I've had a theory on this for a while now. One thought is that that because the sketch is usually so "messy", the viewer's standards or expectation is lower so flaws are easier to ignore and overlook. Another theory I've had was that because there are so many lines on top of each other that represent a single line, I think our brain picks how it wants to average those lines when you look at them and mentally renders it how it thinks things would best look to it. A sketch is just a flexible, visual idea of a finished drawing.
BlueBlur22 I agree, it's like an optical illusion. It's only after I ink I see all the flaws... It's especially frustrating for traditional art because you can't unink or unerase, the only option is to use lightbox, trace and start over.
It really is :^) For example the cleaner your brush is the more perfect your lineart has to be. A brush with a pencil texture is way more forgiving than a perfect round brush with 100% hardness. Digital art by default goes totally agains the "nature" of traditional media art. There is no perfect round brush in reality or perfectly smooth paper. Luckily we can now emulate that by using tool and paper textures, stylus tilt and real world colors converted to the sRGB color space :D
BlueBlur22 It's cause the sketch lines are forming natural line variations. When you ink over it and don't add in variations to your lines, the work becomes stiff and looks wrong.
I started doing one thing and to erease those excess lines to leave only one strong line from all the sketchy ones. It is a lot of ereasing, but you will get the one thic line from it, that can be nicely done with Ink. :)
For me shading is really the part that completely changes the picture, the sketch looks good in 2D then you add volume to it and suddenly every single mistake pops out and you regret ever thinking the sketch were good
From what I understand, shading, especially with realism is usually best if at some point in the picture, both very dark and very light colors are used minimally to have the best impact but that there isn't a zillion colors in-between too. Shading all about lighting in my experience, the areas in the dark are not "shade, but absence of light if that makes sense. This also includes that rarely is there only one light source at any time and that certain objects will naturally reflect their own colors onto other things around them if they are made of such material. For instance, say you have a person in a pond at night. You'd think the light source is maybe the moon, but there will be a reflection of dimmer light off the water and depending on the water color, the color of the water too. It will be more subtle than the main light source, but it is always there. In real life, since shadow is just lack of light, it's not a different color than say our skin, but with a 2-D medium and trying to make it look 3-D often the tones are not uniform to create the same affect. Also, when you look closely you can see a general tone, but most things have far more than just one color. This is why a lot of artists when shading take the main tone, or neutral tone, add not only a darker, but often less saturated and slightly different hue from the main tone. Same goes for the light one too. Since light sources have their own colors, this makes the skin for instance of a person different hues as well when looking at it visually. Sticking to the exact same color hue and only changing saturation and brightness on a specific part of the picture, be it a glass, skin, wall etc usually make sit look very dull. Changing the hue a little makes a world of difference. Like if something is white, go for a slightly blue grey for a super bright white or yellowish soft brown for more ivory for the shadow. It will better indicate what particular type of white it is. I'm not an expert by any means, these are just things I've both noticed in my own and others work and what I've been told a few times when I asked other artists for advice.
Color is one thing, but what I’m talking about is how it can completely change the shape of the lineart. For example you can make the lineart of a face easily, but during shading, every little stroke can totally change the cheek, jaw, nose and all the other structure of the face, and before you know it the face looks nothing like what you linearted.
I don’t understand shading at all and there is no help in the word that could fix that for me. Like I draw something that already looks bad, but for shading I keep using airbrush and even cell shading and stuff. It’s just looks sloppy and it doesn’t look right at all.
@@Cookieznothere I recommend avoiding airbrush for shading. That's not what that tool is for. Cel shading is a good way to go, especially when you're first learning to shade (that's where I'm at too) You can definitely improve at shading, it's just a matter of studying and practicing, like any art skill! You can do it!!
I’m actually crying right now because I just looked at my own line art, cuz I’ve been taking art seriously for 4 years now, and I realized that my lineart wasn’t improving at all
Simple practice plays a part too. I get frustrated when an inked image doesn't look as good as my pencil sketches, but on the other hand I don't always ink images. I actually quite rarely do it in comparison to how much I actually draw with a pencil, a contributing factor probably being that they don't usually look as good...Leading into that cycle of: doesn't look as good > so I don't ink > so I don't practice > so they don't look as good. On the surface using a pen to ink a pencil sketch probably seems like the exact same skillset to many, but they're two different tools that whilst certain skills transfer they still have their own unique elements you need practice with.
That's very true, especially on the difference between the two! Almost as big a difference as snowboarding and skiing. They look similar but are different disciplines.
My issue is a disconnect between what my brain wants to do, and what my hands actually do... Brain: I see a wolf, with *very detailed description* Hands: K, i drew a stick with a blob on one end.
You need to buy the book "Drawing in the right side of the brain" it's very effective and will teach how to draw what your mind sees. Also some little advice, take your time observing between sketching and take breaks every 10 minutes then observe your work to fix any mistakes.
