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All right, here's a video I really
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wanted to make because a lot of you have
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the feeling that you're stuck in your
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growth. You feel like you're no longer
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progressing or you feel like even though
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you have access to the right resources
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and the right content, you still aren't
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achieving the goals that you thought you
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would be achieving. That's why I wanted
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to make this video because you might be
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under a certain like spell or effect
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that you're not even aware of. And so
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I'm going to break it down. This isn't
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only about drawing, by the way. This is
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about anything you want to achieve in
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life. This happens to all of us. And the
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thing I really the thing I really like
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about this is that once you understand
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that principle, it's much easier to live
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painf free. A lot of you have already
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heard of the effect itself, right? It's
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called the Dunning Krueger effect.
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Simply put, if we have a scale on one
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scale, we have confidence, right? This
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is your confidence in doing things,
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achieving things. And on the other
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scale, you have competence, meaning that
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these are the skills you actually have
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with the goal you have. Now what happens
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in the Dunning Krueger effect is that in
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the beginning when you set out to learn
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something completely new that you're
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unaware of what the difficulties in that
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area of expertise are. You you become
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very high in confidence because it's
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what they call naive optimism. You think
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you know everything about what you need
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to learn because you saw one tutorial
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online. You're like cool got this. I'm
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going to learn this. Right? And that
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quickly turns into what they call the
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valley of despair. And then if we push
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through that, we come into the slope of
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enlightenment until again we hit sort of
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this very slow growing plateau of
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expertise. Right? So here we have naive
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optimism. Here we have the valley of
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despair as as described by Dunning
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Krueger. And we have the slope of
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enlightenment. And then here we have
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guru level expertise. This is over a
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long period of time. At least that's
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what you see when people explain the
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Dunning Krueger effect. Now, here's my
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thing. The Dunning Krueger effect
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actually happens on a weekly or even
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daily basis. And this is why a lot of
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the times you get stuck in not
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progressing. Here's what I mean by that.
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Let's say you want to be able to learn
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to draw professionally. Cool. That's a
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long-term goal. So that means that in
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the beginning and all of us had this, we
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saw something that we wanted to achieve
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like drawing in a certain way, painting
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in a certain way, and we saw tutorials
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online and like in five steps I'll teach
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you everything you need to know about
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drawing. And you watch that video and
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you're like, "Got it. That's all I need
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to do. So let's go." Right? So you start
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with naive optimism because you don't
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really know what's going on. You're just
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like, "I have a goal. I need to reach
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that goal. don't know anything about
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what I need to do to get to that goal,
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but you found something and you're like,
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"Wow, I'm I'm optimistic. I'm so excited
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to do this because there's lot a lot of
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excitement going on." And so you start
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with that. So you're very high in
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confidence, but you're still very low in
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competence. You have no skills in that
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area of expertise. And so you set out to
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learn something. And then suddenly by
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learning it, by trying to learn it, even
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if you have access to the right
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resources, by the way, you suddenly
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realize like, hey, this isn't as easy as
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I thought it was, especially given like
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the guru goal, cuz this is what you're
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setting out to to learn. You're like,
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"Wow, that's a big gap." And so what you
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end up going through is like the value
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of despair, right? So you become less
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confident in your abilities naturally as
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you should because you don't have any
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freaking competence. So you go down and
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right you you go through these various
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stages right it's not like you drop down
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instantly but you go through these
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various stages and you start to realize
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that this is a lot harder than I thought
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that it was and you end up in the valley
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of despair. Now, the valley of despair
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is where you actually already have a bit
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of
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skill. That's important to realize, but
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compared to your goal, it's nowhere near
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you thought you would be. So, you
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actually are very low in
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confidence and you have some skill, but
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it's not enough to justify sort of the
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goal you still want to reach. And so
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this is a lot of the times where people,
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any people, by the way, people that want
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to start a business, people that want to
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go to the gym, people that want to be an
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artist, here's where they quit, right?
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This is that quitting point for a lot of
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people. This is the quitting point. Now,
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if you push through it, which a lot of
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you watching this video, you've already
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doing art for a long time. So, you
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actually pushed through it. You realize
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that you don't have all the skills you
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need in order to get to the goal that
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you want. So most of you I would say in
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the long-term goal so you guys are
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actually like here right most of you are
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which is great that's fantastic that's
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where you want to be that's learning but
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this is on a long-term basis now a lot
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of you actually are sort of like stuck
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at some point along this slope of
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enlightenment you realize that you're
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progressing you understand what you need
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to do to progress but still you feel
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stuck now the reason for this and this
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This is something I've noticed and this
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is something I don't see people talk
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about a lot is the Dunning Krueger
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effect actually has very short-term
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cycles as well. So, it's not only a
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long-term thing, there's also a
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short-term Dunning Kruger effect. What I
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mean by this is that once you understand
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your long-term goal, you have other
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goals that you understand you need to
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get to to get to that goal. So let's say
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in order to get
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to a lion decker level of painting,
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right? That's the ultimate goal for you.
