The problem isn’t people chicken scratching. It’s the fact people are policing artists from trying to learn how to draw or even using chicken scratch as an art style which shouldn’t affect anyone
Yes! I actually really like the chicken scratch style. I really love art that’s loose and fluid and scratchy. It’s not good to use “art style” as an excuse not to grow and improve, but I really enjoy when artists get it right.
Using chicken scratch is neat when drawing horror or intense sketches in my eyes not sure chicken scratch is problematic but its tiktok people so it makes sense
If I'm drawing, idk, like an orc decapitating a minotaur, who is going to tell me to go more clean lines with that? Only a crazy person. That's a messy concept, literally. Wouldn't if fit that the lines were also rough and intense real nice? I'm going to use that technique where ever we'd expect to see mess. A messy, drama girl? Messy lines. A messy room? Messy lines. A mess of unknowable features gnawing on your soul? Messy. Lines. People hear one piece of highly-specific advise and think it's gospel, that's not how art works. This is art's version of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
age isnt a factor when it comes to unreasonable drama though but i agree most of the artists in tiktok are probably still in kindergarten or in middle school which is why they're too headstrong with their opinions, literally ride or dying for chicken scratching of all things lmfao.
Although I personally feel that 13-15 is quite far enough over & past the age(s) that i find excuses this type of ignorance and behavior, I pray to GOD that they are, so that I can at least somewhat accept and excuse it to a certain degree... Otherwise my brain will like, overheat with the inability to comprehend how SO many people could be so confidently ignorant, to the point where they're nearly proud of their stupidity. (Difference between ignorance & stupidity for me: ignorant doesn't know any better in order to act/believe in any other way; stupid nows better, full and well, yet still refuses to bend or change to adapt or adjust to those well known better sensibilities. )
i don't understand tiktoks addiction to hating ( usually ) beginner art, like, they're literally learning, you're just discouraging then to become an incredible artist in the future ( also happy birthday!! )
As an artist whom has done multiple commissions, I used to experience hate for just drawing anything. Now I get praise but I started off somewhere. I know how hard it is to learn, and sometimes people do need a bit of a push to get onto the right track, but not bullying, no one needs that. Usually I mention parts that look good in a piece, and mention a technique that they might be interested in trying in a sketch. If they reply and ask and we get into a conversation I elaborate on the technique and mention that I think it may help you on your journey to refining your style. I've made a few online friends because of this and have seen their progress in the next few years. I don't like all the hate, but I have a feeling it may come from a combination of either or a combination of: jealousy, malice, or early elimination of possible future competition.
Tbf I've seen this fight going on for years. A Japanese artist got bullied off Twitter a few years ago for making a tutorial on how to learn line confidence and control.
"POV you're trying to learn to draw for the first time" If you read this with the TikTok Text-to-Speech voice playing in your head, congrats, you are probably hate that voice
I have shaky hands, I physically cannot create a straight line in one stroke, I can, however, create the illusion of a straight line using multiple smaller lines
@@RexMiseriaeSameee! It looks way better with my personal artstyle tbh (talkin about it, I should probably change my pfp to something more accurate lol)
Art has been used for fun, to bare your soul, to help with trauma, for stress, for pain, for mental health, for creativity - and then these people come along and start sucking the joy out of everything and pretending they know better, when really, art is subjective and they know nothing. They especially don’t know how to loosen up and not ruin everything for everyone.
As a person who refuses to ever touch TikTok, I watch these videos like I watch a Nature documentary about seals living in the deep cold sea I watch with horror, go 😟 and feel thankful for how I'm not part of the ecosystem
People with no sense of style love to call everything a style. If somebody likes to draw with messy scratching - go ahead, I've seen some good and pretty examples of it. Slay the princess is a full game done with that technique. But ultimately it is just a technique. Not a style. Style is much more than just a way you do strokes with your pencil, although it can be a part of it. But just a part, not something that stands on its own.
I absolutely love the chicken scratch/messy atrstyle, it's the reason I started drawing myself and I often use those kinds of drawings as insperation and references
I can draw realism but I still love the look of messy, unfinished art styles I’m actually trying to learn to have a more free and ‘messy’ art style now 😅 my art style has gotten way too polished and soft imo.. I need some scrunkle
My rule of thumb is "it's only a mistake if that's not how you wanted it to look" so if chicken scratching is a deliberate stylistic choice then it's not a mistake👍
The art community's obsession with "style" and "finding your style" exhausts me. It's at the point where lack of skill and random unconventional techniques are seen as an art style 😭 just draw what and how you like and thats your style. Stop obsessing over it i cryyyy Also happy birthday
People on TikTok be acting like this way of drawing is recent 💀I did that shiz since I was 12 💀 Do these people not know what storyboards, speedpaints, or rough sketches are? I did that all the time, especially in my sketch phases. Sure it can make a drawing look messy af, but not “bad” and can help. What also helps in digital art is making a rough, messy sketch layer, then making a more refined version to show what lines you want to draw in the mess. Some people like their art rough. Artists tend to work and build on the messiness and clean up in the process, making it look more refined. Also *AHH- DA- BIRTHDAAAAAAY!*
I do this all the time when drawing in my sketch book. Usually once I get the basic shapes and ideas out with the chicken scratch lines I start erasing to refine everything. Its literally one of the most basic of techniques that have been used in art for ages
I think some issues people have with learning confident lines is that perhaps their stuff looks "lifeless" because of a completely seperate issue. Alot of the time this comes from anatomy, perspective and shapes. So they're using chicken scratch to get around it. If you're trying to use confident lines and you feel like your character is "lifeless" you might need to re-evaluate one of your basics. It's something I struggled with too when I was doing art. I couldn't STAND lineart because it always looked so "flat" or "lifeless" until I realized it was my sketch itself being flat in the first place. I do all my sketches in chicken scratch. Now I do all my sketches in chicken scratch but have a second clear lined sketch (so like some chicken scratch mixed with clearer lines) and it showed me how flat my perspective and anatomy was. Which led me to re evaluate all that and now my confident lineart looks so much better. Beginning artists tend to use chicken scratch as a crutch because they haven't mastered all the other techniques just yet. That's probably why people hate the chicken scratch style, alot of people will say "it's my style" when in actuality it's just that they haven't learned how to fix the problems they're having with their art. But I have no issue with chicken scratch as an art style. I actually mimic sketch styles with my finished pieces by using textured lineart brushes not smooth line brushes. There's a certain sketch style I always loved but I can't seem to figure out how to do it for myself so I kinda made a "middle of the road" style until I figure it out lol.
Also, if your sketch is fine but your line work loses that dimension, check your line work itself. You can add weight and thickness to it too. If you use the same thickness of line across an entire piece, it will feel flat. One of my life drawing classes spent an entire week focusing on your line work itself. And this was after we'd spent the previous week focusing on drawing form by hatching and crosshatching. Our teacher basically pointed out there's several ways to vary your line: doing it by distance from the main form (usually getting thinner and lighter as you move away so the main form is the darkest), using shadow/weight (basically, where the most weight is, you thicken. Usually this is also where the shadows end up being but you can also use same principle for just shadows instead), and calligraphic (not necessarily following these previous methods but more just focusing on how the line naturally comes out/what you think looks good). But all of these also started with lectures of "Loosen up your grip, use your whole arm to draw" and more advice. If you genuinely like the look, then fine. And I won't get into why but there are actual reasons to why longer, confident strokes are the "Professional" thing. (TLDR: they are clean and easy to read so you aren't a snag in production lines.)
@@ThawBerry*NOT TRYING TO ATTACK YOU!* it's not really an art-style though, just something people use as an art style but it's really just meant to be used for practice/idea sketches.
The whole Chicken scratch is very situational, sometimes it is a learning curb but I'll purposely chicken scratch certain parts of my drawings because I like the look of it (Like how i also color with primarily crayons/colored pencils bc I like the vibe of texurted coloring). Overalll most "bad" techniques can work for certain people. Art is COMPLETELY subjective and the tiktok art community (Most prominently,aside from twitter/X) doesnt seem to understand that not everyone wants smooth anime or hyper-realistic artstyles.
1:35 - this comment here really helps me encapsulate the tension I have about this topic. I sketch like this with just pencil and paper, and I never DO make more polished drawings; I'm just a hobbyist! Explaining it as a sketching or rough-draft technique really helps calm my anxiety about 'not doing it right' since professional artists can use this style, too, AND THEN they go further and make a polished drawing. That's the difference between me and the pros, I stop earlier, I don't put in as many hours per piece, and I don't have to, either! So thank you for doing this intro section that gives background on the topic so we're all on the same page
i feel like its similar to the 'no shading with black rule'. in many cases, yes it can look ugly however it really depends on the style. it's another case where people take advice and turn it into a definitive art rule where if you do this it's bad. if you want cleaner lines you should work towards that, however, if you're fine with chicken scratch, who cares it's your art
I think "don't shade with black" IS a very solid rule for _realism_ specifically. Pure black and pure white are only ever found in shadow or light reflections in the real world. You can test this by taking photos of things and using the eye dropper tool to see the colors. Most real world objects are not pure white or black unless that object is covered in the brightest white or darkest black paint. In a realistic painting, you need to be able to add shadows to black colored objects, and highlights to white colored objects. This means when painting a black object you need to use very dark greys or other colors depending on the surrounding light. Then you can use black for the shadows on black objects and the end result is it "looks" black despite the main color being dark grays, blues, purple, etc. Same white objects are light creams, yellows, blue, etc and then pure white is used for highlights from light reflection. So this rule is actually kind of essential for photorealism or other more realistic styles, but art doesn't need to be realistic. I do however think learning this rule helps you break it in artistically effective ways much better than not learning how to draw with the rule. Plenty of art rules are useful as long as someone explains WHY the "rule" exists and doesn't use the rule to gatekeep art or tear down other people. ❤
I shade in black (my medium is paper, inking pens, and colouring pencil), and it looks gorgeous! Also my linework is slightly scratchy because my pens sometimes give up the goat, meaning I have to etch over the same point over and over. And it looks good. I've never understood why people hate shading in black, cos whenever I shade in colours for anything but pixel art, it looks bad!
Not really a rule a but good art technique if you’re aiming for a realistic or classical painting style. You’d be surprised all those dark Rembrandts or Caravaggio never uses pure black or pure white in all their paintings If your style is more Abstract/Stylized or Illustrative style, then using all extreme colors is in the table.
@@zephyre.is.watching same, i've used tiktok for months before due to the very first reason of having to watch edits of my favorite characters, but looking at the comments of any video is like the equivalent of poking your eyes with a syringe. I hope they add a feature where you can disable the comment section with any video (like youtube).
First, I agree with some people here - problem isn't people doing xx, problem is people trying to police what other people should and shouldn't do. Ultimatelly, its on them, everyone has their lines and dislikes and thats okay! Second, I do agree with that one TT video you featured that said "chicken scratching isn't art style, its a bad habit". Mark put it nicely like you mentioned soon after - its about drawing from the wrist, that makes your lines lack confidence (which connects to your lineart looking like begginer tracing lineart from other more experienced artists). It isn't bad habit because it looks unprofessional or whatever the subjective reason for person's hate is. It is bad habit because drawing from wrist can cause vast majority of health problems artists commonly suffer with. Sure, if you are edgy 14 year old, world feels invincible, if you are sore, you just walk it off or sleep it off and its hard to imagine it will ever be different. But it really doesn't work that way with body closer to 30. It just doesn't. Drawing from wrist puts huge tension on the wrist itself and its best way to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. Or even ulnar tunnel syndrom which is on same principe as carpal, but the nerve got stuck in the elbow, not in the wrist. It greatly impacts your ability to draw and fastest way to develop it is leaning on your elbow for support for long periods of time, which is what chicken scratching people usually do. Yea, maybe it can be good tool if you are begginer (even if I don't think so, because habits you build early on are HECKING hard to break as we all know), but the fastest you learn how to use your hand properly when drawing, the faster you adapt healthy habits and you save your body from hurting in a long run. So there is that. And lastly, while I agree that what brings the energy into lines is that they are loose, but chicken scratching often lacks form and that just kills any energy vibe drawing could have had, at least for me personally. If you want loose, energetic drawings, holding your hand correctly when drawing gives that certain looseness to a drawing, which you will never get with chicken scratching. But thats my personal opinion. In the end it is like my mama always said: "Your freedom ends, where freedom of another person starts". I, nor anybody else, has any right to prohibit people from liking something or doing something just because I personally don't like it. If you want to continue chicken scratching, be my guest. If you like it, great! If you have fun doing it, even better! Go nuts! Art is about having fun and loving what you are doing. But please, do try and make sure you made informed decision, so you don't get caught off guard with consequences of your own actions. And that goes from my concern for you as another human being, not from me trying to tell you what to do or not to do. In the end, its your body, your choice and I can only respect that, even if I personally think that voluntarily drawing from the wrist is stupid decision. Obligatory disclaimer: that is, if you have a choice - obviously disabled people often do not have that choice. But in that case, I assume that disabled people are already in contact with some kind of rehabilitation centre and that they are working with a specialist to make sure they are improving/stabilized their condition and that they won't hurt themseves further. But really, thats my european brain working with available health care, I have no idea how it works in different countries and if it is even a possibility in the US, but thats not the point of the video nor my comment :) Otherwise, great video! Thank you!
