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Hello Dear Reader,

Today I want to talk about a subject which I keep coming back to time and again in my own thoughts - so you could say it is close to my heart. And that is the long-form over the short-form of everything.

We all get one life (unless you are the proverbial cat) - and we would all like to enrich the experience of that life. We would like to make every second count for more and we would want to experience as many fulfilling experiences as we can.

So we want to do more per second and we …

If everything works right, you will get a banner along with today’s email. I made the banner in Clip Studio Paint 1 and the logo in Aseprite 2. The photo in the banner is from a few years ago - in the rainy season a frog was lounging near the fountain just posing for a photoshoot. I hope you like the banner - any feedback is welcome.

Here’s the full sized photo of the moody frog…

See you later, alligators,

Abhishek (art noob)

Hello Dear Reader,

Yesterday’s post had a glaring error in the technical section. I corrected the post after sending out the email and the web version has the corrected section. However I realized I need to institute some discipline on my part to ensure quality.

I’m thinking of delaying posts by a day so that I can read it one more time before I send it out next day. So it gives me a chance to review after a cool-down period.

Let me know what your thoughts are on the subject.

I leave you with a photo of …

“We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better.”
― Walt Stanchfield

If we did 100 bad drawings a day - and these have to be studying line work, shapes, forms, light and shadow, tones, anatomy and so on. And they have to be each with some detail. Then we would be through our 10000 bad drawings in a 100 days.

If we did 10 a day which might sound realistic but it’s not easy, we would still take 1000 days which is roughly 3 years.

This is to reach basic proficiency in …

“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”
― Moliere

Art Skills cannot be 3D-printed

We usually have unreasonable expectations from our body and mind, and from our teachers/tutors and even the world. We want to learn art in weeks and months or maybe a year. But our art skills grow like plants, slowly and deliberately, and need a lot of nutrients from the environment.

Learning the craftsmanship part of art can be thought of like growing a plant in a nursery or a garden. The plant will wither away or be stunted if not provided proper nutrients …

When I bought my digital tablet I went online looking for tutorials on how to start using it for painting. Those days I had a subscription for photoshop (I no longer do - and that’s a story for another post). Youtube videos, blogs, tutorials, manuals - I read and watched them all.

But ctrl+paint is the best free (+ paid for some) resource that I found online for learning digital painting. The free lessons are well organized and form a full curriculum. And the quality of lessons is amazing. So give it a go.

I leave you with Monet’s painting …

This blog is about the little things one can appreciate in art and craft. One of the awesome inventions which has changed the art world and gave it new energy is the drawing tablet. They are an awesome drawing tool.

Mouse is a point and click device

I remember when I first started using a mouse (the first computers I used did not have a mouse)… I would try to sign my name in the paint program. But mice are terrible at drawing. They are good point and click devices, but they don’t track well. Whether you are sketching …

As the rains in Bangalore subsided reluctantly after what seems like ages, the sun peeped out and out came this beautiful fellow. It was sunbathing on the wall of my balcony. What a confident and dashing caterpillar…

What’s the moral of the story today - “Some bugs are beautiful and deserve to be admired.”

Ciao,

Abhishek (the art noob)

Long time ago, a guy I didn’t know so well once dragged me a couple of kilometers to the results display of an art competition. It was early morning and I was still groggy. I guess I was the only guy he could find to drag along. He said he was very nervous, he had made a masterpiece submission and was expecting to win. He was also rambling all along whether the judges would “get” his painting. I mumbled some nonsense as I tagged along.

We get there and he goes straight to his painting. If you won, your …

When you’re making some art you usually need something to make a mark - while drawing or painting. And you need something to make the mark on. You could use pencils ✏️, crayons, pastels, pens ✒️, brushes, watercolour, acrylic, oils and many more… even your fingers 👆! For surface you could use the ground, walls, paper 📄, canvas, bottles 🍾, furniture, clothes… the list is endless. You could draw with your fingers and hands on sand. And that’s exactly what sand sculpture artists do!

When I started drawing every day, I went ahead and bought some expensive art supplies. I loved doodling and drawing …