Basically, I'd really like to get into drawing, but there are several things that I'm probably sure won't make things easy.

1) I don't like things that take ages to make if it is unrewarding, and therefore tend to slack most of the things that do so. Would that make drawing difficult for me?

2) Is improvement fast? I tend to give up easily too...

3) Is it time consuming? My free time is getting shorter nowadays.

I'm pretty sure I know the answer for all of these, so I'd really want to know if I should give drawing a try or not...

Yeah, sounds like you already know the answer. But why not give it a try anyway and see how you like it?

For instance, you could try playing Drawception. You don't need be a master artist there... not even a mediocre artist. And if you get bored of it quickly, drawing probably isn't for you.

1) yes.

2) there is no shortcuts. you just have to practice. to make it a bit easier, use references (if you are going to draw a wolf, look at pictures of wolves and learn what they actually look like instead of just assuming what they look like), use tutorials and practice, practice and practice.

3) yes. in general and on each drawing. in general, i have been drawing since i could lift a pen and i actually seriously started to draw when i was around 10 years old. im 20 now and my art skills are nicely above medicore. and on individual drawings, i spend from half hour (sketch) to 20+ hours (digital paintings with backgrounds) on each drawing.

A *really* big aid in keeping at working on drawing is seeing people enjoying it. That's why I switched to primarily MLP art. It has such a big and vocal fanbase that I get a lot of rapid feedback that keeps me going. It's also a simple style that I can do in a hurry when I have little time.

I only when I'm in the mood or have an inspiration.

The thing is to not give it up too quickly. If you can't draw it like what you wanted, give it a little bit more tries, and if you can't, come back and try again when you have free time.

Improvement comes from practice, if you have time, keep drawing.

Fmafanclub said:
1) I don't like things that take ages to make if it is unrewarding, and therefore tend to slack most of the things that do so. Would that make drawing difficult for me?

Well! That depends. If you find drawing fun, then it will not feel unrewarding to you. If you do not find drawing fun, it will feel unrewarding. The finished product will almost certainly not be rewarding enough by itself if you are not enjoying the process, but if you do enjoy the process, it easily can be rewarding enough.

2) Is improvement fast? I tend to give up easily too...

Again, that depends. The method you choose to learn by has a big effect on how quickly you improve. If you try to improve solely by practicing the same things, you will improve slowly. If you stretch yourself to try new styles and techniques, you will improve more quickly. If you look up drawing tutorials, depending how good they are, you may improve even more quickly. If you take a drawing class, you can improve a large amount in a small amount of time - I can vouch for this. I was a decent artist to start out, but I took a drawing class and improved significantly. That said, no matter what you choose, you will need to practice a lot. All I'm saying is, there are ways to make things go faster if you want to put the effort into them.

3) Is it time consuming? My free time is getting shorter nowadays.

The amount you will need to practice is time consuming. However, depending on your style and skill, individual drawings may not be time consuming.

Overall I would say you should try drawing, and if you find it fun, continue. If not, stop.

Don't even bother.

If you even bother, you'll realize most art that is popular these days is blatant plagiarism anyways, because the plebs are too stupid to research where something came from, and if they do find out they don't care. So your time and effort is all just wasted because if you had just learned to be a plagiarist and get away with it you'd actually get somewhere.

Fmafanclub said:
Basically, I'd really like to get into drawing, but there are several things that I'm probably sure won't make things easy.

1) I don't like things that take ages to make if it is unrewarding, and therefore tend to slack most of the things that do so. Would that make drawing difficult for me?

2) Is improvement fast? I tend to give up easily too...

3) Is it time consuming? My free time is getting shorter nowadays.

I'm pretty sure I know the answer for all of these, so I'd really want to know if I should give drawing a try or not...

For an example, use me and my recent art, since I began uploading my work this month.

1) There are people that draw small, seemingly simple images. If that's what you see yourself drawing, then by all means go right ahead. Whatever makes you comfortable.

2) Improvement is parallel to experience, practice, and time. I've definitely noticed an improvement when I drew the last few sketches in my practice sketchbook (which you can see for yourself in a month or two from now), and I'm already seeing myself use my Huion H610 Pro drawing tablet at a faster, more efficient rate as I polish my sketches before uploading them.

3) If it's anything like my fanfiction hobby, then yes, it can be time consuming, especially if you intend to draw a highly detailed image that requires dozens of layers for the smallest of details.

So yeah, long story short, investing time and practicing makes perfect or at least refines your ever-growing skills.

Fmafanclub said:
Basically, I'd really like to get into drawing, but there are several things that I'm probably sure won't make things easy.

1) I don't like things that take ages to make if it is unrewarding, and therefore tend to slack most of the things that do so. Would that make drawing difficult for me?

2) Is improvement fast? I tend to give up easily too...

3) Is it time consuming? My free time is getting shorter nowadays.

I'm pretty sure I know the answer for all of these, so I'd really want to know if I should give drawing a try or not...