As someone who tend to sketch in chicken scratch sometimes still, for me it comes due to my uncertainty of drawing specific parts of my base-sketch. However, I was taught that instead of scratching, simple, clean, loose and soft lines that can be easily erased if mistaken. I was also taught that chicken scratching is unprofessional. I also started out in drawing back in April 2006. The only way that I could get down with chicken scratching is practicing simple lines and drawing not from wrist but with arm - just like Marc Brunet said and my teacher as well. I don't think of the scratching as a style - more like a technique- but then again, some master it and looks cool! Overall, I think everyone has their own techniques and style - and we should respect them instead of giving a lecture why it's bad. :) Also, happy birthday! :D Keep it up man, I love your tips and channel!
chicken scratch art style is great for conveying visceral, negative emotions like rage, dizzyness, fear, etc. i see this in some anime scenes and manga and people don’t even say anything negative about it. oh yeah, and it’s difficult for people to exactly draw with smooth lines first try when sketching, unless if you’ve mastered drawing this pose or this character to a tee.
Imma do it, here I go lmao "BACK IN MY DAAAAAY" 🤣 it's called "movement" in art. We had a whole two weeks sesh in college art and a lot of my fellow classmates couldn't grasp the concept which is ok. Edit to add: we used a lot of vine charcoals for it but you make art that makes you happy. Eff the rules, eff the haters.
Here’s a solution sense toxic artists don’t listen. Let’s all collectively ignore them! Yes I’m aware it can be difficult but just remember what our lad says. All art is valid art. We all progress at different levels and learn in different ways. Don’t give the toxic artists the time of day! Keep drawing everyone! Let’s make the art community great again XD
I've always used the chicken scratch "artstyle" because I feel it gives my drawings more personality, plus, if I want to clean it up later I always can
I use chicken-scratch as a way to build up my sketches, but I do try my best at cleaner lines during lineart. When I sketch, I find myself using lots of layers: using very loose shapes at first, building up details with chicken scratch, and finishing with more refined (but still loose) details. No layers are deleted, nor erased. I just lower opacity of previous layer and merge with new one. Sometimes, when there are a lot of details, I use different colors during process, to easily guide myself. I find that building up my sketches in this way helps me a lot with anatomy and shapes, even though it slows down the process
I'm not sure how long you guys have been drawing , but I have been drawing for over 2 years now and it's very comforting to see other people have a similar process. I always felt my use of multiple layers and chicken scratches in the sketching process made me somewhat inept. You guys genuinely made me feel a little less bad about my process and art as a whole ❤
@@roadrunneruntd yeah I also felt I was lacking because this sketch process takes much more time than other artists do. Which means I need to factor that in when I do commissions. I always saw the videos of artists doing their full pieces in only 6 hours. I'm like damn... I cannot do that lol. But I think my art comes out way better taking time on the sketch, otherwise it won't look how I envisioned on the final lineart. I've been drawing for about 7+ years
Friendly reminder that in the world of art, there truly aren't any rules. A good way to think about learning art is that it's like exercising; the more you learn naturally the more you'll grow, but the less you learn the more you simply cheat yourself. In the end it's about asking yourself what and who you're creating art for.
Chicken scratching is a simple drawing technique, I mostly use it for sketching but it can be incorporated in different art pieces if it is better suiting than just clean strokes to give the illusion of texture or the portray of something etc..
All the videos you've made on these different art style dramas, really just hits home that, "art is emotional, there is no 'right' way to do art" Yet people are getting emotionally worked up, not emotionally invested
"Chicken scratching" certainly has its place in terms of stylistic expression. That being said, I couldn't image using it for laying down the structural shapes and broad gestures for drawings. Using your fingers and wrists for those things and not your whole arm seems like a fast root to give yourself a repetitive strain injury.
The thing about veteran artists who advice against chicken scratching and recommend shoulder-drawing kind of forget this makes sense when you are talking about a big canvas, or when you have a high grade large drawing tablet. Someone using a shoddy old Bamboo is gonna have a bad time trying to do that due to the small working space. Also, Squigglevision was a technique specifically developed to make clean lines look jankier, so there is some precedent to intentionally mess with your lineart to make it look "bad".
Just because the space is small doesn't mean you have to use chicken scratching either tho! Like, I only use my wrist to draw, but I still usually only make a few long lines, instead of a ton of small ones:3 And also, making long lines on smaller tablets is easier anyway, since you don't have to move your pen nearly as much as if you had one of those giant screen tablets lol
My thought on this is that it would kill the stamina, because it would make the arm hurt being suspended like that for extended periods, especially if one is a slower artist or puts in a lot of detail. Besides, most art programs have stabilizers, so you can just crank that up and pretty much fix the problem. Though I don't see an issue with the whole "chicken scratch" thing anyway, since it can still add energy to a piece and art is subjective anyway .>
Is not about the tools. Beginners just don’t know how to differentiate between rough lines and chicken scratch. Veteran artist know the difference, that’s why they advice against the latter.
@@Ith.977 i mean, tools do play a decent part in the equation. there are other components and u can certainly-circumvent the "issue" wo purchasing in-affordable supplies, but to deny the role your art equipment plays in your ability to adopt "veteran" techniques is just outright-ignorant. i do wonder what most people's definition of a "veteran" artist actually is though - that's such a broad term that's constantly thrown around to strong-arm beginner artists, but most of u fail to paint a decent portrait of what actually entails being a vet. im a pretty experienced artist and (yet) i can say w confidence that none of the quick-fixes people offer to drop "chicken scratching" as a technique would ever work for me. u know why? i have a literal tremor in both my hands (a hereditary disorder; for context) that prevents me from having full control over my movements. plenty of other people suffer from similarly-debilitating issues: i.e, tourettes or anxiety disorders. then there's the fact that some people just *enjoy* the technique. some people just like the appearance of it, or like the ease of it. for so-called "veterans" to disclude all of these elements from the equation and immediately jump to "no i dont like it so u have to fix it! here's how i draw - it might not work for u but u can *make* it work because i find it unappealing!"... i find it difficult to consider them vets or experienced artists in any capacity. surely an experienced artist would understand all of the unique-variables that come w creating art and know not to immediately-enforce such rigid rules and expectations on beginners w no forethought or respect? to understand art is to understand that it's a subjective medium - arguably *the* most subjective, personalised medium of human creation out there. no genuine veteran would discount an art technique entirely, purely because it's one that they do not enjoy. no good artist would take a look at another artist's work and tell them "this looks bad, do it like this!" - we should be teaching beginners how to make the techniques they employ work for them; teaching them *how* to make "chicken scratching" work as a technique, not telling them to drop it entirely. this entire trend is stupid. it feels like it was made up by beginners to put down other beginners and make them feel better about their own art. being a beginner artist does not mean youre someone w an unestablished art style, or unappealing art style... it literally just means youre new to creating art. so, by proxy; having a beautiful, established and unique art style w great anatomy, colour theory or line control does *not* make u a veteran artist. a veteran artist, is literally just somebody who's been creating art for a long time. tiktok has created all of these new buzzwords to refer to literal academic techniques just so that people have an excuse to bully other artists
I feel like the definition of chicken scratch is beginning to change. Because according to how a lot of these people are defining it, I have chicken scratch lines, but they're actually quite clean and controlled. It's an aesthetic choice that I often have to force by padding my lines or intentionally reducing control of the pencil to make my lines messier because it gives the piece character and charm. Chicken scratch is also often used to describe ILLEGIBLE handwriting. Not slightly messy. Unreadably bad. Like "I can't read my own writing" bad. To me, chicken scratch, by definition, must mean you lack the fine, finessed hand-eye coordination to control the placement of your line. You can only make it go where you want to by inching across the paper in noticably jagged strokes. I've been in the art community long enough to remember when a popular Japanese art tutorial page deleted itself because they made a mini tutorial about how to increase line control and people got OFFENDED because they felt their "style" was being attacked!! Chicken scratch is not a "style." I wouldn't even call a horror artist with intentionally scratchy lines to create the effect of a visual blur a chicken scratch artist unless it was, again, something they literally couldn't control even if they wanted to. I think people need to stop bullying artists for drawing in chicken scratch lines because its simply part of learning and growing as an artist, but artists who draw in chicken scratch need to stop being offended by well-meaning tutorials about how to control your lines. At the very least, I think every artist should at least ATTEMPT to learn this stuff because artists who draw in chicken scratch tend to bear down much harder on their pencil, leading to a much higher risk of developing carpal tunnel or any other form of muscle & joint damage to their hands. It's not about controlling how others draw. It's about the long term health of the artist and about allowing the artist themselves to control their OWN drawings and draw exactly what they want and how they want. Anyone on either side of the argument deviating from that is missing the point. Draw as messy or as clean as you want, but ffs, please learn line control and don't hold the pencil too tight. Its not normal for your hand to be throbbing in pain after drawing. If I didn't learn line control, I'd have carpal tunnel, but now I can draw for hours without pain.
exactly your definition is spot on, everyone arguing on either side is missing the point entirely tbh… i think chicken scratch isn’t a style simply because you can’t really do it on purpose once you know what you’re doing? it comes from a lack of skill and you naturally grow out of it at some point even if you don’t notice, all the artists defending this “style” to the death barely even do it in their examples! someone tell them that going over their lines multiple times is a different thing pls 😭😭
1:40 chicken scratch sounds good. I use it too and I kinda have an idea how it could be used in a polished animation if that’s the main argument but it could easily be used to intentionally make things like memories or imagination planes appear more fuzzy. Art is literally about freedom. I am not done watching. See you tomorrow.
I'll be honest, I have a personal love for the Chicken Scratch style. For me, I think I prefer it over a great many others, because of its sporadic in-the-moment qualities. While I won't turn my nose up at refined and well-polished pieces, there's something that's just elegant about the simplicity of Chicken Scratch that draws me in, no pun intended. The rougher look gives it a more lively feel. The best comparisons that come to mind for me is like how Titian was snubbed by his contemporaries for his use of rougher and visible brush strokes, which ironically enough gave his paintings a fantastic sense of lighting and texture, and raw intensity that no one else could really pull off in the same way. While I love Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights for its polished and refined quality, there's also something charming about the rugged, honest and simple rough pencil/charcoal sketches done by Rembrandt that captured an instant of day-to-day life - always moving, never still or posing for him. I have a few framed sketches and rough drafts done during wartime by soldiers in the field - and there's an honest rawness to them that I adore. Chicken Scratch is definitely not on the same level as the sketches of a genuine Master - but I think it still possesses the same core principles in that both are more spontaneous reflections of what the artist wants to present, with little to no touching up or significant refinement. For beginners, it's a great tool, and in the hands of an experienced artist, it becomes a fantastic style. I won't diss people who don't like the style, but at the same time they really aught to know why they don't like it - and don't snub one of the mediums used by nearly every single artist since time immemorial, that's just punching above your weight class.
This is sad, and it makes me happy that I'm not engaged with these types of childish social media art communities. Seems to be a mess of half-teachings from young artists who don't have a good foundation or proper context for the things they say. It's a shame too because it seems like this kind of childish social media banter is probably stifling younger artists and turning them away from art instead of encouraging them on their own art journeys.
