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Tutorial - Common Digital Painting Mistakes
Published: 2012-06-07 04:07:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 231018; Favourites: 12214; Downloads: 4631
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Description
A guide to common digital painting mistakes that I've either seen or done myself...hopefully it helps
UPDATE
If you have questions please visit my journal for a list of FAQ first, you might find them answered there.
[link]
Otherwise, ask away!
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Comments: 759
Thank you! This helped a lot, i've never even thought about these mistakes. I was so frustrated because my work didn't end up good so i haven't draw almost in month! Now i realize what went wrong andcan make pictures that i'm happy with
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though some of the mistakes you've shown above i discovered them myself through practice, the others i realised that occur often. therefore i find myself unsatisfied by the final work.
thank you
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I've been working digitally for about six years and I wish this had been there when I started out! XD I'm guilty of so many things in this tutorial - smudge tool abuse, overblending, fancy brushes, forgetting the reflected light... the list goes on. xD I'm not saying I'm an expert now, I'm still far from it - and definitely not ImagineFX standard! 
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My problem was solved because you
Altough I can't understand well, I'm not good at english XD
But, can you make a SAI version of this? I'm using SAI, ehm if you can't its okay XD
thankyou before ;D
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This is applicable with any program. Doesn't matter if it's SAI, Photoshop, or Oekaki. They all use similar tools and drawing in programs should be the same no matter what. This can even be used as tips for traditional work, not all of them though.
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i would agree. I haven't used SAI but most of the tips work in traditional work as well. don't worry about the program you're using - the medium doesn't matter as much as the conceptual understanding.
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Thank you very much for these invaluable advices!!!!!!
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I read the paragraph on Laziness, Instant empathy towards me on how easily i get frustrated on the constant unwanted commands from the tools. Then you continue on giving us tips about it. FAV+
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Wonderfull
Something that should allways be in reach when you think your work looks wrong!
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That's very helpful! Now I now, which errors I need to improve 
Especially I need to add more vibrant shading of skin in my paintings
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Thanks for ze tips. Starting out as well. Not helping though is the fact that I'm limited on layers with my apps.
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Very helpful! Thanks so much ^^
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Oh god, thanks SOOO MUCH for uploading this!! It helps a lot!! 
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I was pretty glad that I didn't make so many mistakes actually, but you got me on small document size and too many details 
Ohwell. Great tutorial
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Most tutorials say what you might WANT TO DO , and yours says what you might NOT want to do. I like your fresh change of perspective here.
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This must be one of the best general colouring tutorials I've ever seen. Great job.
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I learned all this from personal experience C:
I'm glad someone else knows the same pointers!!
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Thanks for make me feel like the biggest noob ever!
Hehe, just kidding.
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Excellent observations. One of the most common questions I get asked is what brush I use, for which I always reply the default round brush. The lack of contrast and monochromatic colors were the two that took me the longest to overcome.
Beginners should definitely take something away from this.
I think you should post a link to this in the digital art forum. It could help a lot of people.
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Heh, nice. I am numbers 5-11, I have been working lately on correcting them, but the fear one is tough. A natural instinct from starting out with natural media and seeing mistakes = dollars. I am getting better, but this definitely reminds me of all the junk I need to get better. Kudos!
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Well this is incredible, one of the few tutorials i see that explains from a more "mental" point of view rather than a technic one.
I have problems with the shadings, and sometimes even if i know how something is supposed to look and even if i know about color theroy i DONT realize how to apply it on my painting and they suck
This inspired me in some way to keep trying and dont listen to my head when it says "dont do that it's gonna look terrible"
Thank you
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If I had to say my current limitations:
--Over-obsession with detail (especially when my imagination runs in 3D).
--Impatience.
--Current lack of understanding of the concept of value (in my head).
--Spacial Control of my art (never quite knowing how much space my final art piece will take up on a canvass and constantly adjusting it digitally).
It's not that I don't know what a light source is, and how to create value around it...in school though, my teachers would explain what value is to me and it felt like it went in one ear and out the other...I didn't treat "value" as a separate concept from an "object"...I treated the object and the value as the same thing (I'm not sure if you can grasp my meaning).
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one of the things that helps understand value is if you do an underpainting first: try shading the entire thing in just black, white and greys as if you are doing the picture in pencil. then, you'll be forced to focus just on lights and darks to get proper contrast. it can be rough -- doesn't have to be perfectly blended or anything, but it helps from confusing value with hue, (im not sure if this is what you mean by object) -- the colors used in the painting. Then, when you start adding the colors, you'll have an accurate guide to lights and darks which you can try to match with colors that are equal in value.
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@___@ it gonna take me a while to get this . . .
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Very informative. This helps me a lot
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That's really helpful actually :3 I've always done traditional art stuff but just recently tried digital and it has so many challenges. Thanks so much!
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not everyone uses photoshop though. And a lot of these "common mistakes" are often used as teaching tools. I do really like your information though. A lot of it is very helpful.
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Thanks, this tutorial is very helpful. You also settled the issue with brushes. A friend of mine keeps finding different brushes and emails them to me; I'm going to send her this email as a reply.
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EDIT: Email? This isn't an email. This is a tutorial. Coffee, why u not work?
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This is helpful in some aspects, but your use of "fatal" implying "you should never, ever use this function" is troubling. I use smudge for various aspects of coloring and it works just fine, without the issues you bring up there. Also, while I rarely use the dodge/burn tool, I sometimes set layers to dodge or burn if it looks better.
I understand this is mainly for people doing digital painting, not coloring cartoon line art like I do, and people who work primarily in 1 layer, not 17-20 like I do, but still. You should be careful about the messages you put out there for aspiring artists.
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I think the author meant 'fatal' as in damaging if you use it in the way that's been shown...
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Regardless of how they meant it, you have to admit it's a strong word, and artists that people look up to NEED to be careful what they say to people.
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A wise listener would try to understand advice the way that it was intended. A speaker is not responsible for the unwise taking their statements out of context. Either you assume your followers are stupid, OR you respect their judgement enough to tell them what you really think.
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Also, this thing has 380 comments. My comments are no longer on the first page. What were you doing, searching the comments section for someone who disagrees with you just so you could argue with them?
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