Managed to get myself into art gear and produced a finished artwork, after a pretty long while. Well, it's not really a good thing by my own standards, but we all start somewhere. What do I do when I don't draw? Facebook, Pixiv, ctrl+paint, Mashable, Kotaku, Lifehacker, sometimes Youtube and Twitter to scout for interesting reads/listens/watches. I'm the kind that tends to maximize on input, with output staggering and puttering behind.

Believe it or not, I used to hate frequent practice. I've seen quite a lot of my peers from art college who keeps drawing the same subject and style over and over again... for more than 6 years. I began to harbor a form of aversion to frequent, pointless doodlings. I thought that there must be a solid way to improve. Turns out that practice still makes perfect, only when done right.

If I could change history, one of the things I would change is the saying "practice makes perfect" into another I have read before and it made more sense: "practice makes permanent". The more you practice, the more you make the routine or knowhow a strong habit, something that's second nature to you. Violin, speaking a language, writing, drawing, whatever. That means if you draw wrongly, with bad proportions and uninteresting poses, those becomes your habit. We all know habits are in the diehard territory.

That's why input and research (or dreaded version: study) became my top priority, even if I sucked at output. I wanna create awesome artwork, and makes leaps of improvement in the shortest time possible. I still get jealous when I see all those awesome clean sketches and complete artwork from dA and Pixiv artists. I dunno when I'll stand out for real, but I don't care. Just. Keep. Improving... I remind myself.

I conclude this entry with two interesting articles:

writes up on exposure and improvement in arts.
[link]

From the Gawker network, Charlie Jane Anders writes an io9 article on a better attitude towards future and planning.
[link]

Have a good day.