Hey, so prehaps this is a little bit of a redundant question/problem, but anyway I should like to hear your suggestions in which to overcome it.

Basically I pretty much finished my current plans for art education, which was Fine Art, A level that I took for two years and finished in May of this year. That I know isn't a permenant plan; I will take Art further at some point but for now I have no plans for it and my question is this, How can I continue to improve without the guidence and/or physical grading system that is present in a classroom environment?

I have been drawing for quite a while and I know I'm not perfect, my main vice being that I always sucumb to drawing celebraties from pictures, which I have heard (depending on who you ask) is not the best way to improve, but in retrospect when I do produce something original, I feel like I'm drawing the same old thing. I need to come out of the comfort of drawing people all the time and move on to something else, the only thing is that I am yet to come across anything that I am motivated to draw. I did start a project based around landscapes and archetechture, for example, but it now feels more like work than it does pleasure.

Anyway, with this in mind I would love to hear anything that would constitute towards resolving this and I very much appreciate any and all help.

Thanks for at least reading and sorry for the very long post

Try a new medium that you have never used or one you dislike..

To get a rounded grounding in art, you need to try a variety of mediums and supports. You need to draw from life as well as reference images - and those images should be ones that you took yourself. And why celebrities? Why not people around you? Get friends and family to pose for you.

My suggestion would be to find a local art association and join it. They will likely have workshops and guest speakers that you can learn from. Get into a life drawing class.
Try painting, pastel, pen and ink, printmaking - there is so much out there and you're restricting yourself to one area only.

Get a sketchbook and starting drawing the world around you. If you only have 10 minutes to spare, use them drawing. Draw your breakfast, the view from the window, anything. But most of all expand your world of art with different techniques and mediums and supports. Draw from life. Draw different subject matter - still life, portraits, landscapes, get creative.

Over time you will find your strength and the type of subject and the medium that appeals to you most. But without trying, you've restricted yourself to a narrow view of the world of art.

Islander; honestly I'm surprised you used the word 'restrict'. I have started going out on a limb, I mean a few years ago I wouldn't have even tried to use anything other than pencil, but am now working with watercolour, learning to use Acrylic, and am getting to grips with fountain pen and diluteing and manipulateing the ink. I also bought some soft pastels recently and have experimented briefly with them. But actually I never mentioned this so I can understand this to be an immediate response.

My most prominant problem is subject, most of the time there is nothing that strikes me enough to cause me to draw it. I won't make up excuses here; I don't have the confidence in myself to go out into the world to draw; the whole time I will be thinking what are they thinking about me, do they think I can't draw etc etc etc. Really that extends into a personal problem that clearly I will have to resolve before I can progress in many aspects of my life. Celebrities honestly, would be because pictures of them are somewhat readily available. My family are...in basis...not supportive, they will not help me and my friends are always busy with work and uni.

I have taken life drawing within college so I'm not completely new to it, but the only art place I think I have nearby is the Queens Park centre which all charge for classes, I don't have the money for it. I barely even have the money to buy an eraser, I have to turn to my boyf for things and am basically surviving on all the left over materials that I have from college. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I thought that learning to draw and progressing was going to be easy, but I feel backed into a corner here. Tbh what you have said has just made me feel caged in that corner, but I doubt that that was your intention in any way.

I do have a willingness to progress; a willingness to extend into new things, just not the confidence I guess. I am trying, if I wasn't then I wouldn't have even bothered to start up this thread and ask an actual art community for help, nor would I have started up the series of projects that I am trying to get through. I purposely started the projects so I would come out of my comfort zone, but in retrospect I was not asking for mindless encouragement. I have made myself a sketchbook which I am using for my projects and have another A3 purely for recreational purposes. Also it's not as if I have never drawn outside of the classroom, which seemed to be your implication (please correct me if I'm wrong), I have several filled up recreational sketchbooks that show, however minimal, progression.

I am, however, looking for a little guidence, which you have provided, so thank you for that. I do appreciate the advice that you have given me.

airscapes ugh looks like I'm pulling out the oil pastel/oil paints then

I shared the same problem. There are times that I just can make myself to draw but I noticed once I start I don't stop. so I guess the hard part is to start. Now about drawing celebraties there is nothing wrong with that except that celebraties try to hide their imperfections. I agreed "Islander", try new medium and if people are limited try your BF or better yet draw yourself. Try using the computer, there are so many programs to draw very cheap like "artrage".
But I noticed in my case I feel motivated to draw when I am around other people that draw too, may be it is because I see what they can do,and I used that as means for a healthy competition.

