I like looking at fanart and other works by independent artists online. It’s something which makes me quite jealous, because I struggle to get my own artistic skills up to that level. I know it’s just a matter of dedicating more time to it, but there’s only so much time in the day.
Being able to draw nice pictures, especially of people and fictional characters, is an incredible skill. I know, it’s unhealthy to compare your own abilities to those of others, but it’s impossible to avoid doing entirely. My favourite kinds of images to look at are those of characters and of people.
In order to try and improve my skills, I’ve actually opened a DeviantArt account. I’d appreciate it if you take a look. Kind strangers often “favourite” my pieces or leave me very encouraging comments. What I like to do, is to draw characters in a set, rather minimalist way. It means that I can make things look alright, even without much skill. Over time, I feel like my abilities have started to improve by doing this and I shall continue.
I was somewhat inspired by Pop Figures, which, for those who don’t know, are small plastic toys of various fictional characters and famous people which are all done in the same, simple style. I wanted to do something similar with drawings. What I do is a draw all the characters who have appeared in my works of fiction, which sometimes includes well known characters since I sometimes do fan fiction. Looking over them then makes me feel happy about the amount of writing and drawing I’ve produced.
Ideally, I’d like to be able to do detailed character drawings, along with great backgrounds, but I guess I need to take it one step at a time. There’s one DeviantArt user who draws different incarnations of The Doctor and has even invented a few of his own. He also draws other characters from popular culture. His style is so good (so check him out) and if I am ever able to produce things to the same quality as him, I shall consider the visual art world conquered – though I realise I’m a million miles away from it.
We all work and improve at our own pace and looking at what others have achieved can be a good form of motivation.
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
