Shadowing Practice: How to love drawing (even if you're not good at it) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Learning art takes so long.
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Learning art takes so long.
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I know that if I want to get good,
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I'm going to have to practice and do art studies, but that's boring.
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So I keep procrastinating and putting it off and I just end up playing games instead.
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If only drawing was as fun as playing video games.
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However, what if I told you that it can be?
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But how?
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Especially if we're just starting out,
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our drawings don't exactly look great.
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How can we possibly enjoy being bad at something?
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I can't help but think that drawing would be so much easier
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if I were able to make drawings that I was satisfied with.
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I don't want to be an art god or anything.
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I just want to be good enough so that I don't disappoint myself constantly.
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Surely that isn't asking for too much?
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However, there was a very big flaw in this way of thinking that I didn't realize before,
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that being good at something doesn't automatically mean I'll enjoy it.
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For example, do you know about Andre Agassi,
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the former professional tennis player?
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Famously, he wrote this about tennis in his memoir.
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I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion, and always have.
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Which goes to show that simply being the best in the world at something doesn't mean that you'll automatically enjoy it.
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But then again, he's an anomaly.
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And also, that's sports, right?
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Completely different from art.
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Okay, then what about Michelangelo?
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You know, the guy that painted the Sistine Chapel.
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Apparently, he despised painting the ceiling and claimed that painting was not his art, preferring sculpture instead.
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Now don't get me wrong,
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it does help a lot to be happy with your own work.
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Knowing that you can get a decent result and therefore satisfaction and a sense of achievement to look forward to,
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that can make the struggle a lot more tolerable.
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But there's a big reason why the final result cannot be the entire reason that someone draws.
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And that is, no artist is ever guaranteed to have a good result every time.
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Perhaps you might be thinking,
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there's no way that could be true.
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There are these amazing, incredible artists on social media, right?
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And every single one of their art pieces are bangers.
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Their time-lapse is flawless.
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But remember, that's social media, not real life.
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Of course, artists only post the pieces that they're proud of.
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We have no way of knowing how many bad drawings they made in between their posts.
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After all, social media is just a highlight reel of the moments people choose to present to the world.
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A little glimpse of their complicated lives.
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Even legends like the late Kim Jong-gi,
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whose work seemed flawless, made mistakes.
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but he was able to incorporate those errors seamlessly into his work.
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So if even the best artists in the world make bad drawings,
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then regular people like you or I definitely can't avoid them.
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But not only that, because what if I told you that we don't actually want to avoid bad drawings?
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Let's take a step back and think about this for a second.
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What is a bad drawing?
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It's a drawing that the artist isn't satisfied with, right?
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What does it mean when we make one?
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Does it mean that we're a bad artist?
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Well, no. It just meant that we made some bad art.
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However, I think that making bad art is actually a crucial part of learning how to draw.
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Personally, I found that making bad art full of mistakes and then correcting them was the best way of learning for me.
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And unfortunately, I found that out the hard way.
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Years and years ago, I used to refuse to ever let myself fail.
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Why subject myself to all that embarrassment and humiliation?
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But what I didn't realize was that by doing that,
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I was depriving myself of the opportunity to grow and learn.
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And what's more, because my standards for myself were so high,
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anything less than professional I considered a failure.
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I think that's actually one reason that kids seem to have an easier time picking up new skills like drawing.
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They haven't spent decades consuming incredible,
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well-crafted, high-quality media, which means that,
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unlike adults, they don't have very high standards for art yet,
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including the art they make with their own hands.
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So they're much less likely to feel discouraged by what they create,
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and so they find it easier to keep going and have fun with it.
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Unfortunately, us older folks can't do that.
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We're going to have to find some other way of deriving fun and satisfaction.
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So what if, instead of obsessing over every individual drawing,
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we zoom out and look a little bit more long-term?
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What if we focus on our progress instead?