Also search for competitions on line. Try the ones here on this site, better know as Weekly challenges.

Take a look on these sites for inspiration.

DeviantArt
ImagineFx
Painter Magazine
Concept art
GFXarrtist

Just to name a few. But the important thing is if you see something in one of these sites That you like go ahead and try to see if you can manage to reproduce the same results.

I hope this work and good luck.

Please excuse my grammar since english is my second language.
Have fun!

Dreamer, you did say 'drawing' so I presumed that graphite was the main medium you were using. My mistake. Its good that you are trying other mediums.

My term of 'restriction' was in relation to you drawing celebrities only which is what you stated in your original post. And that can have its own set of problems in terms of copyright, unless you have permission to draw the image and show it on a public site. Its fine if you're just drawing them for your own personal use and for practice. Perhaps you need to ask yourself why you only draw celebrities. What is it about them that sparks enough interest that you want to draw them? Why not the person next door or your boyfriend? We all have different subjects that appeal to us most and that we concentrate on, perhaps it is portraits for you. If so, you need to incorporate more variety of faces into your work.

Years ago, I took my portfolio to an art school. It was filled with portraits and life drawings, my passion at the time. It was rejected because it wasn't broad enough. I went back to the studio and did landscapes and buildings and animals as well as portraits and life drawings and reapplied. It was accepted. They wanted to see the range of drawing and painting and subject matter than I could tackle, not just one subject. By letting yourself fall back into your comfort zone constantly, you won't reach your next level of expertise or learn what you are truly capable of.

Money issues? Ok, then tackle some free online class resources to learn new skills. There are drawing challenges here weekly and on other sites. Try the portrait challenge monthly at WetCanvas, do self portraits. Try new subject matter. You don't need expensive equipment. You can get a decent drawing pad and pencils at the dollar store. Or buy some copy paper. Use recycled paper from offices. Making a goal is also useful. You need to know where you're going to be able to know if you've gotten there or not. What is your goal? Do you know it yet?

It isn't my intention to back you into a corner or make you feel threatened. You put your problem on the table and asked for advice and based on what information you provided I gave my two cents worth. I think we all like to stay in our comfort zones and not have parts of us exposed to the world. The world of art is visual and with that comes scrutiny from ourselves and our peers as well as the rest of the world. A lot of that is good when it is praise. The critiques aren't always so easy to take, but if done constructively, they are essential to help us move forward.

All artists have confidence issues, no matter what their level of experience. We all have doubts and fears. We also all start projects and lose interest in them too. Don't beat yourself up over it. Try something each week or month that you wouldn't usually draw or paint. For me its flowers. I DESPISE drawing or painting flowers. I can do it, but I sure do dislike them. But I make myself do it now and then for a couple of reasons. One, to push myself out of that comfortable space and two, to prove to myself that I can do it.

Finally, going out in public to draw. Well in all the years that I've done so, perhaps two people have come up to me and asked to see what I was doing and were interested and pleasant. In all honesty, people don't care what you're doing as long as you're not bugging them.

Good luck with it.

I just stared doing the drawing outside or in a dr, office .. I enjoy it alot .. because I draw whats around me .. I have not yet been asked what I am doing and I only use pencil and a small drawing book I carry in my purse .

guzman yes thank you for your imput.

I am already on deviantart and love ImagineFX, but I will definately check out the other things you have suggested. Thank you and your grammer was fine

Islander I completely understand where you are coming from and at the end of the day I posted my first topic late at night so I apologise if anything in it was hard to understand and that I may have become defensive. I appreciate that you are merely just trying to help me and I am grateful for that, really, and you have given me a lot to think about which I'm also grateful for. I'm glad that you did give me your input as it has pushed me into thinking about this to a higher level. It has been my intention to work towards becoming (for a few years now) an illustrator. I know I have a ways to go yet, but yes thank you.

Kim thank you very much for your input, I have been intending to start drawing my back garden or my pets and I will do at some time soon. Thank you for your comment