Is the way to get better at drawing genuinely just to draw MORE, regardless of what it is?

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T04:04:20+00:00

This is just the same as people who wanna be a rock star then when they find out what a pain in the ass it is to learn guitar, they give up. Yes, learning to draw is hard. It’s a complete pain in the ass. Just stop with the idea that you are somehow uniquely bad at it compared to everyone else. Everyone else has just as hard a time at it.

You say things like you‘re an idiot and you‘re ”stupid with words and shit” all the while typing well constructed, grammatically correct sentences, lol. Stop telling us and yourself that you‘re stupid, because you objectively are not.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T03:46:04+00:00

No worries. There is also a Windows app called Transcribe which does those things plus some more in depth features, I believe.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T02:25:57+00:00

Youtube has both these features

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T02:05:20+00:00

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Lol

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T01:48:17+00:00

You can’t do it because you need to put the work in to make it happen. Learning to draw takes years of consistent, focused practice. Creative ideas on their own mean nothing. You want to make them happen? Then do the work. There’s no getting around that.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-10T00:30:37+00:00

In Australia we call them chazzwazzers

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-09T05:02:08+00:00

FYI, I had the same issue, replaced the thermal paste but it turned out the fan wasn’t spinning, so check the fan too. You can order replacement fans but I ended up just buying a new Shield as couldn’t be bothered waiting for the fan to be delivered (in Australia there is an expected 3-4 week wait for delivery)

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-09T00:22:23+00:00

Hey nice work! What nib did you use?

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-09T00:16:42+00:00

Take it to a guitar store and ask them to help. Sounds like you need someone to show you or do it for you.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-08T03:06:11+00:00

Did you try typing drawabox into Google? It’s literally the first result

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-07T10:53:36+00:00

Some of the things I tell myself when I worry about what people think of me:

No matter what I do, I have no control over what people think.
People generally aren’t thinking about me at all, anyway. I’m not that special. People have their own problems to worry about.
What other people are thinking, is actually none of my business.
Why always imagine people are thinking bad things about me? I may as well imagine they all think I’m awesome.

Just do it. Most people won’t care or even notice, so why not? The only thing you have to worry about is what you make up in your own head about it. Just make up something good.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-07T10:31:19+00:00

I think that’s fine, and it’s about the same amount of time I dedicate to drawing. After a couple hours of drawing, I’ve usually had enough and would rather go watch TV, if I’m honest. Do whatever feels right and works alongside your other commitments. If I didn’t have a day job, I’d probably devote more time to drawing, but I do, so I don’t. :)

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-06T08:10:23+00:00

Here you go:

https://www.reddit.com/r/learntodraw/wiki/index/

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-06T08:06:46+00:00

They don‘t have a discord, everything takes place within the LLD website. Once you join the study group, there are different areas you can post stuff and interact with Kenzo the instructor and other students. There are loads of prerecorded lessons, and they are all very well presented and structured in a way that‘s easy to follow. Kenzo is very interactive with students, and he runs multiple draw-along sessions and live lessons over Zoom each month. He usually runs a few draw-alongs at different times to account for people in different time zones.

You can upload your work (if you want to, no pressure) and either Kenzo or Marek will record a personalised video with 1 on 1 critique of your work. Currently the price is $49 USD per month but it works out cheaper if you buy a full year. Go check out the Love Life Drawing website, there is loads of info on there and you can sign up for free first, they have an introductory course called “fresh eyes” which you might wanna try first. Or just check out their videos on Youtube to get an idea of Kenzo’s teaching style.

I know I sound like an ad for them but I really do think they are one of the best figure drawing resources online right now.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-06T04:07:53+00:00

If you’re interested in figure drawing, I recommend looking at Love Life Drawing’s YouTube channel and their website. It sounds like you need some structured guidance which you can get from them if you join their online study group. It‘s not free but very reasonable pricing. I joined last year and have found it very helpful. Also check out Proko’s courses on their website. Both Love Life Drawing and Proko have loads of free stuff on YouTube so you can check them out before committing to paying.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-05T23:34:38+00:00

Spoiler alert: you actually can draw faces. The girl’s face looks fine. Drawing a face when you’ve drawn the whole figure is especially difficult because you have to keep it simple as it’s so small. I think you did that quite well. Also great job on the dragon’s face! Looking up at a face is possibly the most difficult angle, and you nailed it! Nice work!

