Funny enough the only times I feel like questioning weather or not I should pursue art as a career is when I haven’t drawn in a bit. But when I pick up that stylist and produce something fully I get that dopamine hit, it’s great but what’s even greater is that feeling of comfort while I’m working knowing full well I couldn’t pursue any career other than this one

@artofdaviii

2 жыл бұрын

Well said Sir!

@WishMish15

2 жыл бұрын

I totally feel this too! I chalk it up to the “motivation comes from action” mantra I say every morning to myself when I just dont feel like doing art. Every single time when i sit down to do it, I’m glad I did.

@BrandochGarage

2 жыл бұрын

A good haircut does do wonders... ;)

@Crystalwolf953

2 жыл бұрын

I get the same thing. When I'm doing heavy programming for a game project or just not drawing for a bit I'm like "am I okay not drawing this much? It feels fine but also I should be drawing." I think I just need to find some safe bets that are simple to do when I've got more complex, non-art work.

@silverblue73

Жыл бұрын

Damn, summed up my whole life 🥲

What helped me alot, was realizing, that doing art as a hobby, instead of trying to pursue the professional path is neither a lose nor a downgrade of sorts. At some point I noticed, that whenever I'm stuck I need distance from the whole process of drawing, but not only for a few hours or days, but for weeks, sometimes one or two months. However, each time, I came back, I was a tad better because I had time to reflect what went wrong and thus felt more confident again. Making your own art is always a win, and if you need several months (like me) do complete something, it's not worse or less valuable, it's just your way to do it.

@frendobendo4433

2 жыл бұрын

Some people are pretty toxic and think unless you have a career as an artist you're a failure. I don't see why people shouldn't be allowed to draw for fun, its not like professional gamers criticize and mock people who play games for fun as "not real gamers". Usually the people who draw for fun have the most interesting art to look at since its not a product marketed at people.

Maybe someone finds this useful. When I draw for myself, it gives me energy, because I fulfill my own fantasy and explore those fictional dimensions. When I draw for others, it burdens me with expectation and criticism, and I get burned easily. I've been drawing for myself all my life, and it's only around 2-3 years that I've been trying to become a professional. These years were like hell for me. My art has turned from a quite nurturing harbor to a desolate industrial landscape. I've always loved Trent's art and philosophy he speaks out here, and this video makes me question my goals and priorities again... Hope it's for good.

Self improvement is often a lonely road. It's hard but you are aware of it.

I hope many people watching this take your advice to heart. The matter of comfortably pushing yourself, growing out of your comfort zone, cannot be overstated enough in the artistic community. Thanks Trent for bringing this issue to the forefront

I am just getting back into the swing of art again. I've pretty much taken a 10 year break from all the art I've done in highschool, trying to find myself as a person. I gotta say the whole time i wasn't making art I had that urge to create. I've only realized with in the past year (2021). That this is what I want to do! My strength as an artist in highschool was black and white but free handing any images/thing I saw. I would like to say my greatest weakness is coming up with original ideas. I would like to say for anyone struggling that while taking a break from art, never stop observing your surroundings. This has been something I was taught a while back . Dwelling on your past self questioning where you could have been gets you no where. Find where you want to go and take your first step! Make art for the sake of making art! Make art for yourself when your trying to improve! Making art simply for Likes, follows and money is a hard path to help improve yourself! Be happy in your work! Judge yourself hard but always plan on improvement!

I'm gonna be completely honest, that advice really changed my perspective on learning something new with art. I always feel like I have to do only new things in order to learn, but then I get burnt out and unhappy. 80% what you know and 20% something new... I really like that.

thank you uncle Trent for always uploading videos about how to counter despair because he knows his art children produce a lot of despair proteins in their system

I feel you on the programing, I'm currently attempting to learn coding and OH boy.. I have days where I wonder, "am I a masochistic? " But I made it! Yes, it is a VERY basic HTML coded website but I did it... sure feels like I just started learning a different language :P

@aternall

2 жыл бұрын

Good luck! I’ve also dived in coding with SheCodes basic coding class and it was quite interesting and made me happy when I was able to resolve the task at the end if the class. I was considering learning coding and leave the art as a hobby but somehow it makes me sad that I didn’t pushed further to make it happen so now I’m questioning which path to take...

