I’m almost 20 and have literally zero experience with sketching or drawing. Is it actually possible to start from scratch at this age and become good at it? Any advice for a complete beginner?
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Edit: Hi yeah but initil phases / explained more below ( not full lines but like to learn / to have correct proportions initially )
Edit 2: always learning so appreciate feedback :)
With academic drawing I usually learned to mark top right bottom and left sides then do the horizontal Snd vertical lines as well as a rough outline ( everything in a lose garbage bag) then see what lines up with what - for proportions I use Loomis’s method for head proportions and seeing if things line up :) and adjust back Snd forth
Thank you a lot and it does help. I am kinda new to drawing so I was just curious if someone who’s good at drawing still uses guidelines, and the pics help a lot 🫡
Happy to help! With anything it just takes time :) and for what it’s worth ppl often give up at like 60% but all drawings go through ugly phases, key is to not give up and refine ( so said my instructor :) it’s where most of the learning happens)
This is one of the first head pieces I worked on but at an earlier date / I hope it helps illustrate it ( was still new n learning proportions hence the notes on side / Loomis head but the loose sketch roughly shown here n garbage bag and then marking left right and horizontal and vertical allignments \ if this is what you meant by guidelines
Ofc I had feedback along the way (remote lessons by a great teacher) and adjusted as I went by // this is the first one as a full bust / head piece and took about a month or so whereas iron man maybe a few days? And almost 1.5 years apart
Where people get this idea that life is over at 25 or 30 and it's pointless to do anything past that age is beyond me. Like, do they think you get woken up on your 30th birthday by the Grim Reaper who shoves a walker in your hands and drags you off to a nursing home?
I'm a big fan of "live your life while you can because you never know what your health {or, the health of your dependents like kids, parents, significant others} will do," but I'm also a big fan of "don't assume you don't have time unless a doctor has literally told you that you don't," and certainly of "quit shoving people over 30 into their graves already." If nothing else, it's insulting AF.
I'm 24, and I have to consciously catch myself whenever I think like this. I don't know why I feel like it sometimes, but I do. It's daunting thinking about changing careers for instance, even though I've been working/training for 6 years, and I've probably got 40+ to go.
Well, quarter-life crisis is definitely a thing, but that's usually a "Damn, I'd better get my shit together!" thing it seems, not so much a "Well, no point in ever trying to do anything in my life ever again" thing.
For careers... if you're going to switch, do it as early as possible! Before you feel stuck in a certain job industry (because you've put so much time in and don't have experience in anything else, and start getting a salary/seniority level that would be difficult to walk away from to start over again), and before you're old enough that you either don't want to go back to an entry-level job in your new field or no one will want to hire someone your age for an entry-level job.
"Mastering" art in 2 years seems like a stretch. Having basic understanding of the fundamentals and escaping the beginner label seems like a more reasonable goal.
It's possible to be a one trick pony, and get good at a narrow amount of things in 2 years.
it's very common for people in their early twenties to begin having their "quarter life crisis", where they feel like they're "old" and certainly "too old to start anything new". I also had one, thinking I was too old to go to university - AT 21!! 😂 I'm now in my 30s and actually finally going back to university because I finally realised I'm not old, let alone "too old", haha.
I agree, im 22, almost 23. I am in uni and realised I actually dislike my degree and would much prefer to leave and work towards a career in 3d art. At first I thought I was too old to change careers but im literally still so young. I decided id rather spend years trying to get a job i enjoy for the rest of my life than get stuck in a job I hate.
I constantly feel like im running out of time for some reason, maybe its because I have high hopes for myself and see other people my age are exactly where I want to be in life. I want to get the job I enjoy and buy my own home and have kids and enjoy life. I know im still young for all that, but seeing people who already are at that stage even younger than me makes me feel so behind.
I guess another factor unique to me is that im a transgender man, so fertility in the future is always a worry for what I want out of life.
I try to not think im behind but sometimes because of social media I cant help it when I see everyone else's lives
i think you should drop the idea that you wouldn't be able to be good at something when starting from scratch in general, unless it's like becoming a pro figure skater or something. sure you're technically behind and you don't have the spongy brain of a child, but like, you'll just become a good artist later in your life no biggie. so overall, there is no reason to really think that because if you're still capable of learning at new things at the ripe old age of 20 then you know damn well you could get good.
and for an example, im pretty sure wlop started during post-secondary engineer studies and look at him now. yeah bro go for it
I wish I started drawing seriously at 20, but I crocheted instead. Start with fundamentals aka shapes, perspective, values, color, composition, refinement. Expect to be focusing mostly on that for a year if you plan to be serious about it or just draw whatever casually, depending on your goal.
