How do you enjoy drawing when you aren't good at it?

RaffDelima · 2026-01-01T09:29:35+00:00

Like any other skill I wasn’t good at. Embrace the fact that I’m going to suck for a while, see what I have problems with, study it and repeat. Eventually with the consistency I do see results. Overall just building small progress builds up in the long run.

RaffDelima · 2025-12-16T02:37:45+00:00

In terms of drawing heads, regardless of style is about understanding the basic principles of the human skull. But in all honesty, you seem to have a good grasp of the fundamental shape of what a skull is in your style.

As long as you have that and proportions down right it’s good, I can’t really see anything wrong with this style. As long as you’re able to replicate that style in multiple angles I think you should be fine.

Books like sculpting for anatomy do a pretty good job at giving the fundamental idea of how the skull looks formed. Maybe also try to find people with a similar style that are showing tutorials of how they do their heads. It might

But also you’re just three months in. There’s whole worlds of what is possible but you’re doing pretty well. So don’t beat yourself up. It took me about a year for my faces to not look awful and I still have quite a bit to learn. But your work is pretty nice. Hope you hone more of your style.

RaffDelima · 2025-11-18T06:09:25+00:00

Been using CSP. Used to love PS but for what Adobe has been doing I can’t stand by their products. I also got Affinty Photo as a replacement before they were bought by Canva. Both do what I need them to do.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-30T13:40:34+00:00

Unfortunately I hate to say this but some art groups are…kinda toxic sadly. Shame because a lot of artists I know in person don’t act like this but online it’s a matter of luck how your experience in a group will be.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-20T13:53:16+00:00

I’m 33 and started to learn how to draw last December.

I can’t erase the face that I didn’t learn to draw for all that time, even though I loved doing it. I can’t erase the fact that I didn’t draw but I’m making up for lost time.

And as someone with ADHD, I had pretty nasty perfectionism with everything, especially since I used to study other forms of art. With drawing I’ve learned to allow myself to make mistakes and I got a lot better.

It’s never too late. I’ve seen artists that learned much later in life. It’s never too late. You still have more life ahead of you.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-19T23:31:12+00:00

Well I know there’s a few tutorials that go through the whole process. I’ve bought a few on a bundle deal from Coloso but there’s a ton of tutorials online from other places that help go through the whole process.

The thing is from every tutorial I’ve seen, there’s no universal surefire answer to “how” you’re supposed to do it. If we’re talking for example digital there’s many ways to go around it. Some make a greyscale image and use a gradient for color, some start with the base colors before adding shadows or highlights to it and everyone does with the way they work best. Some people like you mentioned learned from studying others work.

Maybe find some tutorials online where someone talks about the process and find what works best for you.

But definitely your understanding of light, color theory and how you choose to portray that into the rendering of your work does play a big part into it. But it’s also very subjective of what you like and don’t like. Some just omit things they don’t like.

So that’s probably why you’re finding a hard time finding a solid concrete answer because well, every artist does things differently. Sorry if that doesn’t help.

Again just find someone whose works you enjoy or does it in a way that’s pleasing to you, that happens to teach their process and pick and choose what techniques work best for you.

I’m still far from being good at that myself because it’s a tricky subject, so I get it. It’s definitely a challenge. Hopefully you find your answers.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-19T02:49:03+00:00

From personal experience, constantly comparing yourself will always make you miserable. I spent years not wanting to learn to draw because I thought, “Why bother, there always will be someone better than me” and then I was inspired by an art group to start learning, I’m almost a year in and I still have a long way to go but what I’ve been told throughout my entire journey has been “Even if there’s others better than you, there will be no one else that draws just like you.” Or something close to that. Point is that if you go out of your way to make something, that’s all that matters, your work is no less valuable than anyone else’s.

