There are so many ways to do art, so many styles I don't even know the name of. Sometimes I look at a style and think I would like to try it too. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. And sometimes I do and find that maybe that style is not for me. For example, I love looking at pages filled with various pieces. You know the one, where you'd have a flower, a tree, a hand, a cube, a pinecone, and a chair all on the same page, slightly overlapping. I think it looks awesome and I would love to do it myself, but I can't, it throws me off. When I draw I need to have either the page carefully sectioned in advance or have the whole page available only for this one subject I'm drawing.
What I ultimately want to achieve by trying out these styles is finding my own style. I think I am there, maybe, but not yet. Drawing is a work in progress, I wouldn't want to be stuck in one spot, I want to keep developing. And finding own style requires seeing other styles, taking something from here and there and adapting various techniques. Plainly put, making it as you go.
This is how I started drawing, really. I kept seeing artists online and thinking that what they create looks so pretty and I would like to try it too. It took me a long time to realise I can try it too, but once I did, I loved it. My favourite part about drawing is when I am adding the details. Sometimes I look at something and think it looks awful, but I keep working on it, adding a line here, another there, creating a texture, and it starts to take shape and actually look good. I love being able to make something like that.
What I also discovered, is that art is not as strict as I thought it is. Me, along with a lot of us, thought artists just get their canvas, notebook, paper, and draw whatever they dream up. I, and us because I know I was not alone in this, thought that artists don't need to look up at a picture in order to draw. That's not true at all, you look at multiple pictures of what you're drawing while you're drawing. When I draw something I look up the subject, then I look at parts of the subject, close-ups. In the case of flowers that would be leaves, or how they look like in a field (although I mainly draw only one).
I don't know if people who don't draw think that people who draw have some sort of superhuman feature where they know how everything exists and can put it on paper with ease, or they think using references is not something 'real artists' do. Now, I don't consider myself a pro, this is a hobby, but I did have people ask me if I use reference (only that they don't know to call it 'reference') or not, and look at what I created as not being as good once I say that yes, I do use reference when drawing.
Another aspect in which I found that art is not as strict is the use of mediums. I used to think that mixing mediums is a novelty, something extra and maybe a bit pompous. But no, it is perfectly fine to use ink, watercolour, and digital editing software in the same piece. And what is more, it is super fun to combine them and see what works and in which way. Lately I've been leaning into this combining of mediums thing.
I started doing art using fineliner only, black fineliner, but I like colour and I want to use colour. I like colour so much I own several sets of coloured pencils, several sets of markers in different sizes, and even watercolours. The watercolours bit is a mystery to me, but I enjoy using markers a lot, it brings something to what I draw, it makes it pop in a way I really like.
My medium of choice is still fineliner, but it sure is really fun to play with colours, to mix and match and make something I think looks really nice and that I feel okay putting online. Speaking of, having an online account where to put my work on really helped me keep on drawing. Sometimes I am busy or not in the mood, but without the online account I would not have kept at it as best as I do.
So there it is, some of the things I learned since I started drawing, and some of the ways I do the drawing. (๑•᎑•๑)
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