Unreal conditional?

Imagine in your mind one of your favorite paintings, drawings, cartoon characters or something equally complex. Now, with that picture in your mind, try to draw what your mind sees. Unless you are unusually gifted, your drawing will look completely different from what you are seeing with your mind’s eye. However, if you tried to copy the original rather than your imaginary drawing, you might find your drawing now was a little better. Furthermore, if you copied the picture many times, you would find that each time your drawing would get a little better, a little more accurate. Practice makes perfect. This is because you are developing the skills of coordinating what your mind perceives with the movement of your body parts.

Q1. Is the sentence in bold an unreal conditional?

Q2. Why is 'was' used? Instead of 'was', can I use 'is' ???