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As learners, it makes perfect sense that our first drawings don't look the best,
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but as we keep learning and practicing,
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the next drawing is gonna look better,
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and the one after that will be even better.
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We can use this improvement as a way to motivate ourselves to keep going,
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with one important caveat.
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I was I was dissatisfied with my art for a very long time,
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and so I worked hard to study fundamentals and try to get better at it.
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But even with weeks and months of hard work,
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my drawings weren't getting any better.
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It was honestly pretty rough.
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I actually ended up quitting art for an extended period back then,
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but that's a story for another time.
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But there was one thing I didn't know about art back then,
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and that is learning takes a very long time.
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Much longer than I expected.
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When a beginner starts learning a skill,
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they're likely to see quick gains and big jumps in skill.
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Kind of like when someone first starts going to the gym.
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However, as we accumulate more experience,
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these improvements get harder and harder to see.
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Eventually, it starts taking years for us to see any progress,
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or maybe even longer.
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And that's a pretty long time period to be not seeing any improvement.
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And worse yet, no matter how much we try to avoid it,
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something even more terrible happens.
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And we end up plateauing and not improving for a long, long time.
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As far as I know,
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there's no easy way to break out of it,
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which means that progress can't be depended on as a reliable way to motivate ourselves,
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especially as we get more skills.
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What can we do?
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So let me share with you what I like to think about when I draw,
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which is to focus on the process.
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The simple joy of creating something from nothing.
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Forming an entire illustration out of a bunch of individual strokes,
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watching it gradually take form.
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Like this.
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Hmm.
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Uh, wait, that doesn't look good?
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Let me start again.
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Maybe like this.
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Hmm.
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Oh, I messed the legs up.
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Let me try again.
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Ugh, how can it possibly be fun to make so many mistakes and have to start over and over again?
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Isn't that frustrating?
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Imagine playing a game where you keep losing all your progress and having to do the same thing over and over again.
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Who'd want to play that?
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But here's the thing.
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In a way, I actually do think about drawing kind of like playing a video game,
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but not like a linear game,
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more like an open world game.
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I might have some kind of idea of my goal or desired result.
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However, I can't simply go from blank canvas to completed illustration with no detours.
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Drawing isn't so simple a task.
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Much like how obstacles or enemies in a video game are only relevant when you're actually right in front of them,
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certain problems in an illustration really only reveal themselves much later on in the process.
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It's like exploration.
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Except in art, we have infinite possibilities.
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Issues will arise, but we can deal with them as we get there.
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And solving those issues is actually part of the fun as well.
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Remember, when we're drawing, we're not just randomly drawing lines on a page.
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There is a purpose, which is visual communication.
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We're trying to express something,
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be it an emotion or a message, through an image.
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And we're trying to figure out a good way of doing that.
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It's almost like solving a puzzle.
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For example, the human body is super complicated,
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so we need to figure out a way of managing all that complexity.
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One way of doing that is to simplify it into basic shapes like boxes and cylinders.
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I find figuring these solutions out a lot of fun,
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but here's the thing.
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Even though it is fun, it's not always fun.
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Nothing worth doing in life is fun all the time.
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If you're trying to level up in art,
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sometimes you do have to sit down and draw a hundred boxes,
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and that's not exactly the most exciting.
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What can we do in this case?
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For me, the most important thing is to make sure I understand the purpose of the study.
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Those boxes I was talking about,
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if I'm just drawing them and not really understanding why, it feels pointless.
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I can't get myself excited about it.
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However, it gets a lot more interesting if I understand how the study will benefit me.
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For example, if I get good enough at boxes,
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eventually I'll be able to construct these mannequins and then eventually full human figures.
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And that's not the only strategy I have.
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I can also make the study itself fun by turning it into something I want to draw.
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If I'm doing head and face studies, for example.
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I might turn them into characters that I want to draw.
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Unfortunately, this isn't always possible.
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Some exercises just aren't that fun.
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In that case, maybe I can play some music or watch a video while I draw to make it less dull.
