I had a shower-thought the other day that was a bit of an epiphany for me.

It is not always necessary to artificially practice something in order to improve on it.

I was watching some tutorials on Manga Studio 5 / Clip Studio Paint by Doug Hills. I was thinking about how much he must of had to practice to get such great mastery of the tools in the software as well has his ability to draw so confidently. I started getting caught up in thinking how it was going to take me a really long time to build up any level of competency in digital art, since I have just scratched the surface on analog art.

As it happened, by brain was also bouncing around to the React.js side project I have been working on and it hit me. I don't practice a new language or technology before I use it. I just start using it. It is true that I might do a side-project or a toy application, but I also usually don't just practice or try it with no purpose. I don't usually sit down and work through exercises like write 'hello world' app 5000 times. I typically follow a tutorial and mimic what the tutorial does in my custom application. I use my expertise in computering to fill in the gaps and debug the problems(read as, operate Google and copy and paste Stackoverflow accepted answers). Sometimes, I will also search out what methods or processes other developers use to develop with a given technology.

So why do I have this stigma with learning to art when I don't have it when learning to computer? I think it stems from my feeling that if I watch someone do something with relative ease, it usually means they are very well practiced. But, I also discount the fact that many of the things I do with relative ease also came from practical practice. So when I watch someone on youtube freehand out an awesome drawing, my brain is rationalizing that they must have drawn 5 million circles leading up to drawing this one near perfectly. While that is likely a true conclusion, it doesn't mean that all 5 million of them were just circle exercises on a worksheet page.

Iteration also plays a large role in mastery. I often had the impression that a really great piece of art was completed in one sitting with one attempt. Artists often use multiple attempts or quick sketches that they incrementally build up to awesome final products. This is no different than my approach on software. I start building up a concept and then I refine and refactor as needed. In my React application I started with just React, then I added Redux. Then I included a linter and cleaned up all my cruft. Next, I will add some unit tests. Many of these things I didn't do at the start because I didn't understand enough and they would be overwhelming to try and get up and running. As I have watched artists on youtube, they do the same thing. They get rough sketches in to get the basic layout. They slowly work in details and refine. They add tone and color. They keep building until they are satisfied with the result.

This has changed my outlook a little. I feel less daunted about improving my ability to draw. I certainly feel like I can practice with practical application even if some of the output might not be "production ready." I also had a really great first experience with using Manga Studio 5 to work on some digital art I had started as a sketch on paper. I think understanding that practice is important to improving, but it is equally important to remember that not all practice has to be rote exercises.