It's a good idea from time to time to look back at your journey. As when going up a mountain, one tends to focus on the summit, and it seems like it's not coming any closer. It is when you look down that you realize you've come quite a long way. Sometimes, you find a lagoon on the way, and you decide to chill there instead of going to the summit - that's cool too.

The funny thing is that I'm more focused on what you are saying while I'm drawing and listening to you than just watching you. what you said was really helpful. I'm having the same struggle.

Also there's another thing that can help- totally other passion, for me it were grappling martial arts, going there over 2 years regularly gave me motivation for everything, to simply not give up that easy. On classes you have other people like you and leader- they all embrace you to continue, despite problems. When you build certain confidence and motivation on these classes, doing anything will be easier ;)

I'm in a confusing place with my art I don't have feelings of being pro but to be able to draw whatever I want is what I'm working towards because I love to amaze myself with what I accomplished happens after random drawings

Thank you for this video. I feel like a lot of us struggling artists fight a constant internal psychological battle, equally hard, if not harder, than just practicing skills and learning. What I've found helps me a lot was exploring and looking for evidence in my own life where I've already overcome obstacles, sometimes ones that seemed would crush me at the moment I was facing them. For me it was graduating at a very demanding university and overcoming huge tragedy in my personal life. I hope people who read this comment will find equal inspiration in themselves and their own experience, that will prove to them they can achieve a lot more then they often think they can. Hard days are just that, part of life, and learning in itself is a huge comfort zone burner. Also, I've read somewhere that feeling frustrated, but pushing through anyway can actually increase neuroplasticity even in very adult or mature brain, so that was an interesting relief, to know that that yucky emotion is in fact a sign you're on the right track. Wish you all the best in 2022.

Trent - your videos are great and I've just landed my first big concept art gig. I'm a pro freelancer but so far it's all been illustration and package art, never any concept art. Appreciate all the tips, advice, etc in your videos!

@Mr.McWatson

2 жыл бұрын

That's pretty awesome- did it come down to any one thing?

@LuciaDolls

Жыл бұрын

Congrats Aaron and thanks for the inspirational comment! I've been freelancing for 2 years now and trying to secure my first concept art job :)

I needed this as hell. Thank You. I was so down for about a week now. I felt burnt out. I do music and art at the same time and THIS video, really helped me to just... Do things. Slowly but surely. Again... Thank You

lately, when I stuck and stressed with work.. I draw an emoji.. simple, yet could change the flow of a conversation... then I comeback to work filling a bit better or even actually learn something from my little emoji side trip.

What's funny about falling back on what you're good at is that I'm really good at realistic art, but I'm trying to become a storybook illustrator and getting into drawing cute animals and people. I always felt I was the weird standout artist who does both instead of choosing a niche, but this video makes me feel better about that. Thank you, Trent! 😊

@lexacharms

5 ай бұрын

I always felt I had to quit doing realistic art, because I felt I had to choose. So, because of that, I haven't drawn realistic in months, and barely having any wins makes me feel like I'm kinda failing in art, thus doing art less.

Man, idk why but you are the most relatable when you give your advice with art careers and drawing in general. Just do it. Gotta make the dreams happen. It's hard on so many levels but the happiness you get through the work is unmatched.

Finally, someone explained the famous 80% and 20% rule in a clear way :) Your videos are very helpful and motivating, thanks a lot!

That's so true. Everyone wants a new win. They forget about the old stuff that gave them compliments. Going to try the 80-20 strategy.

I legit thought it was Wednesday today, lol! Excellent advice ^^ Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Whenever I finished a drawing and it’s up on the wall, all I see is what could have done better, I feel I am learning right then and there! This must be easy to recognize for a lot of people. My secret? Keep it for yourself and try to enjoy it. After all , don’t make it something you can only live with upon approval of others, something is wrong…..

Needed this video - couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you!

@Silver01Son

2 жыл бұрын

Me too

This is... actually decent advice. I see too many "oh just keep at it. practice what you're bad at, and change it up" But you suggesting just trickling in what your bad at into your "routine" is... pretty solid advice. I've never even thought about redoing old art. But guess what I'm about to do?

