Roll of paper challenge – Day 2 – How to regain motivation at drawing ?

Second day of the Roll of paper challenge. My mood is not there.

I sit and carry on drawing on the roll of paper. About 1.50meter later, I am not much happy with the results. I feel inefficient. I realised that I am not focused, and my imagination is dry. I don’t want to give up, so I take a break.

Be impressed by high level artist. Let your self be inspired, not discouraged. Be positive !

When I feel discouraged, I often spend few minutes looking at some artworks from artist and designer I admire. That’s how I regain my motivation. Even if the level of most of them seams to be impossible to reach, I like to imagine that one day I could make it too. I won’t be a super star Concept artist by tomorrow, but, I tend to progress step-by-step.

Best of it, I remember how much fun and pride I get mastering new skills. Telling myself “ I did it !”

I know that learning how to draw is irritating sometime, but it’s worth it. Let me illustrate with a simple analogy.

Learning how to draw = Playing video game

When you play a video game. If you lose, you try again right? You may lose 100 times, no harm. Each time you try and fail you may get irritated. But you understand the game better, and your technique improve. You gain confidence, you persevere and soon, you are able to pass the level.

Whatever you have done before become easy. You have gained more Super power, and you are ready to meet the next boss of the game.

Remember that a video game is a succession of many small victories, it means many happiness !That’s the same thing for learning how to draw.

Let’s go back to the paper roll. For Day 2 I achieved a total of 2.40m.
So DAY 1 + Day 2 = 5.60 + 2.40 = 8 meters of sketches.

And you know what ? I even didn’t reached half of the roll !

Let’s have a look on the sketches of Day 2.

These sketches are inspired from doodles I did before I took a break.

It’s useful to start with few doodles before sketching a bigger version – saving time + better result.

Something I like to do, is to go back at previous sketches to touch up or modify. It’s often beneficial as you come back with a fresher eye on that specific sketch.

At the time I am writing this article, it’s day 3. I was quite busy today so I will continue by tomorrow. I have 4 days left to complete the challenge.

See you guys for the next TIP of the day !
And feel free to leave a comment. 🙂