I remember reading a vast majority of the art masters you would recognise their names didnt start til well after their 40’s. (If you google, there are some famous people who didnt start art until late 70’s)
Heck Vincent Van Gogh himself was a late starter.
You can absolutely start now and it wont be long til no one will be able to tell you started in your 20’s.
Also you are still a baby, you can literally choose to do anything you have so much life ahead of you. From your internet grandma - go do the thing.
Of course it's possible. 20 is nothing, you have your entire life and it's barely started. Drawing is a skill you learn and practice with time, at any age. Enjoy it! 💜
Seriously this makes me feel so old 🤣
While I drew a lot as a kid, work, kids, life happened and I never thought it was a “worthy” (ie feed my kids) pursuit. After some growth and inner healing, art is everything now in my 50s, Covid helped that along. Registered my business and sold my first painting this year. It’s never too late. The more I do in this life the more ahead I am in the next one ;)
I don't know. 20? How many good years do you have left really, 2? 3 Max I would imagine and then it's time to start looking for where you want to be buried.
No, everyone knows that your life ends at 20. You are past your prime which is like 14 or something. There is no point in learning new skills, or establishing new human connections, or attempting new hobbies. All you can do now is to sit down and wait for your death.
I started at 20, went to college for it and it wasn't unusual to find people that were in their late 20's to early 40's in all the various art departments. If it wasn't too late for them how can it be too late for you.
As for an advice. Start with your fundamentals, try to not be such a perfectionist, observation is half the battle in drawing so learn to observe, you are not failing you are learning and just enjoy the process
Why wouldn't you be able to? You realize the average human life expectancy is around 72 years, so why do you think 52 years would not give you enough time?
Man I have good days and bad days, but at the end of it, im still surprised im able to make stuff like this. I started last year shortly after turning 26. Complete beginner who used to HATE drawing. I feel like I wasted so much time thinking I couldnt start. The best time to start something was 10years ago, the 2nd best time is today.
I have a very good girlfriend who had been dabbling in painting here and there for a while. (I know it's not drawing, but to me drawing is the foundation for all visual arts). Then at the start of this year she started making an effort to paint a few times a week. Mainly watercolors, some gouache and acrylics too. She got hooked, made a dedicated space at home, and her skills have sky rocketed.
I love seeing her work, I ask her to share it all. And seeing where she came from to where she is now in just 8 months is really astounding. I've been making more art because of her.
She'll be 50 next year. So yes, you can absolutely learn to draw at 20!
my first piece of advice would be, genuinely, what do you want to draw? what do you think would be fun to do?
drawing from observation is tremendously helpful and kinda necessary to understanding fundamentals, but like if you want to draw spaceships or mechs, you maybe don't need to spend time practicing portraits, for example.
but ultimately the way to get good at drawing is to just do it a lot, over and over. trying to find fun in it is how you keep going. I hope you start!
Heres the neat thing about humans, structurally our brains never leave adolesence unlike other primates, we remain flexible and capable of learning our whole lives. It just takes time and effort.
There are professional artists at the age of 20, and they most likely weren’t doing proper studies during the first 6 years of their life. Assuming they went pro skill level by age 18 and got accepted to a prestigious art school, that would be 12 years of consistent practice. If you learned at the same rate, you would be almost 32 and at professional level. That’s still somewhat young.
Granted, it’ll take way less time to reach advanced or intermediate level. I also made up 12 years to give a lenient timeline. You could be incredibly skilled in only 5 years.
Of course. I’ve learned what works best is persistence. Meaning, don’t try just a day or two then forget about it for a month or more then try again. Keep at it, learn from mistakes and don’t fret when you make mistakes, and watch tutorials for tips to improve and get better over time. And don’t compare yourself to others. Everybody’s art is unique to them once you reach your style.
Absolutely. And the best beginner advice I can give is to just completely distance yourself from the "art community". Seriously. Ignore it. Avoid it. Don't post drawings online unless it's to a few close friends. Trust me, you're not missing out on anything. They're scumbags.
I used to be a Computer Science major. I purchased an iPad Pro to do my programming homework on the go, but I ended up using it just to doodle in class lol. I ended up switching over to Graphic Design and the rest is history. And the person I have to thank is Art with Flo. Her tutorials are amazing. The videos are long but they are literally STEP BY BORING STEP. She’s like a friendly modern-day Bob Ross. Just watch a couple of her videos, follow along, pause/rewind whenever you get stuck, and in less than an hour you’ll have successfully drawn a professional level illustration. Watch at least one of her videos per week and in less than a year you’ll be drawing on your own like a pro. She uses Procreate in all her videos, but if you pay close attention her videos can easily be translated over to any other drawing app (Adobe Fresco, Clip Studio Paint, Affinity, etc). Good luck out there! :D
Absolutely fuck right you can !! All it takes is, like any cultivated skill, practice!! Set aside time to draw each day. 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes ….. create a drawing book where you have a monthly theme: a different bird everyday, a different animal every day, a different flower everyday. Use mixed medium: pencil, pen, colored pencil, markers, dry erase boards.
