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That feel when you're bored of your own style
12 years ago
Edit:: Sorry for that previous journal, I clicked enter too early, and wasn't done. ^^'' Sorry for all those that commented! I refreshed to make sure it hadn't posted, and it didn't show up...yet then it did later? X'D Ah wtf, FA lag. Sorry bros! ;n;
Ah I've hit such a rut. :c I look at my artwork and think,"Man....it's such a struggle with anatomy. I'm always thinking so much anatomy here, how that needs to look good there...how this just doesn't look right."
I mean I know it's normal for artists to nitpick, but I'm so nervous about making mistakes agh. x-x I know I'll be called out immediatly on it, and I am always extra extra paranoid on commissions.
Drawing seems to have lost its 'fun' that I used to have for it. :c
I really, really miss my old style. It was heavily 'anime' influenced, but it was a lot of fun and laid back! The anatomy was extremely chill, I didn't care all that much as long as things looked in proportion. Now I'm always thinking of how the muscle moves beneath the skin, how things have to line up a certain way.......aaaaaagh.
Not to mention referencing from life models is sooo boring. For some reason it just always looks so stiff, thick and boring. I love drawing very lean characters, but its hard as balls to find the body type I enjoy drawing.
So then I start to look at anime, or other artists works. I'll study and reference those but then......learn that its sort of.....boring to do that too, because I feel like a cheap-skate for reffing all the time from other pictures and posting them. Yet I love to share my artwork! So I am as careful as I can to come up with my own poses, and yet aaagh never satisfied with those either. ;n;
Man I just miss the old days. Draw for fun, never afraid of being jumped on for critique, yet I feel like I'm under a magnifying glass with each art piece. x-x''
-sighs- I need the fun from drawing back. I need to find that style that makes me happy to draw. I need to find that drive of joy each time I sit down to sketch something out that I'm not over-thinking. Yet sadly I seem so bitter with my artwork lately. Like I'm going through the motions.
I think when I finally land that part-time job I will be able to free up a lot of time for myself. But until that happens, I'm really feeling drained lately. But, as a full-time artist, I don't have the luxury of taking a break and re-charging. I simply don't. Gosh I need that new job hahaha...
-stares through all her old pictures- Ah man....while drawing the very structured and true to species faces can be fun.......I really do miss the old days of being oblivious.
I don't know if you all have noticed, but lately I've been trying to ween back into that old style of mine. From the very cutesy round faces and such......alas no deal. Just can't seem to shake out of my current funk.
Thanks a ton to you all though for your encouraging words and comments that you leave me. It keeps me goin and pushing my way through. It helps to know that, while I may not be very happy with my current anthro style, others do enjoy it.
Hopefully, someday, I will land that part-time job, and I will have that time to go back to experimenting.
And...someday....feel confident in referencing from other artworks and not feel totally horrible and scared to post it online. (Because good god are people being attacked for having art pieces too similiar to photos or other artworks).
Just a little bit of a vent and attempt to get some things off my chance I guess. xD If you read this far, haha thanks for taking the time.
And if you have felt this way before, what have you done to freshen up or find that joy again? I'd love to draw and not be paranoid again of everything hnnnngh @-@
Ah I've hit such a rut. :c I look at my artwork and think,"Man....it's such a struggle with anatomy. I'm always thinking so much anatomy here, how that needs to look good there...how this just doesn't look right."
I mean I know it's normal for artists to nitpick, but I'm so nervous about making mistakes agh. x-x I know I'll be called out immediatly on it, and I am always extra extra paranoid on commissions.
Drawing seems to have lost its 'fun' that I used to have for it. :c
I really, really miss my old style. It was heavily 'anime' influenced, but it was a lot of fun and laid back! The anatomy was extremely chill, I didn't care all that much as long as things looked in proportion. Now I'm always thinking of how the muscle moves beneath the skin, how things have to line up a certain way.......aaaaaagh.
Not to mention referencing from life models is sooo boring. For some reason it just always looks so stiff, thick and boring. I love drawing very lean characters, but its hard as balls to find the body type I enjoy drawing.
So then I start to look at anime, or other artists works. I'll study and reference those but then......learn that its sort of.....boring to do that too, because I feel like a cheap-skate for reffing all the time from other pictures and posting them. Yet I love to share my artwork! So I am as careful as I can to come up with my own poses, and yet aaagh never satisfied with those either. ;n;
Man I just miss the old days. Draw for fun, never afraid of being jumped on for critique, yet I feel like I'm under a magnifying glass with each art piece. x-x''
-sighs- I need the fun from drawing back. I need to find that style that makes me happy to draw. I need to find that drive of joy each time I sit down to sketch something out that I'm not over-thinking. Yet sadly I seem so bitter with my artwork lately. Like I'm going through the motions.
I think when I finally land that part-time job I will be able to free up a lot of time for myself. But until that happens, I'm really feeling drained lately. But, as a full-time artist, I don't have the luxury of taking a break and re-charging. I simply don't. Gosh I need that new job hahaha...
-stares through all her old pictures- Ah man....while drawing the very structured and true to species faces can be fun.......I really do miss the old days of being oblivious.
I don't know if you all have noticed, but lately I've been trying to ween back into that old style of mine. From the very cutesy round faces and such......alas no deal. Just can't seem to shake out of my current funk.