I was actually making a half joke at my expense lol, but yes, i do need to work to improve, but i have already improved quite a bit. How i used to draw (so much cringe) i.imgur.com/qLcVmZy.jpg How i draw now (considerably less cringe) i.imgur.com/iKMCriG.jpg I actually used to be able to sketch some amazing stuff, but after an injury to my wrist (severe break, i landed wrong like on the wrestling team in high school) i stopped being artistic because it seemed so impossible to gain back my former ability. Started again about a year ago.
Love the idea of keeping the sketch, but cleaning it out. Im always afraid of inking it. I got into that mindset of "first I sketch, then I clean, ink, paint, render, etc." Thanks for the insight!
I totally agree! Last year I was so obsessed with trying to mimic clean line and colouring styles, even vector-like styles. I have realized that it was a mistake for me to try to push myself in that direction because what I like about my work, and what others appear to also like, is that it is more free than that. The work I find most pleasing to look at tends to be soft like old school Disney, and that is so sketchy that the construction lines are often even left in to help show the forms (a great example is the Aristocats). I am glad that I learned some different skills from trying out some clean styles because versatility is something I want as an artist but I'm also glad that I've realized that, as you said, clean doesn't equal good. My work is so much better now that I've loosened up again. :)
I was having this issue yesterday, I ended up choosing to keep working on the "sketch" until it was a complete drawing with some roughness to the lines.
I don't have this problem but boy did I learn a lot from this! I think I'll need to subscribe after- *HEARS ABOUT CHARACTER SELECT AND LEARN CHARACTER DESIGN* I need to level up again so I'm subbing NOW.
Just subbed after seeing this. I almost never posted my work online (a hobby of mine) for the past few years because this issue had been weighing down on me.
4:12 yeah sometimes you even see that with professional comic book artists who have a sketchy style that th e colorist is trying too hard to clean up and it ruins it.
Also those intentionally scribbly drawings , like having 6 lines define the "real line" is just a thing you do in the sketch phase or a beggine mistake , its intentional because it makes the thing look heavy and or chaotic. i think some other youtuber said when talking about art style vs mistake to make sure having 6 lines for your single line is meant to be an intentional art style choise and not a mistake you try to delude yourself into thinking its artstyle or something i dont remember so you dont try to fix your chicken scratching. I watched the video a long time ago so i dont remember who said it and how he said it
Y'know, I never thought about this but... It's true. Recently I've tried to stray away from the skethcing, lining, colouring etc pattern process and tried to shake it up by blocking in colours before emphasizing details and now I think I'll shake it up even more by using my sketch in my final pieces!
I've always wondered while even professional sketches always looked more interesting to me than their clean professional works. Basically, if you do ink, unless it's meant to be super clean as part as the aesthetic of the image, don't be afraid to make it a little messy and more faithful to the sketch stage. I will try to clean up my sketch by inking over it, but being sure to not be too clean if the sketch itself looked good messy and see if that works for me. This all depends on the final product. Always a good idea to keep an original of your sketch if you liked it and try messing with it again. Because it sucks when you erased too much when you like certain parts. I definitely fell into the trap of clean lines equals good art.
Oh this was really helpful! I've been doing the "copier" problem for such a long time! I knew it was wrong but I just couldn't imagine why! I knew it was taking a lot of time, and I had never seen anyone else clean their sketch and re clean their sketch and re clean but I couldn't tell besides time why people didn't do it! I think I'm going to be a lot better off now that I've learned what you just explained here, thanks!
4:42 Ah, yeah, from personal experience, this does tend to give the best results. There's this sketch I made a while ago that I then slowly edited and changed over time, making it more detailed and cleaner, but I never really removed the old sketch. Hm hm, maybe I should adopt that as a habit.
Brookes, if I may call you by your first name, I have watched your videos for a while now. I just wanted to say thank you for your wisdom, both related to art and the life of an artist, and also I love how you remind us to, "Have fun creating." This is an important thing for every artist of every level to remind themselves to do, for I know how easy it is to get caught up in trying to be technically flawless that we forget how fun it can be to just create!
What a fantastic video. I just discovered your channel, and your approach is so genuine, interesting and thoughtful. Glad I stumbled on you and your work!
The Inking process is always where I notice the change. Glad I watched this right before I started a new series of character concept sheets. Hopefully these lessons are transferable for someone who works analog and does a little, low-budget, digital editing.
thank you! i myself draw in the "paint over a sketch" way most of the time, and i was really glad to find not only a way to clean up my art if i want to, and also that more people do that as well
Holy cow this is spot on. I've been trying to figure out what it is that I dislike about inking sketches but this video cleared it up for me. Excellent info! I appreciate how you explained this
I gotta say, i've been following for a while now and a huge chunk of your vids are saved into my favorites to refer to later and honestly they've helped me a ton. Ya know never really stop growing as an artist and these videos are really making that process fun and exploratory. Thank you.
Ohmygod thank you so much! This is something I've always been frustrated and as of recently I've realized i love seeing the sketchiness and imperfect freedom in my drawings and have been wondering how i can keep that without looking unprofessional.
I've been binge watching all your videos the past few days. They are so helpful! I struggle with a lot of the problems mentioned in some of your videos, and they've helped a lot! I've had one character for almost 8 years now, and the past 2 years I've really been getting into designing her. I just want to say thanks for all the lovely tips in your videos!
