How to draw faster?

Posted 4 years, 10 months ago by Albinistic

I draw very slow. it takes me a long time to finish any art, and I really don't know how why. sometimes it's just tjat the process seems to be lengthy, for example, it takes me a long time to get clean and refined looking line work, and I tend to over-stress about details in the final stages. but I also procrastinate a lot, I can have a canvas open and be constant tabbing in and out of it as I work, sometimes totally zoning out and being distracted for an hour or more after I told myself I was going to sit down and do it.

this has been an issue for both personal and commission work, and it's really holding me back. is there anything I can try to remedy this?


Luckyee

Honestly, if the tabs are distracting you that much, and I know this is hard to do but:

Install a tab manager.

Block your distractions.

You can get mad, you can cry, but in the end it forces you to get it done, although you should make sure you have the proper motivation first. 

I also find I work faster when I have a clear idea of what I want my art to be, then I try my best to get there, but you have to accept there will be things wrong. Just know that honestly?? Nobody’s gonna notice except for you.


Cliodna

I second Beefy. Drawing slow and getting distracted are big issues for me as well. What I do is get an audiobook going. That stops me from going off on random sites, because I find that funnily enough I can't read and listen at the same time, so I'd have to go and pause the audiobook, which is something I'm unlikely to do without noticing and even less likely to do if the story is any good. :D 

If you've got video editing stuff and your computer is in any way decent then you can get some screen capturing program like FRAPS, "film" your screen throughout the process and make a drawthrough video with some nice music and sped-up work. XD Probably not a viable option but the few times I've done so I've realized it's made me very concious about taking unnecessary pauses and browsing unnecessary sites.

Gesture drawing/croqui is also REALLY good for cutting down on the initial stage of drawing the general shapes, and helping you get more motion in your images. You can re-use any sketches you make in gesture drawing for full-scale images later on as well, it's great, though it does take weeks or months to notice any difference.

But yeah I have the same issue you do. It makes it really hard for me to put prices on my commissions because a common advice seems to be "take the amount of hours you work on a piece and multiply it by the minimum wage in your country" but, like...I don't know how long it takes for me to finish a piece, since I pause all the time?

Therion

Highly recommend the gesture sketches. I tend to doodle a T-Rex for warm up sketches and figure drawing. I've seen a lot of motion improvement and it's becoming easier to figure out what type of poses I want. Just try not to take these practice sketches super seriously. I've have a perfectionist problem xD and want to fix everything. 

Albinistic

Luckyee

what is a tab manager and what does it do? google is just showing me addons for making having multiple tabs open easier, and I don't think that's what you meant.

Beefy

i almost always have music on, but it can sometimes be more distracting because i get too into the music...

as for gesture sketching and stuff, i've been trying "warm up" stuff before commissions, but the issue is that i obsess over even those being perfect, or at least up to a certain standard. it's something that's been a part of me for a long time, so it's incredibly hard to break.

Luckyee

Albinistic

I meant the things where like,, it blocks certain websites and tabs so you cant use them until you finish stuff

in your case i'd want to block google and some other stuff too

xRaela

It helps me to have music on as well, but another thing that helps me is to have a deadline. Like a solid deadline. I tend to spend too much time on linework and shading (still relatively new to digital art). 

Punk1n

Maybe just choose one song you like and put it on repeat. Then you will get used to it and it will kinda just fade into background noise :))

dray

For imagining how long it will take to get a piece done, guesstimate a time (1 hour? 2?) a multiply it by 4. This can help you account for distractions and give you a good baseline for setting a deadline.

Agreeing on gesture drawings. Only, instead of starting with 10 minutes and getting shorter, I'd start with 30 seconds x 10, 1 minute x 5, 5 minutes x 2, and 10 minutes x 1, once a week. Where do you get stuck the worst in details?

For distractions, you can set yourself a timer (pomodoro timer online can work.) this method challenges you to spend X time focusing in order to earn a break. Eg) work for 20 minutes, earn a 5 minute break. Every 4 times you've worked, take a 20 minute break. Obvs if you are very distractable you might want to start 5 mins on, 5 mins off. The idea is to build a practice (like exercising or learning music!) 

Overall, try thinking of this practice and personal work as process based. The commissions are recitals of the practice you've done, but not all practice can be a recital, neithee are you getting much out of your practice if you're constantly wandering off and then doing a very tiny piece of the puzzle over and over.

Don't kick yourself for failing process stuff, but be consious of when you're straying and gently guide yourself back. Always let yourself start fresh the next day with intention to succeed.