How long have you been drawing?

[Grtxkkyz 387]

Well, if you happen to be a drawer, for how long have you been practicing? I started drawing when I was 5 years old as far as I can remember, and have been doing since then. So, when did you start drawing, and have you kept practicing to get better?

[Envy 5,998]

I don't know when exactly, I know I started drawing in my early childhood. I effectively stopped around 19 or 20, because I can't draw at all like what's in my mind. Drawing is not a talent of mine, and it makes me feel worthless when I try, so no more.

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

Uhhh since I was a kid but I didnt start drawing anything that was actually good until like last year.

[Odyssey 5,713]

Hello @Dino-Mario,

 

As this topic relates to art and has the possibility for users to talk about what they've learnt, I've moved your topic to Visual Art.

 

-----

 

I've been drawing since in my early childhood. Around about 2 or 3, I believe. It was around a time before I could even talk, so I had to communicate with my parents by drawing out my emotions.  My love for drawing has grown more and more as time goes on. Because of my experiences as an artist, one of my favourite things to draw is thinking out the expressions of a character.

[randomcpv 52]

About 3 years, I guess. There is a hiatus while I study for a master so I'm not too sure. Nowadays it's just my proudest hobby.

[NovaCosmic 126]

Since I was 3. My arms are nothing but a few loose digits, and my wrist hangs by a thread. It doesn't hurt anymore.

 

But seriously, I've never really tried to draw anything until about a year ago. I tried long ago, but that was when I bad at it. 

[JonasDarkmane 19,777]

I have been drawing since I was like 4 years old, but I have not been drawing as in trying to do wonderful art, just been playing around. I just recently started a few months ago to try and do more something that would be considered "artwork". 

[Haruhi-chan 486]

Hm. I don't think I have been for very long. Not like a lot of people have since I know most start at a young age. I also have Dyspraxia, and a lot of other issues. It's really hard for me to improve or get better, but that doesn't stop me from drawing though. :3

[Sage 125]

My whole life, but not my whole life. So I never really got better, in fact I got worse. I used to be able to draw everything I saw perfectly, but I stopped, I got rusty, and lost my skills.

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

I've been drawing ever since I was four years old.  I'm still pretty amateur, but it's my passion and I've only been getting better.  I was also making digital art at an early age, but I never got serious about it until a year ago.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Akari of Duskshire

[SFyr 1,982]

It's interesting to see how many people have been drawing since they were little kids. 

 

I think I started seriously drawing like... 6-8 years ago, with highly wavering levels of commitment. I started out pretty horribly, would give it a good bit of work for a few days to a week, than not touch drawing for a month or three. Then I got into drawing while in class, showing it to friends, throwing (somewhat) cute drawings at people who looked sad, and overtime just did it more and more often. This summer, I've managed to draw a moderate amount every week, and it's showing some notable improvement already. 

 

Though it makes me a little sad to think of how much could've been improved on over that 6-8 years.  So much of that time wasn't really used.

 

Quick question for anyone else who reads this: what also got y'all into drawing? 

[CandyStrike 603]

I've been drawing for as long as someone first stuck a crayon in my hand.  Throughout my adolescence, I took art classes consistently.  In school and during summers.

Edited August 18, 2015 by CandyStrike

[Christmasy Britty 2,553]

I don't draw as much as I used to but I still draw on occasion

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

 

 

what also got y'all into drawing? 

 

I'm not real sure.  I just started drawing pictures of my pets, then it became so ingrained in me that even if I went without drawing for months, I would inevitably go back to it again. 

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Uh... so early an age I can't remember. Of course, I've been relative crap until I hit the age of 18 or so. And even less mediocre and improving quickly within the past five years.

 

The key to doing it for so long is not having the ability to recognize how crappy you are. Even in my crap stages, I was proud of what I did. Of course, I wasn't delusional. I knew I was not the best. But I just couldn't stop. It was blind, it was thoughtless, it was just do. So I kept going and making more and more crap, which gradually become not-crap. And even when I felt like I made crap, my brain would reset itself in a week or so and want me to make even more. "I made crap last time, but this time, I'm smarter, and I can do it better!" Says my brain. It's not really something I can stop from happening. Regardless of how low my self-esteem is, my brain is weirdly determined in this pursuit. I find it odd, I always have, because I'm usually so adept at being discouraged by people who are better than me. Not only that, but making art gets ridiculously frustrating, particularly since I don't have the ability to visualize things in my head. 

