The Summer Promptathon is Coming
2025 • 06 • 24  -  2025 • 06 • 30
The Summer Promptathon is Coming
2025 • 06 • 24  -  2025 • 06 • 30
Click here for more info

"Is it permissible to redo an exercise when I can spot my mistakes?"

10:58 PM, Friday April 24th 2020

Hello,

Is it okay for me to redo an exercise when I can spot my mistakes? Or would this be considered grinding?

Example - I can see that my ellipses in the "Tables of Ellipses" exercise are extending beyond their allotted space. I can also see that my ellipses are not of all the same degree. When I draw through my ellipse 2 to 3 times, I end up drawing a similar ellipse slightly off.

Should I repeat the exercise? Do I need to grind so that I can gain the muscle memory? If I should grind, should I do it until my mistakes are corrected? Any advice would be appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this.

2 users agree
11:37 PM, Friday April 24th 2020

I had the same question, I think you can practice. Before doing the exercises you have to warm up, I usually use the first five minutes to do the exercises that make me feel safe and the last five minutes the most difficult for me.

I think that as long as you don't obsess so much about not advancing, it's okay to practice. It is also very important that others see your homework so that they tell you if it is a failure because you are new or if it is a failure because you are doing something wrong or some other type of error.

2:42 PM, Saturday April 25th 2020

Got it! I got to the boxes exercise and I decided to redo most of the exercises because I was so terrrible at it. I will take your warmup method advice. I mostly have been doing the harder exercises first and then the easier ones. I usually require a 15 minute warm up. Thanks for the response montseag!

0 users agree
4:25 AM, Saturday April 25th 2020
edited at 4:26 AM, Apr 25th 2020

I also struggle with ellipses too. So i take "Planes of ellipses" and "Tunnel" exercises as warm up. Do it daily while doing and moving on other lessons.

"should I do it until my mistakes are corrected", well i think even to the point that you feel comfortable about it. You may keep on doing it, as well as other lesson 1 exercises, like breathing. I see other masters still redo basics to refresh their mind and etc.

Failure is just a part of your process, so don't be so harsh on yourself.

edited at 4:26 AM, Apr 25th 2020
2:39 PM, Saturday April 25th 2020
edited at 3:22 PM, Apr 25th 2020

Thanks for the response Antedey. That is what I have been doing. I should have assumed so.

edited at 3:22 PM, Apr 25th 2020
The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something we've used ourselves, or know to be of impeccable quality. If you're interested, here is a full list.
The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

While I have a massive library of non-instructional art books I've collected over the years, there's only a handful that are actually important to me. This is one of them - so much so that I jammed my copy into my overstuffed backpack when flying back from my parents' house just so I could have it at my apartment. My back's been sore for a week.

The reason I hold this book in such high esteem is because of how it puts the relatively new field of game art into perspective, showing how concept art really just started off as crude sketches intended to communicate ideas to storytellers, designers and 3D modelers. How all of this focus on beautiful illustrations is really secondary to the core of a concept artist's job. A real eye-opener.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.