Painting/drawing is a visual language that's great at showing visual ideas, without

ideas the language is just a tool and doesn't have much power. The Idea always
comes first before any techné.

If you already gave all the skill you ever wanted in Drawing/Paint what would you
do with it?

to improve, like gaining fluency in a language, find strong reason to communicate

by discovering questions to ask rather than exploring solutions

It takes intimate knowledge of a problem before the solution will have any kind of
meaning

Start drawing, personal exp with the problem, then explore possible solution to
that problem. ( if no personal exp with the problem you might gloss over the
solution)

The more you paint/draws EXPLORE WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY and run into problems, the
more QUESTIONS you can ask and the greater potential for improvement. if never ask
any new questions = impossible to grow as an artist.

Each artist ask different questions = specific solution to a problem are only
relevant to that one artist idea. having style of someone is insincere cuz you
taking solutions to someone else's questions.

Discovering the QUESTIONS to ask is far more important then having the answers.
Answers comes as you explore different solution to the encountered problem and it
leads you to ur own process.

Painting + Drawing = Problem solving

different process/stages = different answers to that specific artist questions at
that time/stages

many artist go trough exercises, perspective books, copy anatomy diagrams and then
when time to make a picture, none of that practice comes to the surface when they
needed in IRL painting/drawing Situations.
ALL these are answers to questions that HAVENT been asked.

If figurative work excites you cuz you have idea you want to explore and draw/paint
the human figure, just try expressing those ideas.
Even imperfectly you can refine it later through related studies of ANATOMY,
PERSPECTIVE, VALUE COMPOSITION ECT

just as you can communicate roughly at first in a foreign language later on it can
be refine ( knowing what to say is more important then saying it correctly, GOAL
here is COMMUNICATION)
"Studying first and then expressing the idea is putting the Cart B4 the Horse or
reading Dictionary to learn a language.
(this can give the false impression that you have to complete certain studies
before you can expressing the idea that your interested in)

"Structure your life as so to have a visual idea that you want to express"
(go for walks, read books, exercise, talk to none-art peeps, music, Literature
ect)

It takes practice to take our own idea seriously and when we do we can shorten the
time of the urge to draw that IDEA and actually ATTEMPTING it.
(take the time to learn about what you want to communicate as an artist, the
problem to solve become clear then the process of experimentation and thus
improvement happens naturally)

"Visual idea = Non Verbal"

Always consider what you are communicating with your work and how the process
influences that.
"Is that brush texture contributing to the idea you want to communicate? or is
it distraction? adding layers between you and the audience"

-When you wake up in the morning what would you be most excited to paint?
+ Take market pressure and what's popular out of the equation.
+ Sincerely express your interested as early as you can and you will be able to
attract
other people who are interested in the same thing like other artist, fans,
clients.
+ "If you practice being sincere with your work, exploring what you enjoy and
don't over
time other people will feel the same excitement you do about your work and
you can
create a unique and sustainable career."

"Art is a marathon not a sprint"

"burn out is Nr.1 thing that prevent artist from reaching their goals."
"Practice is long-term and longitudinal"

When your ability to see mistakes in your work is greater than your ability to use
them it can be discouraging leading to the feeling that the work is getting worse
and not better. These are just plateaus.

- For the most rapid progress, try to become very comfortable with the area between
what you IDEALLY want to make and what you're CURRENTLY ABLE to do.
- "Always attempting to stretch the limits of what you can achieve in order to do
this FAILER cant be taken personally but rather be seen as NECESSARY and welcome
steps on the road to improvement."

- Do not be afraid of inconsistency and to FAIL as MUCH as you can to GAIN as much
INFORTMATION as you can, the more you experiment the more information you will
discover as to what processes leads to what results.
-Try thinking about something different with each painting and take notes on the
effect is.
(think of yourself as Explorer and ur discovering new ways to communicate what
you find interesting and important)

Failing is frustrating, takes time to get a foothold for rapid improvement to

start, STICK THROUGH IT.
- Plateaus become less intimidating once you learn enough of what you need to
communicate your IDEA clearly, when new IDEA need to be explored the new Technical
skill can be worked on.

A Piece of art that is sincerely exploring the Artists IDEA will always have more
INTEREST than one that is technically sound but not expressing anything.
( Difficult to be sincere cuz it makes us vulnerable, it takes practice and is
something you get better at over time, being sincere with your work that is)

Is temping to take other Artist style as our own since these are already ready-made
solutions, fine to do early but long-term is like writing in someone else's
handwriting and crates a layer of distance between the viewer and your work + layer
of insincerity.

What is unique about what you find interesting? Use your work to explore this!