I really like that sentence: "If a human can do it, you can freaking do it." If another human was able to learn to draw, to paint or to compose, I am able to learn it, too.

I just came across this video and played it while sketching out some ideas. Glad I did. The topics you touch on are stuff artists need to remind themselves often. Any goal is attainable if you break them down in small tasks. Great video and really like your art style too!

Thank you for this video, it's what I needed to hear just these days, gave me some much needed motivation to go on

Happy new year Trent, wishing you all the best! Thanks for your videos!

Man, I can't thank you enough for the encouragement and positive (but completely realistic) advice you give. I always walk away from your videos inspired.

So good to see you do these videos. I wish you were one of my art teachers back then. Honestly, it is really hard to keep my mind on track. It happens when I was doing my job as an illustrator and character designer. I got tons of tasks everyday, the amount of works just made me wanna take a long break from it. From making concept to refine it, the progress kept repeating itself until I couldn't take it anymore, and I knew I got to figure out how to make myself not getting bored by the workload. Giving up is not really a thing bothering me. The only thing troubles me is the repetition of the progress. It's like a loop in a loop, so I can't help myself from hating it. I feel I'm gone crazy, because I have to find something to force my mind get back to the moment when I love what I'm doing. Repeat the same thing over and over again is a poison. So I do archery stuff, something that I recently find I'm good at, it's helpful to distract myself from the struggles. It is really hard to find someone in this industry sparing times to listen. So be tough and try hard for short. Find other thing you are good at is the best option to keep your mind staying fresh and active.

Thats why I always love your videos. These are the advices that cant be taught usually at schools. Been following you ever since and I grew a lot just listening to your advices.

Once again Trent, thanks for the great insights. I like the fact that you are both straightforward, confident and humble. Your videos are always a great boost for me, even though I am a beginner Gameplay Designer and not a Concept Artist. And watching you draw those great pieces of art is of course a big plus !!

Your videos are always the best I love people who are straight up but make it funny you’ve helped me get more serious about my art !

Very helpful and informative video Trent - I'm going to apply the 80/20 method to my practice for a few weeks and see what happens. I've been doing only lessons and assignments; no studies of my own and no drawing for fun/enjoyment - I think this has been a mistake, and this video has made me decide to try and apply what I've been studying to things I want to draw.

Thanks for making these videos, Trent.

Damn this just opened my eyes 😭 I draw since childhood without formal education so I always got thru things I didn't know simply doing the best I could with refs and maybe bc of that I severely lack confidence and every time I finish a drawing and the client thinks it's !!Amazing!! I always feel like it was just luck that this time again I could pretend I know what I'm doing while rendering and I am like?? Years now wanting to try a render style just like yours in this video but I always end up cowardly not touching my lineart cuz I'm afraid I'm gonna screw everything up and just lose time 😔 But!!! As you said, I'm gonna try doing it little by little so I don't have to get too sad when it goes wrong

This is literally the video I needed right now, thanks man.

This was such a good collection of tips and reassuring reminders. Thank you! Also love the videos where you talk through the creative choices behind the work you've done.

What I can take away from this vid, summed up simply - Strength before Weakness, Journey before Destination. Just needed Life before Death, and we'd have the First Ideal of the Knights Radiant

It's fun to hear you, as a pro artist, talk about programming :) As a pro developer (decades - man, I'm getting old) it sounds much like me struggling with art. The good thing: when you have mastered a complex craft, whatever it is, over so many years, you know in your guts what a professional level feels like, and how much it took to get there. That feeling is a great guide. And: you've climbed one mountain, you know you can do another one!

I think this is the best advice you've given, and it's something I use all the time. If people can do something, if they can learn it, than so can I. If I work hard like them I'll get there.

Your advice re: doing a little bit more than you're capable of actually lines up with Stephen Krashen's "Input Hypothesis" (as part of his overall theory of second language acquisition). In his theory, I think he calls it i+1 which basically means that if 'i' is whatever your level is, then you want to just barely go above that in order to advance in the language.

