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@TessaW @Coley That's what I thought too, I went to find her thread to try to help but then saw the exercised and she aced it so there's really not much to add

@deborah-Haagenson Exactly! You and I are of the same mind If there's a day we really can't bring ourselves to draw, maybe we can do research into our dream field? Maybe we can watch a SVS class, or a Youtube video teaching something us need to learn? Look at other people's portfolios to get ideas of how other have built theirs? Research website platforms where we might want to build our own portfolio site, like Wordpress or Wix? All these things would still bring us closer to our goal, so as long as we're clear on what that goal is we can make strides even when motivation as left us.

The trap I used to fall in is to think that when motivation left me, it was because it wasn't meant to be. That if I didn't love this enough to be motivated every day, it wasn't for me. I would give up and start chasing a new shiny thing, but in time motivation for that would leave me too. That is totally wrong and in time, I came to realize that. There came a moment when I thought "I am absolutely NOT motivated to work on my art degree at ALL, I would rather do anything else right now... But I still can't bring myself to give it up". I pushed through, forced myself, and in time motivation came back. I realized motivation comes and goes, and just because it's gone it doesn't mean something isn't worth doing or that I don't love it anymore. Motivation is like adrenaline, I don't think our bodies can sustain this state all the time. It has to ebb and flow. When it comes it's wonderful and helps get so much done, helps carry us over bug hurdles. But when it's gone we must still continue forward - more slowly, but still forward little by little.

@BichonBistro Oh my, you probably shouldn't use my illustrations for this exercise ^^''''' I frequently cheat with perspective. Even when I don't, since my vanishing points are usually way outside my canvas I usually approximate where they should be and draw a self-made grid by eyeing it, not by actually following the line all the way to the vanishing point - then I draw my perspective to follow the grid I just drew. I can get away with this because I'm very familiar with perspective and my style is cartoony enough to allow for a reasonable margin of error.

But as a matter of fact this illustration was based on a loose 2 points perspective grid, not 1 point.

This is the gird I used. The yellow lines will converge into one point on the outside of the canvas (sort of, again I was eyeing it) and the red lines will converge to the other point.

I think you did a good job identifying the perspective in the last photo. The folder and paper pad that have a different VP are crooked and angled differently so they don't count. As for the Paddington image, it's loosely based on a 1 point perspective but it's hand-drawn and doesn't follow it closely. You could call it mistakes, or style, depending on your point of view on the matter. You shouldn't use illustrations for this exercise because there's always the chance that they have tweaked the perspective or aren't following it much at all.

The first photo is not a 1 point perspective, it is 2 points. You have correctly identified one of them, but there is another on the left side of the canvas. In a one point perspective, you will always see one side of the objects/buildings fully from the front. If you see a corner and both sides of the object are angled, what you have is a 2 points perspective, not 1 point.

I would advise to refrain from looking for exercises images by yourself... You have picked illustrations that both largely cheat on perspective, which is understandably confusing you further. Photos are better for exercise, but you have picked one that is a 2 points perspective, again confusing you even more. If you must look for exercise photos, look with specific search terms like "1 point perspective example" to make sure you get a correct one. Good luck hun!

@LauraA I agree with @Lobalyss as far as the girl fox behind the tree and the others running off. I don't think they are needed to tell your story. You have great flow with the foxes in front dancing. Also love the confused look and pose of Will.

@demotlj That's a great question and I can sympathize with your problem. I'm actually talking about that on the podcast we are recording today.

I do have a few routines that I use for art goals. The biggest one that relates to your problem is I alternate technical goals with more satisfying image creation. You know the saying "necessity is the mother of invention", well that really holds true with making a full illustration. Maybe I don't know how to paint a night scene, but if I NEED to paint a night scene, I'll just dive in and try some stuff out. That is where a massive amount of learning takes place.

I have a real problem with the idea of only studying technique. It's boring and not very satisfying. So when I'm studying technique, I try to do exercises that relate to the next image I'm trying to make.

I will add that sometimes you need to take your medicine and do an exercise that is isolated. Like color swatches. But that's a one time thing, just do it and move on. But don't forget to plan the fun painting stuff the same way you plan some technique holes you need to fill. : )

Hope that helps some.

@Jeremy-Ross Oh that's too bad! Well then if you're building a Wordpress site, what I'd recommend is to get Elementor Pro with their lightweight free theme Hello Elementor. Elementor is a drag and drop block page builder that makes building sites easy, intuitive and gives you 100$ control

@Jeremy-Ross Absolutely! In fact you can have the exact same site as me and if you already pay for Photoshop you can even get it for the low low price of nothing hihi.. My site is done with Adobe Portfolio, which is free with the Creative Cloud I just connected my domain and voila! The theme I used is Mercedes!

@Whitney-Simms wow thats awesome, don't sell yourself short either, charge that extra $10! So how long does it take you to do one? I'm not sure if i would be able to do an event at a store. I will create a different post to share what I am doing (i don't want to hi-jack your post) but first go at my own dog took about a total of 6 hours or so over the course of 2 days. I also wouldn't print them and ship, I would send them the digital file to print themselves. Or is that bad? My thought would be they could then print it larger or smaller depending on what they wanted to do with it.

@NessIllustration Love that idea! I'll add it to the notes at the bottom.

@Whitney-Simms glad ya liked it! Good luck with your goals!

@Lee-White Really great video, super helpful! I do think you missed a crucial step though. Step 0: Define your reasons for wanting to achieve this goal, write down what it will bring you, how it will change your life, why you want it so much. Do a fricking mood board to hang above your desk haha. I used to think this step was just a load of croc, useless. Let's just get started, I don't need this touchy feely crap. The thing is, we CANNOT rely on the power of motivation alone. At first, motivation is there and it's powerful, it's like a wave that carries us off and gets our butt to the gym each day or at the drawing table each night. Building a habit is very important too, yes. But at some point either way, motivation WILL leave us. There will be days were we just do not want to do it, at all. Where even the level 1 seems like too much. When that time comes, that's when we need to have clearly defined why we're doing this. It helps when those reasons are outlined in the beginning (when you are feeling motivated and hopeful) and we can just read them back, remember why it's so important to us to do this. The reason has to be good enough that we will continue towards our goal anyway even after motivation has left us. And in time, motivation always comes back