If you've ever read articles about how to improve your art, you're sure to have heard one thing over and over - practice, practice, practice! While this is most definitely correct and undeniably crucial, I find that a big part of my improvement actually comes from the things I do outside of drawing.

What are these "things", you say?

First off, before you try to improve your art, you need to...

Have the right mindset

Understand and acknowledge these points:

• Improvement is hard work. You will need to put in a lot of effort to achieve good results.
• Improvement takes time - and it comes in small steps. You cannot fly to excellence in a week - nor a month.
• There will always be people better than you and you will inevitably fail once in a while. Don't dwell on this - instead, learn as much as you can from it.
• You will need to take advice with an open mind. Learn from critiques and do not be offended if they are harsh - the more mistakes people point out, the better!
• Lastly, you need to decide that you don't just want to improve, but that you will improve.

Alright! Now that you got that determined face on, try to...

Observe:

• the world around you. I often find myself staring at random things - how intense the red bounce light is from my Gensing Royal Jelly box on the table in the afternoon,
   
  or how my hand looks at different perspectives and angles when I'm lying in my bed in the morning, procrastinating on getting up, or the differences of eye shapes of strangers on the bus. And even right now I just looked up and noticed how harsh the shadows my curtains now cast because it's night time and there is only one source of light.
  
  The room or office or whatever environment you're in right now can give you so much artistic insight - you just have to look.
• other people's artworks. Look at artwork you wish you had the skill to paint. And then analyze it. Analyze it like hell . Would you be able to replicate this painting? Which parts would you be able to? Which would you not? Why can you not? Is it because you don't know how to do something? Don't know how to blend that well? Don't know how to draw such fantastic anatomy? Don't know how to do lineless? Don't know which brush they used? Search up tutorials or just ask the artist about it. AND GAIN ALL THE KNOWLEDGE , until you can look at that painting again, and be like - I could replicate this! Of course, the end goal is not just to be able to replicate a painting, but to be able to make your own creation with the skill level of that painting. That, though, comes with practice.

Also...

Gather information

• Take pictures of interesting observations - If you find something interesting you don't think you'll be using in your next few paintings, take pictures of them so you don't forget about them. Put them in a references folder and have organized subfolders so you can find them when you need them.
• Read/watch tutorials
• Request critiques - if you are not a premium member, simply ask for it in the description of your art. And don't just press the 'request critiques' button or put 'pls critique' in your description box, note artists you look up to to critique your work (very politely and do not bother them afterwards if they say no), ask for it in the forums, or join critique chat events. When you get a critique, take the advice and try to apply it to your next painting.

If you take each of the tips mentioned above and apply it to a painting, you will improve greatly with every painting that you do! It will take a lot of hard work, but just keep pushing and you'll break through!