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Do stabilizers in art programs teach bad habits? Need Advice
10 years ago
General
Hello! It's been a while since I've posted much or have written a journal, so apologies for that.
I'm trying to draw more and get back into things after the holidays. I've been trying to learn a new drawing program (ClipStudio/MangaStudio Pro) and also trying to learn to use a SurfacePro 3, where I had been using an Intuos Pen and Touch beforehand.
My hands are often shaky feeling and I must redo inking lines over and over. This take for freaking ever and I hate it. I want to go faster. The stabilizer in such programs makes things much easier for me, but at the same time, I feel like I"m teaching myself bad things by using it. Both in SAI and in CSP. My thoughts on this include:
1) Traditional artists don't have the luxury of a stabilizer, so if I ever try drawing traditionally (again), I worry I'd be so trained to use the stabilizer that I'd be a real hard time.
2) I worry using a stabilizer makes me take too long on my lines, being far too meticulous. Since my goal is to be more loose and free with my work, is this moving in the wrong direction?
3) I'm not even sure that such stabilized lines look better or worse than non-stabilized lines. I've many times spent hours redrawing the same few lines, alternating turning the stabilizer on, not being sure which looks better. This leads to me feeling stuck at that point in the drawing and feeling very demotivated to continue.
4) I've seen other artsts draw incredibly smooth, precise lines without stabilizer, and it puzzles me. I want to learn how to do that, but at the same time I'm not sure how. I've practiced a TON on inking/lining, so more practice is indeed an answer, but I can't help but feel that maybe I'm missing a method or something. Perhaps drawing at too low a resolution, or maybe I need to be zoomed in more/less while lining. Different brush settings, who knows.
5) Probably a lot of other things i can't think of atm.
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If you've read all that and are willing to offer an opinion/advice, thank you. This is something that's really bugging me lately, and h as been a real killer for my motivation. It's hard to feel excited to draw when I feel like I am possibly using a crutch to draw that will hurt me in the end, yet drawing really unconfidently while not using it.
I'm trying to draw more and get back into things after the holidays. I've been trying to learn a new drawing program (ClipStudio/MangaStudio Pro) and also trying to learn to use a SurfacePro 3, where I had been using an Intuos Pen and Touch beforehand.
My hands are often shaky feeling and I must redo inking lines over and over. This take for freaking ever and I hate it. I want to go faster. The stabilizer in such programs makes things much easier for me, but at the same time, I feel like I"m teaching myself bad things by using it. Both in SAI and in CSP. My thoughts on this include:
1) Traditional artists don't have the luxury of a stabilizer, so if I ever try drawing traditionally (again), I worry I'd be so trained to use the stabilizer that I'd be a real hard time.
2) I worry using a stabilizer makes me take too long on my lines, being far too meticulous. Since my goal is to be more loose and free with my work, is this moving in the wrong direction?
3) I'm not even sure that such stabilized lines look better or worse than non-stabilized lines. I've many times spent hours redrawing the same few lines, alternating turning the stabilizer on, not being sure which looks better. This leads to me feeling stuck at that point in the drawing and feeling very demotivated to continue.
4) I've seen other artsts draw incredibly smooth, precise lines without stabilizer, and it puzzles me. I want to learn how to do that, but at the same time I'm not sure how. I've practiced a TON on inking/lining, so more practice is indeed an answer, but I can't help but feel that maybe I'm missing a method or something. Perhaps drawing at too low a resolution, or maybe I need to be zoomed in more/less while lining. Different brush settings, who knows.
5) Probably a lot of other things i can't think of atm.
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If you've read all that and are willing to offer an opinion/advice, thank you. This is something that's really bugging me lately, and h as been a real killer for my motivation. It's hard to feel excited to draw when I feel like I am possibly using a crutch to draw that will hurt me in the end, yet drawing really unconfidently while not using it.
I don't know if it builds bad habits or anything, but I didn't want to use that stuff so that i would train myself to be a certain way. To get use to making strokes that are more natural. Just wanna make art that has as much of me in it as I can get.
