"
I won't say I've never given up on an artwork because it looks bad, or that I don't do it anymore. But just don't let it intimidate you. Don't 'hide' it. And by that, I mean, for example, don't draw everyone with their hands behind their back because you're not very good at them. At least try. Even if it's crappy. Even if someone else can draw it better. Don't ever let yourself think that those artists did it without trying. That they were just born and they were able to draw hands.
I am the same in terms of learning. I look at tutorials for fun, or for discovering new techniques, or how to work a program.. In terms of drawing though, I do most learning from observation. Whether from real life or from other artworks.
One thing I am iffy about when it comes to anatomy, though, is when the teacher makes it too technical. I've never used any kind of measurement technique for anatomy. Nor have I used 'blocks and circles' when drawing out a body. I think if you're looking to make your art more fluid, those are techniques you actively try to avoid. When you become too technical your art becomes stiff. Think about it. Boxes are not fluid. Boxes have straight lines and hard edges. When you're too busy making sure there are enough 'heads' in the body, you're setting yourself up for disaster. What if you want to draw someone crouching? How do you figure out how many 'heads' there are? It's okay when you need to get an idea of where everything will lay and use that as reference to get a better idea of measurements when that form is in complicated positions, like, okay, the wrist is about level with a persons crotch. But unfortunately, I don't usually see people teaching that way. Instead of using it to find other visual references, they teach you to depend on it, and that just doesn't work. Eventually you NEED to be able to SEE it without guides. Eventually you need to be able to tell when something is off just by looking at it and referring it to other body parts. If you're too busy making circles, you are not concentrating on that stuff.
Not to make it sound like you can't use shapes. I use shapes. But you probably wouldn't consider my shapes 'triangles' or 'circles' or 'squares'. They're really more like blobs. Blobs in whatever form I need them to be depending on what part of the body I am drawing. See? MUCH more flexible. "
--MooMooJuice