Lol I also feel dysfunctional at times. Mind: "HEY! LET'S MAKE SOMETHING TODAY! 🤩" Body: "Nah, I'm good 😔" Soul (with a sledgehammer): "WRONG ANSWER 🤡😡💥💫" Send help 😅😭

Hi Trent awesome content as always. The art is so rich! Hope to see some world-building and story-telling products on your gumroad

These Videos should Cost. Such Informative information.! When I watch you Videos Trent I break out the Pen and Paper. Such Nuggets in each Video.! Thank you for what you do.! To me you are the “Best in the Business”.! By Far.! As a Long time Sub, I look Forward to Following you in “2022” Every Friday.! 👊😎 👏

I was just talking with a friend about this exact thing. Your wizardry remains top tier.

Identify what your strenghts are, and do 80% of that, while 20% of eveything you do is beyound your usual scope.

Thank you for the wonderful videos. I was introduced to your channel by a former instructor of mine with the "Is Instagram sabotaging your art career?" and I found it very insightful and inspiring. Your videos give me a lot to think about and reflect on and are overall incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! Can't wait for the next video!

Thank you for sharing this, it very encouraging and aspiring too ~

Had to stop thinking on the destination. Now it's about the journey.

Thank you man!

Great video!!

For those who play ELDEN RING notice when he says “take your time, come back to it” You lose but if you take a lil break and come back to it you’ll always improve. You’ll ways best that boss in the end and link the fire, wake up from the dream, or become ELDEN LORD!!. “Don’t you dare go hollow friends” and lets be the next generation of creatives 💪🏽❤️‍🔥💪🏽

Wow I love that tree looking fly you designed

Interesting, besides temporarily putting away what brings me irritation and anxiety in art I find it quite effective to do the opposite thing. I just sit there and start grinding it until my annoyance changes for enjoyment. Idk how it happens, but it works anytime I find enough strength to do it. And even if my method get me a very limited technical improvement it still feels much, much better after the "crisis" over. Remember some artist saying that to make one good piece you should first make 99 bad drawings :)

I out of the game and would love to get back in it, favorited this to help out

this is also my weakness right now. Thank you sir!

Sage advice Trent.

Thank you

Also this put me in a relly happy mood for some reason xD thank!

For what it's worth, as a teen and early twenty-something, I. H. A. T. E. D. drawing (like that Swiffer commercial about aaaaaannnnyyyyytttthhhhiiiiinnnng is better than mopping; mopping is gross and I would've chosen that over drawing). However, pretty much any way I was going to do my graphic novel, I needed some kind of drawing. But! I was pretty good at drawing, and I could only get better at it if I did it. I can't really tell you where the switch came in, but I realized, when my drawings were colored (I draw faster on paper than digitally), I liked them a lot better, and it was that serotonin boost that pushed me a little further. Then my brain started associating drawing with serotonin. To address the original question, I think if you don't have an intrinsic reason for drawing, you're never going to find that serotonin hit that keeps you coming back. I kept coming back to drawing when I hated it, for myself, to feel and see that progress into the project, to bring that project to life. If you're hating this, you need to ask yourself what you hate and if your goal outweighs that suck.

I draw everyday and I love it. Trent's videos helped me a lot. I love to see myself improving. I've teach drawing for a long time and my students were awesome. BUT, it took me a lot of time and heart break to discover that one of the reasons I love drawing so much is because I don't work with it. I'm a principal for a public music school. I don't need to draw for my day to day work. I don't need it at all. So I use drawing in my job as a increment, if I use it at all. Drawing is amazing to me because I don't want to make it my carrier. It's OK to be good at something as a hobby. To me, drawing for fun is much more fulfilling.

There is an age factor- or maturity factor that matters. When you are young you make art. I think every single culture on the planet- young kids make art. The one day somebody says "you art attempts are shit. Get a job." and we do. Then when you are at the end of your life like me (terminal cancer) and say I want to do art again- you see what everyone else did while you had a job and you just feel over whelmed. Becuase well it becomes very apparent you can never catch up and your health doesnt cooperate and learning is hard. My take on this- never give your art up. Its just as important as your job but for very different but equal reasons. It doesnt have to be profitable or popular- its your voice and its important.