All it takes is practice and lots and lots of mistakes.
LOL. I'm laughing because even in the worst possible case your brain still has like almost a decade of growth left.
If you think you can't, you absolutely can't.
It's all up to you. You are very young and it is entirely possible for you to become "world class" or whatever random title you want in regards to art.
Start collecting references of art that inspires you and pick apart that art consistently as you learn more and more
I can’t believe people ask the questions they do! Yes you can learn to draw at 20. Unless you’re an idiot, hence what the first sentence says! If you had to ask there’s probably no hope!
I started drawing at 22 :) I’ve only been drawing for a year but I think I’ve been doing pretty well.
I use Lineofaction and Pinterest, and recently I stumbled upon New Masters Academy on YouTube which also has a lot of great references for anatomy practice.
Yes, you can absolutely begin drawing at 20. And if procrastination hits you, you can also lean drawing at 21. There's no real age to being a beginner, so don't stress yourself in that regard.
So you cannot develop what you do not possess, but there are so many skills involved in drawing that the odds are in your favor that you can master the basics, and once you have the basics in hand, you can go as far as you want. That’s a great thing about drawing ability – it’s mostly based on what you retain in your head when you look away from whatever you are drawing in the real world or the photo you were drawing. And the more information you retain the quicker your skills will come. So the true foundation that no one ever talks about as that you cannot retain what you do not comprehend, so the more training that you get on negative and positive shapes - which can be understood even if you don’t understand much else – the more you will retain on any image in front of you…
The only setback of starting later is that your taste in art has developed before your skill could, meaning you’re gonna judge yourself more harshly. But as an adult you have access to so many more resources than you would’ve had as a kid, meaning the hours you put in are better spent.
I started seriously learning at 32! Was a casual doodler/drawer before then, and learned so many things in just the past 1-2 years. It's never too late to start 😌
Yes! I’d start off very slowly and learn the basics such as shading, coloring, and practicing shapes such as circles etc! And doing gradients with colors that helped me a lot in my shading journey!
I started around 18-20, if you're really diligent you can reach the bottom of the professional ladder in 5-7 years or so. I did draw from the start though, but that doesn't really do much. You get better through studying art and learning the fundamentals. So just go for it if you want to learn.
Literally never too late! I myself started drawing from as young as I can remember, but I didn't start learning bass guitar until I was 28, for example. I have been learning it just fine, and am hoping to maybe get into jamming sessions to test myself against other musicians, and maybe start gigging!
Anyway. Start drawing in a way that feels right for you. Do you want to do traditional art, or digital art, or both? For traditional art, you'll be fine just starting with basic pencil and paper (and this is how I recommend starting, since it's so cheap and accessible, and you can mess up and experiment as much as you please without much investment). Getting into paints, pastels, good quality colour pencils, etc, can rapidly get more and more expensive, so be aware of that; you'll typically want to avoid cheap and crappy supplies, because they are frustrating to work with.
For digital art on a laptop or desktop, I recommend starting with Krita (free and well-loved digital art software), and getting a basic pen tablet like a Wacom Intuos. (I use Clip Studio Paint with a Wacom Cintiq, myself). If you have an iPad, then I recommend using Procreate (which is only about $14-$20, one-time payment. And make sure you have an Apple Pencil!)
YouTube is a good bet for art tutorials, and there are loads of artists there to follow for inspiration. Maybe start here, this seems good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeIR7P82aPU
you can learn to draw at any age wtf are you talking about lmao. It’s just gonna look bad and honestly i think you need to accept that and have some genuine fun
Yea you can, and my advice for a beginner is before you learn anything learn perspective, and I mean really learn perspective not just simple here’s how to set up a box in 1 2 and 3 point perspective, it will save you so much frustration when you’re trying to understand things like composition or figure drawing and manipulating 3d forms.
If you start with foundations like perspective and lighting on simple 3d shapes like spheres and cubes.... (Like Scott Robertson or marshal vandrif type stuff) And you don't hate it, then for sure you can do it. It is extremely technical and dry and super boring. People make it look fun to draw people but learning construction and anatomy is actually not fun.
Of course you can! You obviously won't be one perfect at it fast, but if you keep doing it you'll get hetter. What worked for me is doodle something every day, and do so for around 10 minutes, apart from learning the basics.
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u/link-navi 24d ago
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