A random comment at a VR art gallery made me stop over-polishing my line work

Was at a small digital art popup in Portland last Saturday, showing some of my newer anime-inspired pieces. This older guy who does watercolor irl walked up and said my stuff looked "too clean, like a render." At first I was kinda pissed but then I looked at his stuff and it had all these rough edges and visible brush strokes that just felt alive. Made me realize I delete too many sketchy lines before I even give them a chance. Has anyone else gotten feedback that totally flipped how you work even if it stung at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarthompson8d ago

Honestly had the same thing happen to me but in reverse. I do mostly pixel art for retro style games and someone told me my stuff looked "too rough, like you rushed it." Burned at first but they showed me how cleaner lines actually make the colors pop more in that style. Now I spend way more time cleaning up stray pixels instead of leaving them thinking it looks "authentic." Funny how we both got told basically the opposite thing but it fixed something similar.

drew_west4d ago

Wait, you actually went up to the watercolor guy and looked at his stuff right then and there? That's bold, I would've just sulked in a corner for like three days.