how long you managed to stay in VR without dying.

Love seeing Mona Lisa with VR, it's very nice and a pleasure to see you trying out more stuff

This was honestly really funny. It might be one of my favorite videos of yours

him: does a amazing drawing in 24 hours me: circle that took 3 weeks

I can't imagine trying to paint fine detail without access to linseed oil, paint thinner, etc.

I thought it actually looked fantastic and loved seeing it come together! Great vid as always!

This is Absolutely what artists go through every time they make art lol

"Mom can I have mona lisa?" "No son we have mona lisa at home" *Mona lisa at home:*

I have a genuine respect for your ability to just "Hey lets try this out, maybe it turns out I will like it". Even if in execution it is messy, the ability to look at something unfamiliar and not be hesitant just because of unfamiliarity is not easy to do. Regardless of the outcome of the painting, good or bad, you definitely did something impressive with it

I'm honest: just the idea of combining Van Gogh's Starry Night with Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is cool ::,w,:: Haven't seen the end result by now. Edit: I enjoyed your attempt! I hope we see you paint in physical space for another challenge in the future!

12:12 I don’t know why, but everything about this scene is perfect, the way you lean on the wall, the exasperated sigh, everything is just... perfect

You know, for someone who gets motion sick easily, you apparently made it a few hours before feeling it. Good for you!

I love it when Austin uploads, It's like you get a treat every 2 months.

you know, sometimes you have to find the right medium to create an image. I never was good painting with brushes, but somewhow I like drawing with coloured pencils because it works better for me. So maybe try painting a painting in real life after some time? Your end result was pretty nice tbh

Dude went through every stage of art creation in twenty four hours.

Thanks for caring for us and making this amazing content that aways feel original and with high quality! I hope your heart is doing better, still worried…

I was having a pretty bad day, but seeing this pop up in my notifs on my other account and watching it...It cheered me up and made me laugh out loud. I even went "Whoa, that's pretty good! I like it!" when you showed off the shaded version. I'm not even finished, but I had to say that this turned my day around.

Honestly I’d love to see your try this with guidance from a professional painter, that could like work along side you, and give you tips, that would make a cool collab! Also: when you asked about if you where overthinking it, or underestimating it- I can say with confidence that you are overthinking it. It’s something that a lot of artists do. Art is about simplifying, whether that be cartoony styles, or realism- all art has some level of simplification involved. Simple cartoon styles are obvious, but if you watch painters- oil painters in particular, the first step is usually to block in colours, tones, and simplify shapes- sand then gradually refine it from there, drawing characters usually starts with construction lines of some sort to hell your brain process what your looking at, and translate it into a drawing/ painting. You can really learn a lot from watching speed paints!

The size of that canvas made it a huge challenge in itself - kudos.

7:50 relatable artist moment, leave canvas in disgust at how awful it is, come back and "wait wtf this looks good". all the "I don't know what I'm doing" moments were also highly relatable. I literally do art professionally and most of the time I'm just fuckin winging it too lmao great video, I'm genuinely impressed by how good you did 13:50 yes, constantly hahah

You had a masterpiece 3 hrs in.. it just went south from then on

That looked amazing.

The VR headset was a brilliant solution to the forehead issue, absolutely brilliant. I love it

I love how you just find something you wanna do and then just do it. This channel is absolutely based

First time painting, and then we get 3:20. WTF xD That end result is insanely good. People like us can't churn out something even half that quality, and you... this is your first painting, in VR, and you're bloody colorblind! Just...

I'm genuinely impressed with the face here. Sure he's just outlined a contour instead of proper blocking, but the measurements are shockingly accurate.

Great video Austin! Very funny and I've been wondering what's going on in the VR art space for a while so thanks for showing us around! Keep up the awesome content!!

I absolutely love how Austin uses the 2 artworks in existence: Mona Lisa and Starry Night

The painting looked great! And I’ve always thought artists don’t make pretty pieces, they just are good at making you not notice the mistakes. I can definitely say you fit my definition of an artist XD

love these videos of you doing crazy creative projects. final result looked pretty good imo

That was far better than I was expecting for a first attempt.

Totally worth the wait for this video! Freaking loved it bro!

Your channel has the best variety. Always appreciate your uploads!

