Shadowing Practice: What I did when art wasn't fun - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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I think everyone hears this all the time.
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I think everyone hears this all the time.
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If you want to get good at art,
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you're gonna have to practice.
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A lot.
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So you do.
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But for some reason, drawing is kind of frustrating.
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Maybe you feel like, how are you supposed to have fun if everything you draw doesn't even look good?
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Or maybe you feel stuck because you feel like you've been working so hard,
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but you're not getting any better.
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I know how it feels.
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Trust me, because oh boy, I've been there.
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It took me a while,
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but eventually I managed to learn to enjoy art again.
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And in this video, I'll try to explain how I got there.
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So getting frustrated with your art is understandable,
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especially if you're just getting started.
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But this applies even if you've been at it for a while.
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You've spent so long on this one drawing.
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You've been working so hard.
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But somehow it just doesn't come out like you want it to.
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That's frustrating.
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I think one of the problems when it comes to how people see art is
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that some people really don't understand the scale of it.
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They don't understand how much time you really need to get good at art.
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They think it looks something like this,
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when in fact it looks more like this.
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And I think this misunderstanding makes sense because all people see from artists is the final results.
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The final painting, or maybe just the time lapse for one single painting.
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They're not really seeing all the practice
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and training the artists did to be able to get to that point in the first place.
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That's why watching an artist's time lapse and just copying their process rarely works.
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You can't copy the process without one illustration and expect it to turn out the same way.
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You also have to keep in mind all the practice the artist did before even starting this one illustration.
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I think it kind of makes sense if we compare art to long distance running.
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I don't think anyone in the world expects a couch potato to be able to start running ultra-marathons anytime soon,
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even if he did practice really hard.
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And somehow you get artists getting immediately discouraged that their art isn't looking good right away.
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Like running, art takes consistent practice and dedication in order to build up your skills.
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But running has one big advantage over art in that your progress is clear and measurable.
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You get faster, you can run farther,
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you can easily see that you're getting better.
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You don't really get that in art.
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In fact, I think people are notoriously bad at noticing their own improvements.
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So this is just a hypothesis.
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But I think that's also why so many artists tend to cling to social media.
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I feel like we all know that social media success does not equate good art,
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but at least there are numbers.
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At least we can measure it,
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and at least we can see the number go up.
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Okay, maybe you're like, whatever YouTube video,
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I already know all this stuff.
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I know it takes a long time, but I'm not improving.
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I keep doing all the stuff everyone is telling me to,
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but I'm not getting any better.
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So this is what we call a plateau.
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Often when people first start learning a new skill,
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they quickly start seeing improvements.
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They get encouraged and keep going.
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But then they hit a wall.
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And I'm just gonna say,
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that's just how it works.
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Plateaus are inevitable and the sooner you can accept that, the better.
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People tend to want to believe that improvement is linear and the graph looks like this.
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The more effort and time you put in, the better you get.
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Except, the reality is, it looks more like this.
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Or maybe even get worse.
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You can be doing everything right, it's not your fault.
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And this feeling sucks.
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But if you zoom out of the graph,
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you'll see that it still goes up over a long time period.
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It's just a bit of a bumpy road,
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and you just have to know that.
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So at this point I've told you that focusing on results can be frustrating.
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I've also said that focusing on improvement can be frustrating.
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So what are you supposed to focus on?
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This might be hard to understand,
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but if you can, try to focus on the actual creation process.
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I don't know about you guys,
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but I used to feel anxiety when faced with a blank canvas.
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I used to get so caught up with results and improvement that I felt fear whenever I started a new drawing.
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What if the drawing wasn't good?
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What if I wasn't improving?
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What if I wasn't talented?
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What if all of this was just a waste of time?
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I spent more time worrying about drawing than actually drawing.
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I think it really helped when I started thinking of each drawing more like an adventure,
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an exploration, except since we're starting with a blank canvas,
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the possibilities are basically limitless.
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I may have some rough idea of what I want before I get started,
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but I don't really know how it's going to end up until I try,
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and the process of finding out is what I find fun.
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And of course, while I would prefer for it to be good,
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it's not really the end of the world if it isn't
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because the final drawing is more of a byproduct rather than the goal.
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Other things you can do to help find the fun in
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art is to have a good understanding of what you really enjoy trying.
