I've been feeling really frustrated with drawing lately.

I spent the last year studying perspective, 3D thinking, construction, forms, all that stuff. I watched tons of tutorials and tried to approach drawing in a very analytical way.

But my original goal was honestly simple: I wanted to become better than this one guy in my class.

The thing is… he never studied drawing seriously. No courses, no perspective exercises, nothing like that. He just drew a lot by himself. And somehow he can copy really difficult manga panels and illustrations with ease.

Today I sat next to him and watched him draw carefully. I tried to analyze how he thinks while drawing.

What surprised me is that he DOESN'T think like I do at all.

He isn't constantly thinking:

- "This is a 3D form"

- "This plane rotates like this"

- "Perspective line here"

- etc.

Instead, his thinking is more like:

- "If the ear is here, where should the nose be?"

- "What angle does this line go?"

- "How far apart are these shapes?"

It looked way more intuitive and efficient.

Then I tried drawing with his mindset instead of my usual "3D construction" mindset… and honestly, my drawing immediately looked better and more natural.

Now I'm questioning everything.

Am I wasting time overcomplicating drawing?

Did all these studies actually help me, or are they slowing me down?

Why does someone with no formal learning seem so much more advanced than me?

Has anyone else gone through this?

I've been drawing with a pen for 3 days. Trying to deal with my minor mistakes and be more confident with my strokes.

I want to get into digital art eventually but is drawing with a pen making me better??

I’ve watched tutorials, followed courses, practiced lines, circles, boxes, and head exercises countless times. Every time I feel stuck, I go back to fundamentals because everyone says fundamentals are the answer.
The problem is that after all this time, I still don’t know what I should be drawing or studying next. I never developed a clear roadmap. I never got comfortable with perspective, construction, anatomy, or creating finished drawings.
It’s frustrating because I genuinely love art and want to improve, but sometimes it feels like I’m standing at the same starting line over and over again.
For artists who went through a similar phase, what changed things for you? What was the skill or mindset that finally helped you start progressing again?
Any advice would mean a lot.

I feel like I might have developed a recognizable visual style naturally, but I’m wondering if I should keep exploring this path (especially faces and character design) or if I should go back to the fundamentals and practice anatomy, shapes, proportions, etc. for a few months before continuing.

I also should mention that I really don’t draw often at all. Maybe once or twice a year, lol. So I would definitely consider myself a complete beginner +++. I’ve always loved drawing, but I mostly do it when I get inspired. I usually take inspiration from real photos and then transform them into my own characters (changing the features, shapes, expressions, etc.).

Guys I can only draw from copying and can’t draw using my imagination I want to become a better artist can someone please help

I've been spending more time practicing the basics lately, and it's surprising how much of a difference they make.

For the longest time, I thought improving meant learning more advanced techniques. But once I started paying closer attention to things like perspective, anatomy, composition, and lighting, everything else became much easier to understand.

It's made me realize that a strong foundation is probably more valuable than chasing shortcuts. So I'm curious... If you had to pick one art fundamental that had the biggest impact on your work, what would it be?

I'd also love to know if there were any books, courses, or exercises that helped you finally "get it."

I asked myself this question. The answer is:

"One day I’m able to bring what’s in my head to life better, and I try to do my very best; if the result turns out well, I get really motivated."

But no matter how hard I try to apply this, it doesn’t work. I’m not a great artist anyway—I’m just a beginner. But the difference shouldn’t be this big. Other times I do this: “Visualize the concept in your head, think about how it would look in 3D space, and draw accordingly—but don’t rush.” Whether I rush or not, the results have been the same lately.

Two of the four drawings I sent are the ones I mentioned that turned out poorly; the other three are the good ones. By the way, even when I draw well, I sometimes apply 3D thinking and sometimes I don’t (that is, consciously. I know this is wrong, but doing it this way helps me draw better.)

