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Lesson 2 Textures are driving me nuts.

12:38 PM, Friday October 28th 2022

I've been without sleep for around 15 hours now and I work overnight at my job. Since it's overnight there isn't much to do, so I've been spending a lot of time going through the lessons and also doing my 50/50 drawings. I blame this more on the lack of sleep, but the textures are my hair grey. It's so hard to distinguish shadows and the smoother textures are hard to study. I can never figure out how to represent texture with black ink. My brain hurts. This is the first time I have felt utter defeat in my artistic learning experience.

I will not give up. I needed a place to release this frustration. I will conquer this Lesson when my brain has reset.

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3 users agree
2:01 PM, Monday October 31st 2022

Seems like your more or less on the right track. I find myself getting hung over on texture too. The best advice I could give off of my experience is to pace yourself. Since texture is the first exercise that deals with observation I've found that it takes a bit more concentration than the exercises leading up to it. It can be difficult sometimes but I find that being able to catch myself when I'm too exhausted and stepping away for a moment usually is the better option. As for smoother textures that might be something you want to avoid starting off. With something bumpier you might have a better time being able to conceptualize where the cast shadows are. I would also recommend checking out ScyllaStew's and Creative Crusade's videos on the texture exercises if you haven't already. There linked in the Discord but ill put them here just in case. They might help you get some insight in to how you can tackle your textures. Hope this helps and good luck. You got this.

ScyllaStew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtVyDMnvoOg

Creative Crusade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD1uNLbvC_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pa3qik9ed4

5:16 AM, Tuesday November 1st 2022

Thank you. This means a lot. These videos are extremely helpful. And your words of encouragement have rejuvenated my fighting spirit!!!

0 users agree
1:47 AM, Thursday November 17th 2022
edited at 1:47 AM, Nov 17th 2022

I had a really hard time with textures too. Maybe you'd find what I learned to be helpful: Lessons Learned from Conquering the Beast That Is the Dissections Exercise!. I agree with UsedNapkin: you may want to lean away from smooth textures.

edited at 1:47 AM, Nov 17th 2022
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These are what I use when doing these exercises. They usually run somewhere in the middle of the price/quality range, and are often sold in sets of different line weights - remember that for the Drawabox lessons, we only really use the 0.5s, so try and find sets that sell only one size.

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