I used to think digital art needed to be super polished to be good

I was at a small art meet in Portland last month, showing some of my finished pieces on my tablet. This guy named Leo, who does these messy, sketchy comics, asked to see my process sketches. I was kinda shy about it, but I showed him a folder of rough line work. He looked at it for a minute and said, 'This stuff has way more life than your final renders, you should post it.' That hit me hard, because I always hid the messy parts. Now I share my WIP shots and rough animations on my feed, and people connect with them way more. It's funny how one comment from a stranger can flip your whole view. Does anyone else share their unfinished work, or do you only post the final thing?

2 comments

2 Comments

hollyramirez19d agoMost Upvoted

Portland art meets are where the real talk happens, huh. That Leo guy saw right through the polish to the good stuff. I get hiding the messy parts, we all do it. But showing the rough work takes guts and it clearly paid off for you. The best art always has some of that sketch energy left in it.

kim_hart719d ago

Is it always about the rough work though? I've seen pieces that are super polished from start to finish and they still have a ton of soul. For me, it's less about showing the messy parts and more about the artist's intent coming through clean, however they get there.