Have you ever experience hating certain things you don't have the skills to do but you still force yourself to do it? An example would be like drawing backgrounds, some people just hate drawing it and avoid drawing backgrounds at all costs.

As for me, I seriously hate coloring because I lack the confidence, experience and patience when it comes to coloring my works digitally. And many times, I avoid coloring my comics and I only rely on doing my whole comics in black and white. At times I hope for other better artists to help color my linearts. But after joining Deviantart and knowing how much lacking my coloring skill is compared to other artists there, I had to force myself to learn to color by doing a lot of fanarts for others. It took me years facing my coloring problem from this level...
http://www.fileden.com/public/2007/4/7/4617da9d668cb378103346.jpg

...to reach this level.
http://www.fileden.com/public/2007/4/7/4617a0c9ce8fb582172075.png

So, you could say my secret of improving my coloring skill is analyzing how other folks color their works and do plenty or colored fanarts.

I'm sure many folks here have faced some artistic difficulty when drawing their comics. I would like to know how the rest of you guys here overcome your artistic difficulty when you happen to face with such situations.

I guess one impediment to transcend in one's artwork is the fear of ruining of what you are currently doing. For example, if you have no coloring skills you may want to stick to b&w out of fear of ruining the lineart(such was my case). Then the fear may apply to going digital, to change the models/style you are using, etc. What I do(very slowly by the way) is to remind myself that I draw for the pure pleasure of it and to evolve, the moment it stops being fun means I was doing something wrong.

I hate drawing ears and eyes. Obviously, I can't get out of drawing eyes, but one may notice that many of my characters have hair that is just long enough to cover their ears...

Janen
I guess one impediment to transcend in one's artwork is the fear of ruining of what you are currently doing. For example, if you have no coloring skills you may want to stick to b&w out of fear of ruining the lineart(such was my case). Then the fear may apply to going digital, to change the models/style you are using, etc. What I do(very slowly by the way) is to remind myself that I draw for the pure pleasure of it and to evolve, the moment it stops being fun means I was doing something wrong.

Actually, my fear of coloring was partly due to displaying horrendous colors of my comic to others. The moment I changed my B&W strip to color, I can start hearing complaints from a few readers telling me that it makes the quality of the artworks dropped. Many times, that's the reason why I often avoid coloring. Coloring takes a lot of practice and can be very tiring. But I was glad there are people who can help pinpoint my mistakes and showed me how the coloring should be done. It does helps a lot when you have someone to guide you.

However, what you said is right. It doesn't matter how bad the artworks are, the most important factor is that you enjoy doing what you do. And constant drawing can actually helps improve artistic skills as well.

Eunice P

Janen
I guess one impediment to transcend in one's artwork is the fear of ruining of what you are currently doing. For example, if you have no coloring skills you may want to stick to b&w out of fear of ruining the lineart(such was my case). Then the fear may apply to going digital, to change the models/style you are using, etc. What I do(very slowly by the way) is to remind myself that I draw for the pure pleasure of it and to evolve, the moment it stops being fun means I was doing something wrong.

Actually, my fear of coloring was partly due to displaying horrendous colors of my comic to others. The moment I changed my B&W strip to color, I can start hearing complaints from a few readers telling me that it makes the quality of the artworks dropped. Many times, that's the reason why I often avoid coloring. Coloring takes a lot of practice and can be very tiring. But I was glad there are people who can help pinpoint my mistakes and showed me how the coloring should be done. It does helps a lot when you have someone to guide you.

However, what you said is right. It doesn't matter how bad the artworks are, the most important factor is that you enjoy doing what you do. And constant drawing can actually helps improve artistic skills as well.

aww eunice... you're an excellent colorist!!! I love your art!!!! ^_^
*hugs art*
I feel like generally when one isn't confident in one's skills, though, his or her work tends to stagnate. I'm kind of intrepid when it comes to art (I have a giant ego! I CAN DO NO WRONG! Yay!) so even though lots of the time I mess things up irreparably, sometimes doing a bold step (using BRIGHT PURPLE! for instance) makes stuff look cool!

Well with coloring you have to pay attention to light sources and shadowing, which takes a whole other level of thinking about objects that might be drawn without that in mind. If you're doing really simple B&W you don't even have to think about that.