WOW.. this is exactly what a friend of mine told me.. Basically this is what they said when looking at my artwork "Things I think are not complete are complete to others"
Aaaaaaaaaaa thank you so much for making this video! As an artist,this really helped! I always saw this problem with my work but never really thought why I was having this problem. But because of this video, I feel like I can become an even better artist now and I want to say, thank you.
My art teacher recently talked abut "Lassoing in" your drawings - she was talking about hatching, but I think the idea also works for lineart, if you want clean, thin lineart. So the sketch is essentially an approximation of your idea, and if you want to add cleaner lineart the important thing is not to /follow/ your sketch, but to use it as a guide for the cleaner idea...
This is such a unique way of looking at it Thank you! I’ve been trying to start making a comic and have been having trouble because I feel like my lines are too “stiff”
Somehow I overcame this problem. I was used to be using the tool "pen" to draw and making linearts, and it was never good as the sketch, then I startet to use the tool "pencil" to making linearts, and it's so good. It keeps looking like a sketch, but it's a way cleaner and satsfactory than it. I don't know how to explain, but try to use the "pencil" to make linearts :)
Those are some REALLY useful tips!! Not many youtube artists seem to give it much thought as to how problems even arise so their solutions/tips tend to focus on their own problem solving "How I draw this and that" instead of general approaches that make clear what the problem IS in the first place!
Alright would you recommend keeping the original sketch even when the sketching process is traditional, I feel like the original paper texture can cause it to look muddy sometimes.
Lucetube GPlusStillSux I'm not sure about other mediums but one of my fave YT artists does watercolor/ink art and she leaves her sketches in her finished pieces. It threw me for a loop when I first saw her do it but now I've really enjoyed how leaving a sketch can make a piece have life to it. I've even started leaving sketches in some of my own pieces.
because of this, I stopped doing lineart and instead I would take an eraser and clean up my sketch so I don't lose the flow of the lines. the fact that you mentioned this as a solution made me pleased :)
Wow, thanks a lot for the video! I literally started drawing, like, a couple weeks ago (turns out starting was way easier than I thought - there's a simple trick to it that for some reason no one talks about; and no, it's not "JUST START DRAWING LOL"), and while my art is as bad as you'd expect it to be for someone who just started, I was wandering about just that thing - and you answered it! Thanks a lot!
I had this problem so much I actually end up just coloring my sketch... even including the guidelines! This really helped me think about it more! Thanks!
Wow... amazing! The problem was always at the background of my thoughts but never actually paid attention to it... thanks! Thanks you for the great upload!!
You are so informative and concise; this is my first video of yours I've seen but I really like how you formatted this, it made it easy for me to absorb your information as a beginner and take it to heart instead of being distracted by fancy editing techniques or off-topic interludes. You go from problem to solution cleanly and as someone who has been watching various art videos to try to improve as someone who has just picked up drawing as a hobby, this was wonderful!
good point about sterilizing art. It definitely look better as a sketch always! Sketches are also so much more airy and have life and movement in them, but when we render things or layer heavy blocks of colour it changes the whole vibe, it defines everything, sets it in a defined spot and looses that light feel. I love sketches because the unfinished look always inspires more creativity and wonder in the observer, that's why I want to try and implement more airiness to the final piece
Part of it may just be a matter of tightness. Generally speaking, we always sketch rather loosely. Freeing yourself and not aiming towards something perfect is what'll more often than not, give you the better result. When most people, especially beginners, start to render they all of a sudden shift from working loosely to very tightly. They want everything to be perfect and not only does it slow you down immensely, but it also increases the possibility of making a bunch of little mistakes because you become too tunnel-visioned on each tiny render area. Instead, it's better to keep an eye on the big picture and stay loose until you have to tighten at the very end to get the small details.
Thank you for saying about using the original sketch becoming a part of the final lineart! I realised that I was feeling more confident when I do it more than redrawing a new clean lineart that I end up hating :)
Thank you so so so much for the great explanation especially the example of the detailed example of the copy machine, it totally explained the idea to me. Thanks a lot for the tips and the guide.
Fantastic advice! Thank you so much! I’ve definitely been sterilizing my work to try to make it look like people I admire. I should admire myself more!
Thank you so much. I currently do that, not always going to another layer and redoing it. But again I lost myself into doing line-art separately from the sketch and I felt as if the drawing looked dull, I went back to staying with my sketches and just painting over it instead of redoing lineart and it helps so much!! Thank you💖
Wow! Very well explained. This all makes so much sense. I completely agree with your reasons behind why we run into this issue. Thank you for sharing this mind-opening video. So helpful.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. The last two graphic novels I've done were missing that little bit of info, so this comes in handy for the third one :D Much happy with such gold :D
I always thought this phenomenon was related to how all of those old Impressionist paintings feel so much more alive and vibrant compared to paintings where every color is perfectly blended together and every brushstroke is completely hidden. With Impressionism, the brain of the viewer is required to blend all of the colors together to "complete" the painting, thus the painting feels much more active and almost implies motion. It's a similar process with a sketch. When the brain of the viewer has to assemble all of these seemingly chaotic lines into the image, the viewer is actually participating in the creation process and the drawing itself feels more alive and exciting.