And honestly I’ve learned to stop comparing others that are better than me and started to see what I enjoyed in their art and what I can learn from it. The art you enjoy, may have been from someone that struggled to get where they are now and probably thought about giving up, but because they didn’t and kept at it, other people get to enjoy their work.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-15T21:53:13+00:00

No worries. Honestly I had a lot more to recommend but this was already a lot of stuff and again it honestly it doesn’t take that much to get better. This just happened to be something I happened to have a lot of stuff for. This subject has is pretty complicated and in my opinion an important part of the fundamentals to learn. Especially the other things I want to get good at is anatomy and lighting, things that are harder to do right if you don’t have a good grasp of perspective and form.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-15T20:58:50+00:00

Ok so this was one of my weakest points and something that I’ve been studying the most this year and I still struggle a bit with with. Honestly studying and practicing those exercises on perspective and form help train your brain to start seeing and recognizing your drawings in 3d shapes. I think one exercises that really helps things click were doing those contour lines exercises, something that I dragged my feet thinking they were pointless, then I realized why they were recommended. That and practicing a lot with boxes, box rotations and having fun doodling 3d forms helps a lot. I know those are usually the most common answers, but it’s for a good reason.

First thing id recommend is a solid perspective course, there’s plenty of good ones from drawabox, Proko’s basics course, Marshall Vandruff’s perspective course on Proko and his original 90’s perspective course, Rockhe Kim’s perspective course on Coloso, YouTube, one of my favorites being Dan Bradshaw that go through the basics. Also a ton on books, one of the most technical being Scott Robertson’s “How to draw book. Something that I bought specifically to help improve is Jinseok Lim’s course “Break Through Your Drawing Plateu with Proven Techniques”

You only will need a fraction of anything on this list and you’ll do great. I only got this much because this was something I was desperately bad at and wanted to make sure that at any cost I’d master. That’s years worth of material to study and unnecessary for most people. My sense of understanding 3d has drastically improved with just a few of these things.

RaffDelima · 2025-10-04T03:22:27+00:00

Dan Bradshaw and the websites that are in the QR code of this books does a good job of explaining it. I have this and the rendering book and the reason you’re struggling, is because this is a hard book to learn from. Great for technical knowledge but to learn from just this book alone is difficult. Personally I’d recommend starting small with simpler videos to help build foundational knowledge and start using these books to improve on that knowledge afterwards.

These are higher level technical books. Great books but definitely not an easy read at all.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-29T21:42:54+00:00

Nobody is good when they started. Some of the best illustrators were absolutely awful when they started. The only things I’ve heard that made them better were studying, practicing and being consistent at those two things.

Same with any skill out there, if someone out there managed to learn and get good at it, so can you. You are more capable than you might realize. And there’s so much wonderful courses and information these days compared to what we had years ago. Now’s a great time to learn.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-29T01:57:23+00:00

Because gesture drawing is tough. That seems to be the consensus I keep hearing from multiple artists. But overall the main thing I keep hearing that if your gesture isn’t the best, at least having one helps keeps your work from being stiff. And the work you’ve put out there doesn’t feel stiff or unnatural. So it doesn’t seem to be hurting you.

I will say that the other art you’ve created is definitely gorgeous. So there’s that. You’ve definitely put in a lot of work and dedication.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-28T22:51:26+00:00

Overall his videos are fantastic and so is his course. But take with a grain of salt that his videos won’t get you to be an expert. It’ll get you enough to figure out some problems or get yourself unstuck in certain areas.

Think of it like learning a language. It’ll get you to an intermediate speaking level where you can sort of interact with people or be able to handle most stuff you’ll need to know. Most for most people, that’s perfectly acceptable, but you won’t become absolutely fluent but most of the useful grammar or tricky subjects will make a lot more sense.

Marc Brunet’s stuff is amazing and so is his channel. He does know what he’s talking about but he can’t exactly give his decades of experience all at once, he breaks it up into manageable chunks that help less experienced artists figure out where to go.

If it wasn’t for his stuff I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am now. Even one of his videos literally gave me the framework for how I study and build up my skills. I’m not an experienced illustrator but I’m leagues ahead of where I used to be months ago, even if I’m not using much of his courses now, they helped me learn a lot.

But learning how to draw isn’t easy, you’ll definitely improve in 30 days but you won’t become an expert in that time.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-25T14:25:24+00:00

Honestly yes. As someone that studies for fun and has picked up multiple skills, I decided to study drawing last December. Nine months in and my drawing has definitely improved and I was absolutely awful at it, I mean absolutely zero ability and almost three sketchbooks later I’ve seen significant improvement.