Personally I remember when I was doing comics I was terrible at inking straight lines, so I would always try to do as little detail as possible on things like buildings that are MADE out of straight lines. Which means all my buildings looked like boxes.

If I ever discover troubles with drawing certain things, or something that I haven't drawn before, or something I'd not payed enough attention to. The idea of dodging it strikes cold steel spikes up into my spine.
Personally, avoiding something that I'd like to get better at, feels like living in fear of improvement. Of coarse, I've scrapped and postponed projects that I didn't feel could be portrayed to the least degree of what I'd like for it, however, the very next thing passing through my mits would likely involve whatever I was having problems with.

Like writing, or explosions, or text, or whatnot (especially hard given the ambiguity of Whatnot).

First off, let me say that your level of improvement is astounding. A true inspiration!

If I have problems with anything, it would have to be the dreaded hands and feet that most artist dread. I still draw them to the best of my ability, but there hasn't been a single pic in which I didn't want to just add nubs and call it a day. I'm also not very good with backgrounds, but i'm improving on both fronts. Most of my favorites on Deviant are tutorials, and I have more how to books at home than any other kind of book. My true problem would have to be picking a style of drawing that's right for me. Once I finally do that, i'll be unstoppable!

my main problem is composition and backgrounds.
Its really hard for me to draw a character/environment hand have it tell just one story or have a significant theme. I've seen so many illustrations where the artist makes it look so simple but when I come down to try...I'm blank. And I just end up drawing character based drawings.

Kristen: Thanks. But frankly speaking I really have not much coloring experience during my high school days. I got plenty of C to D- in almost all of my artworks because I can't color. And nobody is there to teach me how to color at all. Such were the days in my high school. And because of that, my confidence drops a lot when facing with the task of coloring. Even until today, I don't even know how to pick up a brush to do painting at all. It sounds odd but it's true. But if it wasn't for the sucky coloring job I did on my fanarts, I wouldn't have learnt to improve my coloring skill. :kitty:

CCS: Yes, light sources and shadowing is something that only experienced colorists can identify properly and I'm still learning how to grasp this concept. On the concept of inking lines, an inexperience inker will usually put the ruler on the lines he sketch. But an experienced inker will never place his focus on the sketched lines but on the ruler placement and alignment before he inks on the line.

Foxman: Sometimes, it takes courage for some artists to face with challenging art form. An artist who doesn't know how to draw certain things will tend to avoid drawing it. A good example would be drawing buildings or hands. When they can't draw it, most of the time you will hear them complaining they hate drawing it. Of course, there are those who hate it but still draws it as if they really like it or until they like drawing it. I probably won't get to the point of liking it, but I know I'm one of those artists who is willing to take the challenge of drawing things that I hated most but I still want to display it nicely in my comics.

Priceman: Thanks dude. ;) It takes years to improve but when you finally see the improvement, it was worth the effort. One thing I learn about picking up style is that there's not a specific style that one should follow. Styles evolve as time goes by. Most importantly, pick up a style that you're most comfortable with then expand it to suit your taste and need.

Roma: I think the best way to draw backgrounds is to get plenty of references and practice drawing it before adding the characters.

Ho ho, I also can't CG color worth spit. I have neither the CG craft nor the artistic inclination. However, I don't plan on picking it up at all.

Because I hate the task of CGing anything. When I can't put a pen/pencil/marker in my hand and draw on real paper, the task of drawing feels like work rather than pleasure. Simply, working on art on a computer is not fun. And if it's not fun, why would I be drawing? I have a day job.

Maybe, if I buy a high-quality tablet, or a touch-screen laptop, that impression would change. But as long as I have a mouse, I keep all of the CG aspects of my artwork to an absolute minimum.

I have no problems with light & shadow, however. For the longest time, I was scanning in lineart (as opposed to grayscale) because my old scanner absolutely sucked and can't handle anything more complex. Which meant I drew in absolute black and whites. So I studied up a lot of Mignola art and Miller Sin City art with the heavy blacks and stark lights.

I'm beyond terrible with backrounds. Which is very obvious in my comic, because i never make them. EVER. I just black wash it.

But that in itself turned into a style for my comic people say adds to emotion.
*shugs*

I'm kinda weird I think. I love to ink but I am terrible at it due to shaky hands thanks to a neurological issue.