I think chicken scratch line art can be a stylistic choice when done actually intentionally for a particular aesthetic. BUT with beginners, they do not really get how to do it. They lean into it because they don't understand how to actually move. They draw with their wrist rather than with their whole arm. But it isn't something to hate on.. it's something to either embrace like some artists have or to learn past. Plus it's very common in concept art and storyboarding where you need to get the loose general idea out quickly before it gets refined later in the process. Or in thumbnailing for illustration. Edit: honestly the only reason I'm anti- chicken scratch is because usually it's usually accompanied by improperly holding your pen/pencil and improper posture, which can increase your risk of conditions like carpal tunnel.
I used to be an artist who said chicken scratch was part of my style. I still have loose, sketchy lines now, but they are actually CONTROLLED now and go exactly where I want them to. I'm still kinda skeptical about saying chicken scratch is okay because, at least to me, chicken scratch by definition means you don't know how to control your lines. Not only is it harder to draw what you want when you can't control your lines, but like you said, it actually does cause quite a lot of hand pain that could lead to carpal tunnel!
@@LilChuunosuke I think it's ok as a stepping stone if that makes sense. Like it's a step towards what you mentioned, controlled sketchy lines. Everyone starts somewhere so I don't think they should be made fun of for it or anything like that. But I do think they should learn proper sketching methods and posture to avoid future medical complications. It's something to be refined and improved upon rather than to rely on as a crutch so to speak. But vilifying it like tiktok does isn't gonna help anybody either. Going to such extremes is unnecessary lol
@LatulaArts 100% agree. Its a stepping stone. I could ONLY draw in chicken scratch up until a few years ago! Its been a gradual process of learning line control over multiple decades for me. I dont think I deserved to be shamed for it like tiktok is doing to other artists. I am thankful I was able to learn line control from kinder, more mature artists who simply wanted to help me improve and eliminate my drawing hand pain. Shaming artists doesn't help anyone and I fear will only make some artists double down on behaviors that are doing long term damage to their drawing hands.
I agree! Chicken scratch, at least for me, is doing very messy lines due to lack of skill and hand coordination. There is a big distinction between knowing how to draw in a clean way, but choosing to make a looser sketch to make it appear more alive, rather than doing a messy sketch due to the inability to draw in any other way. Honestly, I don't see the point of calling any looser, but intentional way of drawing 'chicken scratch'. It's not the same thing
For me, I think it's a passage that new beginners usually do and there comes a time where they realize it's not helping their artstyle in the way they want it to be. They either lean into the chicken scratch thing and make it better or they try to do more confident strokes to lean away from it.
1:31 This is just from my own personal experience, but the chicken scartch method was my saving grace as a beginner artist! because it broke me out of the cycle of 'every line as to be perfect or the art is shit'. Cause I ran the method of Chicken scratching the rough sketch out on paper from my head, then I could worry about the finer details later on in the process. Which forced me to focus and taking more time on the piece I was working on. It also helped me build a muslce memory on where lines go, for later in my art experience. And helped me trust the process from start tp finish more.
I like chicken scratch in my art better than normal lines, since not only is it just easier for me as someone who draws traditional art, but my art is also more chaotic rather than beautiful, and even when I wanna draw beautiful I still prefer how my chicken scratch looks than my lineart.
You're trying to escape discourse by switching to music production? lmao. "Autotune is cheating!" "VST presets are cheating!" "Drum loops are cheating!" "Sampling is cheating!" "Never quantize your rhythms!" "Analog is better than digital!" "Digital is better than analog!" "Music theory is essential!" "Music theory hampers your creativity!" "When EQing, cut narrow, boost wide!" "Never EQ the master bus!" "Over-compression is ruining your music!"
The only issue with chicken scratch is when you use it as a crutch to ignore gaps in your knowledge using “style” or it as an excuse to not improve. (Chicken scratch also can cause less confidence since it’s a “but it looks so much better” when the issue isn’t the lines but the foundation) Still policing others ain’t it some people just want to draw for fun, it’s meant as unpolished or it is genuinely just the style with the good foundation
tik tok stop hating on random art styles/techniques challenge (impossible) art is all about expression. there are no rules to art. yeah there are some techniques that are recommended for certain styles (like realism), but even so you can basically do what you want. personally i'm actually trying to be messier with my art because it's fun and helps with inspiration. It's your art, go as neat or messy as you want and no one should tell you that you're doing it wrong. Also this is slightly unrelated but i also think it's okay to not be open to critique if you're doing art as a hobby or just for yourself
My lineart nowadays is just cleaned up roughs lol. I find this process way more satisfying than having to redraw lines all over again and more cleanly. The aesthetic result is nice too imo I also used to draw with pens a lot when I was younger, I loved hatching and crosshatching, so chickenscratching just feels natural to me Edit: might also be worth mentioning that I use an Intuos, so there's way more human error when it comes to strokes, compared to drawing on an iPad or a display tablet
As an artist myself i understand and view it as anything can be an art style, u just need to understand what u using, master it in ur own way, and use it in ur work to create an specific effect
I’ve always just seen that as “rough sketch” The way to seek the line you want. I’d never call that a finished render, but it’s a definite step in the process for me There’s nothing “bad” or “taboo” about it. It’s just a step in the process that can potentially take more time overall
Every artistic method and skill can always be taken to the next level by artists who know what they're doing. Beauty can be reached in so many ways, we went to the point of using FIRE as a method to make art, with breathtaking results ! So compared to this level of creativity, there are no reasons to scorn Chicken Scratch or any other method. What should be kept in mind is that no method will miraculously produce great art. Only time, work and efforts. But once you become aware of this mindset, use whatever method you see fit to produce your vision. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, there's literally no harm done.
People keep forgetting that art technically has no definition, since art is made by different people thus they have different styles. I love the chicken scratch art style anyways because i mean i can smooth it out, but if i keep making it so smooth, it looks bad. not my style basically. Tldr, you shouldnt force yourself to have another persons artstyle! You art is truly unique to you, and what matters is if it looks good to you, not what other people will think!
Honestly, the second definition of chicken scratch that you mentioned with it being a technique is the best way to describe it for me (even tho I don't have tiktok or a single piece of social media and I'm just now learning about it today LMAO). And not just the styling that people like it's also the most comfortable way to make art, for me at least. I personally like the way my second or third sketch looks vs how a final draw with smoother lines would look cause to me it just LOOKS BETTER. Not everyone needs to draw with smooth lines and not everyone needs their sketches to look like rough sketch or whatever. If you wanna branch out and switch between the style of how your art looks or even blend smooth line art with chicken scratch, that's cool too! But you also don't have to nor does either version make your art look bad. It's fucking art at the end of the day lmaooo I also appreciate these videos of yous and applaud you for dealing with the nonsense that spirals from that damn app, or IG or twt :v AND HAPPY BELATED BDAY GOOD SIR
One of my favorite videogame box covers is the Mario Strikers box art. It's messy, it's chaotic, and I love it. It stands out compare to the other Mario Box styles since it has a personality of it's own due to the use of the chicken scratch art style. The art style isn't bad you just need to know when to use it.
OMG YES!! I love this artstyle so bad, I’ve been trying to incorporate it in my drawing. Funny thing is, it’s not as easy as people would think, because you still need to know where the scratches needs to go in order to give the impression of movement. And yeah, it doesn’t look as good when the characters aren’t moving, so it’s really a question of use
I think people are confusing with Sketchy or Messy Sketch style vs Chicken scratch technique. Being Sketchy style means trying to be dynamic and loose, trying to get that confident gestures and messy construction lines, as a personal look. It’s also done by artist to be creative and exploring new things, letting their hands go wild. Chicken scratch technique is what beginner artist does in order to compensate with their lack of skills in order to imitate a "Clean straight line." done by professional artist. It’s OK if you’re just starting out, but later on you must learn to be versatile and be confident with yourself and must learn how to draw clean simple stokes. It’s the only way to grow as an artist. Basically. Sketchy style is done purposely and with confidence. Chicken scratch technique show your lacks of confidence and sense of standard for your art.
@@inisipisTV Look, I do agree with you with the difference between the Chicken Scratch and just having a sketchy style (which is what the video is about : how TikTok doesn’t seem to make the difference), and although I’m pretty sure that’s not your intention, the last part of your message sound quite...condescending ? Not everyone seeks to ”improve” and become a master. Some pick up drawing as a hobby, others as a way to vent or to keep themselves busy, and won’t go further than that. There’s nothing wrong with being happy about your art even if it’s not ”that” good, and/or if it lacks technique or whatever. Drawing should be fun first of all... (Also, lack of ”standard of your art” is still not a reason to bully artists, beginners or not, which is also a main topic of the video)
ngl, a sketchy artstyle with lines exactly like described here is what I'd say is perfection for me it's interesting, it has a lot of character and places for expression.
Sheesh tik tok is toxic. chicken scratching allows you to explore the line and figure out what you want to draw and how you want to draw it. you can even refine the "Scratch" and make it look way cleaner if you want or turn it into clean line art later. Sometimes you want to be relaxed especially in the exploratory phase
Personally, I see it as a tool. Both CS and CL need to be known and mastered, I personally use it for humans and organic beings, while I use more confident lines for anything mechanical, and I quite like how it looks! PS: Happy birthday!
Chicken scratch can be considered an art style if you know how to use it efficiently. If you master the traditional art then you can try to do some chick scratch art to see how it could be good. But if you use Chicken scratch mindlessly and don’t really care about how to put it forward and make it look good, then yeah you can consider it not an art style. It’s kinda disappointing the art community is like that because it covers most of the hidden gems. And Tik Tok is not alone, the blue bird app does as well. Also happy birthday man, you’re awesome and I can’t thank you enough for how based you are in this messed up community. Thank you for staying mostly neutral when showing what’s kickin in the dramas. Have a nice day/night if you read all of this. You’re cool
3:20 I am so glad somebody called this out. I can't even write in neat lines much less draw a straight line after having multiple seizures. I know I'm not the only one who used this as a way to keep doing art when your hands won't sit tf still or move how you envision..
*sits here with a tremor in my hand* Yea hold on tiktok, let me just overcome this literal motion disability i can do pissall about to please you and be able to even make long continous strokes Must also say, for the same reason i do not like mark very much as a teacher. He brings over this attitude of "anything other than i do is just plain wrong". Like that teacher that gives you minus points in math, because you got to the right solution with a different method than they taught and literally my first expeirnce with him was "Turn off stabilisation!" ... yea.... too generalized
when i was young i would get so frustrated on drawing the PERFECT line for a drawing that so many of my ideas have been scrapped because i couldn’t get the right angle on a line. a year or two ago i began this “chicken scratch” technique and it’s made me enjoy art so much more. it was more fun that way
chicken scratch probably isnt an art style, unless you purposefully use it to stylize you're drawings, but most people use it because of their lack of line confidence 😔
I think we should encourage artists to be more confident in their lines even with their sketches because it will result in general improvement in the construction of their art as a whole. But i dont think we should be putting down artists who arent ready to step out of that comfort zone yet. We all know art is a process and improving your art consists of a lot of little baby steps. Your art is constantly improving and if dropping the chicken scratch will improve an artists work they'll figure it out eventually. Let people improve at their own pace.
Okay people are just finding ANYTHING to hate on, I’ve been doing the ‘chicken scratch art style’ for as long as I can remember and never found a problem with it. People are just bored and want to find something to hate (Also you look amazing man)
So from my understanding, it's more discouraged when your first learning how to draw because it breaks up the flow ans direction of movement in a piece. Like when you see a person whose done more fine art or are more experienced yoyll usually see them drawing maybe a giant c for the back. It helps mark out places in the body and the overall shape of the piece. Also it's really important to know how to accurately draw basic shapes like lines, circles and square in one go using your fingers or arms to do it because these shapes are the building block of everything else. And it overall doesnt give the piece a finished look. However with that being said, when used effectively and intentially it can be used for effect like horror or for your style. That's from what I understand anyway
I feel like the difference between bad chicken scratching and good chicken scratching is that we slowly size up the length between lines using tapered strokes
I literally have trouble doing thin, clean lines because I have dysgraphia, which essentially means my brain and hands do not cooperate when I'm trying to draw or write. I have very poor penmanship to the point where I can't even read what I write sometimes. Traditional art is pretty much impossible for me due to this as well - I'm worthless without stabilizers and transform tools ;P I chicken-scratch when I'm sketching because that's simply how I can get the pose and composition down in the fastest way I can. For rendering, I purposely use chalkier brushes, and sometimes I even do painterly art that's mostly lineless. The gnarlier the brush, the more fun I have working with it. I don't force myself do something I don't like. It helps that I really love nostalgic storybook-esque art and I want my art to have that nice vintage + handmade look. I love "clean" art too, but I'm not going to sour-grape my way into justifying what I do - I just simply prefer art with a bit more texture to it
Same! Sometimes my hand just does whatever tf it wants, it's wild. When I draw letters, it helps to do short loose sketching too, otherwise it looks terrible!
