When Do I Stop Doing Tutorials?
Whenever any of us begin learning something new, we eventually find ourselves wondering if we are “good” enough to start doing things on our own. Remember learning to ride a bike without the training wheels? It was scary, wasn’t it? When whoever was helping you let go of the bike, and you were on your own, it was terrifying! I remember this when I was learning to ride my bike. I kept asking my brother to not let go and then he did let go, and guess what, I rode the bike by myself! I didn’t think I could, but I did! I was wobbly at first, but, with practice, I rode it better and better. Before long, it was just natural.
That’s how it is for us in any art medium while learning. Tutorials are awesome and I’m thankful I found them when I began using colored pencils. I learned so much from different artists on their techniques and a lot about colored pencils and how they worked on different surfaces. As a colored pencil instructor, I want you to learn from the tutorials I make available because I believe they bring value and instruction to help you in learning about the medium of colored pencil. However, I don’t want my students to become handicapped to just my tutorials. In my journey I found I kept looking for the next tutorial to work on instead of branching out on my own and trying something from one of my own reference photos. I did this also when I was an oil painter for 9 years. I would always talk myself out of painting at home because I thought I would fail and wouldn’t have my teacher here to help me. So, I never became greatly skilled at oil painting. I realized after doing many tutorials in colored pencil, I would find myself in the same boat if I didn’t just step out and try some things on my own.
Making that decision has been one of the greatest I’ve ever made! I’ve grown so much since then. Have I made some ugly art? Yes! Have I had to start a project over? Yes! Have I been disappointed in a finished piece? Yes! And yet, that is part of the process. We all become better skilled at anything by being willing to put in the time knowing every piece will not be a masterpiece. We learn from those pieces, and little by little, we find our skill level going up. We also keep learning more and more by trial and error. It’s endless with what you can learn, if you are willing to step out. To balance this, there are times when I want to learn a new technique or how to use a new product, and I will purchase a tutorial to help me learn that new thing. That’s part of growing in our skills and we have to be willing to invest in ourselves to grow, just don’t let them become a crutch.
I hope this will challenge you, in whatever you are learning that’s new in life, to be willing to spread your wings and fly! You can do it!
If you are interested in learning how to use colored pencils on Lux Archival paper with Brush and Pencil products check out my latest tutorial at https://www.kimkeysart.com/classes.
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Thanks for reading!
Kim Keys
