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Tired of my art style...
8 years ago
In a rut and I need a change...
No this doesn't mean i'll be ditching the way I draw characters. There will still be the slit eyes, ghetto bitches and "tits n ass" we all know and love. No, what i'm talking about is mostly the final execution and underlying structure of my artwork
Put short I am so damn tired of trying to be a perfectionist all the time.
Sketch, Line art, Flat colour fill, Shading, Final touches and Colour correction. In that order. It's starting to drive me insane how robotic this process has become and how long it takes me. (Up to a total of ten or more hours.) Other than the initial sketch I no longer have a sense of expression while making art as it's so focused on trying to be as "professional" and as "clean" as possible. The perfectionism has gotten so bad recently my art just looks like plastic now... (In my opinion) With any sense of detail from the initial sketching process pretty much erased in favor for this look.
I am also constantly put off the idea of doing super detailed backgrounds (Which i used to love doing) because the process of making art is so long and tiring just for characters alone. This often results in a shitty, boring white background instead. I mean sometimes this works and compliments the character but often it just makes my gallery look bare when it could be so much more than that.
I look back at my older art and whilst my actual drawing ability has improved I can't help but miss the authenticness of it. Not saying I will go back to using pencil and paper with a scanner as that was also a lengthy process but there is a way of capturing that vibe again! I just have to figure it out..
I've been tinkering with this new style for a little bit and i'm actually sort of happy with this particular result. (Previously posted on Patreon) What's more exciting is that this only took me 20 minutes.
https://puu.sh/vbEZq/e42aad9fec.jpg
Of course it's not fully coloured but in terms of lines and overall expression I think it looks good! It completely skips the dreaded line art process of before and is essentially just building from the sketch!
So yeah... Iv'e actually been feeling really shitty about my art for more than a year now. I feel like I hit a peak in 2015. That art was somewhere between being professional and clean but also had some of that authentic grittyness still. I guess I took the former route thinking my art will get better but now when I look back at 2016-now stuff I can't stand it! On top of being plastic I also seemed to get this idea in my head that a lot of saturated colour = good. When in fact it's just an eye sore... I need to find a good balance again and I think going back to my older style/process of making art will help me discover that.
It won’t be easy though. After all it’s basically controlled chaos =w=‘
So yeah that's all I have to say really.
Sorry to all the people still waiting on commissions.. Will be done soon! Perhaps even sooner rather than later if I get this new art style rolling!
Thanks to everyone for supporting me! :3
No this doesn't mean i'll be ditching the way I draw characters. There will still be the slit eyes, ghetto bitches and "tits n ass" we all know and love. No, what i'm talking about is mostly the final execution and underlying structure of my artwork
Put short I am so damn tired of trying to be a perfectionist all the time.
Sketch, Line art, Flat colour fill, Shading, Final touches and Colour correction. In that order. It's starting to drive me insane how robotic this process has become and how long it takes me. (Up to a total of ten or more hours.) Other than the initial sketch I no longer have a sense of expression while making art as it's so focused on trying to be as "professional" and as "clean" as possible. The perfectionism has gotten so bad recently my art just looks like plastic now... (In my opinion) With any sense of detail from the initial sketching process pretty much erased in favor for this look.
I am also constantly put off the idea of doing super detailed backgrounds (Which i used to love doing) because the process of making art is so long and tiring just for characters alone. This often results in a shitty, boring white background instead. I mean sometimes this works and compliments the character but often it just makes my gallery look bare when it could be so much more than that.
I look back at my older art and whilst my actual drawing ability has improved I can't help but miss the authenticness of it. Not saying I will go back to using pencil and paper with a scanner as that was also a lengthy process but there is a way of capturing that vibe again! I just have to figure it out..
I've been tinkering with this new style for a little bit and i'm actually sort of happy with this particular result. (Previously posted on Patreon) What's more exciting is that this only took me 20 minutes.
https://puu.sh/vbEZq/e42aad9fec.jpg
Of course it's not fully coloured but in terms of lines and overall expression I think it looks good! It completely skips the dreaded line art process of before and is essentially just building from the sketch!
So yeah... Iv'e actually been feeling really shitty about my art for more than a year now. I feel like I hit a peak in 2015. That art was somewhere between being professional and clean but also had some of that authentic grittyness still. I guess I took the former route thinking my art will get better but now when I look back at 2016-now stuff I can't stand it! On top of being plastic I also seemed to get this idea in my head that a lot of saturated colour = good. When in fact it's just an eye sore... I need to find a good balance again and I think going back to my older style/process of making art will help me discover that.
It won’t be easy though. After all it’s basically controlled chaos =w=‘
So yeah that's all I have to say really.
Sorry to all the people still waiting on commissions.. Will be done soon! Perhaps even sooner rather than later if I get this new art style rolling!
Thanks to everyone for supporting me! :3
(P.S. I love Luna. I'd tap dat ass any time, Any place. ~ )
i was hitting that point hard myself. to where i just didnt like my art and just thought it looked crappy and "plastic" cause i was trying to hard and drawing to "finish" it and etc. instead of drawing for fun.
trying new things and new ways really does help.
i LOVE that lil example its gorgeous and has LIFE to it! :D
so keep it up and continue to strive for what YOU want! :D
It's important for you to enjoy drawing and making art first and foremost - if you're not enjoying it, it will show through in the art.
A lot of the time you'll find that you're putting a lot of time and effort into things that don't actually make a massive difference - by all means take a step back and analyse if you really need to do all of that.
You've got to understand that you can never be perfect, and that's okay. Imperfections are expressive, imperfections are what makes us human and not machines, imperfections are the most important part of art!
Have a play around and find what you enjoy about drawing, and do more of that and less of the stuff that spoils the fun for you.
I hope this helps you in some way, and I'll say that regardless of what you do, your art style is amazing and an inspiration to a lot of people, myself included. You have a lot of admirers of your work and we will still be here to support you through the future no matter what direction you choose to take.
At some point, you stare and do something long enough, you start to go insane looking at it, you start to notice all the problems that are associated with it, and sometimes, just sometimes, you never want to do it again.
Remember, my friend, it can be really hard to do ah' changing, but do it, you will feel 100x better.
Yeah, it did look a bit plastic sometimes.
With the line process, do you mean the colouring and then filling between the colour and the lines? I do that too, the solution is just to get the selecting tool of your choice' tolerance for colour and that's it .w.
Good luck on the new style dude!
And don't forget to draw Sol at some point. ;)