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Art Motivation Question
8 months ago
Hello all!! Question for my fellow artists:
What's the motivational secret to actually cleaning up sketches/lining and not leaving all my creatures in very rough sketch stages lol. Not even the most crisp, thin lineart you've ever seen, just something cleaned up beyond the rough sketch (I've been enjoying using textured brushes lately, testing more all the time).
I'd say the motivation and desire is there, the inertia(?) to actually line isn't, I keep getting stuck with blocks like this and I'd like more clean works finished. I've been happy with my rough sketching/WIPs, I just get weirdly stuck with actually completing the pieces beyond this point and it's pretty frustrating (for myself and trying to finish pieces for commissioners!). Wouldn't say it's a battle of "I need to lineart to be happy with art", I WANT more pieces like this and can't reach that goal consistently. It's a cycle I want and need to break.
Anything y'all know/do around this kind of art block is much appreciated, you can help rescue dozens of WIP creatures 😅
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Also have I not journal'd in almost a year oopsie, am still alive (somehow)
What's the motivational secret to actually cleaning up sketches/lining and not leaving all my creatures in very rough sketch stages lol. Not even the most crisp, thin lineart you've ever seen, just something cleaned up beyond the rough sketch (I've been enjoying using textured brushes lately, testing more all the time).
I'd say the motivation and desire is there, the inertia(?) to actually line isn't, I keep getting stuck with blocks like this and I'd like more clean works finished. I've been happy with my rough sketching/WIPs, I just get weirdly stuck with actually completing the pieces beyond this point and it's pretty frustrating (for myself and trying to finish pieces for commissioners!). Wouldn't say it's a battle of "I need to lineart to be happy with art", I WANT more pieces like this and can't reach that goal consistently. It's a cycle I want and need to break.
Anything y'all know/do around this kind of art block is much appreciated, you can help rescue dozens of WIP creatures 😅
--
Also have I not journal'd in almost a year oopsie, am still alive (somehow)
I totally get where you're coming from. Though I'd first like to ask: What is your current process for taking a sketch to clean lineart? Maybe that method isn't as making it as easy as it could be?
Maybe spending too much time on the sketch part is making it hard to redo it all with lines? I feel like my sketches lose a lot of personality/expressiveness when being relined, takes many attempts to keep the same character energy and just kinda burns out -> rinse and repeat.
So it would be construction lines>(new layer)sketch>cleanup>(new layer)color?
I've heard of this method working for some people. So it might be worth a shot ^^
I do put construction lines/sketch on the same layer, will try separating things out differently so that magic of the sketch looks more final, that could be it
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLoun....._lineart_what/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ClipStudio.....akes_too_much/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLoun.....hingly_boring/
Hope these help!
I got a TON of practice lining with Wanderlust stuff because that was the kind of standard they were after, and I've had paid-for commissions for lined stuff .
Even when I've improved so much, my actual artistic enjoyments comes from clean sketches still - I just get more satisfaction from that! I would focus on either opening up a lined commission tier to force your way through the artblock, or going in and cleaning up the sketch as best you can!
Just my two pennies :D
And same!! I don't know if I like full lineart too much, but drawing over rough sketches w/ a sketchier/textured lineart brush is a nice middle ground I enjoy the look of. But it's still that extra step beyond the rough sketching that gets me stumped to do, just different angle to the process
I think OCD might actually have something to do with it, but yeah, going from sketch to lines is visually satisfying.
Call me crazy, but since I know your sketches aren't really all that 'dirty' to begin with - have you tried leaving them dirtier *on purpose*? A little less clean, less refined, so that when you do go to line them there's more of that "peeling the plastic off an iPhone screen" feel to tracing?
It might be worth a shot!
But yeah, interesting strategy there, I do tend to add a lot of sketch detail, could try "sketching" with the lineart on a more basic sketch. Will try that!
Also just releasing more rough sketches with some color slapped on might help keep things up mentally lol, more of an "output" even when they're not "done"
Not that I sketch cleanly, but I go in and erase the stuff that doesn't add to the piece when the sketch is done - stuff like construction lines, or bits floating around - but keep some of the thickness and stuff that adds to the energy!
Is often why sketches feel like they have more energy. Maybe see if you can learn some thickness variations in your lines to add some energy back in, by studying force stuff?
I've heard of this book! I got the weatherly guide ages ago but might finally pick this one up
I'm also very impatient so each phase of drawing for me is done.. rather haphazardly
My lines take ages but that's from the frustration of getting them right, it can take 30 minutes or on/off days of attempts with no inbetween
One thing that helped me finish more work was finding a process that focused more on the parts of drawing I liked, which was Sketching/Colouring etc. I used to have a very rigid definition of how art should be made, but it was only ever demotivating for me, and detaching from that and redefining my process made things much more fun~
Personally, I really don't enjoy lining, but I found that I was finishing more pieces when I started just going for a clean sketch, and my brushes became more rough/pencil-like to make this easier too. From there I came up with rendering process that complemeted my sketching.
One last thing, drawing for friends is always way more motivating for me.~
Hope these thoughts help ♪