I think my problem is I like messier art rather than the cleaned up versions so when I draw I love the sketch but as soon as I finish lining I absolutely hate it because of how clean it looks. I'm also afraid that If I stick to the more messier sketch people will never take my art seriously.
hey look, it's the guy who made my life easier thanks for this vids m8, i'm being liberated from the obsolete ' sketch-ink-color' mindset after watching this (well not instantly, but at least it help me to make a start) once again thank you~
Another reason is gestures vs. proportions. Sketches are all gestures, when you start polishing up the art and start considering anatomical proportions, you change the look for the sake of correctness.
Geez, I remember making a crappy a bodyless head of a fursona for 5 freaking months, from October '15 till March '16. (And there were many pictures like that.) And you've pretty much explained why. God, I'm glad I've killed this darling, thank you really much, you're a fallen troubleshoot from heaven! :D Nevertheless, I can remember Izzy's (SteveRayBro's) digital drawing tutorial, and honestly, it made a good base and start, but also gave a pretty crappy point about making two sketches and making Kirby round by a round tool + transform. It really should be made by hand, since as I know, good drawings come from spontaniousity, punk attitude and good experience. Otherwise you get MS Office cliparts instead.
This is my issue with art if I do rough sketches but if I go straight for clean line art it takes up more time but I get better results. Multiple lines do play tricks on your eyes for sure you hit it spot on.
Illusion of line weight vs. no line weight at all also plays into it, I think. A sketch often has the illusion of depth due the shading and the illusion of line weight that happens with many sketchy lines. When we clean it up and reduce it to a single mono-width line we lose that sketchy depth. Playing with line weight often helps.
This was good, I make the copying my copy mistake alot, and then I don't like it and end up trying to be faithful, I just never heard it pointed out like tht before, thanks for organizing my own silent thoughts.
I roughed Smth last night and it looked SO GOOD and when I lined it looked nothing like my actual style. tyvm for this video, I'm gonna start using my original roughs from now on.
Awesome! I usually sketched and went to clean it out, and when you pointed it out that it looses its structure, it felt like it was so me, nice! I will try to draw a cleaner sketch and just keep the sketch as my baseline, that hopefully will improve my attitude towards my firstly drew sketch.
You put a lot of my thoughts on why my lining process wasn't working well for me into better terms. I really love my sketches compared to when I line so I'll mess around!
Dude thanks for this video! Your entire channel is very informative actually, but this sketch to final painting issue is something I have been experiencing lately and you explained it wonderfully
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I've had a theory on this for a while now. One thought is that that because the sketch is usually so "messy", the viewer's standards or expectation is lower so flaws are easier to ignore and overlook. Another theory I've had was that because there are so many lines on top of each other that represent a single line, I think our brain picks how it wants to average those lines when you look at them and mentally renders it how it thinks things would best look to it. A sketch is just a flexible, visual idea of a finished drawing.
BlueBlur22 I agree, it's like an optical illusion. It's only after I ink I see all the flaws... It's especially frustrating for traditional art because you can't unink or unerase, the only option is to use lightbox, trace and start over.
It really is :^)
For example the cleaner your brush is the more perfect your lineart has to be. A brush with a pencil texture is way more forgiving than a perfect round brush with 100% hardness. Digital art by default goes totally agains the "nature" of traditional media art. There is no perfect round brush in reality or perfectly smooth paper.
Luckily we can now emulate that by using tool and paper textures, stylus tilt and real world colors converted to the sRGB color space :D
BlueBlur22 It's cause the sketch lines are forming natural line variations. When you ink over it and don't add in variations to your lines, the work becomes stiff and looks wrong.
I started doing one thing and to erease those excess lines to leave only one strong line from all the sketchy ones. It is a lot of ereasing, but you will get the one thic line from it, that can be nicely done with Ink. :)
spot on!
"Especially newer artists tend to associate clean art with good art."
I've been dealing with this kind of problem for so long.
Same honestly.
For me shading is really the part that completely changes the picture, the sketch looks good in 2D then you add volume to it and suddenly every single mistake pops out and you regret ever thinking the sketch were good
From what I understand, shading, especially with realism is usually best if at some point in the picture, both very dark and very light colors are used minimally to have the best impact but that there isn't a zillion colors in-between too.
Shading all about lighting in my experience, the areas in the dark are not "shade, but absence of light if that makes sense. This also includes that rarely is there only one light source at any time and that certain objects will naturally reflect their own colors onto other things around them if they are made of such material.
For instance, say you have a person in a pond at night. You'd think the light source is maybe the moon, but there will be a reflection of dimmer light off the water and depending on the water color, the color of the water too. It will be more subtle than the main light source, but it is always there.
In real life, since shadow is just lack of light, it's not a different color than say our skin, but with a 2-D medium and trying to make it look 3-D often the tones are not uniform to create the same affect. Also, when you look closely you can see a general tone, but most things have far more than just one color.