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That's like I want to paint like lion
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dicker. Great. Now you understand
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because you've you've pushed through
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that valley of despair. You didn't quit
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art. You got through it. Like okay, I
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need to understand lighting. I need to
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understand inking. I need to understand
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form really well. So you actually create
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these sort of mini goals that also exist
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on this Dunning Krueger effect. And
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here's the thing. Now that you're like,
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okay, I need to understand lighting. You
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start again because you're like naively
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optimistic. You're like, I got it. I
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need I need lighting because I'm on the
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I'm on the slope of enlightenment. I
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know where I need to get to. I know what
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I need to do and I'm starting to
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improve. You're like, I need to get
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better at lighting. Then you set out to
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do lighting again with naive optimism
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and reality sets in again. And this is a
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more for me a more dangerous reality
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actually than the long-term one because
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you start to understand really well like
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wow I really need to know a lot about
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lighting in order to get to that guru
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level. So again you're starting to get
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bit more demotivated. your confidence
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goes down. And this is in a week, right?
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I'm talking about a week period here or
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even on a day. Like you set out a day,
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you're like, I'm going to learn writing.
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You start with naive optimism because
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you're like, wow, I'm going to just
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learn today. And again, reality sits in
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sinks in. And you get to that valley of
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despair much quicker because this is on
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a short term. And in that valley of
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despair, what you're actually realizing
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is that, man, I'm nowhere near the
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lighting I need to get to get to my
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ultimate goal, right? I don't have the
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skills that particular skill I need to
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get to that lion decker level of
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painting. I don't have that at all. So
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you have some competence but your
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confidence is suddenly very low. And
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this for me is the most danger part.
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This is where a lot of you actually
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quit. A lot of you actually quit here.
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What I mean by this is that you quit
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pursuing the lighting goal and you
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switch to another goal because you're
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like you're here right on the long term.
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You're switched to like then I guess I'm
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going to learn something about inking,
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right? Cuz I I also need to learn that
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so I'll just do that. And then you
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repeat the cycle. So you go with naive
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optimism into inking again and you
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realize like oh I'm not as good as
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inking as I thought I was. Boom. valley
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of despair and you quit again. And this
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is what I mean with consistency. This is
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what consistency is about. I know that
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every time I mention consistency to
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people, to artists, they're like, "Yeah,
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I got it. Yeah, I draw every day. I got
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it. I got it, bro. I got it. I know what
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you mean." But usually, they're not
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consistent. They might be drawing every
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day, but they're not consistently
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working in this slope of enlightenment
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to actually get to their ultimate goal.
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They always quit at the valley of
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despair when things get hard and they
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move on to another object, right, or
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subject. An easy one to understand is I
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want to be an animator. Ultimate goal, I
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know that in order to do animation, I
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need to actually learn how to animate
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simple things. I need to learn about
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storytelling. I definitely need to learn
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how to draw hands. So, you're like, "Got
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it. Gonna do hands." Naive optimism.
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You're like, "Shit, hands are hard."
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Well, I tried today and tomorrow I'll go
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on with storytelling or something else
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because I did I did my part today and
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you're off, right? So, what you did is
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you actually quit in in the cycle before
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you got any expertise. And this is an
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important point. In order to or if we
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put this in gamification terms, in order
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to level up here, get some experience
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points, you actually need to reach a
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certain like point on this slope. And on
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the short term, you actually need to
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reach this point. You actually need to
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have learned something new that gives
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you high competence and high confidence
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that you can repeat this over time. So
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coming back to hands, if you learn
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something new about hands of like let's
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say hands are and it can be a very small
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detail. Hands look that way when they
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make a fist, right? There's this sort of
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arch to them that I know that if I draw
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them that way, they look more natural
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than if I were to draw them as a box
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like I used to do. That's a small
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Dunning Krueger effect that you nailed
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that you suddenly now know because
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you've drawn it a lot. But if you quit
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before you make that realization, you
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start all over from scratch again. And
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this is what is stopping your growth.
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That's the exact thing that is stopping
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your growth. Not only in art, but in
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life. Because life works the exact same
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way. And this is what I mean when I tell
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people if you know the principles, you
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can live painfree. A lot of people I've
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get I get so many messages from people
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like Antonio, how the do you work
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so many hours and not get burned out,
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right? So, I'm not a big believer in
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burnout in in the sense that you get
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burned out if you if you stay here too
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long without actually knowing why you're
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there, right? I think a burnout is
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usually something that there's something
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it's almost like insanity is like trying
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to do the same or doing the same thing
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over and over expecting a different
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outcome each time. That's sort of like
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the definition of insanity. Well, I
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think burnout comes close because you're
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like you're doing things you're doing
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things but in this sort of valley of
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despair you're not getting different
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outcomes and therefore you actually deal
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with a lot of pain and stress. However,
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if I put it back to working out
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training, I know the principles of what
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it takes to get good in terms of
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consistency. And it's the this exact
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sort of Dunning Krueger effect on the
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short term and the long term. So, I know
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that I have to go through this all the
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time, but I actually have to push
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through it. And I know at the end of it,
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I'm going to learn. I'm going to get
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better. I'm going to better better
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better. Right? I'm always going to get
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better. And when you know that when you
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know that you're going to have to pass
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through station two anyway, then you
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live painf free because you know what
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what's at the end of it. And and I think
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that's super important that you start
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realizing this. If you're someone that
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feels like they're stuck, they're almost
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at like a burnout point with art. I feel
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like you need to understand the reason
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why I say consistency is so important is
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that when you set out to go and draw and
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learn hands, you actually set out
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different days in the week for a long
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period of time or like at least a good
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amount of time to learn hands because
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you have to get past the valley of
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despair and into that slope of
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enlightenment. And I've I've mentioned
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this in another video is that kind of
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perfectly correlates to what I'm saying
00:13:06
about that short-term memory that you
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have when you learn something. When you
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only fill it a little bit, what you're
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doing here exactly is it's never going
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to flow over into that large hard drive
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where it actually needs to flow into in
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order for you to be confident and
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competent at the same time. So you need
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to do a couple of days of drawing hands.