What you say about redoing lines over and over without the stabilizer might be the other side of the coin, in terms of this whole stabilizer thing. Yes one can turn off stabilizer and then redraw the same line over and over with ctrl-z/undo, or just erasing repeatedly. That also felt bad though, as it's relying on undo very much, and if one were to work in traditional media, they have to get the inking/coloring right on the very first attempt; there are no redos. This fucking boggles my mind.
I get what you're saying though definitely. One can really tell the feel and emotions of the artist through their lines, and perhaps a stabilizer would mask some of that. I'm still unsure.
I suppose I'd like to go with less/no stabilizer, or at least go much faster and looser in art, especially in inking, but it still bugs me how people can get such incredibly clear linework with no stabilizer, without making mistakes, while going fast. Practice schmactice, we're talkin drawing lines that are pixel perfect, you'd have to literally be a machine to have such precision, y'know? It's like a puzzle figuring this out for me :)
I don't make the most of my tools. I do it on purpose. Yea, what you see others do looks perfect, but it's anything but perfect to them. Even if they can seemingly do it right the first time, think of all the times they had to fuck up until they could get to that level. If it's great now then it wasn't always great. I got a feeling for what you're thinking. Do what you want to get the satisfaction that you want from your art. That's the way you're gonna keep going and actually improving.
Looking at the other artists and thinking of myself as inferior is still something that I end up doing, but thinking of that, thinking of them as making perfect work, it's nothing you should be doing. Going a little overboard I know. It's because I perceive some kind of anxiety as to how it "should be done". You can achieve.
That said, if you dislike how shaky your lines can be, an alternative to using a stabilizer could be to just work on a much larger canvas and zoom out. That way when you resize the image to a more natural resolution all of the shakiness is too small to notice.
At the same time, it does feel -wrong- to use it I guess, which is why I made this journal, and I relate with the feeling less-in-control sorta.
When I use the stabilizer, I do like the end result to a point, I think the lines look extremely crisp and professional. The OCD/perfectionist in me loves being so precise. At the same time, I often end up wishing everything was more thick-lined and bold and impactful. I could certainly ink more messily, but I wonder if others would even consider them inks then, y'know?
I'll give that zooming out thing a try! I've done it to a small extent, perhaps drawing on a 3000x2000 pixel canvas (300Dpi), but I've seen artists I know draw at 8000x6000 even, so maybe I need to take it a step further!
For a long time I didn't...because I didn't know there was such a thing, but when I started using it, it's been nothing but helpful.
Digital art programs present these tools to you to use for a reason.
I enjoy the stabilizer as well because it does give me depths to my lines, moreso than what I would normally get since I almost never change my brush setting on a piece. [I personally don't see much of a need to. If I need my line thicker, I'll just go over it in places. ]
Honestly, it is all a matter of preference in the end and something you have to decide for yourself; just choosing what feels better to you.
One thing I can tell you though, going back to traditional art after doing digital...it's ALWAYS going to be tough because you get set in your ways. I'm horrible at doing traditional lineart because of unsteady hands and being left-handed. But a good colouring job tends to make up for slopppy lineart sometimes. X3
That all is very true, about the brush settings and these tools existing for a reason. I just wonder if artists that are successful (and by that I mean they put out a lot of art daily, the output is high) would go over their lines more than once, if they have the time. Even with stabilizer, going over one's lines without wavering is pretty precise, and I often have to hit undo 5-6 times before I match the line underneath perfectly. I hope I'm making sense, xD
Your input is super helpful though, thank you! It really makes me feel better that others have the same experience, with both stabilizer and with going back to traditional. >3 Goodness, I'd have thought back in the day that mastering digital art would make one be able to do traditional art so much more easily, but it's the other way around <.> Certainly true about good coloring jobs covering up line mistakes though :P
I'm pretty sure with the Surface Pro 3 that there's a slight bit of lag when it comes to drawing, or so I've heard.
In my case, I use a low setting stabilizer in Sai for the most part as I've only got a small tablet to work with. Depending on what I'm trying to draw, I'll adjust the stabilizer intensity to help out.
If you compare it to something like traditional art, I feel you've got easier line control just because it's pencil on paper and there's that physical feedback.
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But yeah, lots of factors at play like you said. Really makes me want to look more into myself now :0