Should We Retouch Our Art or Not? The Never Ending Dilemma ( Fashion illustrations in colour)
Lately I've been working hard on improving my art skills. I've been drawing and painting my days away you could say. I also did a lot of retouching, changing things I'm not happy with, trying to 'fix' some of my art. I already wrote about how this can be a difficult subject at best of times (here), but maybe this dilemma is something we need to do to practice balance. Being critical of one's work, constantly reevaluating and questioning everything is obviously stressful, but it is probably inevitable if you want to keep creating. Perhaps it is how we learn. Still, this 'should we redo/retouch our art or leave it as it is' is an never ending dilemma for me. Sometimes it seems better to start a new drawing inspired by the old one and 'redo' it in this way, and sometimes I can't resist making changes on the painting/drawing itself.
As I explain some time ago, it can be very tempting to constantly make changes, to keep retouching our work. With every new day, we get a new perception of our art (taken that we keep it, as opposed to selling it), and we might want to edit it on every day basis. However, is every change for the better? Do we not risk destroying what we made? It is not an easy decision, that's for sure. Fortunately, today we have photography at our disposal, so we can always keep a digital record of our art. Imagine how hard it was for the painters in the old days, not being able to keep a record of their original work. Still, every time has its challenges. In the end, art doesn't really get easier. There is always that constant self-doubt and feeling you're not good enough.
Here is an illustration done with ordinary pencil (see here), turned into an illustration done with coloured pencils. The transition wasn't terribly difficult but I'm not sure that I'm happy with how it turned out. I do like how the dress turned out, the multi shades of pink blended in nicely together, but I wasn't able to add additional details to the face. The ultra violet hair is also a sweet touch but as I said, I don't like the face as much as the one on the original drawing. Well, what can I say. You lose some, you win some.
EXAMPLE NO. 2
Here are two examples of 'retouched fashion illustrations'. In case of these two, I deleted the (ordinary) pencil and used coloured pencils to make the transition between watercolour and pencil more subtle. The changes I made here are very minor, so I can't say that I regret them. These paintings don't look different, only a bit more polished. With these two, I was absolutely satisfied with the 'retouching' and I do think these two fashion illustrations look better now.
EXAMPLE NO. 3
Here is an example of turning a pencil drawing into a coloured pencils and marker one. You can see the original drawing here, if you want to compare the two. This 'new' illustration was coloured with ultra violet trend in mind. I think ultra violet would match nicely with blue. What do you think? I do like how this fashion illustration turned out. It just accured to me that doing it (colouring my pencil illustration) was a bit like filling it those colouring books that became popular. The only difference was that this was a bit more challenging because I had to make some changes, as this was not a sketch but was intended as a pencil drawing.
EXAMPLE NO. 4
Here is something a bit different, an example of turning a pencil drawing into a watercolour painting. I do like how this one turned out, especially the scarf. I think that the green scarf looks pretty cute right now and since this was the inspiration behind the illustration, that's only right. It was very difficult to apply watercolour to a detailed pencil drawing, but somehow it turned out alright, so I don't regret it. If you want to see the original drawing, you can see it here.
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| my art + digital effects |
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| watercolour and pencil |
How do you like these illustrations? Do you prefer these fashion illustrations in colour or did you like the original ones between? Have a great weekend! Thank you for reading!
Lovely looks! xx
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I love it!! Enjoy the weekend doll!
ReplyDelete❤ Mary María Style ❤
Cool illustrations! The dress from first illustration is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThe congratulations on talent are excellent
ReplyDeletethe third one I like best ☺
Regards
Una meraviglia!
ReplyDeleteAlessia
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Kiss
Looks good,
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I like the arty effect on number 4! That's really cool. I think it's a matter of personal taste though, art is such a raw subject that comes from your own imagination that it's up to you and you only. I used to draw a lot and then I would get to the point where I feel like I ruined it too, so I understand.
ReplyDeleteRaindrops of Sapphire
that's exactly how I feel sometimes.
DeleteLove.
ReplyDeletethanks
DeleteLe tue illustrazioni sono belle sempre, in originale, ma anche piene di colori e con più effetti!
ReplyDeleteKisses, Paola.
Expressyourself
grazie
DeleteOh very interesting darling
ReplyDeletexx
Thanks a lot :D
ReplyDeletesuper, super interetsing my friend :)
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That's looking amazing!
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Gil Zetbase
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DeleteIl primo abito è semplicemente meraviglioso
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Deletethese are really beautiful
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xx Eva
Hi again Ivana! I found this article incredibly good as I am an illustrator and designer too and this is a constant thing in my daily routine.
ReplyDeleteI would say it all depends on the perspective we see it and on the objective we are looking for. But as you, I prefer to do the things as natural as I could. For example, most of the time I prefer to take the picture with natural light and just use Photoshop for the little things like drawing and contrast, and also with drawings, just adjust a few things because it is not bad to use digital tools that can improve our results. But there are cases when things get out of control and a lot of digital retouch is involved and sincerely I am not a fan of that but I repeat, it all depends of the situation :)
Congrats on providing great content like this Ivana!
Best!
Pablo
HEY FUNGI
I think it's perfectly fine to retouch. If it's not to your liking, add the things you want to the drawing. I often do that with rooms I decorate, outfits etc.
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I think that first retouch is absolutely brilliant!!!
ReplyDeleteI like your fashion illustrations with the colour, although I really like those ones with the black dresses-technically not colour. And yes, whether or not to re-do, retouch, add, subtract and generally change in some way is always a difficult question. Some say yes, some say no. I think most of us do it. If something remains in my possession and isn't sold chances are high that I will touch it up, change it a little. Sometimes it's because my style is evolving and other times it's because I just suddenly see something I really think would work. I like to read about art history and have read that many of the artists ( long dead ) whom we think of as the great ones were constantly changing and re-touching things. Most of the time I believe I have improved things, once or twice merely changed them, and don't recall believing I've ruined anything. Still, I find that as art is subjective, some people will tell me they prefer it before I fiddled with it. While that may disappoint me somewhat, it is myself whom I must make happy.
ReplyDeletecool drawings - keep painting my dear!
ReplyDeletehugs
Jennifer
https://jennifer-femininundmodisch.blogspot.com/2018/08/preischeck-so-viel-kosten-meine-looks.html