Mistakes That Beginner Artists Often Make

 “There are no rules in art” so they say. For the most part that quote is true. Art in its purest form is the expression of the soul, it can be whatever YOU as the artist wants it to be. However, that does not mean that art has no formula to create what is considered by most people to be ‘good’ art. Here are some mistakes that beginners often make that actively make the art they make differs from what they have in mind.

First of all, ‘chicken scratching'. It's a mistake that is almost universal at this point. ‘Chicken Scratching’ is the act of drawing a single long line, but instead of using one continuous brush/pen stroke, you scratch short but connected lines to create said long line.

By Acrillec (Instagram)

At first this might help, especially if you have poor control over your brush/pen. But it quickly becomes a bad habit that will make your lineart look unfinished, rushed and untidy. A simple way to fix this is by gaining the confidence to draw using one continuous brush/pen stroke. You can practice by drawing lines or you can keep on drawing like normal but remember to stop doing chicken scratches. This will result in neat and confident lines.

The second mistake is using colours with no hue or saturation for shading and lighting, for example black, grey and white. Now don't get me wrong, using black and white for shading is not a set in stone mistake, in fact, if done correctly, it can create a bold and striking art piece. Keyword being ‘correctly’. Colours like black and white can be very punishing if used without much consideration, it can very easily make your art look boring, dull and amateurish. Contrary to popular beliefs, shadows in real life are not exclusively a pure black or grey colour. 

Shadows in fact have a slight tint of colour in them, usually coming from the environment or the object itself. As such, it is much better if you use a shadow that also has a slight tint of colour to them and the same thing applies to light as well. You can try using yellow for the light source and have the shadows be a dark purple colour. This will create a contrast that will make your art much more interesting to look at. Yellow and purple work because they are complementary colours, you can try other colours like red and green, orange and blue. Each of them can work to a varying degree.

The third mistake is the use of colours. It is not advised to use every single colour of the rainbow within a single art piece. You might think that there are other experienced artists that do just that, but they do so in a controlled manner. When a beginner does this, they do not do this strategically, instead they put whatever colour they feel like putting. Sure this creates variety, but it does so at the expense of clarity. Clarity is one of the most important aspects of art, it should not be compromised, no matter the situation. Instead, it is better to limit your colour palette and only use a handful of colours that work well with each other, such as complementary colours or analogous colour. This will create a sense of cohesion in your art and make the colours feel much more harmonious.

At the end of the day, art is however you as the artist wants it to be. There are no set rules that you absolutely have to follow. But keep in mind that when you want to create aesthetically pleasing art, there are still guidelines you can follow or even break in a controlled way to express yourself more. (M. Y.)