||ColourMania 2|| ENDED

advice for my 10 year old self

I skimmed through this book some more. From the last chapter, you might've seen my revamp of the old persona and the improvements I've made over the span of 5 years, when I started drawing.

When I was reading I found some things interesting about how I drew and what my thought process was as a preteen.

I want to give my ten year old self some art advice, which if anyone else read this: go ahead and use them too! We're all old buds here

1. Style
The thing I noticed the most was the inconsistency, insecurity and frequent forced change in my art style back then.
It was always a competition to get the coolest art style and I was always competing against myself. I wanted to get better and I most definitely wanted to have a distinct style that gave my name a brand if you will.

Now that I'm 16, let me tell you something.
Style is a scary thing.

I only recently decided to "change" my style after 2 years of drawing the same.
Art style is such a make or break thing. Everyone wants an original and appealing style that'll catch the eye.
When I recently changed it, I didn't necessarily change my style but I just tweaked the mistakes or inconsistencies I found cake up frequently in my art. So for example, i experimented with drawing eyes, head shapes, facial expressions and body length.

The fear I had and still have is because I'm studying, referencing and learning new things, people will assume I'm tracing or copying another artist. That's not the case. Art is studying and learning. And art style is a product of that.

The advice I would give to my younger self,

Don't stress about art styles. The more you learn about the foundations of drawing and character design, the more you'll learn about yourself and what you like. When drawing, forget about focusing on art styles, just draw. You'll gradually over time understand what it is you like and you will naturally gravitate towards that and automatically draw in an art style that's unique to you.

If I really means so much to you, then draw something. Draw a character for example, and write down what it is you'd like to change. What mistakes do you see? What do you like? Take that knowledge and get multiple references from real life as well as multiple other artists, beginners as well as professionals. And experiment with what you like.

But again, putting too much focus on it takes the fun out of drawing. Art style isn't the goal, it comes with the process.

2. Balance the creative fun of drawing, and the educational studying side of it.

Of course when you're young, all you want to do is draw all your characters and have fun with drawing.
But I noticed that when I grew up, I was so lost.

My friends were using these fancy words such as anatomy, perspective, composition, color theory, character design etc. My baby brain didn't understand that because I completely ignored the theoretical side of art.

Art has a foundation. Just like dance with eight counts and music with their mathematical music notes.

Even now I'm incredibly lost. I'm always confused with what I'm drawing, I don't understand what perspective and composition means and I'm always insecure and unsure of what I'm doing.

10 year old Azra, don't stray away from learning. Studying art is a big part of improving. You can draw the same things and continuously make the same mistakes. That's why perfect practice makes perfect. Learning can be fun.