Fed Up Of My Own Style

[DazJ]

Does anyone else have a problem with their own style of art?

Without blowing my own trumpet, I'm not a bad drawer, but when designing my characters and backgrounds I just think every single aspect of it isn't good enough for what I want. I'm a perfectionist so if nothing's 100% I scrap it and start again, only to achieve the same results.

I'm one of those people who can't make use of mock-up drawings to code my game around - I have to have the 'real deal' to work with. Why I don't know.

It's probably pointless asking, but does anyone else experience this? And if so, what do you do to overcome it?

[Chicky]

Try taking it one step at a time? You could aim to make each room perfect before moving onto the next, so don't start on any art that isn't going to be used in that room, then program that one room. That way each time you need to open the editor you will already have all the artwork ready and will simply have the task of coding that room together, then you can close the editor and work on getting all the artwork for the next room ready. Structure yourself, you need to be able to see the big picture whilst concentrating on the small perfections.

[Darth Mandarb]

I experience this frequently actually.

What I do to get around it are two things:

1) post in the CL ... the help that you [can sometimes] get in there can be invaluable!  I took a pic I had made (years ago) in there and the progression/improvement was so good that I felt I had made a step (or five) forward!  The final result was so much better'n my original (which wasn't too shabby I don't mind saying).  The CL here isn't the only place to get critique by any means ... I tend to avoid asking my friends though 'cause they really only praise (which doesn't really help, other than feel good).

2) study ... I constantly study other forms of art (mostly pixel art, but still valid).  I see how others use their colors/palettes and how they hi-light and shade things, etc.  I see how they do proportions and perspectives.  If I'm trying a new style out I will mimic their style at first, and eventually it blends into my own style and, I feel, I improve again!

I know the frustration though.  It's annoying to feel ... stagnate.  Hope this helps in some small way!

Good luck!

[m0ds]

Certainly, you have limits in the quality of the art or game you want to reach but alas every one of us has a limit on how far we can reach that quality. I totally understand perfectionism in that respect and not wanting to sacrifice great art on a great game. But sometimes you need to be realistic, maybe start something that doesn't require the best of the best, but you can still find some pride in working on it.

Mock-up drawings, or semi-ready art is the way forward. I nearly have a full length game done in 6 months because I just went for it with preliminary art the whole way. We have the luxury of the magical phase of a coded game and time to patch it up and improve it after that.

The best thing you could do to help you is just start working with mock-up art, getting the game laid out and coded to some degree. Then you may find you'll just be making everything better, not scrapping much. & don't forget to throw in a bit of passion for the project...Good luck!

[Questionable]

I wish I was Loominous, or Misj', or Pinkback, or JBurger, or.....

[Igor Hardy]

Most great artists have similar problems. No matter how good they become, they are still annoyed by the aspects of their work in which they're just amateurs (as everyone has weak points). What's more if they get better with years, they start to notice their work lacks the passion, the spark they had in their youth. There is no end to self-torture.

It's better just to take photos of things and save oneself the torments of drawing.

[Mr Flibble]

A little mental exercise I like to do is imagine what ProgZ or loominous (Or Opo, god rest his zombie bones) would do to improve it. I try to visualise the improved version, then make changes to make it happen. Identifying exactly WHY it doesn't live up to your expectations is half the battle.

[Crimson Wizard]

Can't say for sure this is same issue, but I had something similar a while ago. I never thought I am good at art, so I tried to stick to "simple" styles. But even then it was hard to draw something, because I always was troubled by some details not looking quite allright, slightly wrong perspective, non-realistic lighting/shading, etc, and that seriously annoyed me; I started to think I will never be able to draw. And atop of that I was seeing people posting their adventure games one after another that were drawn even worse than I can do  .

How did I overcome that?
Well, one day I thought I had enough. It was late evening and I was bored and depressed. I was thinking: what if I just draw like I can, without any complains, any quibbling. So I just opened empty document in Paint.NET, selected 2-wide brush with anti-aliasing (which I feared most of all) and started to paint raw... at first it was ugly, but I kept up and imroved over time. When I saw final result I suddenly realized that although it's far from being perfect, but, damn, it's quite alright.
Can't say I completely overcame my diffidence, but now things seem much simplier.
And what's interesting, I think I am becoming much better with the chosen style over time.

[Danman]

Well this would be my advice do the Best you can do.. That is the most you can do with art and making games.
You cant do anymore then that. . Nothing will ever look perfect.

