# What's your worst art-related screw-up?



## PlusThirtyOne (Feb 1, 2015)

Truth be told, i reeeeeeally wanted to name the thread "...FUCKup", but i digress.

i think everybody's had that moment when you after you apply ink, you take an eraser to the pencil lines and smudge the ever-lovin' shit out all of your hard work either because the ink isn't dry or the eraser you're using has glossed over with that smooth oily gunk that wreaks havoc on unsuspecting graphite. Then there are the times you might mistake one color for another and scribble a wide swath of green over your beloved character's face. Perhaps you've ever failed to notice a wandering sixth finger on a rough sketch of someone's hand and inked it over without thinking.

So now i ask, what have been your biggest blunders?
i ask because i JUST HAD ONE! -a biggin' it was, too!

Every day, i take my art supplies and works with me to work. i like to draw while on my breaks in my car. i'm usually pretty good at closing up my bag and keeping my art and supplies closed up whenever i leave the car. Whenever i get home, i bring everything into the apartment with me; my lunch bag, my art bag, anything else i brought home and -inevitably every day- the latter unfinished half of whatever giant fuckin' soda i've been nursing the whole day. Unfortunately i left the top open on my bag today.
...and the lid to a two-liter sofa i'd been drinking just before i got out of the car.

From the car to the door, all the way up 4 flights of stairs and into my livingroom, i managed to empty out a liter and a half of knock-off diet coke directly into my bag! Every sketchbook, every pen, every pencil, every book, my tablet, my DS, my work...
...all soaked.


----------



## Alexxx-Returns (Feb 1, 2015)

Probably this.. My first digital work done with a laptop touchpad over the course of a good month.

Or, anything else in my dA page. Or, anything done by me before 2015.


----------



## RedSavage (Feb 1, 2015)

>Starts drawing
>Best drawing 2014 MLG edition
>God look at that face. I've never drawn a face that good. 
>In the *ZONE. *
>I am ART GOD



Then SAI/CSwhatever crashes. 

And I hadn't yet saved. 




>Goes to cry


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 1, 2015)

RedSavage said:


> >Starts drawing
> >Best drawing 2014 MLG edition
> >God look at that face. I've never drawn a face that good.
> >In the *ZONE. *
> ...



I've had a similar thing happen to me. It just crushes your soul.
After that. I became a file saving freak.


----------



## SubarashiUrufuNoUindo (Feb 1, 2015)

Even worse.. Draw a picture taken hours to complete, Goes to paint, Spills it.. FUUUUU!!! No save and reload feature


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 1, 2015)

SubarashiUrufuNoUindo said:


> Even worse.. Draw a picture taken hours to complete, Goes to paint, Spills it.. FUUUUU!!! No save and reload feature



I've done that too 

Speaking of that. I sketch allot on my android tablet, but I still draw often in sketchbooks. Sometimes when I am sketching in a real sketchbook, I will pinch out my figures on the paper in an attempt to zoom :S


----------



## SkyboundTerror (Feb 1, 2015)

Everything I color is an immediate screw-up because I know jack shit about coloring. </3


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 1, 2015)

SkyboundTerror said:


> Everything I color is an immediate screw-up because I know jack shit about coloring. </3



Complementary colors are your friend . Now go forth and color.


----------



## -Sliqq- (Feb 1, 2015)

Doing line art and coloring on the same layer.

Yeah, stop laughing. I suck OK.


----------



## monochromatic-dragon (Feb 1, 2015)

-Sliqq- said:


> Doing line art and coloring on the same layer.
> 
> Yeah, stop laughing. I suck OK.



I do that too, but luckily I have never gotten too far into the linework before I notice, usually when I go to erase something and it erases the background too (I line over photos of traditional sketches)

Well one time I drew something with the thumbs on the wrong sides of the hands. Never again. 

To me almost everything in my gallery is a blunder


----------



## SubarashiUrufuNoUindo (Feb 1, 2015)

Maugryph said:


> I've done that too
> 
> Speaking of that. I sketch allot on my android tablet, but I still draw often in sketchbooks. Sometimes when I am sketching in a real sketchbook, I will pinch out my figures on the paper in an attempt to zoom :S



Why you no Zoom!! Ohh stupid Paper


----------



## Alexxx-Returns (Feb 1, 2015)

SubarashiUrufuNoUindo said:


> Why you no Zoom!! Ohh stupid Paper



My thing is when drawing on paper and I make a line I'm not happy with, I'll air-type for CTRL+Z and not hit the keyboard because it's FUCKING PAPER.