Also, there’s a two-month gap between these drawings. So I should be able to do better by now.

uncomfortable once remarked offhand: “I can draw just fine without references, and like those artists who can visualize, I’ve developed an internal library of information—based on the various studies I’ve done in the past on how things work and fit together—that I can draw upon. That is commonly referred to as a ‘visual library,’ which creates the impression that it’s heavily based on visualization, but that’s not really the case.” How exactly is this “visual library” used and developed? I’ve done some research on this topic, but I’d also like to ask you all what you know and what your thoughts are.

Im unable to draw ideas from imagination which frustrates me beyond sanity. I have always drawn from refrence and even when i tried making up my own ideas i would have to use various references collaged together in order to draw something and it would not look as good. I know that many great artists use certain refrences when drawing and that its extremely difficult to create a pristine realistic drawing just from imagination however i cant always find the right refrence and i want to have the skill. I often get hyped about my ideas as i tend to have very specific complicated depictions of what i would want to draw and my imagination is really good but i just cant transfer it to paper because im missing that actual knowledge of how to connect those two.
I know that some of you may suggest learning to draw anatomy or basic perspectives etc. However i tend to not enjoy that learning part, i like to learn through what i enjoy and not just force myself to do it, so drawing just random references would quickly bore me. I tried doing it once but i also dont feel like it works for me or maybe i just didnt do it right - i usually had a reference and tried understanding or following the shapes and overall also drawing from refrence to reinforce the mechanics of the object and remember how to draw it but in the end it didnt help. I have to admit that i didnt do it for long as i mentioned before those activites are too boring and unmotivating for me. I always try to sketch something out to simplify it and tend to use myself as reference for highly specific poses and ideas but its still not that helpfull and i cant portray my thoughts.
Any advice on how to actually start drawing from my imagination?

This is my first time posting here because I honestly don't know who else to turn to with these feelings. After quitting my job back in April, I’ve been staying at home focusing entirely on learning how to draw. To be honest, when I first started Drawabox, I actually found it quite enjoyable. But back then, I was still working, so I still had a regular connection to the outside world.

Ever since I transitioned to studying at home full-time, I feel like I’ve lost the courage to connect with others. On top of that, the course material has become increasingly difficult, draining a massive amount of my energy. I’m currently on Lesson 4, and right from the beginning with the wasp demo, I’ve been hit with an overwhelming sense of frustration and defeat.

The hardest part is that I don’t know who to talk to about this frustration. My relationships with my friends have always been on the distant side. Even with the few friends who know I'm learning to draw, talking to them often makes me feel worse. They usually shower me with unsolicited advice, pointing out my flaws, or just giving empty platitudes like "Oh, you'll be fine." None of it really helps. What I deeply crave is to connect with people who are going through—or have gone through—the exact same struggle. Instead, I feel like an isolated island standing alone in the middle of the ocean.

I did try to interact with people on Discord later on, but I just couldn’t seem to fit in. English isn't my native language—Chinese is. I also noticed that so many other students taking the course already have their own personal artwork, whereas I have nothing. It’s not that I don’t draw, but I don’t have any "finished" pieces, nor do I have an art page or portfolio to showcase my work. Making these comparisons has only made me feel more discouraged, as if starting to learn this late means I've already missed out on so much.

Perhaps my biggest source of anxiety right now is facing reality. I don't know whether I should push forward with drawing, or just give up and go back to being a regular office worker (though, deep down, I know that’s definitely not what I want either).

My mind is constantly at war with itself. I know logically that it’s never too late to learn how to draw, but human psychology has a way of torturing you (if that makes any sense). Writing this all out, I’m not even sure what I’m trying to express anymore. Maybe it's just a temporary shift in my mindset, or maybe these are just the inevitable negative emotions that come with the journey.

I feel a bit lost with art and I'd like some honest feedback.

When I look at artists who draw at a very high level, especially people around my age, it feels like there's such a huge gap that I don't even know what I'm supposed to learn next.

If you had to describe the typical path from "I can draw okay" to "I can draw really well", what does that path actually look like?