I've gone from something like this [starcrossd.net]
to
something more like this [starcrossd.net]

to help sort of camouflage the issue. And I think I've done well but it's taken years. And I still have days where I just have to put the pen down because there's no hope.

I still have issues with poses and getting the confidence to just draw. That gets time consuming. If there was one part of SCD I wouldn't do it would be the pencilling - I'd love to give that to someone else. It hurts my head as of late. :(

Despite popular opinion I think - I like drawing backgrounds. But since I hand paint them I really can't afford the time to do so. So I take photos in New Orleans every time I go from places where the scenes happen. That way I'm geographically in the right as well - I didn't forget that pole there or that light post.

Part of the reason I even started doing webcomics in the first place was to force myself to draw all the things i hate drawing. Like cars, buildings, technology, backgrounds, perspective, dynamic anatomy, etc. I'm pretty hard on myself in terms of reconising my own flaws. I actually started doing Brymstone in color specifically to force myself to learn to color in CG properly (or at least better).

In terms of coloring, I've gone from this in 1998 to this in 2007. In terms of drawing in black and white, I've gone from this , to this . And here's a sample of my backgrounds from back in 2002 and here is what I'm capable of today.

I've also taught myself to draw with a tablet and forced myself to learn MangaStudio which is amazingly helpful. I have shakey hands too when it comes to inking and the autocorrect/line smoothing in MangaStudio rocks my socks. Although I still enjoy drawing and inking with a pen and paper better, I find that my computer works end up looking more professional and polished. Mangastudio also makes the lines look really natural, which is pleasent. Photoshoped lineart always has this mechanical look to it I don't much care for.

I've had to overcome a lot of personal problems, like clinical depression, family issues, time issues, space issues, etc, but its a matter of the love for what you do. I'm personally someone who always tries to be better. I'm always looking for ways to better myself and my work through learning from other artists, reference, books, tutorials, etc, etc. Whenever I find something neat and shiny, I try to learn from it. I usually consider my past work crap pretty quick, like within a few weeks, if not days. Mostly because I *know* my next stuff is going to be better (or is at least capable of being better). Sometimes I get lazy and kick myself for it later, but often times when you are under time constraints you just have to get the job done, and I'm quite experienced working as a creative professional in saying "Screw it! Deadline! Done!" and living with it. Fortunately I can always go back and re-color or retouch something later. I try to keep high resolution backups of most of my stuff these days.

For me its not an issue so much of being afraid to show people stuff. They tend to have lower expectations than I do. Usually its a motivational thing for me. Do I enjoy something? There are definately aspects and things to drawing I don't like. I don't really want to do, and have to really kick my own ass to get done because what I like is the really shiny end product. If I do everything well, it turns out great. If I try to be lazy and skimp out on the stuff I might not like to do, it looks crappy. Simple math, crap in, crap out.

Although, when I was younger, I tended to get so obsessed with doing things 'right' that I kinda lost sight of just how to experiement with mediums. Now I'm older, I'd kinda like to go back and have some fun messing around with stuff again. Funny how things change. But its nice not to have the same hangups about experimentation that I used to have. I think its helped my general techniques over all.

ccs1989
Well with coloring you have to pay attention to light sources and shadowing, which takes a whole other level of thinking about objects that might be drawn without that in mind. If you're doing really simple B&W you don't even have to think about that.

I have to disagree with that. Although obviously b&w may not be as complex as color, if you're going to do b&w well, it's ALL about light-sources. it's all about the play between the light and the dark. Sure, you don't get reflected color, like you do in color pieces, but you still get reflected light. B&W isn't all that simple, and mastering it will definitely help you when you color.
I remember when I took painting I (which is where I got all my art skillz) the first things we did were b&w, and we'd glaze monochrome over them, and they would be simple shapes- a cube, a cone, a sphere, a cylinder. And then we did a monochromatic painting- and then a dichromatic one, and THEN we used all the colors. And working in increments like that really allowed my classmates and me to absorb information and improve before tackling more complex color schemes and stuff.

I can't draw backgrounds for my life. Or I'm too lazy. Either one.

But I continuously draw it (even if it's not in my comics). Hey, I'm trying, people!

I got my backgrounds from this:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Black_Streaks/index.php?p=78050

to this:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Black_Streaks/index.php?p=107752

Animals and Cars are my weak points. Certain angles scare the crap outta me too. I'm working really hard to improve on it though.

