Unlearning

[Ghost]

For quite a while now I've become increasingly unsatisfied with the way I draw. I feel that I tend to use the same poses and general body types over and over again, and far too often I skip details in the (few) backgrounds I come up with. It feels as if I've just learned to create a couple of basic shapes, and whenever I try out new stuff the habitual lines get in the way. And what's worse, I consider my style piecemeal at best, using the simple faces of "cheap animuh" with western-cartoony bodies... it just clashes a bit too often and is less "personal/individual"  than I'd like to have it.

And I admittedly practise too little. At first I thought that was all it would take, more practise, more drawing. At the start of this year I stacked up on the materials I am comfortable with: Pencils, ink pens, and even a couple new toys (copic markers, for example, brush pens and even the highly traditional ink-and-brush combo). I started on a couple of "simple tasks"- draw a tree, draw a face, make a new cartoonish character; basics.
And apparently just "trying out more stuff" doesn't cut it for me. I often find myself returning to "old habits" despite coming up with designs that are less "stable" but more to my liking.

I know that personal styles evolve. But right now I feel like I am fighting several years of habit in an attempt to unlearn very much, and start fresh. I'd like to know if others have/have had that problem, too, and how they deal/dealt with it. I know that I can draw. The basics are all there I think, though by no means very perfect.
I'm also surprised that my pixel art seems to become (subjectively) "better" with each new project, while my pencil lines suffer as soon as I take a break for a week...

Hints & Tips, anyone?

[Fitz]

One thing I do is try to give the person (or object) I want to draw some kind of personality. I try to reflect it in their face, their posture. I imagine what they are like -- and what they're certainly not. Then, when the face or the figure starts to emerge, I can tell this or that makes them as geeky as I wanted, but too goofy -- and I erase and re-draw a given feature to see what works. Bigger eyes? Smaller lips? Pout? Protruding chin? Overbite? Eyebrows are a huge character feature for me. Same rules apply to objects -- although perhaps to such a great extent. A tree can look majestic/threatening/tired/old, etc. There's no one way to draw a pencil, either. I often change my style completely depending on what kind of a story I want to tell.

Also, when you draw, stop thinking "OMG OMG I suck, I can't do this!!!" -- because your hand can hear it Over the years, I've told myself A LOT how shaky my hand -- and it was, perhaps only because I've convinced myself of that. Now I just try to draw, without all the prejudice. I think my inking skills and overall confidence really profit from that.

[Anian]

Just f-in do it. Decide the style you want to learn/imitate, then look at some examples, observe how the artists handle details, like proportions, musculature, eyes etc. And practice. I don't that that often (although the monster challenge thing got me motivated to practice), but that is the way to go. Maybe not the fastest way, but it is rewarding.
I think it lacks effectiveness in your case is because you try not to imitate, but imitation is a great way to develop your own style, in time you blend different influences and make it your own, but first you have to try to imitate.

[waheela]

Yeah, I agree with the last part of what Fitz said a lot. Don't be afraid to fail, don't be self-deprecating, and stop trying to be someone else's perfect. (These are probably some of the hardest things for an artist to do, at least for me.) If something turns out "bad", don't beat yourself up. Look objectively at the pic to see what went wrong and what you can do to fix it. Try drawing the same thing again with these corrections in mind.

I think all artists hit multiple walls with their art throughout their life. I was deeply into anime in high school and part of college, and in retrospect, feel this really restricted me artistically. I unintentionally trained my eye to look at the outlines of things and simplified forms instead of looking at internal musculature, light sources, and so on. I also had more trouble with realistic faces, proportions and perspective. My style has changed over the years, and I still really enjoy drawing cartoonish (not really anime-style) stuff, but it was hard to train myself out of bad habits.

One of the things that helped me improve the most was surrounding myself with art I liked and extensively looking at art and art styles that resonated with me. Looking really critically at these pieces to see what made them work, as well as the artist's process was really useful. Another thing that helped is getting outside opinions on my own art from other artists and non-artists. Don't be afraid to show stuff to others, even if you think it's bad. (This was and still is really hard for me to overcome.) Oh, and of course, practice practice practice.

I don't consider myself an amazing artist, but I feel I've improved a lot in the last couple years. Just work though this hump, and don't give up. You'll most certainly come out stronger as a result.

[Theme]

Are you using reference? My suggestion is to copy. Yes copy a photograph, to look like the real photo, from the big shapes to the small details. If you draw from your imagination you'll draw what you already know in your mind. Copying will force you to not use your imagination to draw, but your observation.

[Tramponline]

I feel that I tend to use the same poses and general body types over and over again, and far too often [...] It feels as if I've just learned to create a couple of basic shapes, and whenever I try out new stuff the habitual lines get in the way.

I had a similar experience a few years back. At that time the job I had then allowed for me to draw more than 6h a day for roughly 7-8 weeks. At one point it felt like it didn't go anywhere 'new'.

What I did was deliberately breaking my own drawing style for a few sessions. For example, usually I prefer smooth flowing lines and almost despise geometric shapes. So I simply started to draw everything I wanted to draw with very short straight lines and no smooth curves, just 'straight edge' and angular.

I was really, REALLY suprised what came out of that 'new look'. I looked at those pics and it felt as if someone else had drawn those. Some elements of those experiments I incorporated into my usual drawing style. But even if not, these kind of experiments felt as if they helped to 'inform'(?) my own commonly used style (rather difficult to describe). Hope that makes any sense.