I never knew there was a name for this style, but this is how I start all my drawings. I think I do this because I have Aphantasia- the inability to visualize. It sucks, having a specific idea, but not being able to see how it looks. The only way I can SEE how something looks is to sketch it out, and I always tend for quick and messy, because I can refine the shape once I get the basics.
Personally, as someone who has done art most of their life, chicken scratching is a somewhat complex topic. It’s as much of a method used when drawing as it is it’s own art style. Whether or not it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on what you’re going for or what you’re learning. If you want your art to look like that, you enjoy the ‘messy’ and ‘unprofessional’ style, go for it! I personally think it looks great and is a creative way to draw, which is what art is all about. However, if you are going for a cleaner style, it’s best to break the habit of chicken scratching as it’ll be a lot harder to learn to do those crisp lines later on. Still, I use it as a rough sketch to quickly map out what I want my piece to look like, and if you’re just learning anatomy and proportions it doesn’t particularly matter. But once you start making finished pieces or try and figure out your style, it would make it easier in the long run (if you want a smooth/clean style) to keep chicken scratching to a minimum. Overall though, art is subjective and has no rules. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to draw, and shooting down new techniques- or even worse, new artists, will slowly make art look less unique and less creative, taking away from what art is. A form of creative expression.
On my animation and game design course we were told not to do "hairy drawings" (chicken scratch) so we would learn how to better control our hands and be able to draw faster. THIS IS FINE! Chicken scratch to me is less of an art style and more a way of building a drawing. If our drawings WERE hairy, they were not chicken scratch but search lines. We always start off with thumbnails and messy stuff, so there's always some amount of it in our work. IT'S NOT ILLEGAL!!! It's just that one we start the project properly this way of drawing doesn't work well with our time restraints. What I'm getting at is, chicken scratch is a great tool but we were also taught to not rely on it as it can hamper speed because you'll be spending longer on one thing. So in the designing process it's fine because nothing needs to be that refined yet. But once you're making a pitch bible and animating, you'll need to do less lines. More fluidity, more speed. Not zero hairiness, it can be a part of your style, definitely! (It is mine too!) Edit: We were taught exactly how the person on Quora explained. Edit 2: This!! I'm 80% sure I have dyspraxia. A big part of the reason I draw pretty blocky and wobbly is because I can't control my arm that well. I looked I what I CAN do and worked on that. Of course with practice, I do waaay fewer "hairy drawings" than I used to, but with my longer lines always comes wobbliness. I've learned to use that to my advantage over the years and it's resulted in some accidental originality! --- For me, "chicken scratch" isn't technically an art style, but part of the process. That's only because of the line of work I'm in though. If you're purely an illustrator then it 100% can be considered a style on its own. I mean, look at Tim Burton's poetry books versus his animation. His group was able to get across the messiness of his chicken scratch using grungy textures and colours. It has a similar feel but it's much easier to understand. Also if he were to do something 2D in the Oyster Boy style, the amount of movement would be quite distracting. Maybe even dangerous for someone with epilepsy like me (ironic I'm an animator haha!) Not to say it would look bad though. It would absolutely RIP at an indie festival showing! I'd love to see something like that!! (if it wouldn't send me to hospital🤣) That said, it could maybe work as a game. People will always hear a person of authority in the industry say something is "wrong" and run with it. I'm sure someone in boarding/animation, games, or big comics will have said something along the lines of "no chicken scratch" because my own animation teacher said the same. It will have been making the rounds with people in my industry all the time. But that's people in MY industry. We look for speed, conciseness, things that are easy to understand with the minimum amount of lines. Of course, we can then bend those rules to fit us, but people in animation especially need to always be thinking about how to make designs simpler to draw to be able to animate them easier. There will always be exceptions to this, but I think that's where this big hubbub is coming from and it's a shame people are so authoritarian. I wrote all this out right at the start of the video. Sorry if I've put anything that's already been underlined!
Tiktok will always find a new name for something that's been around forever. It's literally SKETCHING. To refine your sketches of your idea is DRAWING. End of story.
1:27. Dude, that is how most of my drawings look initially. I can't draw a straight line to save my life, I have to draw in short strokes, especially curved objects. I can keep variations down and clean as I go, but that is how I draw and it is very appparent in my shading on realistic drawings. I just find a chicken scratch shading style where I simply vary pencil pressures to be oh so much nicer (and cleaner) than thumb smudging. It is also how I like drawing hair, makes it look more natural. However, much of the shakiness dissapears during the inking
It's a learning point or a way to sketch out. I think it's ok if you don't have the confidence in line art yet, hell i still do that when getting the gesture and then try to "ink in" the lines to look nicer.
Chicken scratch is just another artstyle; it's messy but sometimes that messiness can contribute to something like movement, and give more interest to something simple. Art is meant for experimentation and trying new things. These people need to get over themselves, climb off their high horse, and let people live.
Not to mention, that as many people said - it still could be cleaned later... Of course, the artists just starting might have problems with cleaning lines, because they might only know chicken scratch, and have problem with more clean lineart - But if someone draws for years, this might be just a comfortable thing to start with more messy sketch, then clean it... For example - I started some years ago, drawing with a chicken scratches, which led me to being heavily criticized on polish (and international, english speaking) art servers... So for the last few years i tried to draw "cleaner sketches", with fewer lines... But in last few weeks, i returned to drawing more messy lines - but i don't use it as a crutch or final product, but basically as a sketch that i'm able to clean with more clean line later.
I personally like keeping the scratchy sketch in my art, especially digital art. I lower the opacity a lot but you can still see the short "chicken scratch" sketch lines under the smooth, clean lineart. I think it gives the art a character and humanity that is sort of lost if you just see the final product and not the process. not saying it's bad to delete the sketch layer, im just saying this is what I do and artists should feel free to do whatever style they want
i genuinely love your content so much! i know this is your message in all your videos but i love that you understand people can draw however they want and people should never make fun of them for that, beginner or not! i love that you defend every innocent person in the art community that gets immense amounts of hate for virtually 0 reason besides people being @ssholes... even if they think their helping, if a person doesn't want criticism dont give it to them! art is meant to be fun, and i can easily see the art community dying down from the insane amount of negativity in it... so youre really what the art community needs right now, thank you!
From what I know, and from what I've heard, 'Chicken Scratch' is when you aren't confident in your lines, and so you do quick little strokes, almost afraid to commit to actually doing a line. Usually you can get rid of it by just doing some simple lines on a page to get used to drawing them. I have heard people say its a bad thing, due to how it looks, and honestly? I sorta agree? Its a beginners thing, in my experience.
yeah exactly. i feel like people on tiktok are also confusing the chicken scratch artstyle with just any drawing that looks very sketchy and loose even when the lines look solid and are confident
Chicken scratch is basically just poor line confidence, yeah. It's not chicken scratch if its controlled and intentional. Many artists simply outgrow it as they get more skilled with holding a pencil while others rely on it to draw at all due to a lack of fine motor control. The fact there's drama and fighting around it is ridiculous. TikTok is addicted to bullying beginners.
Happy belated birthday! As a chicken scratcher (who genuinely didn’t even know this was a discourse) I would just like to say thank you for constantly doing God’s work with this art videos, love ❤️
Happy birthday, sir! I chicken scratch my pencils, and then lay down inks with long, smooth quill and brush strokes. And short strokes, too, like pull outs, small cross-hatching, dotting, dabbing, stippling, spatters, splats... etc. No brush techniques left behind!
I'm curious, what does it look like if a beginner artist starts using long strokes instead of chicken scratch right off the bat? How does it compare to a beginner using chicken scratch?
if the next art style to be hated would be "lineless" style or even art with lineart for being too much "based" and "generic" ima quit internet for a few months lmao people have become mad over anything. ANY THING
I loooove sketchy lineart styles sm it gives so character and life. I love being able to see the brush strokes and almost makes the art look more detailed and complex? I don't do it much myself in digital art since i've always been a perfectionist; which is annoying because I always try to over-render to the point where it doesn't even look like the sketch anymore. I love doing traditionally because I can do more sketchy art styles but always find it kinda difficult to emulate it in digital without it looking overly clean.
Thanks for bringing up the disability part of things! I have poor motor control due to many things, so I cannot draw with confident one shot lines even after years of practice. If something works for me, I'm using it !! Unfortunately I cannot be a surgeon either like I wanted, so if I find a technique which allows me to do something I love, I'm gonna continue doing it
*_if you draw with chicken scratch comment here_*
Womp womp
Right here, Especially on paper!
I do its looks so cool :)
Here i am 🙋🏽♀️
And happy late birthday 🎂🥳
:')
The problem isn’t people chicken scratching. It’s the fact people are policing artists from trying to learn how to draw or even using chicken scratch as an art style which shouldn’t affect anyone
this!!!!
@@MohammedAgbadi HAPPY BIRTHDAY BY THE WAY!!!
@@MohammedAgbadihappy birthday bro , today's my birthday 😄💜
Yes! I actually really like the chicken scratch style. I really love art that’s loose and fluid and scratchy. It’s not good to use “art style” as an excuse not to grow and improve, but I really enjoy when artists get it right.
I use the chicken scratch to start my sketch before polishing the scratches to look like lines I did perfectly and with one stroke
Using chicken scratch is neat when drawing horror or intense sketches in my eyes not sure chicken scratch is problematic but its tiktok people so it makes sense
manga artists do this alot and everyone is cool with it tooo!
That's my thing, I use this style because I draw horror
If I'm drawing, idk, like an orc decapitating a minotaur, who is going to tell me to go more clean lines with that? Only a crazy person. That's a messy concept, literally. Wouldn't if fit that the lines were also rough and intense real nice? I'm going to use that technique where ever we'd expect to see mess. A messy, drama girl? Messy lines. A messy room? Messy lines. A mess of unknowable features gnawing on your soul? Messy. Lines. People hear one piece of highly-specific advise and think it's gospel, that's not how art works. This is art's version of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
@@MohammedAgbadiIt's used a lot in preliminary western animation drawings as well.
@@MohammedAgbadiFr!!! It’s a cool style.
Remember, most of people on TikTok you are arguing are like 13-15 year olds.. that explains all unreasonable art drama
Yeah, kids not raised too well by their parents, with too much free time and no school...
Some adults act the same way, specifically non-artist. But not all
8-15 at least
age isnt a factor when it comes to unreasonable drama though but i agree most of the artists in tiktok are probably still in kindergarten or in middle school which is why they're too headstrong with their opinions, literally ride or dying for chicken scratching of all things lmfao.
Although I personally feel that 13-15 is quite far enough over & past the age(s) that i find excuses this type of ignorance and behavior,
I pray to GOD that they are, so that I can at least somewhat accept and excuse it to a certain degree...
Otherwise my brain will like, overheat with the inability to comprehend how SO many people could be so confidently ignorant, to the point where they're nearly proud of their stupidity.
(Difference between ignorance & stupidity for me: ignorant doesn't know any better in order to act/believe in any other way; stupid nows better, full and well, yet still refuses to bend or change to adapt or adjust to those well known better sensibilities. )
i don't understand tiktoks addiction to hating ( usually ) beginner art, like, they're literally learning, you're just discouraging then to become an incredible artist in the future ( also happy birthday!! )
As an artist whom has done multiple commissions, I used to experience hate for just drawing anything. Now I get praise but I started off somewhere. I know how hard it is to learn, and sometimes people do need a bit of a push to get onto the right track, but not bullying, no one needs that. Usually I mention parts that look good in a piece, and mention a technique that they might be interested in trying in a sketch. If they reply and ask and we get into a conversation I elaborate on the technique and mention that I think it may help you on your journey to refining your style. I've made a few online friends because of this and have seen their progress in the next few years.
I don't like all the hate, but I have a feeling it may come from a combination of either or a combination of: jealousy, malice, or early elimination of possible future competition.
To say that sketching isn't professional tells you a lot about these people.