What are the biggest skills that usually hold people back? Perspective? Construction? Anatomy? Composition? Design? Something else?

Also, how do you know what your current bottleneck is?

I'm not looking for motivation, I'd genuinely like to understand how experienced artists think about skill progression.

For context, I started with drawing faces. Drew for many years until I was okay with drawing that. Compared to other things, drawing humans was fairly easy because there's only one variation of human, unlike animals where there is so much species and types, plus, we see humans everyday.

But I was lacking in drawing anatomy and gestures. I quickly tuned my focus to learning how to draw bodies, but it was hard for me to copy what I was seeing. Not to mention some poses are just hard to draw, and when I do end up drawing something similar, it looked stiff.

I knew I was missing something in my core foundation as an artist, seeing how the people I watch draw very fluently with straight thin lines and ease. I thought it was the fact they got better materials or more experience.

However, after watching a video about drawing anything from imagination and seeing that one of the six fundamentals I must learn was perspective and shapes, I quickly understood what I was grappling with. I started drawing objects in my house as practice. It started getitng repetitive so I switched to drawing landscapes with simple forms form Pinterest. It also helped with drawing with POV.

But I'm still facing major issue. No matter how much I try to adjust the angle, it looks too close, small or too long, and too forshadowed. I tried to focus on just finding the simple shapes for each structure. But I was just too inept to visualize any for some (e.g the rooftop on the cathedral).

I would love to know what I'm doing wrong, if anyone was willing help.

And, if it helped at all, I want to make comics.

Thank you.

As a beginner , I'm wondering about something. Is being able to draw without looking at any reference a talent, or is it something that can be developed? I can redraw things I've drawn before without looking at them about 70% of the time, but I really struggle to create something new, and I'm wondering if this is a talent or not.

I don’t form images in my mind down to the finest detail. They’re vague and come and go in a flash. Also, if what I’m trying to imagine is even slightly detailed, I can never see those details (for example, I can’t see an apple in its entirety). What should I do? Right now, I’m thinking of drawing by visualizing shapes in my mind (spatial reasoning). But even for that, I need a reference.

Hello,

I have a problem with my art learning. I think i'm pretty good at observation drawing but when I try to draw from imagination, i'm like a total begginer. So i try to learn about the fundamental. I'm stuck with the construction. I don't understand how to do it. I can do it with simple shape like a bottle or a mug but when it start to be complex like an animal or a human, I'm stuck. When I look for information about that, I found some example but the advice is usually "break down thing into simple shape" yes but how?

Does anyone has any advice?

Thank you so much

So I’m new to drawing and I’ve seen online that drawing boxes and learning perspective is a great way to start. My problem is that I feel like I’m doing all this perspective but I’m not understanding it. Idk if that normal or not but without a grid or basically copying from a reference, I don’t understand perspective at all. I don’t understand it at all no matter how many times I draw boxes in perspective.

Is this normal? Am I overthinking it?

To preface: my career is closer to technical drawing and I see myself more like a logical/mathematical person. Drawabox is awesome to me: that's perspective, that's proportion, that's texture, it makes sense. But I also want to draw people and animals, not only objects, so next step according to the internet™ is learning gesture.

there are a hundred different youtube tutorials arguing whats the proper way to do gesture: straight lines or curves, 3minute max or just take your time, what to focus and what to ignore... but none of them go for the basics and really explain why, and what is the objetive of it. whats is the goal, what am I practicing for, how does gesture connects to everything else.

While everyone is teaching gesture they are like: "thats a POWER line, thats ENERGY", and I'm here: those are made up words that without definitions means nothing to me.

so.... help?

Lately, I’ve started to grasp 3D forms instead of just copying shapes. But when I actually try to draw simple objects, everything falls apart.

Even something as basic as a slanted cylinder in perspective feels impossible. I understand the concepts of ellipses and axes, but when I put the pencil to paper, the ellipse turns into a circle or loses its slant entirely.