This is why a lot of artists when shading take the main tone, or neutral tone, add not only a darker, but often less saturated and slightly different hue from the main tone. Same goes for the light one too. Since light sources have their own colors, this makes the skin for instance of a person different hues as well when looking at it visually.
Sticking to the exact same color hue and only changing saturation and brightness on a specific part of the picture, be it a glass, skin, wall etc usually make sit look very dull. Changing the hue a little makes a world of difference. Like if something is white, go for a slightly blue grey for a super bright white or yellowish soft brown for more ivory for the shadow. It will better indicate what particular type of white it is.
I'm not an expert by any means, these are just things I've both noticed in my own and others work and what I've been told a few times when I asked other artists for advice.
Color is one thing, but what I’m talking about is how it can completely change the shape of the lineart. For example you can make the lineart of a face easily, but during shading, every little stroke can totally change the cheek, jaw, nose and all the other structure of the face, and before you know it the face looks nothing like what you linearted.
I don’t understand shading at all and there is no help in the word that could fix that for me. Like I draw something that already looks bad, but for shading I keep using airbrush and even cell shading and stuff. It’s just looks sloppy and it doesn’t look right at all.
@@Cookieznothere I recommend avoiding airbrush for shading. That's not what that tool is for. Cel shading is a good way to go, especially when you're first learning to shade (that's where I'm at too) You can definitely improve at shading, it's just a matter of studying and practicing, like any art skill! You can do it!!
This put such a fine point on things I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry
oh nooooooo!
I’m actually crying right now because I just looked at my own line art, cuz I’ve been taking art seriously for 4 years now, and I realized that my lineart wasn’t improving at all
@@cringeweebooo60 me and you both dude. me and you both
@@miserablemajor6407 You and you and me Dudes.
@@Maxer110 you and you and you and me dudes
Literally was asking myself that the other day but never got around to looking into it
OfelieArt same, I just asked myself this yesterday.
I asked myself that question the other day too! Mainly because I'm in the middle of my first drawing with a realistic-ish body
Facebook is selling you issues for ads/vids😂
Simple practice plays a part too.
I get frustrated when an inked image doesn't look as good as my pencil sketches, but on the other hand I don't always ink images. I actually quite rarely do it in comparison to how much I actually draw with a pencil, a contributing factor probably being that they don't usually look as good...Leading into that cycle of: doesn't look as good > so I don't ink > so I don't practice > so they don't look as good.
On the surface using a pen to ink a pencil sketch probably seems like the exact same skillset to many, but they're two different tools that whilst certain skills transfer they still have their own unique elements you need practice with.
That's very true, especially on the difference between the two! Almost as big a difference as snowboarding and skiing. They look similar but are different disciplines.
Tao try using a charcoal pencil to “ink”
me with rendering and coloring .-. i only draw in pencil/pen and only sketch so when i color it looks bad :(
My issue is a disconnect between what my brain wants to do, and what my hands actually do...
Brain: I see a wolf, with *very detailed description*
Hands: K, i drew a stick with a blob on one end.
Something about that problem never goes away for artists, you just get better at dealing with it! :D
Use references, and draw the basic shapes before the details
You need to buy the book "Drawing in the right side of the brain" it's very effective and will teach how to draw what your mind sees. Also some little advice, take your time observing between sketching and take breaks every 10 minutes then observe your work to fix any mistakes.
I was actually making a half joke at my expense lol, but yes, i do need to work to improve, but i have already improved quite a bit.
How i used to draw (so much cringe)
i.imgur.com/qLcVmZy.jpg
How i draw now (considerably less cringe)
i.imgur.com/iKMCriG.jpg
I actually used to be able to sketch some amazing stuff, but after an injury to my wrist (severe break, i landed wrong like on the wrestling team in high school) i stopped being artistic because it seemed so impossible to gain back my former ability.
Started again about a year ago.
Dream Wolf
You've improved a lot despite your injury!
Love the idea of keeping the sketch, but cleaning it out. Im always afraid of inking it. I got into that mindset of "first I sketch, then I clean, ink, paint, render, etc." Thanks for the insight!
I totally agree! Last year I was so obsessed with trying to mimic clean line and colouring styles, even vector-like styles. I have realized that it was a mistake for me to try to push myself in that direction because what I like about my work, and what others appear to also like, is that it is more free than that. The work I find most pleasing to look at tends to be soft like old school Disney, and that is so sketchy that the construction lines are often even left in to help show the forms (a great example is the Aristocats). I am glad that I learned some different skills from trying out some clean styles because versatility is something I want as an artist but I'm also glad that I've realized that, as you said, clean doesn't equal good. My work is so much better now that I've loosened up again. :)
I was having this issue yesterday, I ended up choosing to keep working on the "sketch" until it was a complete drawing with some roughness to the lines.
I'm definitely guilty of layering layers. I should loosen up.
OMG!!! i thought i was the only one that loved my sketches better than the final
all these years i thought I was the only one with that thought about my sketches looking better. thank you!
whenever I draw, my sketches tend to look more organic in comparison to the finished art which looks pretty stiff.
