Practicing Can Be a Butt At Times

There is this belief that art is all fun and games, that you make images for a laugh and you're either magically good...or you're not. While this may be the case for some people, the "fun part" is only up to 10% of what is happening behind the scenes for artists who care about their craft. Most of the time, it is grueling. You're spending the majority of your time on social media platforms posting and interacting, and when you do get to draw, you are likely doing some sort of study or drilling so you can be better than you were before. You might get to draw something you actually enjoy if you have extra time, Mars is in retrograde, and it's Friday the 13th that also happens to be a blue moon.

Work With Your Brain, Silly!

Practicing especially can be annoying, as you are stretching new creative muscles and strengthening them. Which means even a simple sketch can take hours as your eyes and hands work out how to match the reference you're using. Plus, it can be extra painful if you're drilling cubes in a way that becomes a chore by cube five. Which, sure, it's effective and will help you with more complex projects, so many do view it as worth it, but not everyone is going to be able to stick to it. Especially not long enough to find results.

It's not like that that approach is the only one. You can get results through different practice methods. It just goes down to finding something that works with your brain, and perhaps even make it fun. While I may not be able to give any ideas, as learning is a highly personal process, I can attest to it when it comes to language learning.

Sometimes, though, when you're finding even methods you enjoy using a struggle, then it is likely that you need to take a break. There are several ways you can take a break, and I have listed a couple already. So, if you do need a break, then feel free to read my list for ideas right here: https://dextiveblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/things-you-can-do-to-take-break-from-art.html

An Example From Experience

Italian is a language I have been studying. I got started with Duolingo, but I found I wasn't able to stick with it, and eventually decided to go on a different path. I picked my own topics to learn the vocabulary for, made flash cards, and spend a good amount of my time watching children's cartoons in Italian. 

While I've technically been at it for close to a year now, I didn't see any real progress until after I figured out my system. Now I can ramble a little bit, and even read and summarize basic A1-level stories, even if those summaries are currently in English. Which, for the record, I started this method in earnest in early January, and this rant is being written on January 27th.

Conclusion

All in all, though, it doesn't mean that practicing and learning are always pleasant to do. The process will always have its painful points. The only thing that can be controlled is how difficult they are to go through, and how often they come up. If you wish to, feel free to comment about your own painful experiences while practicing something, especially if the thing was related to the arts. I'd love to hear your story!

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