# Artist Problems



## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 10, 2016)

1. Hands.
2. The other eye.
3. Layers.
4. Eraser marks/ghost lines.
5. This is permanent ink so I guess he just has really long nose now.
6: Dynamic angles????
7: PERSPECTIVE???????
8. I bought this sketchbook to scribble my ideas in but it cost money and it's real paper so if I do draw anything I'll feel like I'm wasting it.
9: Thinking something looks good until the day after you finish it, when cold, unkind realization hits.
10. Tablet breaks.
11: Tablet driver conflicts with your os.
12: Tablet driver, os and art program conflict with each other.
13: Inspiration at 3 am.
14: Where the fuck is my pen???
15: WRONG LAYER
16: DIDN'T SAVE
17: People thinking you should work for 'exposure'.
18: People thinking you are ungrateful and stubborn when you won't work for 'exposure'.
19: Draw me!
20: Draw my mother!
21: People totally ignoring the subject matter and even style of your artwork and requesting that you draw something totally the opposite of these things, again for free.
22: People grabbing your sketchbook and looking through it without permission.
23: The defensiveness when you get rightfully angry at them for this.
24: 'Where's (insert this part)?'
25: IT'S BEHIND HIM YOU PISTACHIO
26: OR I HAVEN'T DRAW IT YET
27: Working for many, many hours on a complex and highly detailed painting and getting 5 notes.
28: Then getting 300+ notes on a doodle of a cat.
29: Congratulations, you got black on your yellow marker!
30: Congratulations, your clay bubbled and cracked in the oven!

Etc. Etc

Note: Please keep the thread on topic! This is intended to be a lighthearted (albeit a little self depricating) review of the day to day struggles of artists.


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 10, 2016)

P.S. A creepy, weird guy at the bus stop using your artwork as an excuse to get your phone number.


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## spaceybrains (Nov 10, 2016)

when your fan art gets more attention than your original work


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## PlusThirtyOne (Nov 10, 2016)

31: "You're wasting your talent drawing X."
(+)31: "You're wasting your time drawing X too much. Draw something else."
32: Ran out of UNDOs.
33: The backs of characters' heads.
34: Hair.
35: The curious looking over your shoulder while you draw.
36: Paranoia that people are looking over your shoulder while you draw.
37: Do i commit and ink this on paper or do it in Photoshop?
38: Messing up real ink and having to fix it in Photoshop.
39: Do i commit and color this on paper or do it in Photoshop?
40: Messing up real color and scrapping the whole thing because, "Fuck if i'm starting that all over".



Tigers-on-Unicycles said:


> 1. Hands.
> 2. The other eye.



Preach!


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## EdgyMemeLord0 (Nov 10, 2016)

I know that problem with number 1 too well!


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## Skylge (Nov 10, 2016)

Tigers-on-Unicycles said:


> 13: Inspiration at 3 am.



41. Stealing that inspiration.
42. Finally you nail down the best drawing ever when the phone rings.
43 . It's a guy with an Indian accent claiming he's a Microsoft doctor and your Windows computer has a severe cold.
44. Your impressed, but he can't guess your OS right.
45. Phone rings again.
46. It's a pollster asking if you already have a funeral insurance.
47. He finds out you're not his target group.
48. The cat thinks you're his target group.
49. Peeling a cat from the tablet.
50. Peeling a cat from the keyboard.
51. Peeling a cat from your face.
52. Almost selling the cat on Ebay.
53. Inspiration went hiking and left his map and compass.
54. On his map a red cross is drawn in the middle of "Siberia".
55. Siberia is far, far way.
56. Drawing like a machine, because screw inspiration.


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 10, 2016)

57. Looking back at all your recent drawings and realizing that everyone and everything is facing the same direction.
58. Only ever inspired when you have to do something else or when you can't draw.
59. Feeling like you want to draw but then you try and you've magically regressed several years.
60. 'Make an entire graphic novel for me from which I will make lots of proceeds and pay you... some. Maybe. In the future.'
61. Someone is always better than you.


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## Waraabe (Nov 10, 2016)

62. Generally just being bad at drawing


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## Yarik (Nov 10, 2016)

8 is so true lmao

63. Wanting to ctrl+z  on traditional pieces


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## Andromedahl (Nov 10, 2016)

64. Drawing the same pose/sketch over and over again because you can't get it just right


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 10, 2016)

Yarik said:


> 8 is so true lmao
> 
> 63. Wanting to ctrl+z  on traditional pieces


When I did that the first time I legit sat in frozen silence for 5 seconds


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## um_pineapplez (Nov 10, 2016)

65: you get banned from an animator's livestream because your asking questions while severely depressed got you labeled as a troll and also got you banned from the chat.