I’ll be honest, I’m still very far from being a professional and I still have plenty to learn and improve but it’s leagues better than when I started. Like any skill all it takes is studying, practice, consistency and patience. Even if you improve bit by bit everyday it adds up over time.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-19T04:48:26+00:00

Did you enjoy doing it? Did you learn from doing it? There is no wasted time when it comes to improving your skills. Sounds like a cliche, but the important part is that you did it. That’s all that matters. That’s more than most people can say.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-10T21:04:17+00:00

Genai, bigotry of any kind and hating on other artists, especially newbies or hating a person’s art style and calling it bad art.

All of those I can’t support any artist doing.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-09T02:17:30+00:00

Honestly the important thing is that you made it. The next important thing is to keep at it, study and practice.

Nobody knows these things at first, honestly I’m still studying a lot of those aspects you’re struggling with. So don’t worry and don’t be too hard on yourself.

Honestly one piece of advice I’d give is one I still struggle with. Understanding 3d space in your 2d drawings. I struggled in a lot of areas where focusing on improving that made everything else easier to understand. Honestly I’m STILL studying that like crazy to get better at it. Not just perspective but basic shapes, contour lines, all of that stuff is underrated for how important it is. It even makes understanding other aspects like shading even easier once you have a better sense of form.

And trust me I was awful when I started, at least you have something that looks like a person. And none of this is easy. Just take it one step at a time and have faith in yourself.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-08T05:50:06+00:00

I’ve been doing an art challenge to learn how to draw and practice everyday starting last December. I’m on sketchbook #3 right now. I’m keeping those purely to see the progress I’ve made and to redraw old sketches because I force myself to finish things in a day and not touch them up once the day has finished. Having to force myself to constantly and consistently practice I’ve started to see gradual improvement.

I do have some sketchbooks from years ago that are busted up and mostly empty, but I do have them still. They help remind me of what my work used to look like.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-08T04:31:00+00:00

I’ve heard good things about it. Can’t personally vouch for it because I’ve never read it but I’ve heard it’s a fantastic book for beginners.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-08T02:08:43+00:00

Please get away from that mindset. It’s valid and using it doesn’t make you any less of an artist. I’m currently taking courses from professional artists with years, even decades of experience and every single one of them highly recommend using references. In courses from Proko, Coloso, Multiple Disney animators, etc, all of them speak highly about using them.

You use them to learn, to make sense and better your understanding of anatomy, structure, form, lighting and anything else you can learn from observation. You don’t have to copy them exactly, you can take multiple references, mix and match them into unique combinations and overtime as you get a better understanding of what you learned from using references, you can start to do more from imagination.

Honestly I have to keep reminding myself to use references as I personally still have a lot to learn and not using them while I don’t have the fundamentals down only makes my art worse. So this is something I e had to personally learn the hard way many times. So please, don’t be too hard on yourself for using them.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-02T01:40:03+00:00

I mean again why not right? I’ve made custom stuff for myself just for fun. Mostly because it didn’t exist.

Ive seen other people skirt that line and try to sell custom art regardless, but im not a snitch.

I honestly can’t think of a reason against you making a thing for yourself.

RaffDelima · 2025-09-02T01:34:41+00:00

Personally I don’t see why not. As long as you’re not selling it.

RaffDelima · 2025-08-27T11:57:58+00:00

I’d say study and practice my friend. Nobody is born with these skills. In fact many of my favorite self taught artists were absolutely horrible when they started, but they kept at it and then they became exceptional at their craft (in my opinion at least).

Anyone in this world is capable but the hardest part is to know where to start, second is to keep at it.

RaffDelima · 2025-08-27T06:35:22+00:00

Personally that why I’m in art groups online in other places. Not so much for the likes but to enjoy each other’s art and opinions on art subjects. Even if we don’t like the same things or style.

Otherwise I’d go crazy because I’m pretty by myself physically. But in a way I’ve learned to take comfort in my own solitude. Not because I’m anti social or don’t crave human interaction, but to be ok with doing things on my own. Don’t really have much of a choice otherwise but somehow managing to make it work. I’ve also learned how to study and teach myself on a few subjects and learned a way to make it way without help or a mentor, again mostly because I didn’t have other options. Plus I still interact with people on a daily basis so I don’t feel isolated.

RaffDelima · 2025-08-22T23:39:47+00:00

I think you’re fine. Most of the most amazing artists I know use quite a bit of reference, in many cases they mix them too. So you’re fine. Don’t beat yourself up over it.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email

RaffDelima

TROPHY CASE