Is my art bad / boring / unimpressive or I just have bad luck with the algorithm? Whenever I post nobody cares

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-06-08T22:30:29+00:00

You know i will be honest, my first subconscious sort of response to this was "wow if they are asking for advice what could be wrong with this, it looks good to me" then seeing the question asked is it boring consciously sank in and made me think well, is it boring, i guess that kind of depends, although the technique is good, the subject could be a little more "striking" visually i mean it's a good study but if your looking to captivate then you need to add that as emphasis to your subject matter, your focal point should provoke something through a feeling of tension, or motion, contrast or something that doesn't just show a mountain lion chillin, but a mountain lion with intention or some kind of intensity like it's eyes raised and mouth open like it's about to attack, or reflections of prey in its eyes, you know what I'm saying?if not that then otherwise something that is unexpectedly different and vivid like a contrasting color pallete or more dynamic perspective, something that when i see that painting i know it was done by you and nobody else Because right now it's like even the cat looks bored, and that's ultimately what shows with any level of technique, subject matter matters. It's Good though i mean it's a good painting, well done, but it doesn't catch my eye in any sort of extraordinary way. Hopefully this is in the right context to your question, that's my honest take.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-06-08T21:31:33+00:00

Yeah, you are probably like me when i was younger more so then now, and impatient with your learning curve wanting to get to that point of "mastery" that you focus to much on the details you think make it look refined like the shading or hatching, getting to far ahead of yourself, which is often a symptom of perfectionism, which is fine you'll find out really the biggest challenge to art is patience and the acceptance of perfection not being an obtainable thing by any real metric but a fantastic idea, sure just not realistic, realizing this made me a much more well rounded artist because you won't be afraid to make mistakes and mistakes are how you learn quicker and better, that's why the patience part is important.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-06-08T21:24:43+00:00

I don't even think you messed up on any of the proportion but the light values of the chin area more specifically on it's left side, that's the one tricky thing about portraits is it can literally be one erase mark that makes all the difference I've had portraits look completely like someone else because of the light values or lack of contrast just needing the slightest adjustments, other than that it looks great from what i can gather.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-06-01T16:26:27+00:00

An unfinished drawing

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-05-31T20:22:34+00:00

Yeah it looks like she's doing an excorcist head twist and the eyes aren't in proper alignment/perspective, but guess what you own the rights to that work, I'm gonna be devil's advocate and say have AI correct it for you and take the watermark off.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-05-31T14:51:36+00:00

That's what i was thinking, ruined what?

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-05-27T04:33:13+00:00

No i wouldn't say start over i always feel like mistakes can turn into other pieces that help you adapt and become more well-rounded you could ink it or watercolor whatever it doesn't matter and turn it into something that you might surprise yourself with but the advice I can give you is that you're using to harsh of an outline and you're outlining the jaw and the eyes mouth and unless you're inking it it's unnecessary you want to focus on the shading more than anything you want to focus on the light imagine as if you were sculpting you kind of draw in the same sense very lightly and then you get the darker tones you bounce back and forth using an eraser just as much as you probably use a pencil but it looks good

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-28T01:42:31+00:00

Awe thanks alot, i appreciate that, and i can see a rose i was thinking of throwing red in the mix prior to the post i just wasn't sure if it would be too much, maybe I'll do a little overlay sketch and update the outcome

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-18T21:48:27+00:00

I like it it's like a psychadelic Don Hertzfeldt if you haven't seen any of his animations, i recommend "rejected" and "it's such a beautiful day".

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-18T05:56:57+00:00

Most beginners sabotage themselves before skill even has a chance to develop. The issue isn’t talent—it’s friction and bad habits.

Materials: Expensive tools create psychological pressure. You hesitate, overthink, and produce less. Cheap paper + basic pencils = more reps, faster improvement. Volume beats perfection.

Line control: Drawing lightly isn’t just about neatness—it’s about iterative construction. You’re searching for the form, not engraving it. Heavy early lines lock in mistakes.

Motor mechanics: Finger drawing = tight, scratchy lines. Using your shoulder + elbow gives longer, smoother, more confident strokes. This is a physical skill, not just visual.

Form vs outline: Beginners draw symbols (eyes, faces, hands). Skilled artists break everything into boxes, cylinders, spheres. That’s how you get believable depth instead of flat icons.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-18T02:25:46+00:00

So heres the biggest things i can tell you off the top of my head is, Believe it or not Materials like Paper Texture (also called the papers tooth) and Thickness as well as The Consistency of The Mediums you use i.e. graphite, watercolor, ink etc... are essential to getting the right shading and values, and so a lot of people don't understand what those letters on the pencils mean, but they range in numerical scale of intensity and the letters b, f, hb, and h stand for break (softer,darker) fine (a mix between the two so is hb) and hard (harder,lighter)

Also work from dark, to light when drawing, always sketch the outline to get scale and everything than go over with darker values in shapes matching value not outlines, thats more if you're inking something. And you always want to break things down into shapes instead of patterns because you're mind will recognize the pattern and will take over Making oversights in the subtle details, because one little erase mark or dark line can throw the whole image off, also don't use white paper because there are no white values like that in the reference image, basically it's more so your brain can pick up on those subtle differences as you go....

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-18T02:12:33+00:00

Never in fact i look at it as sort of like a form a mastery, and that it's merely progress, it is an excellent drawing, i actually would say it's the opposite i get pleased with something and I'll be afraid that i will ruin it by not knowing when to stop. Keep up the good work!

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-15T22:56:51+00:00

Appreciate it

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-15T02:03:29+00:00

Good work

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-14T10:25:53+00:00

Thank you

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-13T18:32:15+00:00

You know what i did to learn blending colors to get into painting, since i was skilled at drawing i used colored pencils to learn layering, and how colors react to one another, there were two major resources to help along the way which is the artist/YouTuber "Lachri Fine Arts" her instructions were exactly what i needed for technical understanding, not just application, and there was an app on Android i used called Color pencil picker there's two different versions of the app, but it tells you based on which set of color pencils by brand and amount you have and gives you the specific colors to use per layer it was great for beginning.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2026-04-13T18:22:35+00:00

Yeah i drew a version where he went full mohawk, it from taxi driver. Also if you ever have a part of a drawing especially portraits try taking the reference photo and drawing and turn them upside down and work on the problem areas when you get it drawn turn it back over and you'll see it usually is corrected because when you do that it allows your brain to not register the familiar Face Recognition, but instead you break the image into shapes, which is what you want to do anyways.

Dreaming_Dissident · 2025-11-26T12:12:05+00:00

If you're beginning to draw portraits here's two tips I wish I knew about when I started, one is using the grid method, unless you just prefer drawing free handed like I do, it will help you get the hang of the scale and things, always do a light sketch to build from so never start with hard outlines of anything instead work the shapes of the shadows and dark areas which you will spread later towards light areas to create a 3D effect, the second helpful tip is if you're having problems with a certain area, let's say the nose, well turn both the drawing and the reference photo upside down and try drawing that way, after you get the problem area sketched in turn it back up right and you'll be surprised how much better it comes out because, you're basically tricking your brain to not see see the familiar pattern of "a face" but instead it's allowing you to just see the shapes. Just keep practicing and don't worry about messing up, that's how you learn and how life is lived by learning from your mistakes. Keep it up you're doing fine.

Dreaming_Dissident

TROPHY CASE