Nov '19

Hi all, I made an account specifically to post this. My problem, or at least the primary problem that I need help with is that I get about 1/2 way through a piece when the time I spend on it begins growing exponentially without feeling like I'm any closer to completion. I put down my colors, my values, my composition, and while it's far from perfect; it's passable. But my brush economy sucks, and I spend sometimes weeks trying to complete a piece without ever really approaching a finished product... help!!! what am I doing wrong? how can I improve?

example image

Nov '19

Hey there! Sorry to hear you're down about your artwork. First off, I think you need to look inside and ask yourself what's really going on and why you feel this way. I would venture to guess it's got less to do with your progress and more to do with something else, like you're comparing yourself too much to other artists. That's a downhill slope and it doesn't make you feel good. I hear a lot of self-doubt and anxiety regarding your progress, so I just recommend a couple things.

  1. Keep practicing.. Then practice. Then practice some more. We artists practice for one singular purpose: to exercise the suck. Keep pushing until you feel yourself level up

  2. Stop being a perfectionist. It's got you feeling like everything has to be master level every time at every step instead of just knocking out something, taking away some part or piece that makes you proud, and then moving on. Perfectionism is a losing battle that always ends in feeling defeated

  3. Try new things until it feels comfortable. If what you're doing isn't feeling satisfactory, switch gears and start painting a variety of random subject matter until it starts to resemble something you're really confident painting. This way you'll start thinking differently and applying new techniques and strategies

  4. Focus. Learn what to focus on at a time in each painting instead of focusing on everything at once. Focus on composition in one, gestures and anatomy in something else, color theory in another, dynamic brush work next, etc.

  5. Prioritize your work flow to optimize time. If you find yourself fumbling around not making progress for hours, then you need a priority list. Generally, all artworks should follow this basic formula: composition, form, value, color theory. In that order. Your colors are all really intense and I would venture to guess that's something really important to you that you want to emphasize; however, I would also guess that's what you start on too soon and ignore the other three fundamentals I listed. By prioritizing your work flow, you know what you have to focus on and what to ignore at the moment.

Hopefully you find this helpful, and feel free to ask anything about what I mentioned! Good luck and keep up the hard work!

Nov '19

thank you, I really liked your advice. I think I'll begin by setting a time limit for my upcoming pieces and possibly a specific focal point for each one (composition here, value there) to keep from feeling overwhelmed.
and you make a good point that I should try to expect less from my individual pieces, it isn't very productive.
Thanks again

Nov '19

Yes, give yourself deadlines. I work under deadline (real ones, with work) every day and when you MUST be finished by a certain day or time or whatever, then you finish and move on to the next thing. It's easy to get into overworking stuff to death. For me, I have print deadlines, so after a certain date, the comic is at the printer and I cannot mess with stuff anymore. If you are doing this on your own, you could just say, "okay, I have until Friday to finish this" and after that, move onto the next thing. Take the learning experience from that piece and use it on the next one. Keep moving forward. And best of luck.