I have never been so proud to have tictok banned in my nation as a artist
@@India_girl123 I hope it gets banned in mine ngl
tiktok art community trying not to start drama challenge (impossible 99% fail)
TODAY WE ARE DOING THE DONT START DRAMA OVER DRAWINGS THAT ARE IUST NORMAL CHALLENGE LETS SEE HOW LONG WE CAN LAST!!!!
Posted on RUclips Shorts
lmaooooo this one gon be hard!
correction: 99.99%(lol)
Tbf I've seen this fight going on for years. A Japanese artist got bullied off Twitter a few years ago for making a tutorial on how to learn line confidence and control.
"POV you're trying to learn to draw for the first time"
If you read this with the TikTok Text-to-Speech voice playing in your head, congrats, you are probably hate that voice
I have shaky hands, I physically cannot create a straight line in one stroke, I can, however, create the illusion of a straight line using multiple smaller lines
SAMMMEEE
Oh yeah I sometimes do that as well! But sometimes I also just give up and use the chicken scratches overal lol
@@applesugarlol i sometimes just prefer how they look
@@RexMiseriaeSameee! It looks way better with my personal artstyle tbh (talkin about it, I should probably change my pfp to something more accurate lol)
oml same
WE LITERALLY JUST STOPPED HATING ON THE JELLY ART STYLE
Did we?
TikTok has to find a new art style to hate on, apparently.
Tim Tok officially just hates artsyles i guess
@@sarahcicle8592 chicken scratch isn't even an artstyle
@@Toaster-draws but it isn't an artstyle, it's literally a technique for sketching 😭
Art has been used for fun, to bare your soul, to help with trauma, for stress, for pain, for mental health, for creativity - and then these people come along and start sucking the joy out of everything and pretending they know better, when really, art is subjective and they know nothing. They especially don’t know how to loosen up and not ruin everything for everyone.
Beginner artists: *breath*
TikTok art community: “so you have chosen…death!”
As a person who refuses to ever touch TikTok, I watch these videos like I watch a Nature documentary about seals living in the deep cold sea
I watch with horror, go 😟 and feel thankful for how I'm not part of the ecosystem
Same
Agreed
Mood
My thoughts exactly!
Same tbh
People with no sense of style love to call everything a style. If somebody likes to draw with messy scratching - go ahead, I've seen some good and pretty examples of it. Slay the princess is a full game done with that technique. But ultimately it is just a technique. Not a style. Style is much more than just a way you do strokes with your pencil, although it can be a part of it. But just a part, not something that stands on its own.
SLAY THE PRINCESS MENTIONED!!!!
Literally 😭😭 it's like saying something is drawn in a "pencil art style" because it was drawn with a pencil LNAO
@@Lazzuuu Did you mean ‘LMAO’?
@ ye lol,, I don't usually care if I misspell "LMAO" cause at least to me it's still clear what it's supposed to mean😧
@@Lazzuuu Not really. With most abbreviations, if not all of them, being one letter off means a different abbreviation entirely.
I absolutely love the chicken scratch/messy atrstyle, it's the reason I started drawing myself and I often use those kinds of drawings as insperation and references
u guys should just do what you like but dont use tiktok or stop using it lmao
its what got me into this too 😊saw an artist named Pen&Papers doing mspaint stuff and that got me in as well lol
I can draw realism but I still love the look of messy, unfinished art styles I’m actually trying to learn to have a more free and ‘messy’ art style now 😅 my art style has gotten way too polished and soft imo.. I need some scrunkle
My rule of thumb is "it's only a mistake if that's not how you wanted it to look" so if chicken scratching is a deliberate stylistic choice then it's not a mistake👍
@@PandabreadieExactly!
Chicken Scratch is much of an "art style" as much as cel shading is an "Art Style"
The art community's obsession with "style" and "finding your style" exhausts me. It's at the point where lack of skill and random unconventional techniques are seen as an art style 😭 just draw what and how you like and thats your style. Stop obsessing over it i cryyyy
Also happy birthday
People on TikTok be acting like this way of drawing is recent 💀I did that shiz since I was 12 💀 Do these people not know what storyboards, speedpaints, or rough sketches are?
I did that all the time, especially in my sketch phases. Sure it can make a drawing look messy af, but not “bad” and can help. What also helps in digital art is making a rough, messy sketch layer, then making a more refined version to show what lines you want to draw in the mess. Some people like their art rough. Artists tend to work and build on the messiness and clean up in the process, making it look more refined.
Also *AHH- DA- BIRTHDAAAAAAY!*
I do this all the time when drawing in my sketch book. Usually once I get the basic shapes and ideas out with the chicken scratch lines I start erasing to refine everything. Its literally one of the most basic of techniques that have been used in art for ages
As a digital artist can confirm this is true- I do a chicken scratch sketch layer and then make a better refined one on top-
FR
People on tiktok always feel that the way tehy do smoething is best and everything else is inferior, to make their sad lives better.
If any parents that downloaded Tiktok on their kids phone.. man god bless their innocent souls.
I think some issues people have with learning confident lines is that perhaps their stuff looks "lifeless" because of a completely seperate issue. Alot of the time this comes from anatomy, perspective and shapes. So they're using chicken scratch to get around it.
If you're trying to use confident lines and you feel like your character is "lifeless" you might need to re-evaluate one of your basics. It's something I struggled with too when I was doing art. I couldn't STAND lineart because it always looked so "flat" or "lifeless" until I realized it was my sketch itself being flat in the first place. I do all my sketches in chicken scratch. Now I do all my sketches in chicken scratch but have a second clear lined sketch (so like some chicken scratch mixed with clearer lines) and it showed me how flat my perspective and anatomy was. Which led me to re evaluate all that and now my confident lineart looks so much better. Beginning artists tend to use chicken scratch as a crutch because they haven't mastered all the other techniques just yet. That's probably why people hate the chicken scratch style, alot of people will say "it's my style" when in actuality it's just that they haven't learned how to fix the problems they're having with their art.
But I have no issue with chicken scratch as an art style. I actually mimic sketch styles with my finished pieces by using textured lineart brushes not smooth line brushes. There's a certain sketch style I always loved but I can't seem to figure out how to do it for myself so I kinda made a "middle of the road" style until I figure it out lol.
Dis is fire🔥 🔥
bars
Also, if your sketch is fine but your line work loses that dimension, check your line work itself. You can add weight and thickness to it too. If you use the same thickness of line across an entire piece, it will feel flat. One of my life drawing classes spent an entire week focusing on your line work itself. And this was after we'd spent the previous week focusing on drawing form by hatching and crosshatching. Our teacher basically pointed out there's several ways to vary your line: doing it by distance from the main form (usually getting thinner and lighter as you move away so the main form is the darkest), using shadow/weight (basically, where the most weight is, you thicken. Usually this is also where the shadows end up being but you can also use same principle for just shadows instead), and calligraphic (not necessarily following these previous methods but more just focusing on how the line naturally comes out/what you think looks good). But all of these also started with lectures of "Loosen up your grip, use your whole arm to draw" and more advice. If you genuinely like the look, then fine. And I won't get into why but there are actual reasons to why longer, confident strokes are the "Professional" thing. (TLDR: they are clean and easy to read so you aren't a snag in production lines.)
1:43 thats a sketch, they're describing a sketch LMAO
EXACTLY???
I feel like the "chicken scratch artsyle" is kinda just "sketchy artsyle" or "messy artstyle"??
don't attack me 💀
@@ThawBerry*NOT TRYING TO ATTACK YOU!*
it's not really an art-style though, just something people use as an art style but it's really just meant to be used for practice/idea sketches.
@@star-phobia I was referring to like, final products that have a kinda messiness to it - but yeah! I do it too 😅
art is subjective. what is a sketch for you is line art for someone else.
The whole Chicken scratch is very situational, sometimes it is a learning curb but I'll purposely chicken scratch certain parts of my drawings because I like the look of it (Like how i also color with primarily crayons/colored pencils bc I like the vibe of texurted coloring). Overalll most "bad" techniques can work for certain people. Art is COMPLETELY subjective and the tiktok art community (Most prominently,aside from twitter/X) doesnt seem to understand that not everyone wants smooth anime or hyper-realistic artstyles.
1:35 - this comment here really helps me encapsulate the tension I have about this topic. I sketch like this with just pencil and paper, and I never DO make more polished drawings; I'm just a hobbyist! Explaining it as a sketching or rough-draft technique really helps calm my anxiety about 'not doing it right' since professional artists can use this style, too, AND THEN they go further and make a polished drawing. That's the difference between me and the pros, I stop earlier, I don't put in as many hours per piece, and I don't have to, either! So thank you for doing this intro section that gives background on the topic so we're all on the same page
i feel like its similar to the 'no shading with black rule'. in many cases, yes it can look ugly however it really depends on the style. it's another case where people take advice and turn it into a definitive art rule where if you do this it's bad. if you want cleaner lines you should work towards that, however, if you're fine with chicken scratch, who cares it's your art
I think "don't shade with black" IS a very solid rule for _realism_ specifically. Pure black and pure white are only ever found in shadow or light reflections in the real world. You can test this by taking photos of things and using the eye dropper tool to see the colors.
Most real world objects are not pure white or black unless that object is covered in the brightest white or darkest black paint.
In a realistic painting, you need to be able to add shadows to black colored objects, and highlights to white colored objects. This means when painting a black object you need to use very dark greys or other colors depending on the surrounding light. Then you can use black for the shadows on black objects and the end result is it "looks" black despite the main color being dark grays, blues, purple, etc. Same white objects are light creams, yellows, blue, etc and then pure white is used for highlights from light reflection.
So this rule is actually kind of essential for photorealism or other more realistic styles, but art doesn't need to be realistic. I do however think learning this rule helps you break it in artistically effective ways much better than not learning how to draw with the rule.
Plenty of art rules are useful as long as someone explains WHY the "rule" exists and doesn't use the rule to gatekeep art or tear down other people. ❤
I shade in black (my medium is paper, inking pens, and colouring pencil), and it looks gorgeous! Also my linework is slightly scratchy because my pens sometimes give up the goat, meaning I have to etch over the same point over and over. And it looks good.
I've never understood why people hate shading in black, cos whenever I shade in colours for anything but pixel art, it looks bad!
Not really a rule a but good art technique if you’re aiming for a realistic or classical painting style. You’d be surprised all those dark Rembrandts or Caravaggio never uses pure black or pure white in all their paintings
If your style is more Abstract/Stylized or Illustrative style, then using all extreme colors is in the table.
I don't have a tiktok and watching these feels like watching a zoo documentary
exactly bruh. I wouldn’t *DARE* touch TikTok even if it costs me missing out on the new “trends”
Bruh the zoo😂
@@zephyre.is.watching same, i've used tiktok for months before due to the very first reason of having to watch edits of my favorite characters, but looking at the comments of any video is like the equivalent of poking your eyes with a syringe. I hope they add a feature where you can disable the comment section with any video (like youtube).
Fr
@@cheese__cake yeah you can do that but only for your own video
First, I agree with some people here - problem isn't people doing xx, problem is people trying to police what other people should and shouldn't do. Ultimatelly, its on them, everyone has their lines and dislikes and thats okay!
Second, I do agree with that one TT video you featured that said "chicken scratching isn't art style, its a bad habit". Mark put it nicely like you mentioned soon after - its about drawing from the wrist, that makes your lines lack confidence (which connects to your lineart looking like begginer tracing lineart from other more experienced artists). It isn't bad habit because it looks unprofessional or whatever the subjective reason for person's hate is. It is bad habit because drawing from wrist can cause vast majority of health problems artists commonly suffer with.
Sure, if you are edgy 14 year old, world feels invincible, if you are sore, you just walk it off or sleep it off and its hard to imagine it will ever be different. But it really doesn't work that way with body closer to 30. It just doesn't. Drawing from wrist puts huge tension on the wrist itself and its best way to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. Or even ulnar tunnel syndrom which is on same principe as carpal, but the nerve got stuck in the elbow, not in the wrist. It greatly impacts your ability to draw and fastest way to develop it is leaning on your elbow for support for long periods of time, which is what chicken scratching people usually do. Yea, maybe it can be good tool if you are begginer (even if I don't think so, because habits you build early on are HECKING hard to break as we all know), but the fastest you learn how to use your hand properly when drawing, the faster you adapt healthy habits and you save your body from hurting in a long run. So there is that.
