That time a senior artist told me to skip lineart in my digital paintings

I spent 6 months always doing thick clean lineart first, but a pro from the forums said I should paint directly with shapes and lose the outlines. Tried it for a portrait and the piece felt loose and alive, but my composition ended up messy without the structure. Anyone else been told to drop a core step and find it helped or hurt their workflow?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.olivia15d ago

Loose and alive" is just polite art-speak for "good luck fixing that mess later.

logan_wood15d ago

Did you catch that thing in the Yale art journal about how conservators actually hate loose brushwork? I read that they spend more time stabilizing those "alive" paintings than the ones with tight, controlled strokes. Makes you wonder if artists know their style is basically a headache for future generations.

lucast8115d ago

My buddy's been a conservator at the Met for ten years and he told me the same thing last month. He said one loose brushstroke painting can take like double the time to fix because the paint layers are so thin and uneven. It's wild to think that the style we love most is the one that gives those guys the biggest headache down the line.