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You need to get through this to really
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fill it up so that some of that
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knowledge actually sprinkles over into
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your hard drive. And this is when you've
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acquired a new skill. However small it
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is, any sense of progress that you make
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is motivating. Okay? You any sense of
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progress you make here makes you high in
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confidence. But if you're here and you
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have this sense of, well, guess it
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didn't work today. I'll try something
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else tomorrow. All you're doing is
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you're recycling this point. And that is
00:14:05
what's making you frustrated. And I see
00:14:07
this all the time with people. A lot of
00:14:09
students that we have, I see it with
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sometimes members of my team that also
00:14:13
want to get better at drawing is that
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you you get into this cycle of man,
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maybe drawing is not for me. And I that
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really hurts me. It hurts me. and not
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even drawing anything in life that
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people want to achieve. Whether it's
00:14:28
getting fitter, whether it's wanted to
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start a business, whether just want to
00:14:31
just be good at their job, whether it's
00:14:33
want whether it's about building better
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relationships, doesn't really matter
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what it is, but a lot of the times
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people stay stuck here on the short
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term, let alone the long term. A lot of
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the times people understand what they
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need to do to get to the long term cuz
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like it's like, yeah, do it a lot,
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right? Stay consistent, stay motivated.
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Awesome. So, the danger is actually in
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in the fact that on these shortterm
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cycles of the Dunning Krueger effect,
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you quit too early on even and this is
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the thing, right? This is the the sort
00:15:05
of up thing is like even if you
00:15:07
have a perception of like, well, I did
00:15:08
something today. It's just like it's
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it's a lot harder than I thought it was,
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but I did something, so I probably
00:15:14
learned something. Like, I probably
00:15:16
learned something. So, you quit and you
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do something else the next day. And this
00:15:20
is where you lose more most of that
00:15:21
knowledge. And this is why a lot of you
00:15:23
guys stay stuck at like a station here
00:15:27
or here. And you guys you haven't you
00:15:29
have an eye on that sort of goal you
00:15:31
want to reach, but you're just like
00:15:33
you're stuck and you don't know why. And
00:15:36
I'm say I'm telling you a lot of the
00:15:38
times this is why. This is why you're
00:15:40
stuck. That's all it is. And that's all
00:15:42
I have to say about that. Right? You can
00:15:44
make that as specific as you want about
00:15:46
what what goals you want to reach. And
00:15:48
maybe that's a good thing, right? Maybe
00:15:49
you need to make a scale like this. Put
00:15:52
down your sort of guru end goal, but
00:15:54
then write down these little blocks of
00:15:56
what you now know you need to hit to get
00:16:00
to that goal. And also treat those as
00:16:02
this Dunning Krueger effect. So if
00:16:04
tomorrow or next week you're like, "Wow,
00:16:07
okay. So I want to learn perspective.
00:16:10
I'm not going to do it for one day
00:16:11
because I know I'm going to be very
00:16:13
optimistic about the fact that I know
00:16:14
that I need to learn perspective, but
00:16:16
once it gets hard, I'm going to quit and
00:16:18
do something else. Don't do that. Set
00:16:21
out to do perspective for a long period
00:16:25
of time until you have that feeling,
00:16:28
that confident feeling. That's only
00:16:29
something you can feel. You're confident
00:16:32
that you learn something new that will
00:16:34
stay with you almost forever. That's
00:16:36
when you actually know you learned
00:16:38
something. And when you know that then
00:16:40
you can go on and learn the next thing.
00:16:42
I wanted to make this video because I
00:16:44
don't want people stuck in their
00:16:46
artistic growth or any growth in life.
00:16:49
So for that reason I wanted to make this
00:16:51
video. I hope it helped you. Let me know
00:16:53
if this resonates with you and give me
00:16:56
like an example of what you think is has
00:16:59
been a goal that you've almost always
00:17:01
been stuck in this sort of cycle and
00:17:04
actually never got to learn anything new
00:17:07
about that sort of smaller goal on your
00:17:11
way to the big goal. All right. Very
00:17:13
curious to to hear your thoughts and if
00:17:16
if that really resonated with you. Cool.
00:17:19
As always, stay creative and happy
00:17:21
drawing.