Try practicing some gesture
Try drawing with your pen at 75% opacity. It helps with doing a sketch like layer, but it looks more finished and like lineart. Then add line weight.
I don't have this problem but boy did I learn a lot from this! I think I'll need to subscribe after-
*HEARS ABOUT CHARACTER SELECT AND LEARN CHARACTER DESIGN*
I need to level up again so I'm subbing NOW.
Just subbed after seeing this.
I almost never posted my work online (a hobby of mine) for the past few years because this issue had been weighing down on me.
So glad it can help! Great to have you, thank you!
4:12 yeah sometimes you even see that with professional comic book artists who have a sketchy style that th e colorist is trying too hard to clean up and it ruins it.
Also those intentionally scribbly drawings , like having 6 lines define the "real line" is just a thing you do in the sketch phase or a beggine mistake , its intentional because it makes the thing look heavy and or chaotic.
i think some other youtuber said when talking about art style vs mistake to make sure having 6 lines for your single line is meant to be an intentional art style choise and not a mistake you try to delude yourself into thinking its artstyle or something i dont remember so you dont try to fix your chicken scratching.
I watched the video a long time ago so i dont remember who said it and how he said it
Y'know, I never thought about this but... It's true. Recently I've tried to stray away from the skethcing, lining, colouring etc pattern process and tried to shake it up by blocking in colours before emphasizing details and now I think I'll shake it up even more by using my sketch in my final pieces!
E
I've always wondered while even professional sketches always looked more interesting to me than their clean professional works.
Basically, if you do ink, unless it's meant to be super clean as part as the aesthetic of the image, don't be afraid to make it a little messy and more faithful to the sketch stage.
I will try to clean up my sketch by inking over it, but being sure to not be too clean if the sketch itself looked good messy and see if that works for me.
This all depends on the final product. Always a good idea to keep an original of your sketch if you liked it and try messing with it again. Because it sucks when you erased too much when you like certain parts.
I definitely fell into the trap of clean lines equals good art.
I feel so exposed right now. Thanks, I really needed this video. I'm super eager to try this.
This is so relateable on every level of existence
Oh this was really helpful! I've been doing the "copier" problem for such a long time! I knew it was wrong but I just couldn't imagine why! I knew it was taking a lot of time, and I had never seen anyone else clean their sketch and re clean their sketch and re clean but I couldn't tell besides time why people didn't do it! I think I'm going to be a lot better off now that I've learned what you just explained here, thanks!
4:42 Ah, yeah, from personal experience, this does tend to give the best results. There's this sketch I made a while ago that I then slowly edited and changed over time, making it more detailed and cleaner, but I never really removed the old sketch. Hm hm, maybe I should adopt that as a habit.
Brookes, if I may call you by your first name, I have watched your videos for a while now. I just wanted to say thank you for your wisdom, both related to art and the life of an artist, and also I love how you remind us to, "Have fun creating." This is an important thing for every artist of every level to remind themselves to do, for I know how easy it is to get caught up in trying to be technically flawless that we forget how fun it can be to just create!
Great advice!
Luv your vids
What a fantastic video. I just discovered your channel, and your approach is so genuine, interesting and thoughtful. Glad I stumbled on you and your work!
The Inking process is always where I notice the change. Glad I watched this right before I started a new series of character concept sheets. Hopefully these lessons are transferable for someone who works analog and does a little, low-budget, digital editing.
I've recently overcome this problem, but I still didn't really understand _why_ it kept happening. Very informative video!
thank you! i myself draw in the "paint over a sketch" way most of the time, and i was really glad to find not only a way to clean up my art if i want to, and also that more people do that as well
What a great topic. I've been struggling with this and it's great to hear someone talk about it!
Thank you Brian!
You've provided me with a new perspective. Thanks man.
Youre very welcome!
Holy cow this is spot on. I've been trying to figure out what it is that I dislike about inking sketches but this video cleared it up for me. Excellent info! I appreciate how you explained this
This is what I love about Skottie Young. His final art still looks so vibrant and retains a rough feel.
It’s gotten to the point where a cleaned up version of my sketch is my lineart 💀
I gotta say, i've been following for a while now and a huge chunk of your vids are saved into my favorites to refer to later and honestly they've helped me a ton. Ya know never really stop growing as an artist and these videos are really making that process fun and exploratory. Thank you.
Ohmygod thank you so much! This is something I've always been frustrated and as of recently I've realized i love seeing the sketchiness and imperfect freedom in my drawings and have been wondering how i can keep that without looking unprofessional.
This is what I need to educate and improve on my drawing and animations. This needs to be showed in courses who do animation!
I've been binge watching all your videos the past few days. They are so helpful! I struggle with a lot of the problems mentioned in some of your videos, and they've helped a lot! I've had one character for almost 8 years now, and the past 2 years I've really been getting into designing her. I just want to say thanks for all the lovely tips in your videos!
WOW.. this is exactly what a friend of mine told me.. Basically this is what they said when looking at my artwork "Things I think are not complete are complete to others"
Thanks for the advice, I just started using digital art and this will be a huge help.
