Are you guilty of any of these mistakes? Are there any other things you have learned to stop doing that improved your work? Try this video next: Improve your Drawing Skills (10 Fast Tips!) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b85niLpk17PeqWw.html

Several things resonated with me here - one was certainly the common experience of the 'ugly stage', when a painting looks just hideous; I find this particularly in oil and acrylic, media which one tends to build up - the foundation tones can be crude and brash (and that's always the point at which someone else sees you working, and you wait for the 'my dog could do better than that!': yes; well so can I, now bugger off while I get on and do it). That feeds into the stopping the painting too soon, for the fear of 'spoiling it' - which usually means fear of making it even worse. I don't really see the point of not 'spoiling' a painting which just isn't good enough; what's to spoil? Doesn't mean you have to fiddle the life out of something, but that's usually a sign that the composition is off and you're trying to compensate for it by adding a focal point you didn't think of adding when you were doing the drawing. If anything, giving up on the painting is worse than that: all successful figurative paintings, and probably abstracts too, need darks, and points of interest - watercolours in particular need colour even more than water.

I find all the advice/tips helpful but the best tip for me (if I can do it) is to finish the painting. Not only does it reach an ugly stage, but I get bored with the image and that robs me of motivation. I have a very bad habit of starting work on the next project and never finishing before moving on even if I am not disgusted with it or think it bad.

Ah Michelle, you know us so well! My own worst habit is not finishing my pictures. I take on board what you say and will definitely finish them now, even if I really don’t like them. Bad painter! Bad bad, must try harder! Love your channel!

It's so useful to carry on with a painting when you know it's not going to be great. You can see where you're going to struggle, what won't work, and hopefully get an idea of what will.

Success makes me feel good but I really only learn a lot from my mistakes! Also, I love finishing and keeping my artwork so that I can look back and see where and how I've progressed in my learning :)

Thankyou! I just wish "my style" would show up sooner than later! I just wanted to paint what I like to see in a painting. At least now I know to finish a bunch of paintings I did that I found horrific. P.S.- I appreciate all you do for all of us!🙂😺💖👍

Been painting about 5 months now and I’m guilty of many of these things! One that hit home was about style. I’ll try now to not try to just copy someone’s work. It’s a dilemma though when your trying to learn. Thanks as always for the content in your videos. 😊

I wanted to practice-paint after a phone call with a friend. I couldn’t think what to try this time so asked him to suggest something and I’d commit to doing it. He asked for a large gin and tonic or two! I’m need to improve my composition skills, but he liked it, framed it and put it on his wall. So asking for suggestions can push you out of your comfort zone in a fun way!

haven't stopped any paintings at ugly stage but i do so enjoy the look on hubbies face when he sees them at that point. he likes to see what i am working on and hasn't the first idea about art LOL i just keep painting until i like it, at which point he is all agape because he had no idea were i was going with it.

good resounding advice, thanks for the encouragement and all your videos - great work !!

I was told in an art class that my center mixing space was too messy, then to many erasures and on and on. Now I’m afraid to paint for fear of making a mess on my palette and having to erase a line! Never felt confident enough to do much again. Freeze!

Thank you for the very helpful pep talk. You are spot on! I value the effort and skill you put into this video. You have really helped get my head on straight. Have a wonderful day! Again, thank you 😊

