Many professionals promise that all you need to become a great artist is a shitload of practice.

If that were the case, everyone would improve with time. But what about the artists who draw day after day, without their art going anywhere? If anything, they seem to repeat the same mistakes, and there’s little difference between their art a year ago versus now.

And what about those artists who have great drawing skills, but a bland vibe to their art? They execute lineart and coloring seamlessly, but they repeat the same poses, the same narratives, the same art choices. There’s nothing wrong with their art, but there’s also nothing special about it.

These are signs of artists who have over-invested in Technical Skills, without spending time on two other important aspects of being a well-rounded creative: Taste and Exploration.

The TTE Triangle

Ok, so I forced the titty thing, sue me.

Technical Skills, Taste, and Exploration are three aspects that combine to make a great artist. They’re in a triangle because they build on each other, with each upper layer becoming more fluid—they will constantly be changing as you improve as an artist.

If you find your art plateauing, it might be time to invest in the other aspects. Let’s go through each one.

Technical Skill

Technical skill is all about execution and doing. These are your drawing studies, practice, fundamentals, and techniques. The answers you’d expect from “I’m new to drawing. What do I need to learn?”

Technical skill is the bottom of the pyramid because you’ll probably spend the most time studying theory and doing art studies. Without that foundation, you won’t have the tools to improve your Taste or Explore. That’s why they say, “you need to know the rules before you can break them”.

Some signs that someone is lacking in Technical skill:

• Unconfident art-making, such as chicken scratch lines and over-blending colors
• Art choices & mistakes reveal gaps in knowledge, especially technical fundamentals like anatomy or perspective
• Repeats the same content for fear of trying new things

You can probably feel when your art skills are lacking. The frustration creeps in when it’s time to do that part of the drawing. It might be hands, or figuring out how wet clothes would look. The shit that just doesn’t make sense.

Amateur artists over-depend on copying: inevitably copying mistakes and visuals without understanding why something is drawn the way it is. Unless you push through the discomfort of art studies and learning the theory, you won’t be able to properly build the next two aspects, which depend on you knowing what is right and wrong.

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Taste

Taste is all about knowing what’s good and more importantly, what’s not. This is different from Technical skill, where you know what’s right versus wrong.

As you improve your skills, you also improve your taste. You’ll spot more mistakes in your and others’ art, and become choosier with what you consider great art. It’s kind of like how good fashionable people can make things work with a thrifted wardrobe compared to someone with unlimited clothes from the best brands. The former has a grasp of fashion fundamentals from their time absorbed in the culture (this is also why someone does not need to be an artist to give good art feedback).

I see artists skip this aspect because they don’t like comparing their art to great artists. It’s uncomfortable, especially because it feels like failure. However, this isn’t about comparison, but setting a higher standard. Without it, you’ll stay stuck at your current level. This is why I believe that you’re only as good as your inspirations; if you continue to study mediocre artists instead of amazing artists for fear of failing, you’ll get nowhere.

My inspirations have changed over the years, and my taste has gotten stricter.

What’s the difference? I would say the bottom artists are massively better: they have better anatomy, more realistic lighting, and livelier gesture. These are artists I would call great at what they do.

Ira Glass discusses this gap between taste and execution, saying “[As a creative] your taste is good enough that you can tell [your art] is kinda a disappointment to you… and a lot of people at that point they quit.” On the flip side, I’ve also seen artists with bad taste. Their lack of taste prevents them from seeing what’s off about their art, holding them back. In the presence of great art, they grope for compliments, instead of studying what makes someone good and their own art ‘eh’.

An artist without Taste:

• Doesn’t respond well to feedback, equating their art with their self-worth
• Has almost the exact same art month-to-month, year-to-year
• Doesn’t evaluate the art of their inspirations critically (pulling on Technical to study what’s wrong or right)

Honing Taste is a difficult thing, especially with the subjectivity of great. My advice is to constantly prune your inspirations, and immerse yourself in media. Share your art (and your inspirations) with other artists and see what they think. Seek out feedback from artists you respect and whose works you like. Ask them how you can get from A to B. Study the works of the masters in your field.

Additionally, Taste doesn’t mean disregarding other artists because you don’t like their art. My personal love-hate is Marc Brunet, who I acknowledge gives great art advice but whose style I really dislike. I find his coloring muddy and over-rendered, and the smooth blending of values doesn’t match anime, which is usually cel-shaded. Because I know the art fundamentals behind his choice (Technical skill), I know how and why not to replicate it (Taste).

Exploration

After you’ve built Taste and Technical, you might find yourself bored with YouTube advice and tutorials. It’s time to do things your way. Exploration is about stepping off the beaten path and trying things others haven’t.

This is where you expand your art-making into a holistic venture: you bring in your interests, explore different fields, try different art techniques. All of this culminates into your unique creative approach.

Exploration takes vulnerability, as you step away from what’s considered conventionally good to incorporate your own weird twists. It also takes commitment, as early explorations can be messy and seemingly go nowhere. Stick with it! A great question that’s guided my art-making is “what would I find cool?” That’s a pretty bold statement that will get you to make art decisions you might not have for fear of doing things ‘wrong’.

Recommended Article For You: Check out how this NSFW artist found their art style through persistence and experimentation.

In my case, I began replacing coloring with pencil shading. I stumbled across the approach when I had to cram for a school project, and eventually began using it for freelance. A lot of doubts surfaced like “No one would want to commission a color-less drawing!” and “What if pros think my style is amateur?” Those fears were certainly valid, but what was the trade-off of giving up? Continuing to make art in a way I hated? No thanks.

Exploration isn’t limited to art style, it could be incorporating new dimensions into your art such as gameplay or animation and sound. In my SFW art, Exploration meant incorporating programming with art-making, to make interactive illustrations.

The importance of giving yourself time and space to grow

I know it can be frustrating to feel like you aren’t improving. However, many artists agree that forcing progress is actually the quickest way to slow down progress: you fixate on mistakes, lower your motivation, and make time move slower compared to when you’re in flow and enjoying.

Growth comes from more than just hours of practice. Immersing yourself in other material, noting what you like, and fostering a positive relationship with art-making gives you the energy to make what you want, rather than what you think you should.

Surprisingly, what helped me the most is to stop focusing so much on my art and indulge in other interests. Treat your journey like a plant that you lovingly water and tend to. It won’t grow visibly, but one day you’ll look at it and be surprised at how it reaches new heights.

I hope the article was helpful! Let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to give feedback if you send your portfolio in through ArtBeat. Cheers!