 

Yet even the best artists in the world would not satisfy me. I could tell them to create a picture for me with no details in my mind, and they would probably screw it up in my eyes. They can't know what I want, because even I don't know what I want. Words don't explain it. Even when my anatomy and poses are worse than theirs, and I don't hit the mark of what I actually want, I can hit it unlike they can. I can produce the exact style that I enjoy, and control every aspect of the appearance. Most of the time though, I don't hit the exact style, but I still make a happy accident by creating something more unique than what I thought I wanted. Happy accidents happen so often with me, and they make things really special. A lot of the time, my art just kind of draws itself. (Here's an example of one of my happy accidents.)

 

Also, I suppose that my lack of ability to visualize things means that I don't suffer from high expectations of trying to imitate something down to the exact letter from the image in my mind. Instead, my art is me creating the picture and design as I draw, with a few vague details in mind. Then I am so happy when I finally get something good. It's more of a need than a thing I do. I need to be able to create designs and visuals to compensate for my brain, for my self-expression.  It's not something I just pick up on and off. I have been doing it consistently for a very long time. (Although my rate at producing pieces was rather slow, and I'd produce about one a month. Now I'm a lot faster and do it much more, so I have gotten better faster. Coupled with the fact that my brain has been becoming less and less naive due to life experiences, which helps me to understand techniques I couldn't before) I guess that has helped me over the years.

 

So I just kept doing it, because when your head is full of chaos and self-hatred, it's nice to have something that makes your brain concentrate on a single task with fierce determination. Yeah, it's something I'm pretty damn intense about. Because it's kind of like... eating for me.

[Bluenavyangel 366]

I was drawing since I was 1, but my artwork was childish, I didn't improve a lot, so I am still practicing today.

And recently I am running out of fresh ideas for drawings.

[inactive_user 367]

I guess technically I've really been drawing and practicing with stuff like visual art creation ever since my earlier childhood... At least, maybe for a year or two back then...... But, things happened, I ended up retracting myself from my interest in art for so long...... Basically, I really didn't return to my interest in art until about 2 years ago really, and then the only real times I actually "drew" anything was just a few little overly-basic and non-committal doodles in my notebooks during classes in school...... It wasn't really until about December or so of 2014 that I actually kind of really "picked up" my interest in drawing again and actually really "started" to get back into it again... Though I didn't really begin to make a regular thing of practicing and all until just about a few months or so ago... Just after I finally graduated high school.

But yeah, for the minimal amount of practice and time I've spent in ultimatum, I'd say I'm doing quite well with my own progression considering.
Though... -_- I do also now kind of feel that all those years were kind of almost wasted, being that I had gotten so disconnected from my emotional inner self, that I always felt powerless to really "do" anything, and therefore, for the longest time, had the most sour kind of mindset to myself in terms of trying to "create" art and draw and all that good stuff.

Though, I'm dedicated now to just being able to focus on the moment in front of me, and the positives that come from it.

[NixWorld 140]

I was about four years old.

[gamecubeguy214 2,511]

Not too long actually. I grew fond of it only yesterday. My mom bought me a sketchbook for art class, but I wasn't allowed to use it because it had a spiral so I just use it to draw however I want. I'm a beginner drawer though, I have to copy it off a screen to make it look good, which I think a very cheap.

[Rawzy 1,302]

I started drawing 2 hours ago see.....

 

[0rion 15]

I've been working on my drawing for a few years now, and I think it's payed off. I think...

[Forward Bias 47]

Well, if you happen to be a drawer, for how long have you been practicing?

I first did some quick gesture work back in 5th grade. That said, after 6th grade I put my pencil down and didn't pick it back up again until I hit my freshman year in college. I've been practicing consistently since then, since about 2001 or so.

[Kafooku 156]

Like a lot of others, since I was 5 or 6. So yeah, at an early age I suppose. Of course, until a year-or-so ago I drew stuff that looked awful which... I sadly realized a week after I drew it.

 

Anyways, that kinda makes me want to bring up an interesting thing about your 'hand-talent' and 'eye-talent' if you could call it that in drawing. Basically, I'll (or someone else) will draw something and at the end of the day, thinking it came out pretty good. However, the very next day it looks horrible and that's because I guess "overnight" or somewhere in between of when you last looked at it. (Say a week) your eye will improve in seeing how things are supposed to look. So you're eye stuffs don't match up with what you can actually draw. 

 

Sorry if that didn't make sense P: . I don't know, either way I found this interesting when i first read about  it.

[----------------------- 171]

I remember doodling a lot during my childhood and it just sprung from there. So... around... eleven years, maybe? Somewhere around that.

[Shift 4,271]

Years now, I've started doodling at an extremely young age on my schoolwork, probably from around Kindergarden. Eventually, all those years of not paying attention helped to improve my art so I could get more serious about improving.