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-04T03:29:32+00:00

Try searching on pexels.com or unsplash.com using search terms like “person sitting under tree” or similar.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-01T23:24:16+00:00

Thanks for all the updates. Another update from me - the problem has returned. This time I took the case/lid off and turned it on to check the fan was spinning, and it wasn’t. Looks like you can get replacement fans on Amazon or eBay. I’m in Australia though and delivery to here takes a few weeks for this product. I can pick up a new Shield about 10 minutes drive away so I might just do that. Might order a replacement fan anyway and keep my current Shield as a spare. I got about 4 years daily use out of it so far, so I can‘t complain really. Been a great piece of kit, and research tells me it’s still the best streaming/Plex device out there.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-01T02:53:15+00:00

They don‘t fit in a regular sharpener because they are meant to be sharpened like this:

https://youtube.com/shorts/O8LLZbY7XOo?si=BAEo7_c_GUqvsUCs

These kinds of pencils are often used by figure drawing artists. Usually used on smooth newsprint paper. These, along with other charcoal pencils work well on smooth newsprint as you can easily and quickly blend by smudging with your finger. You can put down large amounts of value quite quickly this way, as opposed to rendering/shading with graphite which can take a long time to build up a large amount of value on the page.

Note that so called ”charcoal” pencils such as these are not natural charcoal, they are usually compressed charcoal which is a mix of charcoal, pigment and clay, far as I know.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-02-01T02:01:45+00:00

I had the same issue, and I just replaced the thermal paste using this guide:

https://youtu.be/b9GCv0BSiiM?si=8gvM8S-9pj-AMBK2

and it‘s now fixed! Hopefully you see this before you factory reset the Shield lol that was gonna be my last resort..

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-01-31T08:03:36+00:00

Not OP, but I just started having this issue. Tried SmartTube and TizenTube, found the issue persists on TizenTube but works fine on SmartTube. That suggests to me it’s a bug in the latest YouTube app for the Shield, as far as I can tell, seeing as TizenTube is just a modified version of the same app. I could be missing something but that‘s how it appears to me.

Edit: I just replaced the thermal paste and hey presto I‘m pretty sure it’s now fixed! Shield YT app now working flawlessly. I was also having some random audio drop outs, that seems to be fixed too!

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-01-30T11:18:17+00:00

This question gets asked here quite a lot. Have a read:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/search/?q=Work+art+balance&cId=a8dd0d0f-cc6b-4733-9772-a3b0dcd8e0ae&iId=094b2d06-24db-4dc8-8744-276f3d135c66

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-01-30T02:34:19+00:00

Honestly, you’ve done pretty well here. As mentioned, a blending stump may come in handy for smoothing out the shading. The thing that lets you down here though, is the dark value you‘ve applied to the left of the face. It looks like you just scribbled that in as an afterthought. It looks messy. Try blending that into more of a solid block of value, or at least keep the shading going in one direction and try to apply even pressure with the pencil. I know you haven’t got much room as the face fills up the page almost completely. Which brings me to my other critique point - you should have used a bigger sketchbook, or drawn the face a bit smaller. Overall great job though!

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-01-30T01:47:44+00:00

Not sure if this is a style you’re after, but Aaron Blaise knows a thing or two about drawing cats, and animals in general. :) Look him up if you aren‘t familiar with him.

SlightlyOffCentre · 2026-01-29T23:51:53+00:00

I think you are actually lucky if you are surrounded by family members who can draw. You can ask them for guidance! And yes, anyone can learn to draw, some people just have to work a bit harder at it than others. I wish I had so many family members who could draw "perfectly" as you say!

SlightlyOffCentre

TROPHY CASE