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Advice on finishing drawings?
Hey Kienan and fellow fans :) It's been a longstanding problem for me to finish drawings. To clarify what I mean, a "finished" drawing to me is one that has been drawn, painted, and refined until you feel it's completed. Sometimes I go months without finishing anything even though I draw nearly everyday.
I love to create things so the sketch is the most fun for me but after a few hours it takes to complete the sketch, I lose interest. I've tried taking breaks but I still lose interest regardless and it's only the rare sketches that I'm actually really proud of that make it to the finish line. I know practice will increase the frequency of drawings I'm proud of and thus the more I finish.
Even then though, after the sketch regardless of how proud I am of it, it's like I have to force myself to continue. Forcing myself also often leads to me omitting details I originally planned to have, sometimes even the entire background. (since it's that much more work I have to push myself through)
Does anyone have any suggestions to make my art process more fun and interesting so I can stay motivated to complete more artworks?
If it helps, this is my typical art process currently:
- Quickly sketch out some ideas until I find one I like
- Flesh out the idea some more then either continue or scrap it and start over
- Continue adding details and refining until I finish the sketch. My finished sketches usually look something like this http://i.imgur.com/syyDbPI.png (After I get to this point is when I usually lose interest in the drawing and don't have the strength to continue D:)
- Add in basic colors (well sometimes I do make it to this stage)
- Refine the lines or do line art on a new layer
- Color and shade the drawing




What might help is having a END goal specifically in mind for each piece you decide to take past a quick sketch. This could be a contest like De_Spell was saying, or it could be something like using a new process or applying a study (like a lighting situation or piece of anatomy).
Maybe it would also help to do a black and white value sketch over your lines? Sometimes that gives me a better idea of where I want the piece to go, and without color it goes VERY quickly.
Thanks for the reply! Hmm this could help, I usually do have a goal in mind when I start a drawing but maybe my goals are too focused on composition or anatomy or something which I don't need to necessarily finish a piece for. I'll try having more goals for coloring/lighting or anything else that does require me to finish in the future, thanks ^_^
1) How many layers do you end up with?
-If u tend to create a chaos of 500+ layer as I used to do... and keep going back and forth because You didn't plan your line art properly, You will probably never finish it.
2)Why don't you completely refine You line art before start painting?
-Set goals. Going back and forth just cause you bored doesn't help You at all "if that's your case"
3)Never take a sketch seriously and feel obliged to finish it, unless You have something to achieve with it. Search for contests
-KNKL show should set a weekly contest imo "I need it as well"
-Kienan has enough OCs to support it.^^
Also, Your finished sketch looks like a Quick sketch "no offense" However, focus on number 3.
Your sketch is eye catching. keep it up!
note: Update Your profile someone might be curious about your DeviantArt profile/gallery, in order give You some "more in-depth" feedback.
Thanks for the feedback!
1) I think it usually comes out to 20-30 but I keep it organized and have line art all on one layer
2) Sometimes I do, I don't really "paint" before I do I just quickly lay in colors/values on one layer so I can get the overall feel of the drawing. After I do the line art I set up a mask, redo the colors and have each on it's own layer
3) I don't feel obliged to finish more works, I just want to. It's the time it takes from the sketch to completeness and the process I don't care for.
I had a feeling someone might mention it being more like a quick sketch. I kind of agree, this was a relatively quick sketch and I was really trying to focus on perspective so I spent less time on details. You may have a point though, if I spend more time on my sketches maybe line art will look less daunting.
I think contests are a great idea, actually there's only a few contests I decided to participate in but didn't finish. I think I finish them more often than not, it's just finding a contest that interests me enough. If Kienan does some I think it would be, I've already done Moka fan art and that was fun! :)
Also yeah haha sorry, I added my DeviantArt now
"Art is never finished, only abandoned" Leonardo da Vinci Basically this means that there will always be something you can do to improve your piece, the key is finding a point where can abandon it and start something new, hope that helps