Thanks a ton to you all though for your encouraging words and comments that you leave me. It keeps me goin and pushing my way through. It helps to know that, while I may not be very happy with my current anthro style, others do enjoy it.
Hopefully, someday, I will land that part-time job, and I will have that time to go back to experimenting.
And...someday....feel confident in referencing from other artworks and not feel totally horrible and scared to post it online. (Because good god are people being attacked for having art pieces too similiar to photos or other artworks).
Just a little bit of a vent and attempt to get some things off my chance I guess. xD If you read this far, haha thanks for taking the time.
And if you have felt this way before, what have you done to freshen up or find that joy again? I'd love to draw and not be paranoid again of everything hnnnngh @-@
Though this seems to be a common thing for some artists. Usually they go and try different things. I hope it doesn't affect you negatively overall, would be a shame to lose that creative spark.
Do what you need to do.
I hear ya! Best advice is to use it as inspiration and to add your own flare of movement/dynamic quality to it. For me I remember referencing from posemaniacs and how stiff everything looked. I never understood what artistic liberty was :P
Its a good sign though that you're thinking this through. Means you have that ability to take a step back and ask what direction you wanna go in. Good luck c:
I try to add my own flair to it, but I'm struggling to do that while still referencing. x'D
It is honestly the only break I can do. I can take a break from commissions because that means I won't make the money I need. x'D So no time to recharge either. x-x
And as far as for the anatomy thing, its something which we all get sort of pegged on. But just remember that anatomy in art can be played with to suite a style better.
Keep to the current style, but do not care so much about what others think. Mistakes are refined over time and eventually go away as you practice them in your commissions. Do not work extremely hard on one little thing about anatomy. Know what I mean? Don't be Sherlock holmes with every little detail. If you do this, I think you'll do a lot better.
Of course, the full-time commissioning is a different issue, and I'm sad to say I don't really have much to offer on that front. I do hope you can land that part-time job soon enough though, and get some free time to work on your own art :)
First, you could focus on movement rather than anatomy. A good exercise for that would be to draw blank characters with no real features. How dynamic/expressive can you make them without any fingers/eyes/face ?
Second, you could limit your time for a given piece. Like doing a time-limited exercise every once in a while. What can you draw in 15 minutes ? No way to get every little detail in when you're in a hurry :p
Third, you could also simply refocus on things that aren't characters. Like drawing backgrounds, objects, whatever, and broaden your horizons.
Oh, and by the way. The anatomy problems you see ? You're certainly the only one seeing them. Most people will only notice anatomy problems if they are obvious, like a thumb on the wrong side of the hand or a blatant joint goof. The rest is usually chalked up to art style. Even as an artist myself, I see nothing wrong with the anatomy of your characters - they look and feel alive. You're doing a great job :)
Also did you go to Megaplex yet? Because I REALLY rediscovered at Anthrocon that what maintains joy in my art is the culture, other people, and extra-fun con environment that reminds me how great a thing I'm a part of, when I draw some freaky furry creatures. :'3 I should gush all this ina journal of my own because it's really worth sharing with people AAAaaaah =3
How about you try and draw backgrounds for the hell of it. Forget about the symmetry of it all and just create something abstract.
And I wish you luck on getting that job.
draw all day and night long without ever
needing a reference or worrying about
anatomy... Granted they were hideous and
shall never see the light of day again...
but it did seem simpler before I went into
my college art class that actually taught us
how to do art and use live models. I actually
miss the models, though one had impossibly
long legs that I always end up running out of
room on my page...
It is frustrating now for me to do decent poses
without screwing something up, and I can never
find the right body type and pose that I need.
I usually end up going on long hiatuses from
frustration, but I don't think I've ever gotten
bored with my "style". I do enjoy having the
rare chance to see my characters drawn in another
artist's style. That is always fun.
I hope you get that job, because it sounds like
you just need a break from things for a while.
When you come back, you'll feel refreshed. :)
So here is an entry I made that YOU SHOULD NEVER BE ASHAMED TO REF PICS/TRY ANOTHER ARTISTS STYLE in a nutshell. If you have time I encourage you to skim it because I touched on some of what you've expressed. I hope you might find you relate to some of it. :3
I even posted in another journal stuff about your frustration at not being able to draw freely, loosely, 'carelessly' because "ugh it has to be RIGHT, the muscles and wrinkles have to be PERFECTLY PLACED" etc. Here is a quip that I think relates to this:
These weeks and months of inactivity aren't just being busy and having a life, I just don't draw. I always had a drive to better myself but the letdown of watching friends and especially younger artists soar past you in quality, quantity of work, andspeed of improvement is a real ego-buster. It isn't that I don't KNOW how to learn anatomy, perspective, lighting, proportions, etc. I have tutorial upon tutorial upon book upon hard drive of photos I took or saved to use as reference. I JUST DON'T DO IT.
Basically just..I feel you on some of this. It's easy to see what you want/need to do, but actually doing it and making yourself comfortable doing it? Doing it without forcing yourself? Not so fucking easy. I sometimes skip drawing altogether if I think "eh I don't know how I'd place to body part to look good/not sure how to draw it correctly" and that results in never opening the sketchbook. Only way to improve is to keep doing it over and over and over. I'm lazy.
Anyway just...chiming in to say I get it. Good luck.