*The age-old question..*
That nobody answered and can't explain
Aaaaaaaaaaa thank you so much for making this video! As an artist,this really helped! I always saw this problem with my work but never really thought why I was having this problem. But because of this video, I feel like I can become an even better artist now and I want to say, thank you.
watching nearly 4 years after upload, definitely needed to hear this - especially the points about sterilization
My art teacher recently talked abut "Lassoing in" your drawings - she was talking about hatching, but I think the idea also works for lineart, if you want clean, thin lineart. So the sketch is essentially an approximation of your idea, and if you want to add cleaner lineart the important thing is not to /follow/ your sketch, but to use it as a guide for the cleaner idea...
This is such a unique way of looking at it
Thank you!
I’ve been trying to start making a comic and have been having trouble because I feel like my lines are too “stiff”
Somehow I overcame this problem. I was used to be using the tool "pen" to draw and making linearts, and it was never good as the sketch, then I startet to use the tool "pencil" to making linearts, and it's so good. It keeps looking like a sketch, but it's a way cleaner and satsfactory than it. I don't know how to explain, but try to use the "pencil" to make linearts :)
I've never been a big fan of super clean line art. I like it when it's messy but deliberate.
Those are some REALLY useful tips!! Not many youtube artists seem to give it much thought as to how problems even arise so their solutions/tips tend to focus on their own problem solving "How I draw this and that" instead of general approaches that make clear what the problem IS in the first place!
Alright would you recommend keeping the original sketch even when the sketching process is traditional, I feel like the original paper texture can cause it to look muddy sometimes.
Definitely, depending on the situation! Clean it up instead of getting rid of it completely
Lucetube GPlusStillSux I'm not sure about other mediums but one of my fave YT artists does watercolor/ink art and she leaves her sketches in her finished pieces. It threw me for a loop when I first saw her do it but now I've really enjoyed how leaving a sketch can make a piece have life to it. I've even started leaving sketches in some of my own pieces.
This helps so much! Thank you! Literally sat here surrounded by drawings screaming whyyyyyyyyyyy ;P x
In the end I decided to keep the sketch as a part of the final piece like you mentioned
because of this, I stopped doing lineart and instead I would take an eraser and clean up my sketch so I don't lose the flow of the lines. the fact that you mentioned this as a solution made me pleased :)
Wow, thanks a lot for the video! I literally started drawing, like, a couple weeks ago (turns out starting was way easier than I thought - there's a simple trick to it that for some reason no one talks about; and no, it's not "JUST START DRAWING LOL"), and while my art is as bad as you'd expect it to be for someone who just started, I was wandering about just that thing - and you answered it! Thanks a lot!
I had this problem so much I actually end up just coloring my sketch... even including the guidelines! This really helped me think about it more! Thanks!
Thank you. I feel better after watching your video. Was kinda depressed about working of a product i love and loving the sketch better.
Wow... amazing! The problem was always at the background of my thoughts but never actually paid attention to it... thanks! Thanks you for the great upload!!
You are so informative and concise; this is my first video of yours I've seen but I really like how you formatted this, it made it easy for me to absorb your information as a beginner and take it to heart instead of being distracted by fancy editing techniques or off-topic interludes. You go from problem to solution cleanly and as someone who has been watching various art videos to try to improve as someone who has just picked up drawing as a hobby, this was wonderful!
good point about sterilizing art. It definitely look better as a sketch always! Sketches are also so much more airy and have life and movement in them, but when we render things or layer heavy blocks of colour it changes the whole vibe, it defines everything, sets it in a defined spot and looses that light feel. I love sketches because the unfinished look always inspires more creativity and wonder in the observer, that's why I want to try and implement more airiness to the final piece
Part of it may just be a matter of tightness. Generally speaking, we always sketch rather loosely. Freeing yourself and not aiming towards something perfect is what'll more often than not, give you the better result. When most people, especially beginners, start to render they all of a sudden shift from working loosely to very tightly. They want everything to be perfect and not only does it slow you down immensely, but it also increases the possibility of making a bunch of little mistakes because you become too tunnel-visioned on each tiny render area. Instead, it's better to keep an eye on the big picture and stay loose until you have to tighten at the very end to get the small details.
Yep! That’s a lot of what I covered in the video if you were able to watch.
Very concise, articulate, and informative. Thank you!
Thank you for saying about using the original sketch becoming a part of the final lineart! I realised that I was feeling more confident when I do it more than redrawing a new clean lineart that I end up hating :)
Ive been struggeling with this for quiet a while but now that i have a better understanding of whats supposedly happening i feel great about it 😄
This is such a problem for me, thank you so much for clarifying exactly what's going on. :)
lately ive tried to use the sketch lines, clean up a bit and use that as lineart, i love the "sketchy" feel of drawings
Same :3
Thank you so so so much for the great explanation especially the example of the detailed example of the copy machine, it totally explained the idea to me. Thanks a lot for the tips and the guide.
Fantastic advice! Thank you so much! I’ve definitely been sterilizing my work to try to make it look like people I admire. I should admire myself more!