Wait, that's not an actual problem. That's just me ranting about something and/or the potential start of my downward spiral back into my suicidal thoughts.


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## Mr.Foox (Nov 11, 2016)

Problem 100: Constantly refreshing your FA page to see if anyone actually cares about your artwork. ;3; <3


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 12, 2016)

Mr.Foox said:


> Problem 100: Constantly refreshing your FA page to see if anyone actually cares about your artwork. ;3; <3


Most notes on artwork appear only immediately after submission, I've noticed. I've gotten used to it.


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## ariamis (Nov 12, 2016)

#66: feeling like art is now a chore.


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 12, 2016)

ariamis said:


> #66: feeling like art is now a chore.


That comes and goes. Whenever that happens, you gotta find something to do that you haven't done before.


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## ChainedAlice (Nov 12, 2016)

#67: Starting on a painting and being really into it and motivated... And then having something drag you away from it (such as parents) causing you to lose inspiration/motivation entirely.

#68: Putting paint project file in folder of WIPs to "finish later"

#69: Coming back to painting two years later.

#70: Still not motivated to finish painting after two years.

#71: Finishing WIP that sat untouched for 2.5 years and having it look completely different than you originally intended.


#72: Working on older, already finished paintings instead of drawing something else because they "could be better" and you also aren't that creative.

#73: Seeing fantastic art while working on a drawing and starting an entirely new drawing because of it.


#74: Wanting to hug people who don't ask for alterations.

(Or or are some of these just me? xP)


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## lyar (Nov 12, 2016)

75: Finished drawing something original that took you hours for someone to walk up and say it looks like something else, and it does.

76: Draws a creature, someone sees it and asks if its a pokemon or worse a digimon.

77: Sketches while riding the train and everyone feels the needs to interrupt you to complement your "work".


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## lyar (Nov 12, 2016)

Tigers-on-Unicycles said:


> 2. The other eye.


My literal kryptonite.


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## PlusThirtyOne (Nov 12, 2016)

Yarik said:


> 63. Wanting to ctrl+z  on traditional pieces


i actually used to draw a little "ctrl" and "z" keys on the bottom left corner of every page in my drawing tablet for that very reason. Of course i couldn't use them but just having them there felt like a safety net.


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## Skylge (Nov 12, 2016)

78. Doing a real art-exchange with a cool but inexperienced artist and you ask him to sign his work. 
You receive his original piece in the mail and he has politely/shy signed his piece on the back of the medium


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## um_pineapplez (Nov 15, 2016)

79: When your notebook gets squished and the graphite smudges all over the drawing.

No seriously. Every time I finish a drawing it aways gets ruined by graphite stains.


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## ariamis (Nov 15, 2016)

um_pineapplez said:


> 79: When your notebook gets squished and the graphite smudges all over the drawing.
> 
> No seriously. Every time I finish a drawing it aways gets ruined by graphite stains.



try lighter strokes. from what im getting is that you press pretty hard with each stroke. you lose control when doing that, and a lighter version will give more control and erase easier.


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## um_pineapplez (Nov 15, 2016)

ariamis said:


> try lighter strokes. from what im getting is that you press pretty hard with each stroke. you lose control when doing that, and a lighter version will give more control and erase easier.


Oh I have control. The graphite almost bleeds through the paper.

Or it could be that my drawings are pressing together.


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## ariamis (Nov 15, 2016)

um_pineapplez said:


> Oh I have control. The graphite almost bleeds through the paper.
> 
> Or it could be that my drawings are pressing together.


graphite shouldnt bleed through papers. ink yes, graphite no.


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 15, 2016)

81. When you spend countless hours on a complex painting of which you are very proud, but you save over it with this:


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## Vitaly (Nov 15, 2016)

82. Draw clean lines over sketch layer. Realized that sketch looks better.


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## Rant (Nov 15, 2016)

Or when a shitty tit pic you did years ago is the most faved and commented piece instead of the newer, much more amazing art.


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## MGFerret (Nov 18, 2016)

83. Flipping a drawing an discovering that the proportions are all slanted to one side...
84. Publising a comic page with dramatic spelling errors; because you were too distracted fussing over the drawings!


