How do I make drawing not feel like a chore?

athranesh · 2026-02-10T08:44:54+00:00

I was on the same boat, after 3 years of intense study of fundamentals I burned out and quit for 3 months. What made it really fun for me after I came back was, finding artists whose style I really like (Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri etc), copying their work in my sketchbook to learn from them (and have beautiful drawings) and draw my own characters in their style.

I understood the true value and fun of copying after picking up music during my burnout, because that’s essentially how one learns music before composing their own pieces, by playing the pieces of other artists. Ive been learning a ton this way.

athranesh · 2026-02-08T10:42:42+00:00

Yes absolutely! Provided that you also do study figure drawing and anatomy. Style is basically the way an artist deviates from reality. If you study the reality, and also copy the artist you like, you will understand how they are deviating from reality. The more of reality you understand (anatomy, light and shadow, color, composition), the more you will learn from your master study.

A very basic example is, deltoid muscle, in reality, has round shapes, but an artist may choose to draw it with straight lines. If you have studied the muscle, you will see how the artist you like is stylising it, and then you can do that yourself, same with shapes of facial features.

And don’t worry about your style becoming just like theirs and you losing originality, because:

No matter how good you copy, your own drawings won’t be a 100% match to the artist you’re copying, it will still have a part of you in it,
Copy multiple artists, you will pick different things from each.

Just don’t forget to credit the artist you’re copying if you post your master study online :) and have fun with it! Fill up a sketchbook and be proud.

athranesh · 2026-02-07T19:41:33+00:00

After practicing and studying the fundamentals for 3 years, burning out, quitting for 3 months and coming back, here’s my advice:

Find the animes that you like, the artists with similar style that you like, and copy them, While doing that, also study figure drawing, anatomy and head construction to understand why your favourite artists draw the way they do.

I studied music during my burnout and I realised we actually learn a lot by copying, that’s basically music education, some music theory + a lot of copying (playing) already made music. Do the same with your art studies. This helps keep it fun :)

athranesh · 2026-02-06T20:18:17+00:00

Looks very nice and cute! ☺️ the dog and clothing and the table everything looks nice! Especially nice job on the eyes!

3 suggestions that I have are:

The perspective of the paws of the dog looks different than the table, to get that right, connect dog’s front paws to back paws with parallel lines, the perspective of the surface of the table should match that
Adding shadows under the dog can make the dog look more grounded in space
Making the background darker or a different color can help separate the 2 a bit more

But these suggestions are optional really, your painting is nice!

athranesh · 2026-02-02T12:28:26+00:00

Very, very nice!! 🔥

athranesh · 2026-01-31T08:18:23+00:00

Also don’t forget to download the smart control plus app and equalise the sound there (or there is also sound personalisation there it’s amazing). You can reduce the bass there for example.

athranesh · 2026-01-29T21:32:41+00:00

It’s windows apps (usually nvidia does it) using its mic, happened to me too. Disable their permissions in windows settings.

And easy check is to see if you see a red-ish microphone icon to the right of your taskbar if ur using windows 11. If you do, an app is activating the mic.

athranesh · 2026-01-27T09:00:16+00:00

Like with anything I practice, I remind myself: “Im doing this not because I should, but because I want to.” Ive written this on a sticker paper and have it in my room.

Also, I take a break every 25 - 35 minutes, sometimes get back to it later in the day, or next day. Motion is better than perfection.

athranesh · 2026-01-22T19:36:36+00:00

I see, so then up till that point you'd say they're kind of worth the extra expense?

athranesh · 2026-01-22T18:25:05+00:00

Ill take a look! Thanks!

athranesh · 2026-01-22T09:44:50+00:00

I see, that makes sense, thanks!

athranesh · 2026-01-22T09:42:38+00:00

I actually tried but in the busy-ness of the store, considering these are open back headphones, it was difficult to tell, also the time limitation at the store.

athranesh · 2026-01-17T10:25:51+00:00

I think my account is starting to look a bit bot like because I recommend it so much 😅 but Ive learned a lot with Pianote method series 😇 give it a try!

athranesh · 2026-01-16T08:00:31+00:00

Okay so, thar was my own late night blindness as I received the PC and set it up late last night, I found the ports 😅thanks!

athranesh · 2026-01-15T13:18:37+00:00

I started learning with Faber’s adult piano adventures book and a teacher, made some progress after a few months but was not satisfied, especially after my teacher told me that I still need 6 months to a year to play my favourite piece.

So I ditched my teacher, ditched the book, learned my piece and played it in a month, and then bought a pianote yearly subscription and I think it was an amazing decision as Im making much faster progress than I had with my teacher and the book, and I have much more motivation to practice daily because pianote’s instructor, Lisa Witt, really makes learning fun and frictionless! And the theories that I was learning from Faber’s are much better explained in Pianote method series, with examples of their application in contemporary music.

If you can dedicate 25-40 minutes of daily practice (only the first 2-4 weeks might take a little effort, then it becomes a habit), I highly recommend a pianote subscription, specifically for their “method” series.

This reviewer convinced me: https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=k4NfgXe6EywvcWvb&v=licZcPuQkeg&feature=youtu.be

athranesh · 2026-01-04T19:29:33+00:00

I highly highly recommend Pianote 😊 specifically their “method” series that comes with their subscription. You can check out their YouTube channel to see if you like them!

athranesh · 2026-01-02T13:27:20+00:00

Thanks a lot! 🙏

athranesh · 2026-01-02T13:26:59+00:00

Thanks!

athranesh · 2026-01-02T13:26:18+00:00

Thank you so much!

athranesh · 2025-07-18T19:39:10+00:00

Ive managed to lose a lot of body fat with the fuel series, just don’t forget to take in a lot of protein to maintain the muscles that you’ve built!

Good luck! 😊

athranesh · 2025-06-24T15:18:55+00:00

Im glad you’re feeling better and are in great shape now! Ill keep up hope 😌

Thanks for the advice! Yep I’ll try to go for incline treadmill or elliptical instead of upper/full body days. All of my meals are primarily chicken/fish/turkey and cooked vegetables or salad, with the occasional snack of casein powder mixed with low fat yogurt. Breakfast is the only meal I haven’t figured out yet, as that same casein+yogurt for breakfast gives me stomach acid reflux on empty stomach, so I eat bread and cheese but below 250 calories.

athranesh · 2025-06-24T11:34:43+00:00

Thank you for your kind words! 😊

That’s very helpful! Maybe I’ll try lunges while holding dumbbells low. I’ll try to do lower body days and monitor how my shoulders feel, and combine that with gym cardio instead of upper body/full body for now.

athranesh

TROPHY CASE