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The most effective tactic I've tried is to turn it into a social activity.
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If you're doing something boring,
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having good company makes it a lot less boring.
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Try drawing with friends, either in person or over discord.
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Personally, I like to stream my studies over on Twitch,
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so you can check that out if you're ever interested.
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However, there is a problem with this tactic in particular.
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Because if we think about it when we're studying,
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we should be giving it our full focus.
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Or else the studying isn't going to be as effective as it could be.
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And to that I say, so what?
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Yeah, I know my practice isn't optimal,
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but at least it's fun and I enjoy doing it.
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I really struggle with forcing myself to do something I don't like.
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I don't have a lot of self-control.
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I might be able to manage doing it a few times,
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but forming a long-term habit out of it, That's not happening.
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If I obsess over figuring out the best and most efficient way to practice,
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I'll just burn out and stop doing it.
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I know this because I've made this mistake many many times.
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It's better for me to accept that doing imperfect practice is better than doing nothing at all.
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Or, or, maybe not.
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Maybe I'm getting this completely wrong.
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Maybe it really is better to have a detailed plan
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and schedule and to stick to that plan and to tough it out.
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I've known this to work really well for many people.
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The thing is, everyone is so different.
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Unfortunately, there's no one size fits all strategy that works for everyone.
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The tips that I talked about work for me,
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because I'm pretty lazy, so I really struggle to stay motivated if something isn't fun.
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But if you're more disciplined than I am,
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something else will probably be more efficient.
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While we artists have a lot of shared experiences,
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in the end, we are all different people with different personalities and lives.
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So it's important to truly understand yourself to figure out a plan that works for you.
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Anyway, if you enjoyed the video,
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consider drawing the subscribe button,
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but only if you have fun doing it and consider checking out my Twitch stream,
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where I stream three times a week.
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Thank you so much for watching,
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and I'll see you next time.
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Bye-bye!
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I might be manage- I might be able to ma- I may be- I might be am- I forgot to do something,
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so let me highlight it.
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Actually, never mind.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
This video on how to love drawing is not just for aspiring artists—it can also serve as an engaging way to enhance your English speaking practice. By immersing yourself in a captivating topic like art, you create a fun context that makes learning English feel less like a chore and more like a rewarding experience. Engaging with the content allows you to practice your listening skills and facilitates the shadowing technique, where you repeat what the speaker says to improve your pronunciation and fluency. This enjoyable method can help break the monotony of traditional learning, making it perfect for those preparing for the IELTS speaking practice or anyone keen on improving their conversational skills.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The video uses several impactful phrases and structures that are beneficial for English learners. Here are a few examples:
- "I keep procrastinating and putting it off" - This phrase highlights the habit of delaying tasks, a common challenge many face. It teaches the structure of progressive verbs (keep + verb-ing) for discussing ongoing actions.
- "Enjoy being bad at something" - The concept of enjoying a process rather than focusing on the outcome introduces learners to the idea of gerunds and can inspire vocabulary related to feelings and experiences.
- "That isn’t asking for too much" - This expression is a great example of rhetorical questioning that can enhance one's ability to express opinions clearly and assertively in conversation.
Practicing these expressions can significantly enrich your vocabulary while giving you phrases to use in everyday conversation.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you watch and practice speaking, pay attention to specific words and phrases that may pose pronunciation challenges. For example:
- “Procrastinating” - This word has multiple syllables and can trip up non-native speakers. Focus on breaking it down into three parts: pro-cras-ti-nating.
- “Achievement” - The 'ch' can be tricky; ensure you pronounce it like 'ch' in 'cheese' and not as 'k'.
- “Michelangelo” - A famous name that's often mispronounced. Practice emphasizing the second and fourth syllables, so it sounds like 'Mee-kel-AHN-jel-oh.'
By tuning into these nuances during your English speaking practice, you will gradually improve your clarity and confidence when communicating in English.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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