Frustration Issues
polycounter lvl 6
Hey everybody, first post on here, bear with me! TL:DR at the bottom.
I am a student currently doing a Generalist-course, geared towards work in the Animation/Video Game industry, set on becoming a Designer/Concept Artist though I dabble in a bit of everything and Im open-minded to change.
I've been set on my goal of becoming an artist since I was 18 and I am now 22, safe to say I am nowhere near to work professionally but I hope I can get there through hard work.
Link to my blog: http://redlikedusk.tumblr.com/page/1
Now onto my troubles:
A problem that has persisted for such a long time is early-work frustration, I keep deleting, re-doing all early work due to getting frustrated early on.
Whether it be me being overly perfectionist, something not adding up or what have you. This has severly affected my ability to churn out work, there are more PSD files of ideas not even getting past the sketching-stage on my harddrive than actual WIPs and image-files and this also stops me from getting a feel for what process feels best. If I get past the early-stages, Im having a blast and the work goes likea breeze. Working past my frustration only produces what I consider sub-par of what I normally produce. I want to overcome this but I dont know how. I understand not every work (most work) is gonna be perfect and Im gonna be happy, but I'd do good to rid me of this unnecessary frustration.
Prior to me beginning my course, I was mentored by a freelance concept artist whom I contacted myself, my skills have skyrocketed during my training with him, we still keep in touch and he gives me advice when I reach out to him, though it is less frequent due to us both having a lot to do. He taught me to have a solid groundwork for all my paintings and drawings before adding any detail, took a while for me to get it but its now what Im comfortable with, but me learning his techniques hasn't eliminated the problem.
My figure drawing teacher on the other hand has been on my case for the past few months, saying my drawings (and I for the matter) are way too rigid and set me back with the framework, saying while good, it is only good to understand it, not draw it. So he's been showing me how to draw by making anatomical connotations instead which has undoubtedly brought more life to my drawings and made me improve, but the frustration problem is still there.
Sorry if that became a bit ranty, but I figured explaining this in-depth may help. Thank you in advance!
TL:DR :Always get frustrated early on into my work, deleting and re-doing it billions of times. If by sheer luck I get past the early stages of my work, it goes just fine without any issue. Have tried working rigidly with solid framework and by loosening up, frustration persist. Is there a way? Thank you.
I am a student currently doing a Generalist-course, geared towards work in the Animation/Video Game industry, set on becoming a Designer/Concept Artist though I dabble in a bit of everything and Im open-minded to change.
I've been set on my goal of becoming an artist since I was 18 and I am now 22, safe to say I am nowhere near to work professionally but I hope I can get there through hard work.
Link to my blog: http://redlikedusk.tumblr.com/page/1
Now onto my troubles:
A problem that has persisted for such a long time is early-work frustration, I keep deleting, re-doing all early work due to getting frustrated early on.
Whether it be me being overly perfectionist, something not adding up or what have you. This has severly affected my ability to churn out work, there are more PSD files of ideas not even getting past the sketching-stage on my harddrive than actual WIPs and image-files and this also stops me from getting a feel for what process feels best. If I get past the early-stages, Im having a blast and the work goes likea breeze. Working past my frustration only produces what I consider sub-par of what I normally produce. I want to overcome this but I dont know how. I understand not every work (most work) is gonna be perfect and Im gonna be happy, but I'd do good to rid me of this unnecessary frustration.
Prior to me beginning my course, I was mentored by a freelance concept artist whom I contacted myself, my skills have skyrocketed during my training with him, we still keep in touch and he gives me advice when I reach out to him, though it is less frequent due to us both having a lot to do. He taught me to have a solid groundwork for all my paintings and drawings before adding any detail, took a while for me to get it but its now what Im comfortable with, but me learning his techniques hasn't eliminated the problem.
My figure drawing teacher on the other hand has been on my case for the past few months, saying my drawings (and I for the matter) are way too rigid and set me back with the framework, saying while good, it is only good to understand it, not draw it. So he's been showing me how to draw by making anatomical connotations instead which has undoubtedly brought more life to my drawings and made me improve, but the frustration problem is still there.
Sorry if that became a bit ranty, but I figured explaining this in-depth may help. Thank you in advance!
TL:DR :Always get frustrated early on into my work, deleting and re-doing it billions of times. If by sheer luck I get past the early stages of my work, it goes just fine without any issue. Have tried working rigidly with solid framework and by loosening up, frustration persist. Is there a way? Thank you.
Replies
If it's any consolation I think it's very common to feel frustrated when you start a drawing or sculpt or model.
Not to high-jack or self-promote but I found a old zbrush file with it's history and looked through it and the start of the sculpt is really, really bad and you can clearly see I'm struggling and frustrated by not finding the right shapes. So I can relate to your feeling of frustration for sure.
(I'm just going to leave a link to the gif here if you want to cringe haha : https://i.imgur.com/VGFE8iG.gif)
I think it ultimately comes down to having a more practised Eye than Skill, since you're probably constantly looking at great art and learn to identify "good" and "bad" art. But you're ability isn't that developed and this leads to alot of frustration. I remember when I bought my Intous after looking at great tutorials and stuff, but I didn't use it for almots two months because I didn't have the ability to draw or sculpt with it and I just felt really bad and as if I had made a huge mistake.
So push through it! Remember how much fun it is after you've pushed through and it's going to be easier each time. The most important part is to just do it and work hard. Maybe set a challenge for yourself to stop using Ctrl-Z for a while, or draw on paper instead to loosen up and get used to having to "paint yourself out"- of situations instead of constantly erasing and undoing.
Sorry if this was a bit ranty aswell! I wish you all the best in improving to the best of your ability!
When it comes to that dip you talk about and frustration, its pretty common. You just have to build the self-discipline to motor on through regardless of how you feel. I can tell you, once you do that a couple of times your confidence level will grow and it becomes less of a problem each time because you have those reference experiences in the back of your mind.
This is a super amazing speech that I listen to every now and then to snap me back to reality. Those awkward pauses of the girl being bashed against the jagged rocks of reality.....love em. Tough love but totally essential.
Never seen that vid before, but that was awesome! Wish more people see this!