 It's been almost two years since I drew something, and also since I last uploaded here on YouTube. This is also the third video that I have just uploaded ever since I started to get back into drawing again. And this is the first video where I'm actually recording on audio to talk about whatever commentary people talk about nowadays in their videos. But as I'm slowly getting back into art, there's definitely a lot of things that I have learned so far. So I am back with this new video and I will be talking about all of the learning lessons that I have accumulated as I try to get back into art and actually practice drawing portraits once again. But I just want to give a brief recap because if you've been watching some of my old videos, you might have realized that I actually made a lot of videos where I have said that I am back and then I disappear after a couple of months with no trace or no warning whatsoever and literally no peek from me. And then I come back again and then I disappear again. Who's to say if that's not going to be the same situation now? But hopefully not. Hopefully I am back for good because I definitely found a new sense of determination with trying to take art more seriously. And I realized that in the last couple of years, as I try to balance school and then work and just life in general with art and dreaming about an art career, I realized that I never actually prioritized it. I always kind of put forward whatever was going to give me a secure future as they say. And drawing I've always kind of seen and I've always been told that it's just a hobby so therefore it is low on the priority list. And if I really had to come down to condensing it to just the things that are high priority, then I can just get rid of art and drawing. I can live without it. But that is definitely not the case because after a long hiatus and hopefully the longest one and will be the last hiatus I ever have, I realized that no, I actually really, really miss making drawings. And I still have like all of these ideas for paintings and artworks that I want to create. But all I ever do is actually just list them down onto my notes app and I never do anything about them. However, since October 2023, I have decided that no, I'm actually going to make time for it. I'm going to put it higher on the priority list and now that it's January 2024 and the fact that it's a new year, I just feel like I have this bigger sense of urgency to actually practice and to get better at my drawing skills so that one day and hopefully soon I can actually execute all of the ideas that I have for these artworks and paintings that I really want to create. Throughout this journey of trying to get back into art, it definitely made me realize how important practice is. And I've always believed that practice is key. It definitely helps you improve and it definitely makes you better. It doesn't necessarily help you achieve perfection because there is no such thing as perfection, but it definitely makes you better. But with this hiatus that I had, it made me realize that not only does it make you better, it stops you from falling stagnant and deteriorating. It definitely maintains whatever skills you have. So if I had just done, for example, a sketch every couple of weeks or every month, I feel like the skill level that I was at when I stopped drawing and then when I kind of went back into it, I feel like it would have been the same. But that was definitely not the case because a lot of the things that I learned I had forgotten. And the only thing I was kind of left with were the fundamentals. I was struggling so much with drawing facial proportions and I'm a portrait artist, as you would say. I only really draw faces. That's about it. So if I was already struggling with how to draw faces and that was the only thing that I was drawing for years, then that was not a very good sign. So that's definitely what I've been trying to do since October. I've been practicing my skills and trying to also just take it easy with whatever it is that I'm drawing. A lot of the things that I'm drawing at the moment, I just consider them more like practice sessions. I haven't really had the courage just yet to execute any big art pieces or ideas that I have because I personally don't feel very confident in my skills to be able to execute those ideas. With that said, another thing that I would like to remind myself, and if you're in a similar situation as me, or even if you are just starting to draw and you're learning how to draw portraits, it still applies and that would be to take your time. Take it easy. And yes, that sounds really basic, but it's actually something that I feel like gets taken for granted because I don't know, maybe we as humans are just really impatient creatures. But that was definitely my case when I started drawing again. I thought that my skills were going to be the same from where I left off. Therefore, the first drawing that I literally started to draw was something that I would consider a bit more ambitious than where my skill level really was. So yeah. Nowadays, I am really taking my time with a sketch because when I was drawing way more frequently, way more consistently back then, I would say that I was much faster at drawing portraits because, well, I was doing it regularly, repeatedly. And so naturally, I would just get faster and faster. It was almost like a muscle memory. But yes, so just take your time. Really be cautious with where you're putting your lines. And if you're using a reference, really be cautious with, you know, trying to draw what you see on the reference. In the past, when I was way more confident with my art and with my skills, I was able to kind of play around with a reference. I would see a reference and then I would kind of change things here and there. And I