----------



## Moogie (Feb 2, 2015)

I haven't had any real bad mess ups, though I guess my worst would probably be.. Mischief shootin' me a random error, but I was able to screenie the doodle so it wasn't really that bad, just not the best resolution. 



Alexxx-Returns said:


> My thing is when drawing on paper and I make a line I'm not happy with, I'll air-type for CTRL+Z and not hit the keyboard because it's FUCKING PAPER.



I do this far too often! Such a _wonderful_ habit. xD


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 2, 2015)

-Sliqq- said:


> Doing line art and coloring on the same layer.
> 
> Yeah, stop laughing. I suck OK.



I do that once in a blue moon, but because of my painting style, I eventually flatten the image anyway. But having your lines and paint on separate layers makes setting up the image a heck a lot easier


----------



## Rydenan (Feb 2, 2015)

Maugryph said:


> I've done that too
> 
> Speaking of that. I sketch allot on my android tablet, but I still draw often in sketchbooks. Sometimes when I am sketching in a real sketchbook, I will pinch out my figures on the paper in an attempt to zoom :S



Haha! Whenever I make a mistake while drawing on paper, my immediate instinctual response is to 'undo' it. And of course then I'm like, "Sh*t, there is no undo! What is this, the freaking dark ages?!" Then I crumple the paper up, throw it away, and go back to the comforting fluorescent glow of my computer. ;D


----------



## TriSAR (Feb 2, 2015)

Painting...on a laggy computer... Pressing CTRL to turn the canvas but the damn lag just causes FLOCKING everything to get thrown off like a bitch...

Or worse, very slight shift in color and lineart layer dat presents itself as a leviathan in a pond near the shading stage... :|

[sub]But yeah, the worst would still have to be the mistake of coloring on lineart layers.[/sub]


----------



## Hewge (Feb 2, 2015)

Everything I try putting onto a canvas is a huge conglomerate mess of mistakes. The entire rendering process involves merely changing or hiding the mess until it's no longer visible, and gives off the illusion that I vaguely know what I'm doing.

Seriously though; mine would have been smudging often for traditional, and digital would be drawing on the wrong layers. Although... I've done both so often, that now I don't do either at all.


----------



## Kookyfox (Feb 2, 2015)

Inking an entire scene, and messing up by drawing one of the last remaining lines a bit too long.
Starting over, messing up the curve on a detail object.
Starting over, marker touches the paper for some reason and leaves a dot.
Starting over ...

inking is just so unforgiving


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 2, 2015)

Kookyfox said:


> Inking an entire scene, and messing up by drawing one of the last remaining lines a bit too long.
> Starting over, messing up the curve on a detail object.
> Starting over, marker touches the paper for some reason and leaves a dot.
> Starting over ...
> ...



It sounds like your obsessed with making every line perfect. Loosen up. Try a looser style. I sketch only in pen and ink and yes I make mistakes but I rarely throw away my drawings because in my drawing process I allow room for error an understand how to fix it. That will only come with practice. I  understand some hate pen and ink because you cannot erase. But the erasor is a tool, not a undo button. Its better to start over with a drawing then to erase all the time, trying to tweak it because mostly likely the same mistakes will be made over and over again. Avoid the eraser. Do not use it. I only use a eraser for subtractive shading.Gain confidence in your drawing ability first. Don't worry about every line stroke being perfect


----------



## PlusThirtyOne (Feb 2, 2015)

So i fire up Photoshop and start something really good. i SAVE the file, keep working on the image, making sure to SAVE every minute or so, build layers of color upon layers of detail, etc. etc. etc. Fast forward a couple of hours and take a break. Close Photoshop, make a sandwich, watch some cartoons. Come back to the computer, fire up Photoshop, look under "recent file" list...

i saved a JPG.
...on the lowest quality setting.


----------



## WideEyed (Feb 2, 2015)

Throwing out any drawing I did because it "wasn't good enough" or I "didn't want to finish it".


----------



## Bonobosoph (Feb 2, 2015)

I have an annoying habit of screwing up eyes, I make them all wonky and spacky looking because I'm not steady handed enough to put pupils in the right place. 
It's always that one thing that turns a decent art piece into a complete laughable failure.


