u/ForseiMaster

Over the past 8-9 months or so, I have been getting back into my art journey in a big way. Ever since last November I have been consistently posting 1 new fully rendered art piece to my Tumblr blog, trying new techniques and pushing myself in new ways each time. The success of this has been mostly positive, but despite seeing modest improvements I've never really been satisfied with the pace I'm going. As I try to push myself more, I'm becoming less and less satisfied with my current way of doing things.

On average, it takes me anywhere from 1-2 weeks of on and off work to complete a new project from start to finish. Outside of a few minor tricks that have saved me time, that range has largely stayed the exact same since I started. Stuff like rendering, shading, and even making the linework takes a really long time for me, and those setbacks cause me to be unable to make as many ideas into reality as I would like, much less practice the techniques that would accompany them. The fact that I have to consciously say in my head "which art piece should I do this month?" stings so bad when I want to be doing so much more.

I understand setbacks in art progress are inevitable with how hectic life can get at points, but at the very least I want to make the time I dedicate to art feel well spent. I hate the idea of art becoming a chore because it's also a huge time investment...

I've been getting back into my art journey over the past half a year or so, but in that time I've also started doing art together with one of my friends, sharing our works to each other and often sending little doodles to each other just for fun. However, I find it difficult to actually give him insight into how to improve his work. Unlike me, he dislikes using sketches for his art pieces, and considering sketches are the lifeblood of my workflow and most of the skills I've gained come from mastering them it makes translating them to his style more difficult.

In short, I want to ask anyone here if they have a sketchless style of art and - if they do - what tools, techniques, or lessons helped them the most on the road to improvement. Both of us are pretty amateur in the grand scheme of things, even smaller stuff would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.