I'm just wondering. I'm still learning even though I'm already posting stuff. I really want to improve my skill.

If I practice for the sake of practicing, I never do anything good. I practice with every piece I draw with the intention of uploading here or somewhere else. With every picture I make I give myself a little challenge, try to draw something I'm not good at and learn how to do it. Perspective, light, posture, stuff like that!

Usually I open up Sai, then stare at the blank screen on my tablet for a few hours. Then I scribble randomly in the vague shape of what I want to draw, go cry and watch some youtube, come back, set the scribbles to low opacity and re-draw it on a new layer, then repeat the process about 4 times, then trace it on a vector layer for smoothness, color it, then shade/highlight it.

Oh and listen to some music. It helps with developing a more productive mood and drowning out the crippling thoughts of self-doubt. :D

Carefully.

Kidding. One thing you can do is sit down with a roll of semi-tranparent paper and a bunch of photo poses. You can also practice abstract, technical stuff - just drawing straight lines and curves. That can get kind of fun, seeing how straight and how long a line you can draw. Or how many shades you can get out of a shading scale.

I approach it a bit therapeutically. I look at what I have trouble with, set some nice music in, and practice sketching it over and over without a worry or care in the world. No pressure.

/BobRoss

I practice... for the fact that I'm graduating university next year and I'm gonna try my luck out there to be a professional character designer/concept artist/ 2D artist / illustrator... And that I'm so nervous so I draw every day for that HOPE to get to somewhere.
So yeah.. I guess I practice with goals everytime? When I was 10, I wanted to draw so I could draw my sonic ocs.... when I was 14 my goal was to be good at drawing to draw anime characters... and then I made my goal bigger and bigger whenever I reached these goals and it never stops! Never stop practicing but always make sure you know what you want :)

I'm lucky in that I know lots of artists though the Hub and though places I've worked. I tend to show stuff I'm drawing early and often to these people to get lots of pointers. I also always try to push myself a bit. Trying difficult poses etc to try and get better. Finally I've found the comics I do to be great practice. Drawing a character multiple times across frames helps

I just draw. I draw in class, on the bus, on work (when my boss is not watching, of course XD), and sometimes at home. Sometimes I look at something or someone nearby and draw it, but most of the times I just draw whatever comes to my mind. Still, I think I should be looking for some guides about my weak points so I don't get stuck.

)don't practice. Just draw. Draw what you want to.

Overr time? You'll improve.

I practice creating different "skeletons" to work my poses around, without going too in-depth with any of them. It usually works better than just spontaneously drawing what comes to mind, and feels more accurate.


I mean I'm still really fucking awful at drawing but at least it's RELATIVELY better

PRACTICE EVERY SINGLE DAY
DRAW SOMETHING MORE COMPLEX EACH TIME
DRAW MORE OF THE STUFF YOU STRUGGLE WITH UNTIL YOU FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT IT
DRAW WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
DON'T KNOW WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?
DRAW SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT FEELINGS
PRACTICE EVERY SINGLE DAY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGatO6vMPqw

You need to studies and constantly ask for criticisms.
If you have trouble with shoulders, draw 20 shoulders, use real life references, watch videos that show what shoulders look like when they are moving, find as many references as you can until you are one with the shoulder.
Criticism is just as important, if someone says your hand looks weird, draw 20 hands, keep drawing hands and dont stop until you feel you're pretty okay at it. Dont discredit them as haters, you don't need to be good at art to see if something is wrong.

A lot of drawing is fun but if you want to be serious there is a lot of hard work you need to push yourself to do.

[spoiler] so basically what everyone in this thread has said a brajillion times

Yeah, but you said it like that...

Oh man. Thanks everyone! I will gladly take every single one of your advices even if they were repeated multiple times lol. I really appreciate how amiable you guys are :)