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Yes, it's important to practice and eat your art vegetables,
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but you have to make sure to make time to draw what you love as well.
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And it's even better if you manage to develop taste for vegetables.
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So is there a particular media you really enjoy?
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Do you like illustration?
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Do you like designing characters that's something you'll have to find out
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because if you genuinely have fun drawing you'll find
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that it becomes much easier to keep up the habit i
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think people tend to overestimate their own ability to do things
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that they don't enjoy just think about how crowded the gym is in january
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and compare it to how it looks in february just one month later another thing
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How do you feel when you see art that's better than yours?
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Do you feel inspired?
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Or do you feel frustrated and disappointed in yourself that you can't draw like that?
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I definitely used to feel unhappy whenever I saw better artists out there.
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It even got to the point where I stopped looking at other artists altogether.
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I just felt so bad about myself.
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And instead of being able to celebrate my fellow artists successes,
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I was only bitter that they could do what I could not.
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It was definitely not a good point in my life and I'm grateful that I was able to move past that.
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It definitely took a while to get myself out of that mindset.
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And the first thing was to remind myself exactly how long other people had been practicing for.
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And I don't mean how old they are or how many years they've been drawing.
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In my opinion, that's just not really a very useful metric.
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Drawing for a year can mean that they drew for an hour every weekend
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or that they were literally grinding for 10 hours a day.
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There's a really huge range in what one year means.
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So I didn't realize that initially.
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I picked up drawing relatively late,
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so initially it was really frustrating to me that people 10 years younger than me were so much better than I was,
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and they still are.
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But despite being so much younger than me,
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those people have probably practiced far more than I have.
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I spent most of my life not drawing.
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It makes sense that they're better than me.
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So expecting myself to be as good as them with
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so much less work put in means that I kind of expected myself to be some kind of super genius,
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which, well, no, I'm obviously not.
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So it doesn't make sense for me to expect myself to be good as them
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because I just haven't practiced as much as they have.
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So instead of worrying about whether I had that talent,
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I just decided to draw instead of worrying about what I can't change anyway.
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I started to be a little bit more patient
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and kinder to myself and that made drawing so much less stressful for me.
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Okay so this was a little rambly but if you managed to make it all the way to the end, thanks.
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And if you are understandably frustrated about art,
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I hope it helped you a a little bit.
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If you enjoyed the video,
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I'd appreciate it if you did the YouTube stuff,
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and if there's anything else you'd like to see from me,
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please let me know.
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So good luck out there artists,
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and remember to have fun!
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Practicing English through real-life contexts, like the struggles artists face as described in the video "What I did when art wasn't fun," can significantly enhance your speaking skills. By engaging with the content, you not only improve your vocabulary but also gain insights into emotional expression and storytelling in English. When you shadow the speaker, you're mimicking their rhythm and intonation, which helps build fluency and confidence. Additionally, discussing topics like frustration and perseverance in art adds depth to your conversational skills, allowing you to articulate feelings in various contexts.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
In this video, the speaker uses valuable grammar structures and expressions that are useful for learners. Here are some key takeaways:
- “It's understandable that…” - This phrase is a great way to empathize with another person's feelings or experiences.
- “You have to keep in mind…” - This expression introduces essential information that can help others understand a concept better. It's useful in discussions requiring clarification or emphasis.
- “It took me a while, but…” - This structure effectively conveys a sense of time and progress, showcasing one's journey—important when describing personal growth in any subject, including learning languages.
- “Somehow it just doesn’t come out like you want it to” - This expression reflects disappointment and can be applied not just in art but in any endeavor where expectations aren’t met.
Common Pronunciation Traps
When shadowing this video, be aware of certain tricky words and phrases that may challenge your pronunciation. For instance:
- “Frustrating” - This word can be difficult due to the sequence of consonants. Practice breaking it down: frus-tra-ting.
- “Artist” - Pay attention to the soft 'a' sound; many learners might pronounce it too harshly, so listening closely to the speaker can help.
- “Consistent practice” - The flow between these words can be tricky. Notice how the speaker emphasizes each syllable to maintain clarity while speaking quickly.
By focusing on these aspects, you’ll not only improve your English pronunciation but also become more comfortable with the shadowing technique that mimics the natural speech patterns of fluent speakers. Embrace the challenges of pronunciation; over time, and with practice influenced by resources like this video, you will see improvement in your speaking abilities.
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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