1) If you're unwilling to put the time in, you won't get the results you're wanting. There's no real way around the time investment in creating quality work. o'o

2) Kinda like what GameManiac said, it's directly related to how much and how often you study and practice. A friend described it like so: You're going to create stinkers. Some of your work is going to suuuuuuck. However, the ratio of sucky art to good art is going to improve as you create more.

3) Yes and no. There's plenty of time in a person's day to take up visual art as a hobby, it's moreso about how they like spending their time. Video games, netflix, spacing out in front of the television, staring at your phone on the train. These are all situations where you could easily be working on art. Even sketching a few things here and there a few minutes each day can be beneficial!

I'm not an artist but I'll give my opinion here:

1) drawing is not unrewarding if you give it enough time, I thing watching something that only existed in your mind being enjoyed by other people is reward enough.

2) that depends on "talent" (or however you want to call how instinctive something new is to someone), I was told I was improving fast after just one month of going to drawing classes.

3) it depends on your skill and the amount of perfection you want in your works, if you want to make something detailed and sophisticated, it will be very time consuming, even if you're very good, while simple art will purely depend on your skill, skilled people will do it fast, unskilled people will struggle with it for a while.

And now a little question from me to artists:

the reason why I don't draw is because I tend to imagine things that are way too out of reach for my skill level and I have trouble finding ideas of things to draw that are simple enough to draw as a beginner, but complex enough to learn something from drawing it, I'm not sure I an expressing myself clearly enough.

You don't learn to program by coding a space shuttle's navigation systems, but by starting with a simple calculator, and increasing the difficulty.

Play 30 hours or so of DCSS . Consider whether you found that overall a positive or negative experience. Whatever your verdict, I'd predict that you would have a similar experience with drawing.

(Not joking, BTW. Art has a lot in common with a well-designed roguelike IMO, especially in what kinds of behaviours it punishes and rewards.

Of course, if your verdict is 'positive', then you may now be addicted to DCSS, which could get in the way of drawing, so YMMV ;)

aurel said:
pick up the most difficult task anyway. From failure comes improvement.

I have to disagree here. Starting out with the most complex things just multiplies the number of places where failures can happen, and makes correcting and learning from those failures a daunting task. It's part of why beginning artists are often asked to work on simple objects like cubes and spheres, and also asked to work on them in grayscale. If they immediately got tossed into the fire, asked to render a full figure, they're now juggling an understanding of lighting, color, composition, anatomy, and texture. When looking at the end result, how would they learn which things need work when what they've produced is the culmination of concepts they don't understand?

It's not glamorous, and it's not particularly fun, but the simpler you make your work in the beginning the easier it is to critique yourself and pinpoint issues.

Misappropriated said:
I have to disagree here. Starting out with the most complex things just multiplies the number of places where failures can happen, and makes correcting and learning from those failures a daunting task. It's part of why beginning artists are often asked to work on simple objects like cubes and spheres, and also asked to work on them in grayscale. If they immediately got tossed into the fire, asked to render a full figure, they're now juggling an understanding of lighting, color, composition, anatomy, and texture. When looking at the end result, how would they learn which things need work when what they've produced is the culmination of concepts they don't understand?

It's not glamorous, and it's not particularly fun, but the simpler you make your work in the beginning the easier it is to critique yourself and pinpoint issues.

That's what I did. That's why my first few sketches, disregarding their lineage, are basic shapes.

1: Personally, I find drawing rewarding. If you dont, then drawing probably isn't for you.

2: Improvement can be fast if you're naturally talented or are taking an art class. Most of the time it's slow though. It took me about 25 years to get where I am now :P

3: Depends on what you want to do. Doodling in a sketchbook isn't time consuming at all as it can be done while listening to lectures, riding the train, at weddings, or whatever.

Tokaido said:
1: Personally, I find drawing rewarding. If you dont, then drawing probably isn't for you.

2: Improvement can be fast if you're naturally talented or are taking an art class. Most of the time it's slow though. It took me about 25 years to get where I am now :P

3: Depends on what you want to do. Doodling in a sketchbook isn't time consuming at all as it can be done while listening to lectures, riding the train, at weddings, or whatever.

This may seem random at first, but I'll state this anyway.

When I was in college, I had to do these online GE (general education) classes. Most of them were classes that I was overqualified for and therefore easy/a bit boring for me to do. But one of the classes had a segment that I particularly enjoyed.

It involved taking an IQ test and recording your results. When I took it at the time, I had an IQ of 132 (don't know what it is now), which is considered "Gifted". And according to all of the stats displayed (mathematics, common sense, memory, etc), my most prominent attribute is spatial recognition.

Drawing, spatial recognition... Makes me wonder why I didn't start taking drawing seriously sooner.

1: Honestly, unless you have a large/decent following already, everything you draw starting out will largely go unnoticed. However putting real effort in it will help you get noticed.

2: No, I wish it were, but no... It'll take months, possibly years until you really "get it". It just takes a lot of time and practice, but if you can't manage to remain invested for that long, drawing's probably a lost cause for you.

3: It depends on how fast you draw really. For some a full sketch takes several hours, and others maybe 10 or 20 minutes.

Also if you do give it a shot, human hands and feet will be the bane of your existence should you go for that kinda style.