----------



## Kookyfox (Feb 2, 2015)

Maugryph said:


> It sounds like your obsessed with making every line perfect. Loosen up. Try a looser style. I sketch only in pen and ink and yes I make mistakes but I rarely throw away my drawings because in my drawing process I allow room for error an understand how to fix it. That will only come with practice. I  understand some hate pen and ink because you cannot erase. But the erasor is a tool, not a undo button. Its better to start over with a drawing then to erase all the time, trying to tweak it because mostly likely the same mistakes will be made over and over again. Avoid the eraser. Do not use it. I only use a eraser for subtractive shading.Gain confidence in your drawing ability first. Don't worry about every line stroke being perfect




Yes... I do not use an eraser...
Also I don't want every line to be perfect but when there's a dot in the middle of your frikkin picture it's annoying as hell!
And Im not even mentionning foot-long lines sticking out of character's hand


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 2, 2015)

Kookyfox said:


> Also I don't want every line to be perfect but when there's a dot in the middle of your frikkin picture it's annoying as hell!



Wite-Out. As long as your not coloring the picture with colored pencils or marker afterwards. You can hide the dot with wite out.


----------



## Fallowfox (Feb 2, 2015)

Taking a year off before my degree to do an art qualification. That was a huge screw up.


----------



## Taralack (Feb 2, 2015)

- Doing the lineart on the sketch layer and realizing too late
- Working on a commission when the power went out, hadn't been saving. Learned my lesson though, I run an autosave script in SAI now.


----------



## ForgetLilliet (Feb 2, 2015)

Taralack said:


> - Doing the lineart on the sketch layer and realizing too late
> - Working on a commission when the power went out, hadn't been saving. Learned my lesson though, I run an autosave script in SAI now.



I think most people who have done digital art have encountered the layers problem before... That one is a horror to have to fix.


----------



## Renarde (Feb 2, 2015)

Drawing or coloring in the wrong layer, and then saving... the worst.


----------



## whitey20020 (Feb 3, 2015)

Burning the metal working on another nail. So much wasted iron.


----------



## PlusThirtyOne (Feb 3, 2015)

Know when to *STOP*!
i can't even begin to tell you how many wonderful sketches i've butchered with sub-par ink-jobs and shitty colors. Sometimes a sketch should _stay_ a sketch.


----------



## Centradragon (Feb 3, 2015)

Anime. 

Just... Anime. Much regret. Many shitty drawings.


----------



## WideEyed (Feb 3, 2015)

Centradragon said:


> Anime.
> 
> Just... Anime. Much regret. Many shitty drawings.



"Hmm. I just can't help but feel I could make these eyes _so much bigger_."

*shudder*


----------



## monochromatic-dragon (Feb 3, 2015)

I had the weirdest screw up just the other day. I was working on a drawing in SAI then I stopped to do something else for a bit, also on my computer. Then the cursor on the computer just suddenly disappeared. I couldn't get it to re-appear no matter how many times I unplugged and re-plugged my mouse and tablet. So I had to shut the computer off. Luckily I only lost about an hours worth of linework, something that could easily be replicated.


----------



## Centradragon (Feb 3, 2015)

WideEyed said:


> "Hmm. I just can't help but feel I could make these eyes _so much bigger_."
> 
> *shudder*



My favorite is when people draw an anime head in profile, and choose to draw closed lips with an open mouth creepin' on the cheek. Sort of like if they were evolving to be a flounder, but their mouth was moving instead of their eyes.

Totally did that in middle school. Perhaps one day I'll atone for those sins, haha. One day...


----------



## PurryFurry (Feb 4, 2015)

It's more boring than your soda mess story, but not practicing enough is my biggest screw up.  I'd be so much better right now- there's so many lessons to learn and practice!!!  Grad school, work, and other similar endeavors got in the way in my case.  (My work doesn't involve art at all.)  I had a span of about 2 years where I barely drew anything, and I'm not doing much better this year... *sigh.


----------



## Maugryph (Feb 4, 2015)

Centradragon said:


> Totally did that in middle school. Perhaps one day I'll atone for those sins, haha. One day...



You have. Your art is top notch. I wish i could get to that point of professionalism in my artwork.


----------



## SkyeLegs (Feb 4, 2015)

I had a bad habit of resting my wrist on my paper while I worked. Since I worked with soft pastels, I would quite often get some on my hands, and when I lay my wrist down it would leave little colourful marks on the paper. Somehow I would never realise I was doing it until I had it all over place.


----------

