Hey! I’m Ivan from Croatia. Here’s my story.

[Ivan]

Hi all,

I’m Ivan, 25, from Croatia. Currently, I am living in the UK and working as an IT professional. I am a complete beginner at drawing and hope to improve. This will be a bit personal, I hope you don’t mind.

My interest in art was piqued at around 16. I’m dyslexic and dyspraxic and always had severe struggles in school, I spent most of my time trying to catch up to others and trying to finish school despite my disabilities. It was quite difficult and traumatising, but I found solace in video games and other forms of media, and at 16 I started discovering and appreciating the concept of “art”. Most notably, Disney and Kingdom Hearts were a little artistic revolution in my heart. From the compositions of Yoko Shimomura to the animation of The Lion King, I found a comfort bubble for myself where I finally felt like I belonged. It really changed the way I see art as a whole, and from then on, I surrounded myself with art.

I tried my hand at drawing at around that age but had issues with starting and keeping at it, school did not make this any easier. So I spent the next almost-decade repeatedly starting and inevitably giving up on my hobby of drawing. I am 25 now, I finished university and just had my 1 year anniversary at my job. A lot has changed, but what hasn’t is my drive to draw. I still struggle massively with starting, motivation, self-criticism, being consistent and disciplined, but I hope to eventually overcome this as I take baby steps towards my art journey. I’m still here, after all, despite everything.

My art journey is as much about art as it is about dealing with my past and growing as a person. My goals are to find pleasure and enjoyment in drawing, to unlearn the bad habits I picked up at school, to put drawing into my daily routine where it just feels natural, and to slowly overcome my demons. I just want to keep going, honestly, and take small steps in the right direction until I feel like I am walking at a steady pace on the right path.

I’m doing the “A Beginner’s Guide to Drawing” course at the moment. I’ve also been reading the book Art & Fear which hits me on a personal level, and I’ve been surrounding myself with sources of inspiration online to help put me in the right mindset.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope to be a bit more involved in this community in the future 🙂 I’m very self-conscious about sharing any art as I am still grasping the fundamentals, but I would like to get to a point where I am comfortable enough to share.

 

[Joshua Jacobo]

Welcome, Ivan!

I’m a broken record but it’s all about the fundamentals. You need to focus on the core abilities of drawing form, gesture, and designing pictures. That is what will set you up for success for the rest of your career. You can’t do enough of this kind of training. I recommend you join a study group and start sharing your progress here on the community. The social accountability element is real and it can be used to your advantage!

[Francesco Cipollone]

Ivan,

Much love to you for your openness about personal challenges and your choice to work through them. You seem very motivated despite what you say. Look forward to hearing more and seeing your work.

[Ivan]

Thanks Joshua and Francesco, I appreciate the responses and the advice

I will do my best to become more involved with the community!

[Frankie]

Hi Ivan, I’m a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts and Yoko Shimomura as well. I actually take a lot of inspiration from Tetsuya Nomura drawings, you should check them out especially the concept art drawn by him for Kingdom Hearts 1.

[Author]

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