Yeah baby! Hey, Dr. Draw Alex here. Have you ever wondered how you can draw more by doing less? The first time I saw a video by Kim Jong-gi I was so impressed that I wanted to draw like him and bought one of his sketchbooks. I started copying all of his work but I couldn't produce a drawing by myself. I was dependent on this sketchbook to draw, which created a conflict. I wanted to visualize my own imagination but in reality I was copying his. I felt stuck until I found a way out. Now I use a simple formula. which makes me capable of producing my own work in my own style. And today I'm going to share that formula with you. Because being able to visualize your imagination isn't about drawing more. It's about studying and training the right way. There are hundreds of types of ways to study art. Like doing a master copy, watching a video, reading a book, drawing from memory and probably even more. The ways to study art are endless, which makes it very hard to know where to start. To know what is and isn't an effective study, we need to look at the psychology of learning and how we process information. Which is actually quite similar to a computer. When we get a piece of information, it ends up on our working memory. Here we decide what to do with it. It's basically where we make our day-to-day decisions. The first time we deal with certain information, it takes up quite a lot of space on our working memory. If you've processed information before it takes up less space. And if you've processed something for years, like your mother tongue, it doesn't take up much space at all. This is because the decisions are stored on our long-term memory, or subconscious. The more decisions you make, the more boxes end up here. This is basically how we learn. But in computer terms you could say automation. That's nice, but it doesn't tell us how to study to become the next Guy. To explain that, I'd like to share a personal story. This video by Kim Jung Gi didn't just impress me because of his skill but also the way he was drawing. He seems to draw without any effort and is capable of visualizing his imagination without a sketch. Okay cool, this guy can draw but does he also earn a living? I googled around and found he works with brands like Audi and Audible who hire him to draw. Those videos get posted on his social media which is great branding. And he sells his sketchbooks which earn him a good living. So wait a sec, this guy earns a living with what he loves. I needed no more convincing and decided to up my game. I started working 4 days a week and bought tons of art books that seemed to bring me closer to understanding what the hell Guy was doing. I went down the rabbit hole of online courses, tutorials and mentorships and spent hundreds of hours drawing. But I didn't have any structure. One day I would copy his art and the other day I would do a painting course because I loved color. I was like a dog chasing his own tail until I did a course with Tom Fox in 2020. Tom draws pretty similar to Kim Jong-gi but in a more simplified manner. which was the whole goal of his course. Simplify. Focus on one thing before moving on to the next thing. By doing different types of art each day, my brain couldn't process the information to my long-term memory, which kept the information the same size. It's kind of like learning French on day one, Korean on day two, and Indian on day three. I was spending a lot of time drawing, but I wasn't really learning. So I tried to apply Tom's methodology. Simplify my studies. and focus on one thing for a year. In this case, constructional drawing. Constructional drawing means building your objects and figures out of simple boxes and slowly adding complexity to eventually achieve realism. Now the question is, would this learning method lead to faster growth? Would it lead to automation of constructional drawing? Just before I started with this approach in 2019, I made this drawing, which is on an A4 piece of paper and took me about four hours. A year later, after focused studying, I made this one. But to challenge myself, I made it on an A3 format, which is twice as big as an A4. And guess what? It also took me 4 hours. If we analyze the difference, both drawings contain perspective. But since the latter one is twice as big, I did twice as much perspective. But the latter drawing also contains better character design and composition. I didn't just double my skills. I grew exponentially. In other words, I exceeded what I was aiming for. The focus made it a lot easier to grow. If we look at a random drawing by Kim Jung Gi, you can see he masters a lot of stuff. He understands perspective, figures, clothing, motorcycles, storytelling, and proportions. If we want to draw like him, you might, like me, be doing all of those things at the same time. But let's simplify and pick one of these, say, proportions of people on motorcycles. Instead of overloading our working memory, we're taking away all the extras and focus on one thing. So let's be very very clear on this and write it down. We're focusing on proportions not details. Then we go on Pinterest and search for reference images we like. Study them a bit by writing down what you observe. And now we can start with drawing. You can see that in all of these drawings I'm not concerned with the details but purely focus at proportions. And I make notes. This is because making notes helps you get an understanding of what's going on. Remember, the goal here is to make information land on our subconscious. We're trying to build a skill that we can use later in life. Whenever you feel frustrated while studying, it's probably because you're doing too much at the same time. You're overloading your working memory and some people call this art block. If you recognize this, let me know in the comments below. Instead of pushing yourself, try to slow down. Focus on what you want to