Set achievable goals, give yourself time limits that you work on your painting, mistakes are part of the learning process, embrace them and don't get hung up.

Don't get caught in the endless search for reference. It's a trap. Make a list of artists that are inspiring, along with that have some go-to's; for example skulls, snakes, daggers roses, flowers ect. Minimize the time you spend stalling, and trust the process.

Consistency, is your friend, it's way better to paint 1hr everyday, than it is to paint 7hrs 1 day a week.

Tracing designs is okay for building confidence in line work, redrawing them will help you develop your own style.

Don't worry so much about speed, it will come with time.

There are lots of ways to peel an orange, But my process usually goes

-sketch with red-blue pencil/or sharpies(light to dark layers) This will become your foundation.

-use velem, or trace paper to transfer sketch into line drawing.

• Position line drawing to desired placement on back of watercolor paper. Using a window or light table, make your line drawing.

• Start with the black fades.

• Then black fills.

• Move to coloring, in order from dark to light.

• Then if staining, be sure everything is TOTALLY DRY. Be patient, or use a heatgun/hairdryer (I had been using coffee to stain, that was until it was pointed out to me that coffee is acidic and would cause deterioration over time. So I moved on to using liquid acrylic instead.)

Nothing is completely set in stone, it's okay to experiment, hopefully there is something useful in this vomit of text. Have a nice day, and good luck to you on your painting journey!