Maybe I am retarded or something

Define "doodling". Drawing from imagination is also practice. If you're drawing the same comfort zone things over and over while talking on the phone like a giddy teenage girl, then yeah, you're not going to learn much.

>>3128977
I've learned a lot from mindlessly doodling, nothing about how anatomy works but how to simplify things in an appealing way.

>>3128990

Is that "doodling" though or exploratory drawing?

>>3128977
I'm not a regular /ic/ user, i found this board recently. And I think I agree with you. You can't just study and study every single day, that's not how learning works. After you learn something new you have to work with it till you solidify that new thing. I don't know if it is "mindless doodling" tho. I would call it "mindful doodling", doodling what you want with the new skill you learned.

>>3128990
I would like to see your work. Because I can't draw appeal to save my life

>>3129000

I draw from imagination and I just try to figure out why I like some drawings more than others and try to learn form that. Don't know what exploratory drawing is, this just feels loose and fun like doodling.

>>3129005

Well that doesn't sound like mindless doodling, that's just drawing in my book. Mindless doodling would be like drawing that shitty "S" everyone did in high school over and over again. You are putting some kind of effort into what you are doing, even if it's loose

File: doodles.jpg (396KB, 1350x900px) Image search: [Google]

396KB, 1350x900px

>>3129002
I failed at getting appeal more than I got it. I had this bad habit of doodling with pens so I just moved on to the next doodle instead of seeing if I could correct my mistakes. I'm using pencils now but I have nothing much to show.
>>3129027
feels mindless

>>3129083
i understand that feeling OP

i only ever did animu sketches mindlessly. but when I do studies/correcting proportional mistakes it gives my head a workout!

maybe try incorporating that?

avoid the toons, since youve already internalizing them, hence theyre mindless. challenge yourself to new thingz.

Good luck ^_^!

most of the time when people tell you to 'just draw,' real cut and dry, they are telling you to fuck off because they have no patience to help other people

You are not supposed to take it literally, but it is still good advice. Essentially, what the two words Just and Draw mean when put together is telling you that you reek of wasted energy and inefficiency. You are doing things that will not help you in the long run. That is all it means. The word Draw in the phrase Just Draw does not mean to just move the pen randomly on a piece of paper like a graphomaniac. It means a specific kind of drawing where you are devoid of all distractions and only interested in the pure pursuit of understanding. Just Draw isn't meant to feel like whipping a horse, it's to tell you you're not being efficient. If it is mindless doodling you are worrying about, then it is possible to make it not mindless. Mindless Doodling isn't actually mindless. It is just called that because you feel some form of guilt at drawing itself, not mindlessly drawing. So you are too busy worrying about pedantic things that it becomes less a conscious activity and more just about you wasting time. Don't think about wasting time then, Know you are sitting down and putting forward effort for your future, and for your future audience. Effort never betrays you.

Why did I just explain that I dont know. I'm on break.

>>3129083
You've got a real future in the Spumco style of art... Just practice clear environments and line of action