Michelle, thank you once again for your time and consideration, of course I ALWAYS look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions that you shoot straight from the hip with, (most KZfaq instructionalist seem to shy away from harsh truths; therefore they avoid real problems with subsequent solutions). One thing I thought I would add is something from my experience in the past. Sometimes, still, I've found myself making the same erroneous mistake. And that would be... Going to far. What I mean is this, really: instead of keeping things simple and non-rushed, sometimes I will go over my work too many times. Making it feel heavy, unpolished, and unnatural looking. Say I'm doing a nice lovely orchid. It's light pink, almost translucent, with an elegant and simple 'labellum' (aka lip) of an opaque yellowish white, with purples specks and lines. Simple and elegant. Well, say that the two petals alongside the dorsal & lateral petals are painted in first coat. I decide, after an hours drying, the colors slightly off now. So, I add some rose madder to my original dilutes of opera pink. It looks good with a stroke on my spare test paper, but once I find on top of of the first coat, it's too "hard"; now it seems I've lost that translucent delicate quality. Henceforth, I transmogrify into something of a hotmess, continuing to alter my original concept. Basically, Michelle, I have fussed and fought myself (along with the very careful sketch, expensive paper, paints, etc.), to the point that my painting has deviated from my original design: an ethereal Botticelli'esque orchid. Into a similitude from some fever dream of the masterful Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch. Of course those comparisons are beyond far fetched, as I'd love an orchid coming from EITHER of those masters. Michelle, I hope you understand what I mean. I'm sure you do, despite the ramblings of a Libra with ADHD. HAHA 😂 That's true though, so all apologies. Yes, my summed up point is...the all to often habit of the unplanned painter, beginning artist who's still studying, those who are self taught, etc. This would be that all to easy mistake of, fussing with your painting way too much. Before you realize it, you keep tweaking this and maybe using a Princeton 'Fix-it' brush #2 (or similar tool) in hopes of "fixing a portion of the problem". Only to realize you've pretty much damaged your 'Legion: Stonehenge Aqua paper; in the USA that's more expensive than Arches. Or maybe it was your A+ Arches paper. So, when you go to lay down fresh paint over the clean, yet deeper portion of the paper, it just doesn't look right... Basically, it doesn't match the other 99.5% of their piece, and usually the cycle continues until pink orchid is now brownish gray. And there are teardrop effects, like water drops on dry. I mean, the list of egregious mishaps is boundless in one's own desire for a little bit of perfection. OF course, this is typical of the beginner who's still learning theory and honing in on their hands on experience. Nonetheless, I know that I've been guilty of this in my earlier years, (or naturally experienced it) as I was first learning my brush to paper skills. I'd love to know if you agree with this one, Michelle. And anyone else reading this. Did you personally experience the beginners art of, "THE FUSS"

I have a BFA and focused on acrylic painting and one of the most important things I think they empathized was that you find your own style. I’m mostly an abstract artist and whenever someone tells me they want to paint like me I tell them, no, you have to find your own style unique to you.

Thank you! I needed to hear many of these tips.👍

Thank you, even though I work in pastels this advice is priceless!

Thank you so much! Every single video of yours gives me so much valuable input and motivates me to draw! The thing that you said about finishing paintings - I knew that it was better to finish my paintings, but I would always stop at the ugly stage, because I didn't see the point in proceeding. Now I know that it is just a stage and there is still hope for the painting to turn out well in the end!

Thank you Michele for these great tips. The 'ugly stage' I find that it's hard to avoid sometimes. My problem is that sometimes, other life things take precedence, and when I get back to my painting, it's,.. hm where was I??? So I often just start something new. Thanks for the reminder to push through! Good refresher on the copyright info, it's OK to practice and appreciate, but careful not to monetize it.

I'm going to step outside my comfort zone and try a limited palette because I use every colour in the box!

Best to for me is to complete work.

Thank you. Merry Christmas

Great video! I really needed these reminders, excellent suggestions.

Thank you so much for your teachings. You really help a lot.

Golden words!!!!

Many years ago I made a forgery.🤫 My uncle gave my mom a painting that had some water damage in the corner, to see if she could find a way to repair it and she could keep it. His friend an artist had given it to him years ago. My uncle had a leak in his apartment hence the water damage. It wasn't on a canvas more a sort of paper. She loved the painting and in my great knowledge and wisdom, I said let's laminate it and hauled out the glue😂 Totally ruined it!! My mom was so upset and thought my uncle would be also. So I spent a week copying all of his brush strokes and painting a house on a hill. Which I never painted houses or worked in acrylics. I even copied his signature.🙄 My mom was happy but would hide it when my uncle came to visit. She forgot one time and my uncle was so impressed with the repair that had been done that he wanted to take it to show his friend the original artist 😱 We had to tell him, instead of being mad he couldn't stop laughing.🤣 I now have that painting since both my mom and uncle have passed and I wouldn't part with it for all the money in the world. My son also knows it's a forgery😁 I had to get creative and use vanilla to make my whites not so white, I must say it's over 30 years ago it held up perfectly.😂

I feel seen. hahahahaa. On several points here, but I am working on it. finishing and comfort zone, especially. Always nice to hear a kind reminder.