The most important thing for every single artist is to never stop searching and trying new things you’ll surprise yourself with what you thought you wouldn’t like but end up actually loving to do personally I’ve always loved drawing monsters with teeth and skulls but I went searching and found out I love doing ui and also somewhat enjoy 3D too tho I definitely dislike the 3D workflow. If you don’t search you may miss out on something you love

thank you

Yeah. I think You're right My Mom gifted Me watercolour supplies and... they're fun and interesting I mixed colors, experimented their use and functions, painted actual things like an Avocado, Apples and Anime eyes Despite the fact that I'm a noob, is cool. I can relate with Your words

when you are young and you feel like the place you are in gives you anxiety you might need to change your approach, there is not one way to the road that you want to be in...

I had a hard time accepting that I didn't like it as a career. It ended up becoming a healthier relationship with art after I decided I only wanted to do it as a hobby.

Its funny you should say that. I see artist who have a cartoon show. like The Simson's with funny looking drawn characters. Drawings that I would never do. I work hard on faces hands the whole nine yards. I see people who do cartoons. With funny looking character. "Steven Universe" comes to mind. A hit cartoon, another The Simson's. You know this thing about drawing a more a Psychological thing. Like writing a person has to get inside themselves- I mean deep. Like fighting yourself. Its deep.

I dont agree with what you said at the beginning: hating the process Is a result of a bad method, or even the absence of the method itself. "Wandering" around the canvas trying desperate approaches to improve your drawing, or maybe mimicking the final product of another artist ignoring the construction behind that art piece. Its like saying to a toddler "well, if you cant walk like me just sit down" if you know what i mean

I feel like I try to push myself as an artist, I tend to have so many ideas that I loose focus so I have to force myself to focus on one at a time… if you want to create a game why not find other talented designers to do the work you hate and be the director that brings your idea to life… And just create badass art man!

I'm getting better everyday. In a few months I might be able to make a complete piece and start designing characters. Today, it's gesture and anatomy. That's all I do really. There's good reason. All I want to draw is characters and I'm good enough to see bad anatomy, and the only thing I can learn to get where I want to be is anatomy, gesture and perspective. I do a little gesture everyday. I then do one or two figure studies. And when I notice a new bump or body part I learn what it's called and research it's structure. So gesture/anatomy, then perspective. That's pretty much what I do in spare time these days. It's still fun, so I guess that's something.

I save watch later and favorites this video whenever i stuck, to remind me

Hi Mr. Trent great video as always👌 Thanks for making these videos. can you make a video about NFT’s. It is new and it would be nice to learn about them from someone we trust. Like how NFT’s work and who owns what and best place to sell NFT’s. Thanks

Great tips, as usual! How much time did you spend on this wagon piece?

@TrentKaniuga

2 жыл бұрын

about 9 hours

was waiting for the "money on demand, ciao baby, ooh yeah!" :(

Oh yeahhh next week will introduce my first animation (6sec xD) and some art of mine! 🤯🤯 Thank you for the inspiration! Art content coming more!

This is my Art yoga.....i remember my office mates.the point that they can render a realistic scenery of a house after teaching them.As if they know everything haha...they dont want to study and be good at Planning a Floor plan and elevation...they want just to jump the rendering part...

Trent, consider making a course on how to color. Thank you very much and have a great week.

@TrentKaniuga

2 жыл бұрын

How to color? Do you mean with layers? Or choosing colors? What part of coloring are you asking about?

@lucasmoreira3237

2 жыл бұрын

@@TrentKaniuga The full process. Everything you use in your own art. For example: could be several, step by step, exercises that go from beginner to advanced. Everyone will love it.

Can you do more material study’s like wood for example? I love your videos lmao I just found out about your channel and have been binge watching.

@TrentKaniuga

2 жыл бұрын

I have a few of those. Yah.

Thought Mr. Kaniuga wasn't posting videos anymore, I've been watching your old videos. BOOST TIME!

@TrentKaniuga

2 жыл бұрын

I have been posting every week 1-2 times per week for 4 years! I never stopped.