[Stupot]

You're lucky enough to have a style to be fed up with, haha.

I have no style, just a total lack of ability.  But I've been looking at things from a different angle.  My current project is a one-room affair, and I plan to just draw it all in biro on a peice of plain paper regardless if it's shit or not (and it will be). Then I'll just scan everything in and start coding.

Maybe you just need a new angle, something to breathe a bit of freshness into your style.

[EDIT]
I've got one step lazier since I posted that.

Instead of biro, paper and a scanner, I drew everything roughly on my whiteboard I use to practice kanji, and then took a photo of it on my mobile phone.
First I drew the bare bones background and took a photo, and then I drew all the pick-up able items in and took another photo.  The art sucks, but I just want to finish a game for once.

[markbilly]

1) post in the CL ...

This is great advice because, even if you don't get good critique (which you will, of course!) it will motivate you to finish the background and improve on what you have. And people will tell you it's good, etc. Which is nice...

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The people I've met who thought they were brilliant at artwork have all proven to be egotists who really aren't as good as they think, the most important reason being they are not constantly working to improve.

Most truly humble artists I know are artists.  They may not draw in a way one person likes but they employ a style and skill that sets them apart and shows real talent. 

Not being happy with your work is okay as far as I'm concerned.  I'm never really happy with stuff I draw and often revisit it several times before I can let it go, one exception being the Sprite Jam.  I don't really feel competitive when I enter the Sprite Jam, for me it's a chance to drop all that and just draw something purely for fun.  Maybe you should try entering more often to make a change from your more serious effort.  I find that this helps me to relax more when I go back to other things.  Also, the Critics Lounge can be helpful when you are not receiving mixed signals about how to tackle an issue; fortunately, most poor advice is often corrected quickly by the more experienced members!

[Babar]

I miss Opo Terser

I SUPPORT THE RETURN OF OPO TERSER
AND C.LEKSUTIN


Where is that banner Evil had?

[Phemar]

I SUPPORT THE RETURN OF OPO TERSER

AGREED. That guy had awesome MSPaint skillz.

[Wonkyth]

I'd like to be an artist of at least a little skill, but I have high level perfectionist problems as well.
I can draw small(small) things with lots of detail and crap texturing, but as soon as I get to something as big as a person, as textured as a face, as all over the place as a background, I completely lose it. I have trouble coming back to a picture that I'm not currently happy with(all my pictures), and even with the ones I do like, I don't have the perspective to see where I can improve, what I can do with it and the like.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

A trick I've learned (and come to use myself) over the years with more detailed art is to do it in phases.  With portraits, for instance, there's nothing wrong with getting the base anatomy right and stopping when you've got a reasonable looking cartoony face.  Then after a bit, go back and work some realistic shading into the cheekbones, beneath the lip, under the nose, and around the eye sockets.  A little bit later, add some highlights that mesh with your shadows.  Soon you'll see something really good coming together as long as you keep your color count modest to start.  There's no problem with having a lot of colors later, but when you're first establishing shapes and shades you don't want color gradients and lots of hurried detail cluttering it up.  That's why doing high detail work in phases works so well for me, because I can also take a break from the design and come back to see any mistakes I've made and to better judge what next to do.  I would say it's not altogether unlike building a Lego vehicle from instructions; first, you start with the base, gradually building it up with blocks until you have a solid frame for the rest; then you put the second layer of legos on that establishes the basic form of the vehicle; then comes details like cockpit controls, rockets and wheels and such; finally, you add the last layer over the top, whether it's a cockpit window or a roof.  After that you have the optional details like cables, special bricks to add to the design and other finishing touches.  Now you could try assembling the vehicle randomly, but the method the instructions show for starting with the frame and building up tends to make things easier and more pleasant.

[paolo]

A trick I've learned (and come to use myself) over the years with more detailed art is to do it in phases.  With portraits, for instance, there's nothing wrong with getting the base anatomy right and stopping when you've got a reasonable looking cartoony face.  Then after a bit, go back and work some realistic shading into the cheekbones, beneath the lip, under the nose, and around the eye sockets.  A little bit later, add some highlights that mesh with your shadows.  Soon you'll see something really good coming together as long as you keep your color count modest to start.

Definitely. This is working well for me with the portraits I'm drawing for my game. Initially, they look dreadful (bulbous noses, wonky eyes, etc) but by getting the anatomy right to start with and then constantly building on and refining the image I can eventually end up with something half decent after an hour or two's work.