What are your bad habits as an artist?


Delkkat's avatar
Mines are:
a) I am a large canvas size addict. I have no idea why I make my canvases so big when a smaller one can do just as fine. Some of my drawings are 10,000px. I ask other artists and they're mostly 3,000-8,000px. -sigh- makes uploading extremely slow.
b) I have a tendency to add layers I don't need. For some reason I like to add layers. A single lineart from me takes at least 2-4 layers Q.Q
c) I suck at organizing. I keep forgetting to/too lazy to name my layers and what happen is I'd draw on the wrong one and it just... messes up the whole thing.

So what are YOUR bad habits?
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mapper3's avatar
I'm a huge perfectionist.
UniversalKiwi's avatar
Sometimes, I abandon a piece of art when I lose hope. I just wish I could draw better and faster, so I can draw what I really want to make without wasting a lot of time.

Still working on fixing that one.
missmarielle's avatar
Even if I draw/write something flawlessly, I still crumple up that piece of paper if there is only one thing wrong with it.

I should stop wasting paper.
awesomeizzy's avatar
Not drawing lots. ^^;
And when I do draw, I'm so perfectionist that I'll redraw a line multiple times before I'm satisfied.
Satanic-Kurloz's avatar
I draw more portraits that i do full body drawings because wow they are hard.
and also drawing right to left so my pencil lines are always smudgy.
JericaWinters's avatar
I draw hands very poorly...I should do more study of them.
missmarielle's avatar
Drawing them as rectangles helps. That way you can curve them out.
ForeverTeaTime's avatar
I tend to start working on an idea, then get another idea that I am more enthused about and start working on that without finishing the first. >.<'
I also tend to go for projects that are way bigger than I can finish in a reasonable amount of time (this is especially problematic when I have to make something for arts class at school).
Finally, I usually neglect working out ideas that would be more visually interesting (surreal) in favour of portraits/fanarts/comics, because the latter feel more 'meaningful' because they are based on something. This is a bit of a bad habit I think, because the more visually interesting pieces would be better art, especially if I would somehow manage to come up with a meaning for them.
InkedAliveByColors's avatar
Actually starting back up to finish a piece or stopping before I over-do one.
mightybearrr's avatar
1) I get a bit lazy with naming layers in Photoshop, though I at least remember to put layers in folders according to what part of the picture they're meant for.
2) I don't doodle as much as I should. I've gotten too obsessed with the idea of a finished product.
3) I'll occasionally try to add something that isn't really necessary because I feel like my work seems incomplete.

If you don't mind, samroxudont, I'd like to pass on some advice to you as well.

You don't need to work at huge resolutions considering the work you're doing is meant solely for publishing on the web. You could just work at a smaller size like 1000 to 2500 px but instead set your document to 300 ppi instead of 72 ppi (I'm assuming this is one of the problems you're having if you're making your canvases 10,000 px large). Then you can shrink a copy of the document down to 72 ppi once you have a finished product and save that as your final image. That way you'll have a smaller picture to upload while still having the original larger file to make edits to if you wish.
Delkkat's avatar
Wow! Thanks so much! One of the reasons I didn't want to make them that small because even when I set my brush at 1px, the line doesn't seem clear and it looks a bit blurry. I'll try this next time! :D
mightybearrr's avatar
No problem :)

When it comes to outlining you could also just sketch the drawing out and then use the pen tool to draw an outline on a layer above the sketch.
Delkkat's avatar
XD I actually don't use the pen tool because I have to make short, unrefined lines to resemble fur when I draw animals so I never really noticed the pen tool :D I didn't know you could draw using it ^^ thanks anyways
UltraLiThematic's avatar
I would say... rushing. And sometimes being too afraid to start the coloring part.
metalhartrockandroll's avatar
I can't draw when I'm mad... Which isn't helpful since I'm mad fairly often.
Sachi-pon's avatar
-messy linework
-messy coloring too (although sometimes i like things colored in a messy way! but not messy lines, ugh.)
-the hands i draw always look bad... i don't improve with hands...
-adding too many things to my drawing to-do list because i can't resist, even though i know i don't have time...
-i work pretty slowly, i think >___<
Delkkat's avatar
Arg! I have the 'messy lines' problem too T.T I think it's because I draw fur too much, and I get used to it, and I CAN NOT draw a single smooth line now, only small fluffy ones, so I'm not good at doing linearts :( I'll have to re-learn that :D
adavesseth's avatar
I have lots of bad habits...
The most prominent one right now is lazyness, and lack of inspiration!

When I actually get to drawing:
Rushing - wanting to get the drawing finished, before it really is.
Background - Yeah, they're tedious!
Giving up - more or less consciously. Some drawings just don't get finished, for some reason.
Delkkat's avatar
U_U, ah, the laziness, I hate that, so hard to overcome.
adavesseth's avatar
Indeed... It's silly, really! Once you put yourself in front of the easel, it's easy. But it's a long way to get there! And the longer it's been since the last drawing, the harder it gets!
IncandescentInsanity's avatar
Not having patience to learn digital art or the attention span to finish drawings that take more than 4 hours
Hawkbit's avatar
Drawing backrounds :( Everytime before drawing I say to myself "This time I will take my time on the backround" and then I´m lazy again. It gets a bit better but this takes so long.
iamPURPLE's avatar
I have a lot...

-Unintentionally smudging traditional art with the side of my hand (even though I'm right-handed)
-Small canvases- too scared or too frugal to work on larger scale projects
-Leaving sketch pages with one tiny drawing in the corner and nothing else
-A year ago, I USED to feel helpless without the burn, dodge, and smudge tools- I AM OVER IT NOW AND SO SO SO GLAD
-Less than ten layers (out of laziness)
-Don't label all layers (lazyyyy)
-Work extremely slow (distractions, redoing the sketch over and over, etc.)
-Attempt to avoid hand and feet drawing by hiding them behind objects/other bodies/in pockets (also slowly getting over this)
-90% projects don't make it past the sketching stage and I fail to upload even WIPs to motivate or obligate finishing
Delkkat's avatar
it seems a lot of people have trouble with motivation to finish their work XD I'm the same