And lastly, while I agree that what brings the energy into lines is that they are loose, but chicken scratching often lacks form and that just kills any energy vibe drawing could have had, at least for me personally. If you want loose, energetic drawings, holding your hand correctly when drawing gives that certain looseness to a drawing, which you will never get with chicken scratching. But thats my personal opinion.
In the end it is like my mama always said: "Your freedom ends, where freedom of another person starts". I, nor anybody else, has any right to prohibit people from liking something or doing something just because I personally don't like it. If you want to continue chicken scratching, be my guest. If you like it, great! If you have fun doing it, even better! Go nuts! Art is about having fun and loving what you are doing.
But please, do try and make sure you made informed decision, so you don't get caught off guard with consequences of your own actions. And that goes from my concern for you as another human being, not from me trying to tell you what to do or not to do. In the end, its your body, your choice and I can only respect that, even if I personally think that voluntarily drawing from the wrist is stupid decision.
Obligatory disclaimer: that is, if you have a choice - obviously disabled people often do not have that choice. But in that case, I assume that disabled people are already in contact with some kind of rehabilitation centre and that they are working with a specialist to make sure they are improving/stabilized their condition and that they won't hurt themseves further. But really, thats my european brain working with available health care, I have no idea how it works in different countries and if it is even a possibility in the US, but thats not the point of the video nor my comment :)
Otherwise, great video! Thank you!
please summarize 😭
@@HotHash what? why?
@@kachirisobhiam3573 dude,you writed a imense book page here👹
As someone who tend to sketch in chicken scratch sometimes still, for me it comes due to my uncertainty of drawing specific parts of my base-sketch. However, I was taught that instead of scratching, simple, clean, loose and soft lines that can be easily erased if mistaken. I was also taught that chicken scratching is unprofessional.
I also started out in drawing back in April 2006. The only way that I could get down with chicken scratching is practicing simple lines and drawing not from wrist but with arm - just like Marc Brunet said and my teacher as well.
I don't think of the scratching as a style - more like a technique- but then again, some master it and looks cool!
Overall, I think everyone has their own techniques and style - and we should respect them instead of giving a lecture why it's bad. :)
Also, happy birthday! :D Keep it up man, I love your tips and channel!
chicken scratch art style is great for conveying visceral, negative emotions like rage, dizzyness, fear, etc. i see this in some anime scenes and manga and people don’t even say anything negative about it.
oh yeah, and it’s difficult for people to exactly draw with smooth lines first try when sketching, unless if you’ve mastered drawing this pose or this character to a tee.
Imma do it, here I go lmao
"BACK IN MY DAAAAAY" 🤣 it's called "movement" in art. We had a whole two weeks sesh in college art and a lot of my fellow classmates couldn't grasp the concept which is ok.
Edit to add: we used a lot of vine charcoals for it but you make art that makes you happy. Eff the rules, eff the haters.
lmfaoooooo
XD
loool XDD
Here’s a solution sense toxic artists don’t listen. Let’s all collectively ignore them!
Yes I’m aware it can be difficult but just remember what our lad says. All art is valid art. We all progress at different levels and learn in different ways. Don’t give the toxic artists the time of day!
Keep drawing everyone! Let’s make the art community great again XD
I'm... more skeptical about that. I've seen some people doxing people before.
I love at the beginning of the vid u let’s talk abt chicken scratch the angry birds theme came in and that was very smart
I've always used the chicken scratch "artstyle" because I feel it gives my drawings more personality, plus, if I want to clean it up later I always can
I use chicken-scratch as a way to build up my sketches, but I do try my best at cleaner lines during lineart. When I sketch, I find myself using lots of layers: using very loose shapes at first, building up details with chicken scratch, and finishing with more refined (but still loose) details. No layers are deleted, nor erased. I just lower opacity of previous layer and merge with new one. Sometimes, when there are a lot of details, I use different colors during process, to easily guide myself. I find that building up my sketches in this way helps me a lot with anatomy and shapes, even though it slows down the process
I use about 5 (sometimes more) layers for building sketches. The harder the drawing, the more layers and refinement I do before moving to lineart
I do a similar process. Multiple chicken scratch layers and eventually a more refined last sketch with confident lines before finished lineart.
I'm not sure how long you guys have been drawing , but I have been drawing for over 2 years now and it's very comforting to see other people have a similar process. I always felt my use of multiple layers and chicken scratches in the sketching process made me somewhat inept. You guys genuinely made me feel a little less bad about my process and art as a whole ❤
@@roadrunneruntd yeah I also felt I was lacking because this sketch process takes much more time than other artists do. Which means I need to factor that in when I do commissions. I always saw the videos of artists doing their full pieces in only 6 hours. I'm like damn... I cannot do that lol.
But I think my art comes out way better taking time on the sketch, otherwise it won't look how I envisioned on the final lineart.
I've been drawing for about 7+ years
I sometimes end up with 5-10 layers of just the sketch before I'm satisfied.
> talks about “chicken scratching”
> uses angry birds music at the start of the video
Amazing, I love your content
Friendly reminder that in the world of art, there truly aren't any rules. A good way to think about learning art is that it's like exercising; the more you learn naturally the more you'll grow, but the less you learn the more you simply cheat yourself. In the end it's about asking yourself what and who you're creating art for.
Chicken scratching is a simple drawing technique, I mostly use it for sketching but it can be incorporated in different art pieces if it is better suiting than just clean strokes to give the illusion of texture or the portray of something etc..
All the videos you've made on these different art style dramas, really just hits home that,
"art is emotional, there is no 'right' way to do art"
Yet people are getting emotionally worked up, not emotionally invested
"Chicken scratching" certainly has its place in terms of stylistic expression. That being said, I couldn't image using it for laying down the structural shapes and broad gestures for drawings. Using your fingers and wrists for those things and not your whole arm seems like a fast root to give yourself a repetitive strain injury.
The thing about veteran artists who advice against chicken scratching and recommend shoulder-drawing kind of forget this makes sense when you are talking about a big canvas, or when you have a high grade large drawing tablet. Someone using a shoddy old Bamboo is gonna have a bad time trying to do that due to the small working space. Also, Squigglevision was a technique specifically developed to make clean lines look jankier, so there is some precedent to intentionally mess with your lineart to make it look "bad".
Me with my foldable laptop 😅 I try to do the arm thing but it’s tricky
Just because the space is small doesn't mean you have to use chicken scratching either tho! Like, I only use my wrist to draw, but I still usually only make a few long lines, instead of a ton of small ones:3
And also, making long lines on smaller tablets is easier anyway, since you don't have to move your pen nearly as much as if you had one of those giant screen tablets lol
My thought on this is that it would kill the stamina, because it would make the arm hurt being suspended like that for extended periods, especially if one is a slower artist or puts in a lot of detail.
Besides, most art programs have stabilizers, so you can just crank that up and pretty much fix the problem.
Though I don't see an issue with the whole "chicken scratch" thing anyway, since it can still add energy to a piece and art is subjective anyway .>
Is not about the tools. Beginners just don’t know how to differentiate between rough lines and chicken scratch. Veteran artist know the difference, that’s why they advice against the latter.
@@Ith.977 i mean, tools do play a decent part in the equation. there are other components and u can certainly-circumvent the "issue" wo purchasing in-affordable supplies, but to deny the role your art equipment plays in your ability to adopt "veteran" techniques is just outright-ignorant.
i do wonder what most people's definition of a "veteran" artist actually is though - that's such a broad term that's constantly thrown around to strong-arm beginner artists, but most of u fail to paint a decent portrait of what actually entails being a vet. im a pretty experienced artist and (yet) i can say w confidence that none of the quick-fixes people offer to drop "chicken scratching" as a technique would ever work for me. u know why? i have a literal tremor in both my hands (a hereditary disorder; for context) that prevents me from having full control over my movements. plenty of other people suffer from similarly-debilitating issues: i.e, tourettes or anxiety disorders. then there's the fact that some people just *enjoy* the technique. some people just like the appearance of it, or like the ease of it.
for so-called "veterans" to disclude all of these elements from the equation and immediately jump to "no i dont like it so u have to fix it! here's how i draw - it might not work for u but u can *make* it work because i find it unappealing!"... i find it difficult to consider them vets or experienced artists in any capacity. surely an experienced artist would understand all of the unique-variables that come w creating art and know not to immediately-enforce such rigid rules and expectations on beginners w no forethought or respect?
to understand art is to understand that it's a subjective medium - arguably *the* most subjective, personalised medium of human creation out there. no genuine veteran would discount an art technique entirely, purely because it's one that they do not enjoy. no good artist would take a look at another artist's work and tell them "this looks bad, do it like this!" - we should be teaching beginners how to make the techniques they employ work for them; teaching them *how* to make "chicken scratching" work as a technique, not telling them to drop it entirely.
this entire trend is stupid. it feels like it was made up by beginners to put down other beginners and make them feel better about their own art. being a beginner artist does not mean youre someone w an unestablished art style, or unappealing art style... it literally just means youre new to creating art. so, by proxy; having a beautiful, established and unique art style w great anatomy, colour theory or line control does *not* make u a veteran artist. a veteran artist, is literally just somebody who's been creating art for a long time. tiktok has created all of these new buzzwords to refer to literal academic techniques just so that people have an excuse to bully other artists
I feel like the definition of chicken scratch is beginning to change. Because according to how a lot of these people are defining it, I have chicken scratch lines, but they're actually quite clean and controlled. It's an aesthetic choice that I often have to force by padding my lines or intentionally reducing control of the pencil to make my lines messier because it gives the piece character and charm.
Chicken scratch is also often used to describe ILLEGIBLE handwriting. Not slightly messy. Unreadably bad. Like "I can't read my own writing" bad.
To me, chicken scratch, by definition, must mean you lack the fine, finessed hand-eye coordination to control the placement of your line. You can only make it go where you want to by inching across the paper in noticably jagged strokes.
I've been in the art community long enough to remember when a popular Japanese art tutorial page deleted itself because they made a mini tutorial about how to increase line control and people got OFFENDED because they felt their "style" was being attacked!!
Chicken scratch is not a "style." I wouldn't even call a horror artist with intentionally scratchy lines to create the effect of a visual blur a chicken scratch artist unless it was, again, something they literally couldn't control even if they wanted to.
I think people need to stop bullying artists for drawing in chicken scratch lines because its simply part of learning and growing as an artist, but artists who draw in chicken scratch need to stop being offended by well-meaning tutorials about how to control your lines. At the very least, I think every artist should at least ATTEMPT to learn this stuff because artists who draw in chicken scratch tend to bear down much harder on their pencil, leading to a much higher risk of developing carpal tunnel or any other form of muscle & joint damage to their hands. It's not about controlling how others draw. It's about the long term health of the artist and about allowing the artist themselves to control their OWN drawings and draw exactly what they want and how they want.
Anyone on either side of the argument deviating from that is missing the point.
Draw as messy or as clean as you want, but ffs, please learn line control and don't hold the pencil too tight. Its not normal for your hand to be throbbing in pain after drawing. If I didn't learn line control, I'd have carpal tunnel, but now I can draw for hours without pain.
exactly your definition is spot on, everyone arguing on either side is missing the point entirely tbh… i think chicken scratch isn’t a style simply because you can’t really do it on purpose once you know what you’re doing? it comes from a lack of skill and you naturally grow out of it at some point even if you don’t notice, all the artists defending this “style” to the death barely even do it in their examples! someone tell them that going over their lines multiple times is a different thing pls 😭😭
Yes even I find it js a lil better haha!❤
1:40 chicken scratch sounds good. I use it too and I kinda have an idea how it could be used in a polished animation if that’s the main argument but it could easily be used to intentionally make things like memories or imagination planes appear more fuzzy. Art is literally about freedom. I am not done watching. See you tomorrow.
At this point I'm ready to say F it just do as I please. My characters have two different art styles? Too bad, I did it intentionally!
I'll be honest, I have a personal love for the Chicken Scratch style. For me, I think I prefer it over a great many others, because of its sporadic in-the-moment qualities. While I won't turn my nose up at refined and well-polished pieces, there's something that's just elegant about the simplicity of Chicken Scratch that draws me in, no pun intended.
The rougher look gives it a more lively feel. The best comparisons that come to mind for me is like how Titian was snubbed by his contemporaries for his use of rougher and visible brush strokes, which ironically enough gave his paintings a fantastic sense of lighting and texture, and raw intensity that no one else could really pull off in the same way.
