A Stressful Sunset With TikTok

Hey guys! It has been a bit since my last drawing post but I have an update for you today! Recently for my learning project I have been sticking to using YouTube to learn how to draw on my Ipad. I have enjoyed using YouTube for finding videos on how to draw things on my Ipad so far for many different reasons and features. I found myself to be very comfortable with the process I have been using of finding a video on YouTube to draw along with and I can slow down the pace that works best for me and I think it is time to break out of this shell! Therefore, this week I decided to switch it up a bit by going to TikTok for the videos.

For this weeks drawing I decided to attempt drawing a sunset. I love sunsets as they relax me and make me grateful for life and all the things in life I have to also be grateful for. Therefore, in the stress and business of school I thought drawing a sunset would be a fun, relaxing way to reflect on my life since I have been so busy while getting some work done at the same time. I started by just using the knowledge I have learned from previous weeks to attempt drawing one with out a guiding video. It was quite a relaxing, enjoyable experience as I was drawing it and I was able to reflect on myself and life during the process. The picture on the left is what the finished product looks like. I was really happy with how it turned out without watching a video to follow along with, so I was excited to find a video to follow along with and see an improvement in the end result.

The first video I found that I wanted to try to follow along with can be found at this link. I thought this one looked pretty and interesting as well as it seemed simple enough to attempt. At the end of my process, I was quite impressed withhow it turned out. The picture on the right is the end result of following along with the first TikTok video I watched. Although I was impressed with what it looked like in the end the process of drawing it was very stressful. Since the video is only 2.5 minutes long the steps to creating it go by EXTREMELY quick and if you have used TikTok before you may be aware of the difficulties to rewinding the video. It was very frustrating having to worry about continually pausing the video every few seconds or if accidentally forgotten to pause having to get my finger placed in the correct spot guessing how far too go back. Although it was not the greatest experience I was very impressed with how improved the image turned out so I wanted to try another video that can be found here. I thought the first videos instructions were quick but they were not as quick as this videos! It was very challenging to follow along with this video; I even tried watching it 3 times over just to get the grasp of it before attempting to follow the video along while drawing it. After only 15 seconds into this video I felt so extremely frustrated. Despite the frustrations I did not want to give up so I continued on trying but with less motivation and enthusiasm. I was not impressed with the end result to this drawing. I think the loss of motivation and enthusiasm is what effected what the end result looked liked more than my skill or information provided in the video. This is because I gave up mentally while still pushing through the negative feelings physically. When looking at it now I do see potential in certain small areas such as the sun itself and water but I think it is my overall least favourite piece I have created so far.

Through this experience, I learned that TikTok videos are not a place for me to find follow along videos. At least not until I am more comfortable with the app and know my way around it very well as well as my skill and background knowledge expand drastically. I still may use TikTok to find tips and learn about the app but not for a tool to find videos to draw with. This is not my last time trying to draw a sunset; keep coming back for updates because I want to try finding a follow along drawing video on YouTube for a sunset in the near future!