Artist thing

[InfinityXXX]

If theres any artist, cartoonist, basically anyone who draws, maybe you can help me out. I make comics in the eastern style and every now and then i'll start focusing on drawing a certain thing for about a week to perfect my skills at drawing this thing. For example, i'll spend a week drawing feet or eyes or i'll spend a week drawing characters in certain poses.

Well anyways, Monday i started drawing hands because out of all the body parts and objects in the world, the hands are the hardest for me to draw. Well for about 4p.m to 10p.m i drew a bunch of hands and they weren't turning out good so i decided to stop drawing them.

The next day i decide to work on my phantasy star online fan comic and i'm messing up all through out the comic. I can't get my panels straight i can't draw my eyes perfect, the heads and hair look awful, just everything is going wrong. I call my freind and tell him I'm having an off day and he tells me to relax for a few days. I stop drawing till today and my art still looks awful. I'm a great artist and the work i've been doing lately looks awful. I heard that in an artist life they go through an off faze but how long is this off faze gonna last?

[Orange_kid]

hmm, hands are the hardest thing for alot of people to draw. i know i will probably be stoned for this, but anime seems like a fad. everyone looks the same, save hair colour, and most plots are basically the same - something to do with either robots or samuri. although those themes can be cool, they can also be overdone. if you are truly trying to broaden you horizons, which i highly encourage, try doing something that hasen't been seen before, something like abstract or african crossed with pso. sometimes you need to freshen yourself up. go against the grain. you can only grow...

[Eanae]

*throws a stone at orange* It's the kinda thing happens to every artist now and then. Scenes are the kinda thing that really get me. There's alot of things I really can't draw, but those are really my down side. Every artist has their down time. I haven't been able to draw anything good in a while. Some of my anime drawings have won 1st prize ribbons in competitions, while others go straight to the trash. It's just the way it works.

[SunScar]

I've done the exact same thing. However I was focusing on gestures and poses. After a while I couldn't draw even the simplest of things. So I took a break form cartooning. Try drawing something totally different in a different style. It might help you losen up cause you are probably trying to hard.

[astuarlen]

Oh, that's lovely. I just typed up a big ol' reply, and it was spontaneously errased. >_< Let me try again...what did I say? >_>

I draw everyday for hours in the summer, so hopefully I can provide some helpful advice. I've never taken the only-draw-one-thing-for-a-week approach, so I'm not really sure how this would impact your art in general. But I can say that I believe drawing a variety of things seems to be the key to success. The more different poses you draw--paying attention to the way things are "put together", of course--the better your instinct for posing will be. So, while spending a day here and there concentrating on one particular body part might be a decent idea, doing it for a week probably isn't too beneficial, mentally or artistically. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I noticed that you said you draw in a "manga" style. Of course, style is completely up to you, but if I may make a recommendation, most artists agree that getting the basics of anatomy and the way the body interacts with itself is the most important technical thing you need to learn if you're drawing people in any style. On the surface, this doesn't appear to make much sense, but if you think about it, before you can distort or stylize something convincingly, you should be able to draw it accurately. Things will just look more cohesive and "right", even if some areas are emphasized or tweaked to fit a style. To this end, practice with (ideally) real models or (more realistically) pictures or a mirror. Also, you might try making varied "thumbnail" sketches of the basic form you want your subjects to take. You can then choose the one that looks most fundamentally right and start the actual drawing from there. I'm sure you've heard this before (and probably a whole lot of what I'm saying) but start with the basics no matter what. If you get mired in details from the start, chances are the picture won't work as a whole, and things will seem incohesive or disjointed.
How do I deal with "off-days"? Mostly, I just keep going at it until something works. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif Sometimes I'll go through a half-dozen sketches in one sitting before one "sticks". I've also heard that an "off-phase" may be a sign that you're about to make a significant improvement--that you see something wrong with your art that you can now tackle--and I can personally confirm this in at least a few cases. Best of luck, and just keep practicing! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif It can be frustrating, but if you're dedicated, I swear the results will be worth it.

[Outrider]

Err... just like to throw in a few things I've noticed:

Sometimes your hand just doesn't want to do what your mind is thinking of, so you'll have trouble. I've had weird things happen to me where I'll be making some really good drawings for like a week, but the second I start doing a comic book, it just looks like crap.

You'll have your off days (heck, I've had off weeks... and even months sometimes) but don't let it frustrate you too much. If it is, then take a break. Get your mind off it. I like the idea of focusing on one body part at a time (especially hands... they're a pain to draw) but don't try and kill yourself with the work.

[InfinityXXX]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm gonna start drawing realistic things for a while,like dogs, trees, and everyday people then i'll return to my anime style. I remember my dad telling me that an offday is like a metamorphosis for an artist and at the end your art work is suppose to look better. Then i read asturlen's post and i guess thats true. My art looks like a cross between Medabots and Teen Titans.