My biggest weakness is really everything. I've never actually drawn human beings before or any kind of "comic." My only solution is to draw a lot, and have a lot of references. Only recently have I taken to drawing more of the body rather than heads and daring to put them into poses instead of standing still.

Anyway, I have gone from this: http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/satomiwako/oldtristan.jpg

to this:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/satomiwako/newtristan.jpg

And this says a bit too, I think...
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/satomiwako/improved.jpg

Phantom Penguin
I'm beyond terrible with backrounds. Which is very obvious in my comic, because i never make them. EVER. I just black wash it.

But that in itself turned into a style for my comic people say adds to emotion.
*shugs*

I do the same thing. I just scribble single colors, and hide it under the guise of style.

Art rocks.

My main weakness is hands and feet. I always used to do the tried and true "hide them behind objects or inside of pockets", but once I started doing comics, it became pretty obvious that wasn't going to be an option. So I've just sat down and forced myself to draw them, and I'm still shaky on them, but I think I'm slowly improving.

...At least you can tell they're hands now, and not some deformed lump of meat on the end of the character's arms... lol!

I've never been so hot with backgrounds, I think I've improved recently but over all they're still pretty weak. My perspective is usually off as well and the anatomy of my characters looks funny (especially the hands.) I've overcome some of these problems, some better than others, all I've been doing is attacking my artistic difficulties as they show up rather than avoiding them if that makes any sense. Although I will occasionally do a comic with abstract shading for a background and I'll freely admit that it's a cop out.

I really suck at backgrounds. Buildings. Cars. Anything mechanical. I try to work around it by just not putting those things in my stories. ^_^ But that will only get you so far.

I also struggle with technique on creating backgrounds. For my stories, I would love to have the style and skill that Ozoneocean uses on Pinky. OMG!! Or Sarah Ellerton uses on Inverloch. I love those painted settings. I coudl just look at them forever. I try and try, but I can't come close. I really have no confidence in drawing those things, and I'm always unhappy with the results.

I can draw pretty good hands though, and facial expressions, so I try to make up for a crappy looking setting by putting in a heartbreaking scene with lots of good face shots. But I just know everyone is looking at that background and saying "ewww..POOR."

Oh well!!!

~B

I only have two major weakness that I constantly worry about right now. The first being that I can't draw vechiles sci-fi or real-life to save my life. Tough luckily for me, I don't have to worry about that in a fantasy comic series.

The second and more important being, Inking. I've been afraid of it, I suck at it and I'm only getting better very, VERY slowly. I should really crack open a book or something...

Im dealing with all the things that intimidate me right now. I really hate doing backgrounds it's just...hard.lol!

Im also having to get use to drawing fight scenes which is alot harder than I thought it would be.

I used to be scared of inking, but Im getting more comfortable with it. I still like the way straight pencil art looks though, maybe thats just me.

Yeah, backgrounds can be pretty frustrating. The main thing that I'm struggling with though is consistency. I've never drawn a comic before I joined this site and I learned right away that drawing characters the same way over and over is really truckin' hard.

It's hands and feet for me... Despite being born with two perfectly functional hand models, I still have lots of trouble with them.

Backgrounds and Inks follow.

Kohdok
It's hands and feet for me... Despite being born with two perfectly functional hand models, I still have lots of trouble with them.

Backgrounds and Inks follow.

I don't even have good hands for modeling! I've got weird horrible mutant hands, which is fine if that's what I have to draw but I totally stuggle with drawing normal hands.

My biggest problem is poses. I remember I used to draw everyone with their hands behind their backs (the tell-tale sign of an artist who needs more practice).

Although that was about 9 years ago, I still stay in my comfort zone. I draw from the waist up constantly, and avoid legs whenever possible... I'd like to get more comfortable with anatomy so I can draw whatever pose or body part I like...

Often my computer drawings are done with my left hand, and my realism sketches are done with the right. Its kind of an interesting shift between the two.

Yeah, I never practice drawing vehicals of any sort, or buildings, or scenery because it's a pain.... so of course, I suck at drawing them.

Also, the MOST annoying thing for me is consistency, geting characters to look the same from page to page, it really pisses me off that I have this problem. Seems like I'm the only one that ever has trouble with it..