Trent sorry to ask again but what brush are you using here? The Square Pickle? And you use it for the line art and the colorings as well?

Follow 80/20 Do 80% of your strengths, 20% of your weaknesses.

I enjoyed art all my life, maybe that was because it was a hobby to me at that point but taking it seriously and going down a career path in it, i'm getting frustrated with art and the university course itself. Maybe it isn't for me but i've spent the last 5 years taking it seriously and i've gotten to a point where i'm stuck and i'm scared to realise I might've just wasted 5 years of my life.

Drawing Anthro Animals? Ok. Wasn't thinking about doing that. It would be nice to take drawing breaks with breaks. If only I have infinite amount of paper...

Drawing for social media was the worst idea ever, people will try to cancel you at a slightest occassion and even use your own drawings to accuse you of sick things, I don't think I'll ever get over this trauma and learn to love my drawings again. They ruined for me the only thing I had...

@TrentKaniuga

2 жыл бұрын

Haters gonna hate. You have to grow a thick skin and do it for the folks that LIKE what you are doing. I get a few nasty comments too. And it never feels good. But I remember all of the rest of the comments that are supportive, and I make more videos for THOSE folks.

@realswobby

2 жыл бұрын

@@TrentKaniuga Thank you for this reply. Maybe if I'll turn off commenting on my accounts, it will feel less anxious to post something again... You're right, I shouldn't let some random strangers have such a big control over me. I'll try to figure this out. There were quite a lot of nice reactions too but it always felt like I don't deserve their support :/

This may be more of a fine art question, but I really take away so much from your tipps that I think it may be interesting for concept artists as well. Color. I find it reasonably easy to look at an image and just copy the color. But when I look at my finished image it often looks like a worse version of the reference. It lacks life. Now when I analyze for example landscape paintings, I often find extremely unrealistic colors. The shadows are deep purple, trees trunks bright red the water emerald green. Their references certainly don't look anything like that. So how do you develop the skill to translate the colors you see into something that draws you into that magical world?

@namedrop721

6 ай бұрын

Observe in real life. Eventually like putting substitutes in cake, like stringing together dance moves, like transposing a piece, your brain will do it

Is the art book your making out now? Can someone link it?

I started freelancing on environment art and I don't know where should I go next with that career

Programming is just a muscle, as little as it can feel that way sometimes. Stick with it!

In order for me to see this progress and evolve would be to stop procrastinating on my idea and after 11 years of ilustrating do a comic I always wanted to create 😭 But I don't even know where to begin with writing the script, how does a sample script for a comic looks like, how to arrange the panels. If someone maybe has some resources to recommend, that would be awesome

but what if the thing you loved got you tired? how do you re-juice that?. or does that mean is it time to move on...

If you have the desire. It will not let you sleep eat think or do nothing but art. Success is not the goal. Creating the story art and the evolution of your ability to create it and beyond. That is the only thing. Blank paper is thousand stories and worlds. If no one buys or wonts it is not s care to the doing it.

in my country, artist is hard to make a living. i'm a graphic designer who do cross designs from Graphic, Video editing , motion graphic, photography and 3D is barely made 500 dollar a month, while other country where artist just keep focus on one thing and they earn more than 12xxxx$ a year.

@TrentKaniuga

Жыл бұрын

So why not sell your services to companies and customers from those countries that pay more? You can undercut the competition because you can charge way less, and it would still be more than you'd make in your own country.

hey orient with your style you can pull of a mertoidvania game like hollow knight

lol, arent you supposed to use photobash for concept art only?

Watched this just after I woke up.

Is it still worth it going into an Art "school" / Course rather in my country for about 5 years with only some basic self thought abilities? Just because I have a passion for it and really no other courses interests me 😔

Hell-o Trent, I need a tremendous amount of emotional help. Your videos are the only thing that has successfully helped out the tremendous amount of depression I have had for 26 YEARS. Every day going to work as a contractor, I absolutley hate it. I feel like Mr. Smith in the MATRIX (part 0ne) I need to get out............... I nned to get out........... I asnbe sto gheth hout..................... in eed to tget out.... I need to het out...... Please help.