1. I'd say start with redoing some of the exercises first, if you feel you're ability to draw boxes and marks has gotten significantly worse you can redo the full lesson.

2. I know it's a bit cliche at this point but doing a little everyday was the magic bullet for me. I first discovered DaB back in 2017. I'd do a bunch, burn out and then return months later just to do it all again. Earlier last year I stumbled across a post mentioning this method and switched my goal to trying to get something done for DaB each day, no matter how little. Progress seemed slow at first but because I did it each day I was making way more than I was previously.

Hi StressZits,

I'm sorry to hear that you are frustrated with your progress and skills. My advice would be: Don't worry to much about your improvement or what you think you might did wrong in the past. I myself tried to start with drawing a lot over the last couple of years (longest I stuck with it were a few weeks). Most of the time I dropped it because I wasn't satisfied with the results. That is until I saw the lesson 0 videos from Uncomfortable, in which he states the 50%-rule. That kept me thinking about that I never really did draw for the sake of just drawing, at least outside of my childhood. Now that I'm just filling pages of my sketchbook with whatever comes into my mind (most of it comes out as crap, but I don't mind it anymore because it was fun doing it) it is much easier for me to stick with drawing and dedicating some of my time to hard and deliberate practice sessions.

To answer your first question. I would pick up the lessons where you left off and do what you're already doing incorporate them in the warm ups. So a light refresher will work. If you worry about their quality you might post some of your warm up pages and see if someone is kind enough to give you a feedback on them.

Regarding your Second question:

What always helps me to stay disciplined is setting myself a date or a time of day which is reserved for practice sessions and I'm trying not to grind during the sessions. Each of my practice sessions contains an easy to reach goal. For example in my 250 Box challenge: the goal was as simple as just putting at least one box to the best of my abilities down on the page, that of course resulted in more than just one box per session most of the time. But I only spend as much time practicing as I can. If I feel that I can't focus anymore I stop the deliberate practice and recharge my batteries by doing something fun or relaxing. My tip for this is find dates for your practices which fit your schedule and set a goal for it, that's easy to reach for you. And never forget to draw for fun. ;)

And I think my mindset changed a lot, I don't think anymore that I need to improve my skills as fast as possible. It's more like I want to improve my art and am willing to put the time in needed whenever I can.

I hope this helps!

I'm new myself so can't comment on where to start again. However, I have spent a life time starting and stopping various hobbies. Working intensely for a while, sometimes years, and then stopping completely. Sometimes coming back to it sometimes not. It used to bother me when I didn't keep going. This is my advice to you and how I overcame my feelings of failure:

Forgive yourself. Unless you are doing this for a living, this is for fun. Even while doing 250 boxes, this is for fun. Don't worry about the "should be better" voice in your head. The only person saying that is you. When we stop practicing something, we all lose skill in that area. It's fine. It sounds like you stopped for a good reason. Life is like that. Once I learned to forgive myself when I stopped or restarted a hobby, all the internal pressure I felt melted away. Surprisingly, my motivation with things actually increased because I didn't feel the pressure to continue.

Hey

Definitely having a clear long-term goal. I'm on my third year now and reached L5 just recently. I've taken paus every now and then and did some other drawing courses. Remember the 50/50 rule. Also celebrate every little achievement. Don't make it a result oriented task, learn through the process as well and be happy even if you did just five minute of sketching.

I'm in the same shoes as you. I stopped a little after the 250 boxes challenge due to life catching up. i was also trying to determine whether to fully restart or pick up where I left off.

I think restarting again would be beneficial to us as that'll just reinforce what we learned and put more experience in our hands. I like to think of it being a fresh start and this time we can follow through with it completley.

Thanks for your advice, I will do your way to relearn and maintain the next courses. drift boss