Love the tip of getting out of your comfort zone. So right. Thanks for the reminder.

White Knights, Lucas and Van Gogh paints are great B+ quality paints.

Excellent thank you👍🍀

Thank you Michele. My New Year’s resolution every year is to do more of whatever I enjoyed going the previous year. To add to this is will now be to continue painting but go out of my comfort zone for some of my paintings. I have learnt so much from you this past 18 months. You tips and advice is invaluable. Thank you for being a great mentor Happy Christmas and stay safe xx

Thank you! thank you! Thank you! I learn so much from you

This reminded me of a book I read by a famous comic book artist/executive editor Dick Giordano talking about copying someone else's style.I can't remember the exact words but it was something like "why would I pay you when I can go out and hire the person you are copying"

I love your honesty and your straightforward approach. Valuable.

Thinking your tips will help me

All great advice. Thank you .👍❤️

Lots of good tips as usual Michele, thank you. It may help others to know that I have found moderate success using mixed media paper, specifically Daler Rowney. Not too pricey and quite good for standard watercolour, not too sure about masking fluid because I rarely use it.

LOVE your wise advice!! So much of what you said hit home. Other's style of paintings may not be your ability, yet or ever? Not having to have the most expensive materials, but still good materials. Especially about being self-critical and realizing I've only been watercolor painting for 10 months....negative thoughts creep in for sure! You explained the copyright issue very well too! I have to remember to use darks, shading, really does make the picture. I HAVE learned so much from going out of my comfort zone! Brilliant video, thank you. Happy Holidays and New Year. I appreciate your group on fb SO much, the staff and members have helped me tremendously. Stay well and safe!! Venice, Cal.

the last point, so simple so overlooked. Brilliant. thank you.

Very good...thank you 🤗

All very valid points!! I think I manage now to push through the ugly phase of my paintings and to trust my process - and to accept that not all paintings (especially the good ones) can be finished in one session! What I really have to work on are the underdrawings - I try to draw the shapes I’m seeing in my reference but when I’m painting I sometimes don’t know what that shape actually is (a petal, a shadow, a leaf underneath…). So I try to make sure I know what every line means - as you said, once the paint goes on it’s too late, and improvising doesn’t make it better 🤪

Great tips! It happens to me quite often 😅

I’m so glad I came across your videos they are so helpful and give my things to review in my own skills.

I don’t know Michelle, I kind of like your last example. But all your tips are great!

Thank you for sharing

Another great video! I needed to hear the tip about finishing your work and the benefits of it. I hadn’t thought about it quite like the way you presented it, telling the “why.” I love your ideas, I respect your experience, and I enjoy your delivery. Thanks for keeping us going.💙🌵

Thankyou! I had the Rachel haircut . My hair is perfect for it!. I’m guilty of negative self talk .

All tips are awesome🤩

Thanks for the encouragement. I tend to avoid stepping out of my comfort zone, feeling my painting won't be successful. I know if I push myself, they will improve.

Thanks Michele . Talking negatively . Now I'll pick out a good spot and say I like that. I still don't like everything I do but it's more subject matter. I just loathe doing flowers. I love flowers in nature and appreciate paintings of them bit I don't like to paint them. 😁💜

The last one was the most critical. We're only as good as our drawing.

I am copying by participating in tutorials. What I learning is what I don't like as much as what I do. But what I do changes as I learn more.It is what you said forced doesn't feel like me.

I am always learning such positive, helpful tips thank you again

Great video. Like others have said, I struggle with the "ugly stage" and have a bunch of unfinished work. I also struggle to get past the big blank page. :)

Thank you for the good tips, Michele. Wish you a merry Christmas!