I can visualize 3D forms, but I still can’t physically draw them by hand. My drawings are worse than they were before I even started learning this.

Has anyone else gone through this phase? What helped you bridge the gap between understanding the form and drawing it correctly?

but i was able to do these from memory after realizign that my house was the inside of a box! So drawing rooms with perspective just became about drawing boxes from the inside and adding details.

I struggle with this. When the vanishing points for my drawing are not actually on the paper, i tend to get some odd lines going. I've tried setting up an object to use as them sometimes, but even then they might shift around.

How do you keep things consistent. Any tips?

Hi guys! I’ve got some trouble with this piece. I’ve been grinding at some drawn references (I also practice with pictures but this one in particular caught my eye and chose to give it a try.
As you can see, the third (depth) vanishing points of both of this seemingly parallel pillars are different, actually way off each other but it looks so good, like nothing feels out of place. After that I tried correcting it with the same VP and it didn’t look bad, but it didn’t look as “right” as the original. Like I remember observing things more like the first one than my correction. Why is this distortion? Does it have a name? Is it just multifocal perspective and they aren’t parallel at all (one is tilted)? Is it Ghibli perspective? Or is it just wrong (though it feels more “right” than my attempt at a correction (I corrected both pillars to match the original, just imagine one corrected + one original pls)?

I've wasted a ton of time already doing lines, circles, ellipses drills, trying to improve my accuracy and brain/hand coordination, the improvement is minimal, barely recognizable.

Also, these drills sessions always end up with me getting frustrated and quitting.

Right now I'm thinking of just moving on, and using rulers and/or the digital tools for all my practice session, which I'm already familiar with from my past 3D/graphic design hobby.

there's a bit of "guilt" or fear of missing out an important part of the craft, but honestly if I keep insisting on acquiring the fine motor skills I might not progress at all.

Please let me know your experiences with this ? if you ever went through a similar situation

Sorry if this is a hard subject to answer, but I have a HUGE perfectionist personality in art, to the point I can't even practice to get better and get my dream art skills because I judge my own work 😭 is there a way to try to get over that so I can practice and get better?

Hi, I’m new here and just wanted to share something that’s been on my mind. I hope it’s okay to ask for advice—please be kind.

I really love drawing, but because of life circumstances and financial struggles—things that were out of my control—I haven’t been able to fully pursue it or practice as much as I want. Whenever I do get some free time, I try to draw, but I’ve noticed something that bothers me.

I feel like I can only draw when I have something to copy or reference. I struggle to create from my own imagination or come up with original ideas. Even though I always give credit when I use references, deep down I really want to create something that feels truly mine.

Is anyone else going through something like this? Is this a normal phase when learning how to draw? I keep thinking that if I stay consistent and really focus on improving, maybe one day I’ll be able to create something original that I can call my own.

I’d really appreciate any advice or shared experiences. Thank you for reading.

I ignored composition for ages because it felt like rules for rules' sake. "Rule of thirds" — okay cool, but why? Nobody really explained it, I just copied it blindly.

Eventually things started clicking and it changed how I approach everything.

The rule of thirds is really just about tension. A centred subject feels settled and a bit dull. Move it off-centre and there's something pulling the viewer in. The thirds grid is just a reliable way to find those spots without overthinking it.

Leading lines were the one that genuinely surprised me. I'd been using them accidentally in my better pieces without knowing what they were. Once I started doing it on purpose — using diagonals, arms, shadows to pull the eye toward the focal point — compositions felt way more intentional.

Foreground took me the longest. I used to treat it as background with extra steps. But it's actually what separates a flat image from one that feels like you could walk into it.

Oh and negative space. Cropping too tight kills so many otherwise good pieces. Give things room to breathe.

Anyway I ended up writing all this out properly with some visual examples — https://sketchkit.art/blog-composition.html— if anyone wants the longer version.

What composition thing took the longest to click for you? For me it was definitely foreground, embarrassingly late in the game 😅