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## Caecus (Nov 18, 2016)

85. Generally everything.


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## quoting_mungo (Nov 18, 2016)

86. Get most of the way done inking a complex drawing, feeling really good about your line weights and fur detailing and other things that you only really add in the inking stage... just to realize you accidentally did 99% of the inking on your sketch layer and all that's actually on your ink layer is like an eye and a nostril or something.

87. Goddammit Photoshop Ctrl+Z does not mean change active layers on me fuck damn it now I have to redo those markings AGAIN when I finally got them right! (Seriously tho Photoshop stop changing active layers on me just because I undo a brush stroke.)

88. Shaded refs without color swatches. 

89. Discovering you left out a marking, forgot to shade one limb, or other utterly embarrassing mistake... after people already reblogged the Tumblr post.

90. Receiving comments like "How can you be into this gross fetish you are literally pedophile Hitler!" on random one-off fetish art that you have absolutely no sexual interest in.



um_pineapplez said:


> Oh I have control. The graphite almost bleeds through the paper.
> 
> Or it could be that my drawings are pressing together.


Well, consider that one way of copying lines involves covering the back of the page with graphite, then drawing over the lines again. If you press hard, and there's another drawing on the other side of the page (or potentially even a couple pages down, depending on how hard you press and how dark the other drawing is), wherever the lines overlap they'll get transferred onto the opposite page.

It can also depend on the binding of your sketchbook - spiral bindings leave a little bit of wiggle room for the pages so can result in more stains.

Honestly the only thing you can really do is to draw on only one side of the page. It won't entirely eliminate the problem, especially not in a sketchbook with loose bindings, but it will reduce the risk of one drawing transferring onto the one on the opposite page drastically.

Also stop drawing so hard.


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## nerdbat (Nov 18, 2016)

91. Mutilated ear hurts like hell, can't hear crap
92. Dying alone and penniless at late 30 after shooting yourself in the rib
93. Getting your work of art turned into a crappy ass meme
94. Some lazy ass artist steals your OC for aforementioned pic and turns it into some creepypasta movie called "The Scream"
95. You don't get paid for that because 92
96 The sadness will last forever, that is


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## MGFerret (Nov 18, 2016)

nerdbat said:


> 91. Mutilated ear hurts like hell, can't hear crap
> 92. Dying alone and penniless at late 30 after shooting yourself in the rib
> 93. Getting your work of art turned into a crappy ass meme
> 94. Some lazy ass artist steals your OC for aforementioned pic and turns it into some creepypasta movie called "The Scream"
> ...



... Alright Van Gogh


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## Skylge (Nov 18, 2016)

um_pineapplez said:


> Oh I have control. The graphite almost bleeds through the paper.
> 
> Or it could be that my drawings are pressing together.





quoting_mungo said:


> Well, consider that one way of copying lines involves covering the back of the page with graphite, then drawing over the lines again. If you press hard, and there's another drawing on the other side of the page (or potentially even a couple pages down, depending on how hard you press and how dark the other drawing is), wherever the lines overlap they'll get transferred onto the opposite page.
> 
> It can also depend on the binding of your sketchbook - spiral bindings leave a little bit of wiggle room for the pages so can result in more stains.
> 
> ...



Hairspray can be a relatively cheap way to protect pencildrawings, don't spray it too close or too much in one go, give it time to dry and spray another layer.
Don't overdose on hairspray and do it outside


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## Mr.Foox (Nov 18, 2016)

Positioning of the face, eye spacing, fur, fur, fur. Design, for like tigers and stuff.


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## Mobius (Nov 18, 2016)

97. When hippie pseudophilosophers try to make meaning out of your work when there isn't any.


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 19, 2016)

Mobius said:


> 97. When hippie pseudophilosophers try to make meaning out of your work when there isn't any.


But you are an artist!! Surely you must be in deep pain all the time???? You cannot create without your paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiin!!!


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## Tigers-on-Unicycles (Nov 19, 2016)

98. The eraser smudged the paper and now it will never go away.
99. I already own 58 sketchbooks but they're on sale at this store sooooooo
100. 200+ prismacolor pencils, but where is the color I need??
101. Dropped the pencil box. Some of these pencils now have broken leads, but inside the wood somewhere.
102. Are you seriously telling me all of these pens are dry??
103: Tiny hairs in the clay.


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