achieve within the time you have. and make notes. If we look at a drawing by Tom Fox we can see that he fills up half of his page with drawings and half of his page with writings. By writing and drawing he makes sure information gets transferred from his working memory to his long-term memory. Learning passively like reading a book or copying a master artist versus learning actively with making notes doesn't seem like a big difference in the first few days, but in the long run the difference is huge. Without making notes you don't transfer knowledge to your long-term memory or subconscious. Actively learning in which you investigate, make notes and understand why something is happening makes information retain much better. Now if you like this video so far be sure to give it a thumbs up and share with someone who might benefit from it. Because what we're talking about here is a great medicine for Artblock. Because Artblock is nothing more than overloading your working memory. Adding too much to this platform will burn you out. You can't do all of those things at the same time. Yet, when it takes up this amount of space on your working memory you can add another fundamental. While Guy is drawing a drawing like this, his working memory is processing perspective, shading, clothing, composition, proportion, character design, but because he spent a lot of time on all of those different subjects, he can use them at the same time. Yep, it's pretty crazy. The fact you struggle with something like figure drawing, which has anatomy, perspective, weight, balance, form, and maybe even more, doesn't mean you don't have talent. It just means you need to spend a little bit more time at it. That's all. Now, you might think it takes ages before you're good enough, but that doesn't have to be the case. Every master artist out there has a basic understanding of most fundamentals. You could say they surpass the minimal requirement to visualize their imagination, but they choose one fundamental to excel in. When you have a basic understanding of most fundamentals and choose one as your speciality, you'll create a wow effect, and that makes your audience think you can do anything. Kim Jung Gi was a comic book illustrator for years. which made him a master in perspective and anatomy. He probably knows how color works, but it's not his sweet spot. Mobius was a master in cartoons and color. He probably had some experience with oil paint, but it wasn't his sweet spot. And Van Gogh was a master in landscape and color. He knew the basics of anatomy, but it wasn't his sweet spot. You don't need to be a master at everything to become a master artist. Guy, Mobius and Van Gogh all had different styles and different talent. But nonetheless, they're all master artists. And this is where it gets interesting because your talent doesn't need to be a technical fundamental. Guy, Mobius and Van Gogh all spend most of their lives making art. They spend loads of time on their craft. That's the first talent you'll need. But after that, you can just pick any talent you want. And the funny thing is, you probably already have talent. Your history. Let me explain. If you've seen my Instagram, you know I draw a lot. So dedication is check. I've spent a lot of time on perspective and form. So let's check on those too. But my real history is in psychology. And there was a long time where I doubted how my degree would have any value to making art. But now... You're watching a video on how our minds work while drawing and making art. I found a way to merge my background with a expression and you can do exactly the same thing. You can merge any background, any talent with any form of expression, which reminds me of a nice quote by Howard Thurman. Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what your passion is, because the world needs people with passion. But what if you're building your history and you want to get better at drawing? How do you spend your time most effective? Well, the first thing is to focus. Whatever you do or draw, make it crystal clear what you want to achieve within the time you have. Second, be sure to do it consistently and give yourself a decade or two. And third, when you work, study or draw, make notes. Test yourself, whatever you can think of, but make it active. That's why I called this video how to train like Kim Young-gi and not how to study like him. Because it needs to be done actively. Otherwise, our brains won't remember. Stop doing master copies and start doing master studies. And last but not least, be patient. Remember, it takes time for information to turn into knowledge. I found it takes about a week before I can apply what I studied. There's a delayed learning effect. But this also counts for your audience. When you want to become a master artist, you'll eventually build a great audience. But it takes time to first reach that level of becoming a master artist. And when you are a master artist, it takes time for your audience to recognize you as a master artist. The name of the game is patience. Kim Jong-gi might be an art god now, but when he started out when he was six years old, he probably drew like any other six-year-old. Stick figures. It wasn't till the age of 27 until his first work got published. So it might take a decade or two before you feel comfortable in your craft. And people recognize you being comfortable in your craft. Thank you for watching this video and if you feel empowered to approach your art with a new perspective, let me know in the comments below. If you're going to use this prescription and you're going to make a photo and share it on Instagram Tag me with the doctor draw and I'll share your art in my stories But for now, thank you for watching and stay diggity dry. Bye. Bye Made it easier for me to grow. Yeah, baby. Yeah. Yeah, baby To grow to grow to grow to grow. Yeah But in reality but in reality