would start to just draw what I would know rather than what I would see. But that is not the case anymore, because I feel like all of that knowledge that used to be here in my head, I have just forgotten. And the only thing that's really left are like the fundamentals. But that is something that I need to take forward with me is to just take it easy, relax, and just take my time with each drawing. And another thing I would recommend is, of course, to find resources to help you, like for example, a class or if it's a YouTube drawing tutorial video or if it's a book, anything, anything that can help you learn how to draw something. Definitely 100% recommend that. I've always been an advocate for finding lots of resources and a variety of them as well. In my case, I had to watch my own drawing tutorial video on how to draw faces because well, that's how I drew back then and that's how I want to draw now. So it just made sense for me to watch my own video on how to draw faces. And as soon as I actually watched that, a lot of the knowledge that I had forgotten literally came flooding back in. It was a really good refresher. So if you're trying to get back into art just like me, the resource that I would recommend is definitely something that you have already seen so that it's more of just like a reminder. But if you're just getting into drawing and into art, then I guess I would just recommend my own video because why not? I think it's great and I also learned a lot from myself. So maybe you will also learn a lot from that video. But this video is definitely more on like tips that I feel like we take for granted and need to be really reminded of these things in order to improve. And one thing that I personally, I would say is probably high on my priority list of the things that I learned and the things that I've applied is to draw the guidelines. When I was drawing way more consistently back then, I was at a point where I wasn't drawing the guidelines anymore because I was just doing it so frequently that it became like a muscle memory or that I would kind of just like start to see it in my head and I didn't need to actually draw it down on paper. And that wasn't the case this time. So I really have started to take the time to actually draw out the lines. And that's what you can see me doing in this video, like I'm drawing the lines for the eyebrows and for the hairline. And I realized that all like, I guess the eyebrows feel a little bit too close to the eyes. So I just like erased them and I moved them a little bit higher. But yeah, there is nothing wrong with you know, where the eyebrows were placed before. But for me personally, I want to master how to draw the face and using facial proportions that what kind of like what we call the ideal facial proportions. I want to master that first. I want to get comfortable with that. So the next step after this drawing is for me to basically just draw the same thing again, not necessarily I'll probably use like a different reference image, but essentially do the exact same thing where I'm just practicing how to draw a face using the ideal facial proportions, because then the repetition will allow me to get more comfortable with that concept. And then I'll be able to play around with different facial proportions. Because realistically, we all have different faces, like some people have eyes that are like closer together. Some people have eyes that are farther apart. Some people's chin is a lot smaller than what the ideal proportion calls for. Or for example, just like in this drawing, some people's eyebrows are much closer and some people's eyebrows are a little bit further apart from the eyes. So like that's completely normal. But for me personally, I kind of like to work in steps, especially if I'm like trying to learn how to draw or in this case, I'm practicing how to draw something that I've already learned in the past. I still like to take things by steps. So for me, the step one is to just focus on the one thing and that one thing being the ideal facial proportions. After that, I will 100% play around with different facial proportions. And then because I'm a little bit more confident by that time, hopefully then I can kind of play around with like, for example, different ages or different genders, things like that, or different facial expressions. So I kind of see it in those steps. And right now, I am at the beginning stage, which is just going with the basics. And that is pretty much it. Those are my main takeaways throughout this journey of getting back into drawing. So far, it's been going great. I actually have been applying all of these things like I am way more patient with my art. I am actually drawing the guidelines. And I have also been watching other people's drawing tutorial videos to help me so that I'm, you know, expanding my knowledge, because I watched so many drawing tutorial videos back in the day. And a lot of those things I've forgotten. So it's always a good thing to go back and refresh your brain. And of course, I'm practicing and I'm practicing regularly. I'm putting in aside time to actually draw something on a regular basis. And yeah, I guess, I guess no, I guess my main takeaway is that application is key. Maybe that is key and not practice. Because yes, the things that I've mentioned in this video are common knowledge, you know, everyone knows them like practice. Yeah, heard that so many times. But are you actually applying them? Because if you're not applying them, what good is that common knowledge doing you is definitely not helping you improve because you're not applying any of those techniques or tips the same way that you would apply a unique drawing technique. So I guess it really just comes down to that. You actually do have to put all of these tips and techniques into into work.