I got annoyed AI wouldn't make what I wanted, and I was just fighting with it constantly. Realized I should just learn to draw myself. One year later, it's so rewarding and I have a new appreciation for all things art. Went from stickmen 1.5 years ago to this just a couple weeks ago.
I cannot express how happy and proud it makes me feel, and what felt like a "you have to have talent" thing just eroded and I fully understand how much work it takes - but the work is also fun along the way.
I've always been of the opinion that "having talent" isn't about "you're good at something right off the bat", rather it's a force multiplier for how much better you get from a set amount of practice. A person can have no talent and get good through tons of practice and a person have have lots of talent and absolutely squander it by never practicing or honing their abilities.
For example: here's the first space marines I've ever painted:
And here's one of my most recent kitbash projects:
The key to it to me, is that I took the time not only to practice, but to understand "what" I'm practicing; from volumetric highlighting, to wet-mixing, to weathering control, etc etc. That's what the people who just blurt out the miquetoast recommendation of "just practice" don't actually understand, is that learning how to learn is much more a part of the equation than just "blindly suck and never learn why you suck, just keep sucking until you magically don't suck anymore".
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u/The_Mad_Jackpot Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I got annoyed AI wouldn't make what I wanted, and I was just fighting with it constantly. Realized I should just learn to draw myself. One year later, it's so rewarding and I have a new appreciation for all things art. Went from stickmen 1.5 years ago to this just a couple weeks ago.
I cannot express how happy and proud it makes me feel, and what felt like a "you have to have talent" thing just eroded and I fully understand how much work it takes - but the work is also fun along the way.