Samuel b
@samberry.bsky.social
190 followers 570 following 110 posts
Illustrator, Animator Free to work on projects cara: https://cara.app/samberryf/ prints: http://inprnt.com/gallery/rsambf/ tumblr: http://rsberryf.tumblr.com
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samberry.bsky.social
Seven Gates AU Aria ( @clairebaire.bsky.social's OC )
Started as just a pin up but then I wanted to make it a scene so I put a simple background on it.
samberry.bsky.social
why are you calling me out so early
Reposted by Samuel b
clairebaire.bsky.social
my best girl #oc adrienne 🩵
Reposted by Samuel b
darinfearlvo.bsky.social
quickly approaching writing the end of my play moodboard:

nzuri haar by darin f. earl ii
"a tribute to the women in my family (a one act made with/from/for love.)"
samberry.bsky.social
Quick and dirty clean up of an old Vampire Mech AU sketch with Caelius and Adrienne ( @clairebaire.bsky.social )
samberry.bsky.social
just a portrait
samberry.bsky.social
I don't really post threads, but honestly if what I wrote keeps at least ONE person from feeling so disillusioned and discouraged from learning art as that person. I'll be happy.
samberry.bsky.social
And I’m not going to pretend it is easy. Being consistent is the hardest part, and god knows that I have not been consistent for most of my life. Learning is a skill that takes practice in of itself, and I hope my wall of text can motivate someone to keep going.
samberry.bsky.social
But even within those studies, I gave myself mini goals. Participating in those study sessions is how I taught myself and refined my pixel art process. 4 hours a week, that’s all I needed, as long as it was consistent. Small things add up over time. The important part is to keep at it.
samberry.bsky.social
Self regulating is hard, then that’s when courses and the like are handy. Even something as simple as @paulscottcanavan.com (sorry for the name drop, lol) Study Buddy stream was enough to CONSIDERABLY improve my painting skills. It gave me a consistent schedule, clear parameters and a dopamine hit
samberry.bsky.social
Whatever I struggled with during “play”, I knew I could address during “learning”. As long as I trusted the process and followed my protocol. It’s fine to skip or cut time spent short. You need to respect your own capacity and energy. Sometimes you have to deload your weights to hit that squat PR.
samberry.bsky.social
And in between all of that, you have “play” sessions. In martial arts, this is what sparring in class is. You get to play around, try things, make mistakes, have fun with what you’ve been practising in your learning sessions. So go and draw that OC brain rot, who cares if the anatomy is wrong.
samberry.bsky.social
The idea here is to have dedicated time to your skill development. Much like strength training, you NEED rest in between learning sessions for your body to adapt. Otherwise you will burn out and injure yourself. You can schedule multiple sessions of different things, as long as you respect your rest
samberry.bsky.social
Two hour self portraits every other day, with at least one study (master study or photo) per week. Some people might notice that it follows the typical 3 days a week strength training model, and that’s because it does. If it works for that, why wouldn’t it work for painting?
samberry.bsky.social
Goals are also key. A big goal and smaller goals leading up to the bigger goal. For example, I only really started to make gains in painting when I decided I wanted to learn to do portraits. Big goal: learn how to paint, small goal: paint portraits. So I created a “training” protocol for myself.
samberry.bsky.social
Like everyone has been saying. Practice is key. But even more so, structured practice and even more important is CONSISTENT structured practice. Much like an athlete training for a sport, an art student thrives off consistent structured practice. Otherwise you’re making things harder for yourself.
samberry.bsky.social
What I’m about to say works FOR ME and is based on my own insights from teaching myself and others. It is not meant to be a definitive approach to learning art. It is heavily influenced by my 30 years of practising martial arts along with teaching it for half of that time. Take what you need from it
samberry.bsky.social
I consider myself a sorta good draftsman and an ok painter. But I consider myself a very good learner. If anything, I would say it is the one superpower I have. Anyone who’s known me or followed me for long enough knows how varied my work is and how I can pick up almost any style given the time.
samberry.bsky.social
A little background; besides the time I spent in university, I consider myself a self-taught artist. I taught myself how to draw as a kid and I taught myself how to paint after getting my BFA in animation. I briefly studied art education and I have 15+ years of teaching/coaching martial arts.
samberry.bsky.social
I’m late to the conversation, but I keep thinking about it and want to touch on the whole learning art is a miserable thing. I’m not going to share the screenshots, because I’d rather just talk about my thoughts on learning art. Hopefully, it helps people who feel discouraged about their journey. 🧵
samberry.bsky.social
Finally, Son Matteo is in the witch au. Character and line art are @clairebaire.bsky.social colours by meeeeee
samberry.bsky.social
Demetrius being sick of pleasantries
samberry.bsky.social
Some backlog from drawpile with @clairebaire.bsky.social
Reposted by Samuel b
clairebaire.bsky.social
cute adrienne #oc #characterart
Reposted by Samuel b
clairebaire.bsky.social
witch adie with no pants : ) #oc
Reposted by Samuel b
clairebaire.bsky.social
loverbirds #oc adrienne & caelius ( @samberry.bsky.social )