That one time a stranger fixed my whole perspective on sharing art online

I was at a small digital art meetup in Portland last fall, just kind of lurking and showing my stuff on my tablet. This older guy walks over, looks at my piece for a solid minute, and says "you're hiding your best parts behind texture brushes." I was honestly a little annoyed at first because I love my messy brush work. But he showed me his own early work where he did the same thing, and how he learned to let the actual drawing breathe under all the noise. It stuck with me so hard that I went home and reworked half my portfolio that weekend. Has anyone else had a random stranger drop a critique that actually changed how you make art?

2 comments

2 Comments

rubybarnes20d ago

Was it something you read in a book or saw in a video that made you rethink things? I always thought texture was the whole point of digital art, like painting with mud or something. But I heard this podcast with a comic artist who said the best stuff comes from keeping it simple, letting the line work do the talking... I've been trying to peel back layers ever since, same as you. It's hard not to hide behind all the noise though.

aaronrobinson20d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, same here! I got hooked on this old comic book artist's demo where he just used a ballpoint pen and some basic hatching. It blew my mind how much emotion he got out of simple lines. I spent weeks trying to strip my own digital art down, erasing all those filters and brushes I was relying on. It's tough not to pile on the effects, but when you finally get a piece that works with just the linework, it feels way more honest.