Thank you so much. I currently do that, not always going to another layer and redoing it. But again I lost myself into doing line-art separately from the sketch and I felt as if the drawing looked dull, I went back to staying with my sketches and just painting over it instead of redoing lineart and it helps so much!! Thank you💖
You’re very welcome!
Wow! Very well explained. This all makes so much sense. I completely agree with your reasons behind why we run into this issue. Thank you for sharing this mind-opening video. So helpful.
You're very welcome Lola, thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. The last two graphic novels I've done were missing that little bit of info, so this comes in handy for the third one :D Much happy with such gold :D
I always thought this phenomenon was related to how all of those old Impressionist paintings feel so much more alive and vibrant compared to paintings where every color is perfectly blended together and every brushstroke is completely hidden. With Impressionism, the brain of the viewer is required to blend all of the colors together to "complete" the painting, thus the painting feels much more active and almost implies motion. It's a similar process with a sketch. When the brain of the viewer has to assemble all of these seemingly chaotic lines into the image, the viewer is actually participating in the creation process and the drawing itself feels more alive and exciting.
I think my problem is I like messier art rather than the cleaned up versions so when I draw I love the sketch but as soon as I finish lining I absolutely hate it because of how clean it looks. I'm also afraid that If I stick to the more messier sketch people will never take my art seriously.
Same but not worried about what people think. If they don't like my art because it has some extra lines, oh well. I like my deliberately messy art.
This is brilliant! Thanks Brooke for covering such a great topic that we all think about!
You hit the nail on the head. I’m definitely a fan of you and your videos. You’re excellent
Thanks Aubrey, really appreciate that!
Thats a so usefull input. I sometimes have 4 iterations and the Art is clean then, but some kind of lifeless. I will improve my workflow.
Most useful video of yours so far
hey look, it's the guy who made my life easier
thanks for this vids m8, i'm being liberated from the obsolete ' sketch-ink-color' mindset after watching this
(well not instantly, but at least it help me to make a start)
once again thank you~
I didn't even know I had this problem with layers, this actually helped a lot! thanks for making this video
Another reason is gestures vs. proportions. Sketches are all gestures, when you start polishing up the art and start considering anatomical proportions, you change the look for the sake of correctness.
Geez, I remember making a crappy a bodyless head of a fursona for 5 freaking months, from October '15 till March '16. (And there were many pictures like that.) And you've pretty much explained why. God, I'm glad I've killed this darling, thank you really much, you're a fallen troubleshoot from heaven! :D
Nevertheless, I can remember Izzy's (SteveRayBro's) digital drawing tutorial, and honestly, it made a good base and start, but also gave a pretty crappy point about making two sketches and making Kirby round by a round tool + transform. It really should be made by hand, since as I know, good drawings come from spontaniousity, punk attitude and good experience. Otherwise you get MS Office cliparts instead.
This is my issue with art if I do rough sketches but if I go straight for clean line art it takes up more time but I get better results. Multiple lines do play tricks on your eyes for sure you hit it spot on.
I sometimes wonder where I went wrong in inking, and this gives some good advice. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely Michael, really appreciate it!
I only occasionally add line art. I usually color my sketches, it helps a lot. I highly recommend it
All of this is so true. I especially love the sterilization topic. Thumbs up and red button
Great video, and lots of useful information and insight that I haven't often heard in the digital art community :) thank you for sharing!
After watching your videos, I'm always so inspired 😊😀
3:46 that gave me a shock of realization
thank you
Thank you so much for explaining this for me! I was wondering about this problem for a long time and couldn't figure it out!
Thank you for the information. This has always been my biggest issue in getting things done.
I've only seen 2 of your videos and I love your channel already.
This is why I often leave some of the underlines poking through in my work.
Illusion of line weight vs. no line weight at all also plays into it, I think. A sketch often has the illusion of depth due the shading and the illusion of line weight that happens with many sketchy lines. When we clean it up and reduce it to a single mono-width line we lose that sketchy depth. Playing with line weight often helps.
This was good, I make the copying my copy mistake alot, and then I don't like it and end up trying to be faithful, I just never heard it pointed out like tht before, thanks for organizing my own silent thoughts.
oh god if you post this a day ago you would save my last work!
but thanks for this this the exact video i need it
Insights, insights everywhere but there's always one thats better and i think i found the one 👊
I roughed Smth last night and it looked SO GOOD and when I lined it looked nothing like my actual style. tyvm for this video, I'm gonna start using my original roughs from now on.
Awesome! I usually sketched and went to clean it out, and when you pointed it out that it looses its structure, it felt like it was so me, nice! I will try to draw a cleaner sketch and just keep the sketch as my baseline, that hopefully will improve my attitude towards my firstly drew sketch.
You put a lot of my thoughts on why my lining process wasn't working well for me into better terms. I really love my sketches compared to when I line so I'll mess around!
Dude thanks for this video! Your entire channel is very informative actually, but this sketch to final painting issue is something I have been experiencing lately and you explained it wonderfully
+Alfred Manzano Awesome, thank you! Glad to hear!
And here I was thinking I was all alone on this. Quite the game changing epiphany :).
I'll have it to where the lines from the sketch are more interesting, but the color and final product are still cooler. I tend to keep both.