u/TechnicalCake9473

I've been feeling really frustrated with drawing lately.

I spent the last year studying perspective, 3D thinking, construction, forms, all that stuff. I watched tons of tutorials and tried to approach drawing in a very analytical way.

But my original goal was honestly simple: I wanted to become better than this one guy in my class.

The thing is… he never studied drawing seriously. No courses, no perspective exercises, nothing like that. He just drew a lot by himself. And somehow he can copy really difficult manga panels and illustrations with ease.

Today I sat next to him and watched him draw carefully. I tried to analyze how he thinks while drawing.

What surprised me is that he DOESN'T think like I do at all.

He isn't constantly thinking:

- "This is a 3D form"

- "This plane rotates like this"

- "Perspective line here"

- etc.

Instead, his thinking is more like:

- "If the ear is here, where should the nose be?"

- "What angle does this line go?"

- "How far apart are these shapes?"

It looked way more intuitive and efficient.

Then I tried drawing with his mindset instead of my usual "3D construction" mindset… and honestly, my drawing immediately looked better and more natural.

Now I'm questioning everything.

Am I wasting time overcomplicating drawing?

Did all these studies actually help me, or are they slowing me down?

Why does someone with no formal learning seem so much more advanced than me?

Has anyone else gone through this?

I’m doing a ghosted line exercise, but I can’t tell whether I’m supposed to be moving my shoulder or my elbow. My elbow moves a little, but my shoulder doesn’t stay completely still either, or sometimes both move together.

I don’t really know how to properly move my shoulder. When I try to lock everything except my shoulder and only move it, I hear cracking sounds around my upper back/shoulder area. Also, when I try drawing long lines from left to right, I can’t maintain the movement for long and it feels restricted.

I’ve been drawing for about a year, but my practice isn’t very consistent and I often take breaks. I completed the first lesson of Drawabox but couldn’t continue due to the language barrier.

I’m looking for a structured roadmap or workflow to improve my drawing skills effectively. I’m not focusing on a specific subject like anatomy or perspective; I’m more focused on efficiency. I’m not very good at most things.

I don’t know which resources to follow or how to organize my work, so I’d be grateful for any guidance. I use graphite pencils.

Lately, I’ve started to grasp 3D forms instead of just copying shapes. But when I actually try to draw simple objects, everything falls apart.

Even something as basic as a slanted cylinder in perspective feels impossible. I understand the concepts of ellipses and axes, but when I put the pencil to paper, the ellipse turns into a circle or loses its slant entirely.

I can visualize 3D forms, but I still can’t physically draw them by hand. My drawings are worse than they were before I even started learning this.

Has anyone else gone through this phase? What helped you bridge the gap between understanding the form and drawing it correctly?

Lately, I’ve started to grasp 3D forms instead of just copying shapes. But when I actually try to draw simple objects, everything falls apart.

Even something as basic as a slanted cylinder in perspective feels impossible. I understand the concepts of ellipses and axes, but when I put the pencil to paper, the ellipse turns into a circle or loses its slant entirely.

I can visualize 3D forms, but I still can’t physically draw them by hand. My drawings are worse than they were before I even started learning this.

Has anyone else gone through this phase? What helped you bridge the gap between understanding the form and drawing it correctly?