While I love Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights for its polished and refined quality, there's also something charming about the rugged, honest and simple rough pencil/charcoal sketches done by Rembrandt that captured an instant of day-to-day life - always moving, never still or posing for him. I have a few framed sketches and rough drafts done during wartime by soldiers in the field - and there's an honest rawness to them that I adore.
Chicken Scratch is definitely not on the same level as the sketches of a genuine Master - but I think it still possesses the same core principles in that both are more spontaneous reflections of what the artist wants to present, with little to no touching up or significant refinement. For beginners, it's a great tool, and in the hands of an experienced artist, it becomes a fantastic style.
I won't diss people who don't like the style, but at the same time they really aught to know why they don't like it - and don't snub one of the mediums used by nearly every single artist since time immemorial, that's just punching above your weight class.
This is sad, and it makes me happy that I'm not engaged with these types of childish social media art communities. Seems to be a mess of half-teachings from young artists who don't have a good foundation or proper context for the things they say.
It's a shame too because it seems like this kind of childish social media banter is probably stifling younger artists and turning them away from art instead of encouraging them on their own art journeys.
I think chicken scratch line art can be a stylistic choice when done actually intentionally for a particular aesthetic.
BUT with beginners, they do not really get how to do it. They lean into it because they don't understand how to actually move. They draw with their wrist rather than with their whole arm. But it isn't something to hate on.. it's something to either embrace like some artists have or to learn past. Plus it's very common in concept art and storyboarding where you need to get the loose general idea out quickly before it gets refined later in the process. Or in thumbnailing for illustration.
Edit: honestly the only reason I'm anti- chicken scratch is because usually it's usually accompanied by improperly holding your pen/pencil and improper posture, which can increase your risk of conditions like carpal tunnel.
I used to be an artist who said chicken scratch was part of my style. I still have loose, sketchy lines now, but they are actually CONTROLLED now and go exactly where I want them to.
I'm still kinda skeptical about saying chicken scratch is okay because, at least to me, chicken scratch by definition means you don't know how to control your lines. Not only is it harder to draw what you want when you can't control your lines, but like you said, it actually does cause quite a lot of hand pain that could lead to carpal tunnel!
@@LilChuunosuke I think it's ok as a stepping stone if that makes sense. Like it's a step towards what you mentioned, controlled sketchy lines. Everyone starts somewhere so I don't think they should be made fun of for it or anything like that. But I do think they should learn proper sketching methods and posture to avoid future medical complications.
It's something to be refined and improved upon rather than to rely on as a crutch so to speak. But vilifying it like tiktok does isn't gonna help anybody either. Going to such extremes is unnecessary lol
@LatulaArts 100% agree. Its a stepping stone. I could ONLY draw in chicken scratch up until a few years ago! Its been a gradual process of learning line control over multiple decades for me. I dont think I deserved to be shamed for it like tiktok is doing to other artists. I am thankful I was able to learn line control from kinder, more mature artists who simply wanted to help me improve and eliminate my drawing hand pain. Shaming artists doesn't help anyone and I fear will only make some artists double down on behaviors that are doing long term damage to their drawing hands.
I agree! Chicken scratch, at least for me, is doing very messy lines due to lack of skill and hand coordination. There is a big distinction between knowing how to draw in a clean way, but choosing to make a looser sketch to make it appear more alive, rather than doing a messy sketch due to the inability to draw in any other way.
Honestly, I don't see the point of calling any looser, but intentional way of drawing 'chicken scratch'. It's not the same thing
For me, I think it's a passage that new beginners usually do and there comes a time where they realize it's not helping their artstyle in the way they want it to be. They either lean into the chicken scratch thing and make it better or they try to do more confident strokes to lean away from it.
1:31 This is just from my own personal experience, but the chicken scartch method was my saving grace as a beginner artist!
because it broke me out of the cycle of 'every line as to be perfect or the art is shit'. Cause I ran the method of Chicken scratching the rough sketch out on paper from my head, then I could worry about the finer details later on in the process. Which forced me to focus and taking more time on the piece I was working on.
It also helped me build a muslce memory on where lines go, for later in my art experience. And helped me trust the process from start tp finish more.
I like chicken scratch in my art better than normal lines, since not only is it just easier for me as someone who draws traditional art, but my art is also more chaotic rather than beautiful, and even when I wanna draw beautiful I still prefer how my chicken scratch looks than my lineart.
Hol up,this again? Oh hell nah I’m out I’m becoming a music artist I can’t deal with this
i'm switching to stream fortnite
You're trying to escape discourse by switching to music production? lmao.
"Autotune is cheating!" "VST presets are cheating!" "Drum loops are cheating!" "Sampling is cheating!" "Never quantize your rhythms!" "Analog is better than digital!" "Digital is better than analog!" "Music theory is essential!" "Music theory hampers your creativity!" "When EQing, cut narrow, boost wide!" "Never EQ the master bus!" "Over-compression is ruining your music!"
@@aspthewyvern3622 damn bruh can I do anything
@aspthewyvern3622 ah, this makes me feel better
bro get this guy to milloin already he deserves more subs (AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!)
soon soon! hahah thankyou
@@MohammedAgbadi yw have a great day your my favorite!!!
The only issue with chicken scratch is when you use it as a crutch to ignore gaps in your knowledge using “style” or it as an excuse to not improve. (Chicken scratch also can cause less confidence since it’s a “but it looks so much better” when the issue isn’t the lines but the foundation)
Still policing others ain’t it some people just want to draw for fun, it’s meant as unpolished or it is genuinely just the style with the good foundation
tik tok stop hating on random art styles/techniques challenge (impossible)
art is all about expression. there are no rules to art. yeah there are some techniques that are recommended for certain styles (like realism), but even so you can basically do what you want. personally i'm actually trying to be messier with my art because it's fun and helps with inspiration.
It's your art, go as neat or messy as you want and no one should tell you that you're doing it wrong. Also this is slightly unrelated but i also think it's okay to not be open to critique if you're doing art as a hobby or just for yourself
i watched this video at like 12 am then proceeded to use it to fall asleep to because you're voice was lowkey soothing
Yey new video
Also i like Mohammed's shirt
yayyy!!! thankyou so much!!
My lineart nowadays is just cleaned up roughs lol. I find this process way more satisfying than having to redraw lines all over again and more cleanly. The aesthetic result is nice too imo
I also used to draw with pens a lot when I was younger, I loved hatching and crosshatching, so chickenscratching just feels natural to me
Edit: might also be worth mentioning that I use an Intuos, so there's way more human error when it comes to strokes, compared to drawing on an iPad or a display tablet
As an artist myself i understand and view it as anything can be an art style, u just need to understand what u using, master it in ur own way, and use it in ur work to create an specific effect
I’ve always just seen that as “rough sketch”
The way to seek the line you want. I’d never call that a finished render, but it’s a definite step in the process for me
There’s nothing “bad” or “taboo” about it. It’s just a step in the process that can potentially take more time overall
This is discussing people who use this line style as part of their final lines
Every artistic method and skill can always be taken to the next level by artists who know what they're doing. Beauty can be reached in so many ways, we went to the point of using FIRE as a method to make art, with breathtaking results !
So compared to this level of creativity, there are no reasons to scorn Chicken Scratch or any other method. What should be kept in mind is that no method will miraculously produce great art. Only time, work and efforts. But once you become aware of this mindset, use whatever method you see fit to produce your vision. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, there's literally no harm done.
People keep forgetting that art technically has no definition, since art is made by different people thus they have different styles. I love the chicken scratch art style anyways because i mean i can smooth it out, but if i keep making it so smooth, it looks bad. not my style basically.
Tldr, you shouldnt force yourself to have another persons artstyle! You art is truly unique to you, and what matters is if it looks good to you, not what other people will think!
Honestly, the second definition of chicken scratch that you mentioned with it being a technique is the best way to describe it for me (even tho I don't have tiktok or a single piece of social media and I'm just now learning about it today LMAO). And not just the styling that people like it's also the most comfortable way to make art, for me at least. I personally like the way my second or third sketch looks vs how a final draw with smoother lines would look cause to me it just LOOKS BETTER. Not everyone needs to draw with smooth lines and not everyone needs their sketches to look like rough sketch or whatever. If you wanna branch out and switch between the style of how your art looks or even blend smooth line art with chicken scratch, that's cool too! But you also don't have to nor does either version make your art look bad. It's fucking art at the end of the day lmaooo
I also appreciate these videos of yous and applaud you for dealing with the nonsense that spirals from that damn app, or IG or twt :v AND HAPPY BELATED BDAY GOOD SIR
One of my favorite videogame box covers is the Mario Strikers box art. It's messy, it's chaotic, and I love it. It stands out compare to the other Mario Box styles since it has a personality of it's own due to the use of the chicken scratch art style. The art style isn't bad you just need to know when to use it.
OMG YES!!
I love this artstyle so bad, I’ve been trying to incorporate it in my drawing. Funny thing is, it’s not as easy as people would think, because you still need to know where the scratches needs to go in order to give the impression of movement. And yeah, it doesn’t look as good when the characters aren’t moving, so it’s really a question of use
I think people are confusing with Sketchy or Messy Sketch style vs Chicken scratch technique.
Being Sketchy style means trying to be dynamic and loose, trying to get that confident gestures and messy construction lines, as a personal look. It’s also done by artist to be creative and exploring new things, letting their hands go wild.
Chicken scratch technique is what beginner artist does in order to compensate with their lack of skills in order to imitate a "Clean straight line." done by professional artist. It’s OK if you’re just starting out, but later on you must learn to be versatile and be confident with yourself and must learn how to draw clean simple stokes. It’s the only way to grow as an artist.
Basically. Sketchy style is done purposely and with confidence. Chicken scratch technique show your lacks of confidence and sense of standard for your art.
@@inisipisTV Look, I do agree with you with the difference between the Chicken Scratch and just having a sketchy style (which is what the video is about : how TikTok doesn’t seem to make the difference), and although I’m pretty sure that’s not your intention, the last part of your message sound quite...condescending ?
Not everyone seeks to ”improve” and become a master. Some pick up drawing as a hobby, others as a way to vent or to keep themselves busy, and won’t go further than that. There’s nothing wrong with being happy about your art even if it’s not ”that” good, and/or if it lacks technique or whatever. Drawing should be fun first of all...
(Also, lack of ”standard of your art” is still not a reason to bully artists, beginners or not, which is also a main topic of the video)
How did someone turn a type of line art into an entire style
ngl, a sketchy artstyle with lines exactly like described here is what I'd say is perfection for me
it's interesting, it has a lot of character and places for expression.
Sheesh tik tok is toxic. chicken scratching allows you to explore the line and figure out what you want to draw and how you want to draw it. you can even refine the "Scratch" and make it look way cleaner if you want or turn it into clean line art later. Sometimes you want to be relaxed especially in the exploratory phase
Personally, I see it as a tool. Both CS and CL need to be known and mastered, I personally use it for humans and organic beings, while I use more confident lines for anything mechanical, and I quite like how it looks!
PS: Happy birthday!
Chicken scratch can be considered an art style if you know how to use it efficiently. If you master the traditional art then you can try to do some chick scratch art to see how it could be good.
But if you use Chicken scratch mindlessly and don’t really care about how to put it forward and make it look good, then yeah you can consider it not an art style.
It’s kinda disappointing the art community is like that because it covers most of the hidden gems.
And Tik Tok is not alone, the blue bird app does as well.
Also happy birthday man, you’re awesome and I can’t thank you enough for how based you are in this messed up community. Thank you for staying mostly neutral when showing what’s kickin in the dramas.
Have a nice day/night if you read all of this. You’re cool
3:20 I am so glad somebody called this out. I can't even write in neat lines much less draw a straight line after having multiple seizures. I know I'm not the only one who used this as a way to keep doing art when your hands won't sit tf still or move how you envision..
