I'm back on my "add as many hobbies as possible" grind, this time tapping back into an old passion of mine and aligning it, ironically in this timing, with the industry that has become my life - digital art!
At the suggestion (shoutout Claire) of my girlfriend, I decided to execute on many "firsts" of my life, starting with purchasing a iPad and Apple Pencil. Both products I've faded for quite a while now and only viewed as unnecessary flexes by suburban moms to take "notes" with or for terrible parents to give to their parents at restaurants.
Anyhow, after seeing the magic Claire was creating with ProCreate alongside her recent Christmas gift to me of Class101, a Masterclass but better (because it's Korean), I decided to go back to my day 1 hobby of drawing. I started taking art classes as young as 1st grade and actually even considered going to college through fine arts but never had the perseverance to execute. Doodling was always a main "side hustle" of mine and after being full time in an industry that builds value off digital art, it made logical sense that I pursued this.
Knowing the value of a daily routine, I set up a private Instagram account (partly a romantic program I designed during Claire and I's one month long distance relationship to stay intact across timezones) in which the two creators were to come up with characters (I did lol) and start developing daily posts, similar to those of Pudgy Penguins and other cute / romance based short clip artists. We're nowhere close to completion or even minimum viable product, but the characters exist and the genre is set.
It's quite impressive, as I talk about myself, to see the progress one can make with a proper teacher (in this case, a series of videos online), the right tools (ProCreate is phenomenal), and consistency (I whip out at least one drawing a day). It's been awhile I've picked up something outside of video content to be a main hobby, and it's quite refreshing to feel accomplished on the daily through completion. The other side of this is awaiting the feedback of one guaranteed viewer, as opposed to somewhat anxiously anticipating the view count following video release. In some ways, it's the ultimate feedback loop which enables me to iterate and look forward to the next creation. The natural buildup of "competition" with the counterpart (who happens to be fantastic at the arts) also helps. It goes without saying, I'm naturally talented at drawing - perhaps this would be a more frustrating process if one was not.
While obvious to note, I highly encourage everyone to take this on - maybe not in the form of drawing, but I can't think of much more that can be done in the comforts of a bedroom at low cost and a measurable daily KPI (one drawing, one lesson).
Stop wasting time living vicariously through other people's hobbies.