Struggling with taking art to “finish”
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@robgale thanks to much for weighing in and thank you for sharing your inktober experience. In my case, Inktober enabled me to spend a whole month of not coloring any sketches.
But I totally see what you are saying. We take this stuff so seriously and it’s easy to forget that sometimes allowing yourself to play and experiment and fail is where the real learning happens. And we get frustrated when we can’t make it look the way we want on the first or second or even 5th try.Babies don’t just get up and know how to walk. They have to wobble and fall and wobble and fall and get up and try again. If they don’t fall down, they never learn. If you don’t experiment and try all the different ways of making art, you won’t ever figure out what works best for you.
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I completely understand where you're coming from as I'm also having this horrible predicament at the moment too, it's so frustrating isn't it? I can draw and draw and draw ideas, but when it comes to colouring them digitally my mind just goes blank and I sieze up. Do you feel as though your problem is self doubt? Like you think the piece will be rubbish when you finish it? Or that you're worried you won't like it when it's done? That's how I feel anyway.
The thing that has kind of helped me at the moment is to stop reading/watching/listening/looking at other art and illustration as it seems to cloud my mind too much at times, so by stepping back a bit from it all, it allows me to think for myself as an illustrator and just try doing things my own way. I'm not sure if you read/watch etc a lot of illustration podcasts/articles/videos etc, but if you do then maybe that would help?
Or when you start working on a final piece, just tell yourself that no one needs to see this if you don't want them too, you're experimenting and this doesn't have to be a fantastic work of art. Maybe that would help to take the pressure off?
I hope you start to feel better about it soon though, it is horrible but I think nearly every illustrator and artist goes through it so you're not alone and you WILL power through it
like everyone has already said, just keep going and you'll soon get into the swing of it all!
Best of luck -
@kristin-wauson I hear you on the flip side as well, especially if color and finishing and all that good stuff is outside of your comfort zone, Inktober can be kind of a way to avoid working on that for a month!
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Another way of thinking about all of this is that you maybe you are making a mistake in assuming that the process of feeling indecisive and uncertain about the end results of your work is bad. It's certainly frustrating (been there myself) but maybe that IS your process. Maybe your brain needs to fuss and fidget in order to turn out good work, and rather than trying to fix it and work in a more linear way, you will just need to find a way to live with and accept the constant circling around and changing direction and doubting. I suggest that based on two things -- first, I read Norman Rockwell's autobiography and he talks about one painting that he changed almost daily, every night feeling satisfied with it and every morning hating it! He did finally finish it and was able to move on to another work but it happened to him frequently and may be the hazard of a creative mind. Secondly, I looked at your site and the end results of your work look great so even if you feel ADD while you are working, you are turning out really good stuff!
Laurie DeMott
instagram.com/demotlj -
@hannahmccaffery I don’t know that self doubt is my problem so much as I feel like everything I paint looks like dog crap.
The self doubt definitely comes as a result. I do watch too many youtube videos and listen to too many podcasts for sure and at some point I think we can get really caught up in feeling like we’re going to be able to watch someone or listen to someone give us the answer, and the answer is just that we need to make more work. I’m assuming that’s what it is at least. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good luck to you too! -
@demotlj Oh gosh, I hope that’s not the case because I don’t think I can keep it up.
It probably is part of my process to some extent. When I used to paint in oils I always had to start a painting, get frustrated, scribble over the whole thing with my brush and then wipe it off and start over. It was only after I had gotten out the frustration of the failed attempt that I could have any success. But there has to be some sort of a recipe I can come up with that will give me more consistent results with fewer failed attempts. I had no idea Norman Rockwell had that struggle. I’ll have to check out that autobiography. Thank you so much for your thoughts and for the compliment I appreciate it. -
I struggle with getting to finish, too
(though less these days than before).Things that seemed to help:
-learning and applying the lessons on composition. Part of my problem was that I was never quite happy with a piece when it was close to final. As soon as I started following some rules of composition, My art tended to hold together better in later stages.
-Writing down my process. I forget it all the time, too. Making digital art can be... intricate.
-Values first. If Value's the cake, colou's only the icing. Icing-less cake is still cake, but cake-less icing is just gross. If it works in black and white, it'll work with colour.
-Do more art. The more you take pieces to finish (or even close to finish) the more you'll be comfortable with a process that gets the painting from point A to B. Start a draw 100 project. Or a webcomic. But draw more things.
Good luck
Art is friggin' hard. -
@art-of-b Thank you for this! I think the answer that nobody wants to be told is just “make more work,” but you’re right. And funny you mention composition. I just started rewatching the SVS composition class. Are there any other resources that helped you with composition? Whatever you are doing seems to be working! I just spent some time on your website and reading your comics. I have always wanted to make comics. They are fantastic!
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@demotlj This is a great reminder. I think to some extent, every time we artists are pushing into new territory, as we learn and become more discerning in our eye, if we're honest with ourselves, we're going to hit this point where we have to struggle. Maybe it's all just part of the process, and it's mostly a matter of learning how to abide and come out the other side alive! Thank you for your thoughts.
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@art-of-b Great thoughts! It does seem true that often time we struggle with our work because of something we neglected early on. I know that's certainly true for me.
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Thanks very much
I haven't found too many other resources on composition. The SVS class is pretty comprehensive. Use that checklist that's int he downloads and make sure (MAKE SURE) to friggin' thumbnail.