*sits here with a tremor in my hand*
Yea hold on tiktok, let me just overcome this literal motion disability i can do pissall about to please you and be able to even make long continous strokes
Must also say, for the same reason i do not like mark very much as a teacher. He brings over this attitude of "anything other than i do is just plain wrong". Like that teacher that gives you minus points in math, because you got to the right solution with a different method than they taught and literally my first expeirnce with him was "Turn off stabilisation!" ... yea.... too generalized
when i was young i would get so frustrated on drawing the PERFECT line for a drawing that so many of my ideas have been scrapped because i couldn’t get the right angle on a line. a year or two ago i began this “chicken scratch” technique and it’s made me enjoy art so much more. it was more fun that way
Happy Birthday dude! I chicken scratch and tbh hate it when people go "B-but it's bad draw only straight lines!" Like I'm not a tattoo artist lol
thankyou!
I mean-
I only use chicken scratch for form the body base's and once im done, im slightly rubbing it in then redrawing the base in clean lines.
chicken scratch probably isnt an art style, unless you purposefully use it to stylize you're drawings, but most people use it because of their lack of line confidence 😔
I think we should encourage artists to be more confident in their lines even with their sketches because it will result in general improvement in the construction of their art as a whole. But i dont think we should be putting down artists who arent ready to step out of that comfort zone yet. We all know art is a process and improving your art consists of a lot of little baby steps. Your art is constantly improving and if dropping the chicken scratch will improve an artists work they'll figure it out eventually. Let people improve at their own pace.
Okay people are just finding ANYTHING to hate on, I’ve been doing the ‘chicken scratch art style’ for as long as I can remember and never found a problem with it. People are just bored and want to find something to hate
(Also you look amazing man)
Reminder to the fellow artists:
There is no "right" way to draw. Chicken scratching can actually look fucking awesome. Just have fun.
So from my understanding, it's more discouraged when your first learning how to draw because it breaks up the flow ans direction of movement in a piece. Like when you see a person whose done more fine art or are more experienced yoyll usually see them drawing maybe a giant c for the back. It helps mark out places in the body and the overall shape of the piece. Also it's really important to know how to accurately draw basic shapes like lines, circles and square in one go using your fingers or arms to do it because these shapes are the building block of everything else. And it overall doesnt give the piece a finished look.
However with that being said, when used effectively and intentially it can be used for effect like horror or for your style. That's from what I understand anyway
I feel like the difference between bad chicken scratching and good chicken scratching is that we slowly size up the length between lines using tapered strokes
I literally have trouble doing thin, clean lines because I have dysgraphia, which essentially means my brain and hands do not cooperate when I'm trying to draw or write. I have very poor penmanship to the point where I can't even read what I write sometimes. Traditional art is pretty much impossible for me due to this as well - I'm worthless without stabilizers and transform tools ;P
I chicken-scratch when I'm sketching because that's simply how I can get the pose and composition down in the fastest way I can. For rendering, I purposely use chalkier brushes, and sometimes I even do painterly art that's mostly lineless. The gnarlier the brush, the more fun I have working with it. I don't force myself do something I don't like. It helps that I really love nostalgic storybook-esque art and I want my art to have that nice vintage + handmade look. I love "clean" art too, but I'm not going to sour-grape my way into justifying what I do - I just simply prefer art with a bit more texture to it
Same! Sometimes my hand just does whatever tf it wants, it's wild.
When I draw letters, it helps to do short loose sketching too, otherwise it looks terrible!
2:54 THATS MY VIDEO RIGHT THERE😲
I take it Leji Matsumoto did nothing but "unprofessional chicken scratch" in that case? What a nonsense complaint for people to have. Excellent video.
I never knew there was a name for this style, but this is how I start all my drawings. I think I do this because I have Aphantasia- the inability to visualize. It sucks, having a specific idea, but not being able to see how it looks. The only way I can SEE how something looks is to sketch it out, and I always tend for quick and messy, because I can refine the shape once I get the basics.
Personally, as someone who has done art most of their life, chicken scratching is a somewhat complex topic. It’s as much of a method used when drawing as it is it’s own art style. Whether or not it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on what you’re going for or what you’re learning. If you want your art to look like that, you enjoy the ‘messy’ and ‘unprofessional’ style, go for it! I personally think it looks great and is a creative way to draw, which is what art is all about. However, if you are going for a cleaner style, it’s best to break the habit of chicken scratching as it’ll be a lot harder to learn to do those crisp lines later on. Still, I use it as a rough sketch to quickly map out what I want my piece to look like, and if you’re just learning anatomy and proportions it doesn’t particularly matter. But once you start making finished pieces or try and figure out your style, it would make it easier in the long run (if you want a smooth/clean style) to keep chicken scratching to a minimum. Overall though, art is subjective and has no rules. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to draw, and shooting down new techniques- or even worse, new artists, will slowly make art look less unique and less creative, taking away from what art is. A form of creative expression.
On my animation and game design course we were told not to do "hairy drawings" (chicken scratch) so we would learn how to better control our hands and be able to draw faster. THIS IS FINE! Chicken scratch to me is less of an art style and more a way of building a drawing. If our drawings WERE hairy, they were not chicken scratch but search lines. We always start off with thumbnails and messy stuff, so there's always some amount of it in our work. IT'S NOT ILLEGAL!!! It's just that one we start the project properly this way of drawing doesn't work well with our time restraints.
What I'm getting at is, chicken scratch is a great tool but we were also taught to not rely on it as it can hamper speed because you'll be spending longer on one thing. So in the designing process it's fine because nothing needs to be that refined yet. But once you're making a pitch bible and animating, you'll need to do less lines. More fluidity, more speed. Not zero hairiness, it can be a part of your style, definitely! (It is mine too!)
Edit: We were taught exactly how the person on Quora explained.
Edit 2: This!! I'm 80% sure I have dyspraxia. A big part of the reason I draw pretty blocky and wobbly is because I can't control my arm that well. I looked I what I CAN do and worked on that. Of course with practice, I do waaay fewer "hairy drawings" than I used to, but with my longer lines always comes wobbliness. I've learned to use that to my advantage over the years and it's resulted in some accidental originality!
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For me, "chicken scratch" isn't technically an art style, but part of the process. That's only because of the line of work I'm in though. If you're purely an illustrator then it 100% can be considered a style on its own. I mean, look at Tim Burton's poetry books versus his animation. His group was able to get across the messiness of his chicken scratch using grungy textures and colours. It has a similar feel but it's much easier to understand. Also if he were to do something 2D in the Oyster Boy style, the amount of movement would be quite distracting. Maybe even dangerous for someone with epilepsy like me (ironic I'm an animator haha!) Not to say it would look bad though. It would absolutely RIP at an indie festival showing! I'd love to see something like that!! (if it wouldn't send me to hospital🤣) That said, it could maybe work as a game.
People will always hear a person of authority in the industry say something is "wrong" and run with it. I'm sure someone in boarding/animation, games, or big comics will have said something along the lines of "no chicken scratch" because my own animation teacher said the same. It will have been making the rounds with people in my industry all the time. But that's people in MY industry. We look for speed, conciseness, things that are easy to understand with the minimum amount of lines. Of course, we can then bend those rules to fit us, but people in animation especially need to always be thinking about how to make designs simpler to draw to be able to animate them easier. There will always be exceptions to this, but I think that's where this big hubbub is coming from and it's a shame people are so authoritarian.
I wrote all this out right at the start of the video. Sorry if I've put anything that's already been underlined!
Tiktok will always find a new name for something that's been around forever. It's literally SKETCHING.
To refine your sketches of your idea is DRAWING.
End of story.
Honestly I'm just gonna start drawing in styles that TikTok hates just to piss them off 😂
1:27. Dude, that is how most of my drawings look initially. I can't draw a straight line to save my life, I have to draw in short strokes, especially curved objects. I can keep variations down and clean as I go, but that is how I draw and it is very appparent in my shading on realistic drawings. I just find a chicken scratch shading style where I simply vary pencil pressures to be oh so much nicer (and cleaner) than thumb smudging. It is also how I like drawing hair, makes it look more natural. However, much of the shakiness dissapears during the inking
It's a learning point or a way to sketch out. I think it's ok if you don't have the confidence in line art yet, hell i still do that when getting the gesture and then try to "ink in" the lines to look nicer.
Chicken scratch is just another artstyle; it's messy but sometimes that messiness can contribute to something like movement, and give more interest to something simple. Art is meant for experimentation and trying new things. These people need to get over themselves, climb off their high horse, and let people live.
Not to mention, that as many people said - it still could be cleaned later...
Of course, the artists just starting might have problems with cleaning lines, because they might only know chicken scratch, and have problem with more clean lineart - But if someone draws for years, this might be just a comfortable thing to start with more messy sketch, then clean it...
For example - I started some years ago, drawing with a chicken scratches, which led me to being heavily criticized on polish (and international, english speaking) art servers...
So for the last few years i tried to draw "cleaner sketches", with fewer lines... But in last few weeks, i returned to drawing more messy lines - but i don't use it as a crutch or final product, but basically as a sketch that i'm able to clean with more clean line later.
I only use chicken scratch only in gesture drawing and it looks more like dinosaur scratch
LMAOOOO
These ppls heads would explode if they took an art class and had to learn gesturing
I personally like keeping the scratchy sketch in my art, especially digital art. I lower the opacity a lot but you can still see the short "chicken scratch" sketch lines under the smooth, clean lineart. I think it gives the art a character and humanity that is sort of lost if you just see the final product and not the process. not saying it's bad to delete the sketch layer, im just saying this is what I do and artists should feel free to do whatever style they want
i genuinely love your content so much! i know this is your message in all your videos but i love that you understand people can draw however they want and people should never make fun of them for that, beginner or not! i love that you defend every innocent person in the art community that gets immense amounts of hate for virtually 0 reason besides people being @ssholes... even if they think their helping, if a person doesn't want criticism dont give it to them! art is meant to be fun, and i can easily see the art community dying down from the insane amount of negativity in it... so youre really what the art community needs right now, thank you!
Wait....
TikTok is mad about [checks list] SKETCHES now???
lmfaoooo!!! there's a checklist now?! dayum!
@@MohammedAgbadi Better to be prepared and know what you might be up against than walking in blind, right? LOL
Tiktok is cancer 👍
From what I know, and from what I've heard, 'Chicken Scratch' is when you aren't confident in your lines, and so you do quick little strokes, almost afraid to commit to actually doing a line. Usually you can get rid of it by just doing some simple lines on a page to get used to drawing them. I have heard people say its a bad thing, due to how it looks, and honestly? I sorta agree? Its a beginners thing, in my experience.
yeah exactly. i feel like people on tiktok are also confusing the chicken scratch artstyle with just any drawing that looks very sketchy and loose even when the lines look solid and are confident
im not a beginner but i still do it because i find it better w my style (i have shaky hands too so i like doing it)
Chicken scratch is basically just poor line confidence, yeah. It's not chicken scratch if its controlled and intentional. Many artists simply outgrow it as they get more skilled with holding a pencil while others rely on it to draw at all due to a lack of fine motor control. The fact there's drama and fighting around it is ridiculous. TikTok is addicted to bullying beginners.
Happy belated birthday! As a chicken scratcher (who genuinely didn’t even know this was a discourse) I would just like to say thank you for constantly doing God’s work with this art videos, love ❤️
As someone who posts regularly on TikTok, I caught NOTHING of all the drama😳 there was so much tea I missed? This is exactly why I follow you♡
Happy birthday, sir!
I chicken scratch my pencils, and then lay down inks with long, smooth quill and brush strokes. And short strokes, too, like pull outs, small cross-hatching, dotting, dabbing, stippling, spatters, splats... etc. No brush techniques left behind!
I'm curious, what does it look like if a beginner artist starts using long strokes instead of chicken scratch right off the bat? How does it compare to a beginner using chicken scratch?
if the next art style to be hated would be "lineless" style or even art with lineart for being too much "based" and "generic" ima quit internet for a few months lmao people have become mad over anything. ANY THING
4:40 LATE HAPPY BDAY
I loooove sketchy lineart styles sm it gives so character and life. I love being able to see the brush strokes and almost makes the art look more detailed and complex? I don't do it much myself in digital art since i've always been a perfectionist; which is annoying because I always try to over-render to the point where it doesn't even look like the sketch anymore. I love doing traditionally because I can do more sketchy art styles but always find it kinda difficult to emulate it in digital without it looking overly clean.
Thanks for bringing up the disability part of things!
I have poor motor control due to many things, so I cannot draw with confident one shot lines even after years of practice. If something works for me, I'm using it !!
Unfortunately I cannot be a surgeon either like I wanted, so if I find a technique which allows me to do something I love, I'm gonna continue doing it