@missmushy said in overwhelmed- any advice?:
soo I have been trying to get better at drawing for a while now and am finding it a challenge to know where to focus since basically, I need to improve everything.
If you feel you need to improve on everything, my opinion is that you should spend some good effort on the skills in "How to Draw Everything" as well as perspective and constructive drawing skills. The sooner you get comfortable with these, the more effective studying other subjects will be,
@missmushy said in overwhelmed- any advice?:
should I relentlessly repeat a set of exercises everyday for a month and then move on to another set? or should i structure my time by mixing it up - so my day would consist of doing some exercises and then doing master studies then trying to do my own things.
I would not relentlessly repeat exercises, but would go with a mix instead. There needs to be a balance to this however. Don't just flit around from subject to subject without focus from one exercise to the next. Make sure you put in good effort to the topic you are studying, but don't feel you need to master it before you can move on. Try to find a variety of exercises on the same study topic that build on each other, fill in gaps, and inform each other. Do exercises from reference, from life, from imagination. Do master studies- but always have an agenda with them. Don't just blindly copy. Find a variety of sources to learn from, because they will teach things slightly differently that might resonate in different ways. Books, videos, courses, tutorials. Again, just make sure you are putting in time and effort with your sources.
For my lifestyle, I've personally found that spending 1-2 months on one subject is a good amount of time to spend on it, before intensely studying something else. It allows for a nice pace, that's not too strenuous, but is still condensed enough to focus. I try to glean as much as I can from the subject, I work hard at it, and then at a certain point, I feel it's time to move on to another subject. I try to apply what I've learned where I can, and know that I will eventually come around to the subject again at a later date.
Most of the time, you don't necessarily see that you've improved after studying something intensely right away. That's ok. You might just need time to absorb the info, learn other lessons, and come back to it with fresh eyes. Often times you see the results of your studies pay off sometime down the road, when you don't expect it. Periodically check back with your old work and studies and you might see you've improved more than your realized.