Honestly with the fact that you're not super familiar with art, or the equipment you have- this is SUPER impressive and it looks really good!!

Excellent! An Austin McConnell video! Always interesting and fun

Art is so interesting and so subjective. I’m an artist myself, and at so many points in this video I really liked your piece while you were shutting it down. I think we are our own harshest critics, and the best and healthiest way to grow is by letting ourselves try, over and over again. Letting ourselves make art just to create, and see what happens. Each piece helps us learn, and if we allow ourselves kindness in growth to we can become better than we’d ever imagined. Also, like- you don’t get mad at a baby for learning how to walk right? This painting is your first steps. Of course it’s not going to be perfect- you’ve only just begun! with every piece you try, you’ll be improving bit by bit. (if you want to try again some time, that is!) Be kind to yourself, and let yourself shine.

Always a pleasure to see your work, Austin.

Love this video. And you did great!

What i love about this channel is that every video is unique and different

'I wanna try painting' *literally paints a masterpiece*

this is a great video, love the topics you do

Glad you’re having fun!!

This is definitely my most favourite video you've made ♥️♥️♥️

this reminded me of all of the times people told me that digital art is easy because ??? idk i think people are under the impression that the software suddenly gives you art fundamentals knowledge?

"how did i do that" me, every time i draw anything, without fail:

Loved it! Well done mate

Yo, quality of your content is top notch. Thanks, subscribed!

Vr you always try new things for your videos and I love that

That's really good, Austin! When you said you were going to switch things up, I was so happy and excited to see where your creativity would lead.

Wow that’s incredible, way way better than I was expecting

love this video, it really captures the creative process

My new favorite video from you. I think it is extremely entertaining. I am nowhere neer as artistic.

"This would be so much easier if I wasn't colorblind!"

Austin that actually looks awesome!

You are an excellent narrator! I definitely like your presentation and personality, so I will subscribe. Nice work!

"Professional painter" here, and yes, I am SCREAMING 😂😭😭😭

doctor: take it easy on your heart Austin: spends 22 hours in vr without sleeping, headache and stomach churning

Tbh this is just the experience that all artists go through every time u make art.

Wow was not expecting that reveal at the end. Incredible. You also managed to make the video incredibly entertaining

I like that nice touch at the end.

Lol love it. Just letting you know you did a great job with the little knowledge and practice you had. Any for of art takes lots of time and practice and it was interesting to see your thoughts progress as your artwork changed. Great job, love the video.

That was amazing dude

amazing video austin ^^ as always

Your homage to The Starry Night background is impressively close to Van Gogh’s palette. Discovering your channel today is serendipitous. Highly interesting videos, especially the Useless Information series. This is easily among my favorite channels now. You rock!

Genuinely adore how much this encapsulates the artists journey. In a way getting better at an artist is about fucking up in every conceivable way going "ok that doesn't work let me try this" and piecing together each and every skill. I am learning anatomy now whole hog and the thing that made me really break through was just rendering something far more complex than I had any right to draw and experiencing the journey of taking it apart. Now I'm using the philosophy to understand the entirety of anatomy. It's like once I made that first step into drawing something complex, a bunch of the issues I used to run into were ironed out. So I guess this is my recommendation for anyone with artists block. I don't care if you feel like you will never be able to draw something. Sit down and truly look at whatever it is as a reference. You will notice things, especially when you try to recreate it that you never noticed before. Honestly for me due to looking at a lot of photography of bones I feel as though I can see the depth and contours now. I also noticed that I am immediately able to create a skeletal reconstruction of people and animals, like now that I know what I'm looking at my brain just starts immediately tracing out where all the bones connect.

You sound like every artist I know (myself included) so you're legit to me. We always have the process of "this sucks. I suck. What am I doing? This doesn't look like anything. Idk what I'm doing?" And then going to: "This looks way better than a few minutes ago. What the fuck. What did I do!?" And then to "What happened. It looked better an hour ago. What?"

Great video and painting, Austin! You went through the suffering and now may call yourself an artist! Seriously, though, that is mighty fine for a first time panting!

How do color work?!?? Is the most relatable sentence I’ve ever heard as an art student😂 It looks pretty dang good Austin, you really do a lot for your viewers and the effort does not go unnoticed 👍