Thank you 🙏🏼so very very much for your advice and points to learn💖, I am simply amazed how valuable your videos are. 🙏🏼🌸🌼🌺

Such great ideas Michele! Thank you!!

Thank you again Michele. Have a fabulous Christmas.

Thank you for these tips Michele.

Thank you merry Christmas and a happy new year

Thanks for sharing this valuable information with us. I always get scared when I get to the ugly stage of my paintings. I have gotten more comfortable with getting finished now. I am also guilty of staying in my comfort zone. I have been working on portraits too. As for finding my style, I am not sure what my style is called yet but I do know what subjects I like & feel inspired to do.

I love your gorgeous geisha Michele. Thx for these wonderful videos. Merry Christmas and happy new year. 🥰💕🐶💕🥰

Great tips! I think being overly positive about the painting results is as bad as being overly negative about them. I can relate to all those tips - the good drawing especially. I practiced a bit this year and I actually feel more confident now to start using watercolours again 🌞

Todays a rainy day so im doing a sloth art video binge day...so glad i can catch up on your videos... ive enjoyed your videos...they are very postive especially this one you continue to help me move forward in my art journey can you recommendand art books or something thats a fast verision of art history and the different type of art forms im learning so much these past three years so id like to get more information about art forms in painting but dont want to overwhelm myself where i cant retain any of the information..lol..i saw a book i think it was called mona lisa art noveanna ( something like that it was on a ad on a art channel so i couldnt get the title wriitten fast enough or author its like a fast version of art but somehow i cant find it any where on line have you heard of a book like this??).......hope your doing okay seen that your country is going thru a heat wave along with Europe saying a prayer for everyone to be able to be in a safe stable cool building.....mikelle art mom🎨✍👩‍🎨

Oh my god Michele I have been guilty of some of these, and I really like the boxer reference, made me laugh hard. Good point, you don't hear that too often, omg I don't stand a chance, he's huge! I also love the hair cut reference, I will stop that today! Comfort zone, yes very good advice. This was all really great, thank you so much.

Great advice as usual, thank you Michele 💕

I watched a video by another YT'er a while (year or so?) ago that compared some stationary brands, but what stuck with me was that she also tested them out on different papers: If you can only afford to splurge on one thing (and hopefully you can afford at least student quality paints) it's more important to get good paper (where I think we're talking 100% cotton paper, though no need to go to Arches, and it's possible that even part-cotton paper would be good enough). Good paints on bad paper performed similar to bad paints on good paper. If you have DS or WN paints but are using cheap paper, you are wasting those good paints, because the paper just won't perform very well. And also: You don't need to start with the best brands of paint + paper, because when you're a beginner you don't know what you 1) need or 2) don't know yet. Eventually you'll get to a point where your affordable paints + paper starts to limit you, and then you can get better material. For my journey, I started with buying a cheap thing of A4 "water colour papers", and it was really good for the base stuff, but as soon as I wanted to do more advanced things it just didn't perform at all. The paints just didn't move the way I wanted 'em too, etc. And that's when I bought a few sheets of 100% cotton paper, both from high-end (Arches, Bockingford) and from the cheaper end (Fabriano Artistico), and while I could see the difference between the higher end papers and the affordable one, it was not enough of a difference for me to go with the most expensive ones. But i'm not going back to non-cotton paper.

I am notorious for talking down my work. I just started painting with watercolor two weeks ago after breaking my foot. I get compliments on my work but I don’t believe that I am doing good work. I always tend to find flaw with what I have done. So thank you for this video and these tips it was very helpful especially to this newbie..I am definitely guilty of these things.

Finishing! I’ve got loads of good material, great subject matter, lots of KZfaq miles for composition, ok drawing skills but I hate to wait for the work to dry and usually lose interest a as BD move on to another project never to return.

I wish someone had instructed me on the "ugly stage" many years ago. It would have rescued a million pieces, lol. Ty

my dad always says that you can do a goodod job only with good equipment. As I started to do watercolour I got a student grade set because of this precise reason. I wanted to be able to achieve good results without spending a fortune. If you can't afford both I advocate always good paper first, bad paper makes the use even of the best paint to a nightmare. Currently I am still happy with my student grade paints and will stuck to them until I ran out of a colour and then I plan to replace that with a better quality. So little by little I will upgrade my materials with the growth of my art. Did the same time with my coloured pencils and it seems to be a good method (at least for me who has the luxury of having big art supply stores in the city). I've learnt a lot from your videos, thank you for your work throughout the year! Merry Christmas to you!!!

Thank you. I’m guilty of giving up on my ugly painting and not finishing.

That was enlightening. I ha a beginner with no experience with drawing and colors and al, what you said Iv7experienced. I'm sure I would make it a point to correct my mistakes. Thank you very much. 🙏🌷🌹⚘happy holidays ✝️🙏💟⚘🌹

Thank you so much! I am learning a lot from you :)

Thank you, Michele. I would love a link to copyright free photos, but the link is missing. ❤️

Negative self talk was my worst enemy. Not being gifted in the area of drawing didn't help either. Once after struggling to draw an interesting ear of corn and getting a migraine I just gave up on the thing. Not too long afterward I was dabbling with viridian, deep yellow and burnt sienna and, without even thinking about the ear of corn, created a vibrant little jewel and NO migraine! I still practice drawing but don't let it give me a headache!

Even if I don't want to, i finish my painting. Sometimes the ugly stage is really ugly! And its hard, but usually worth it

I don’t see the resources for images that you promised in the video.

It's incredibly difficult to avoid copying someone's characters when "fan-art" is top selling and easily gains attention for an digital artist for example. I was seriously wondering how far the copyrights can reach when it's so incredibly popular and thanks to fan-art many fandoms stay alive even if the show is over. It's a way of self-expression between commissioner and the artists in my opinion, but at the same time... It's illegal. A very controversial and interesting topic.

I’ve done quite a few flowers lately. I’m ready to challenge myself. However, I need to find a topic that rocks my boat. I don’t want to paint something that I won’t get enjoyment in the doing. Also, I would like to be more spontaneous in at least some of my future projects……maybe use some inks that I just bought. What do I have to lose but my dignity…..HaHaHa

LOL, thanks for putting "Behold, the Monkey" in this video. The story behind that always makes me giggle.

QUESTION! I started watercolor painting in October. In November I got a subscription for a stock photo website for good reference pictures. Am I allowed to paint the photos I purchase from that website?

Is it copying someone else's work if you do a study of a demonstration or tutorial video from KZfaq? It probably wouldn't be an exact copy, more interpretation, but the "idea" wouldn't have been original.

Hey there misess tambourine girl. Sing a song 4 me. With your jingle, jangle. Forever mingled. Into, yourself.

The "monkey" picture actually had a beautiful drawing (and painting) underneath, just not in best condition. The lady who tried to fix it just had an unrealistic opinion on her artistic abilities. Tragic story.

I eally ejoyed the video. How are all theese youtube artists getting away with drawing popular disney game or movie celebrity scenes and than putting them up on youtube and patreon and some making 25k a month and more. Like Sakimi Chan who draws LoL characters and popular Manga Characters and offers Tutorials on those along others that do similar like Ross Draws to mention a few. I mean they are not selling those works but the copyright to the characters aren´t theirs but yet they are using them obvioulsy to push the popularity of theire channel rather than comming up with most of theire own work. They are good digital artists not to take that away from them but I always wondered about that. Aaron Blaise from Disney sais if you don´t sell it you can draw whatever you want, but technically putting it on youtube they are generating a income with it or are they not? Hmmm. If I would start a drawing channel I would paint the hottest and latest cause everone else is doing it too and that would yield greater success than painting a bird flower or tree or random person unless your like a master at it than I suppose you can, such as Cezanne who conquered the World with an Apple.

Yes but how do you say....gee your drawing kinda sucks. 🤣