Things you hate drawing?

[chuntung]

Was doing some anatomy practice for a project and i kept avoiding my old nemesis, feet. I don't mind drawing torso, head, hands, legs... feet always elude me. i mean if i apply myself i end up producing something half decent, but more often than not i dislike drawing feet.

any things that you instinctively avoid while drawing? just wondering

[Jazz]

Backgrounds. *shame* I get intimidated with the shapes and smaller details or nifty patterns.

[Homayun]

hands,they are my nightmaire(

[OmenSpirits]

Drawing a check that's not from my creative talent!

[kennygeeze]

The other eye.

[LORD M]

Environments. Trying to get down to that.

[Raoul Duke]

I only hate drawing things I don't know how to observe. Hands and feet can be a challenge or whatever, but I can figure those out in a matter of minutes at worst. The challenge is the journey. What I have always struggled with is strict perspective subjects, like cylinders and boxes. There is no room for improvisation or happy accidents (as Bob Ross would say) There is only pass and fail. Cars, architecture, weapons and nearly anything man made relates to this problem.

[Sascha Thau]

Everything Perspective related. I used to hate this. But you know - you have to go out of your comfort zone if you get better.

When I began drawing doing it all on the Computer wasn't en vogue. It was the time of Windows 3.11 and DOS and you coulnd't even work at 300dpi. I always tried to vectorize my black and white scans and Corel Draw always crashed. But I digress... So I was left doing it all on my desk and boy did I need long rulers. It was just physically difficult to do this.

Nowadays it is much mor easier with the help of the Computer - even when you want to do it the classical way, without 3D Programs. Digital Rulers rule!

[Dusty]

Not a fan of drawing cars at all.

[QueenGwenevere]

Cars, likewise. (Do we see a trend here?)

Unless they're old-fashioned funky-looking cars from, say, the 1940's or earlier. It's these modern cars that I loathe, they're just so... boring. No shape! No curves! No hood ornaments!

And I always dread doing scenes in modern suburbia, interior or exterior. I just... don't relate to suburbia. And it's as boring to look at as cars.

[Xeon_OND]

Complicated still life objects, like the xBox 360 controller with it's curves and all.

[kev ferrara]

blanks

[sarinn]

Hands & feet. Or to be more exact, fingers & toes. So I think I'll just do nothing but draw Michael J Fox for the rest of my life. He's always wearing shoes, and always keeps his hands in his pockets.

[Kamber Parrk]

Foliage, water and other things that really cry out to be painted rather than drawn.

[arenhaus]

Guys, this has to be the most counterproductive thread I've seen here.

There is nothing "special" about drawing feet, hands, foliage or cars. You draw them the same way you draw everything else.

Seriously, whenever there is something you "hate" drawing, it invariably boils down to not knowing how to approach it, and avoiding it, so you never learn how to approach it - a vicious circle.

There are two possible causes for this problem: either lack of knowledge that makes you fumble; or your habitual approach to drawing breaks on specific things.

The first one is solved easily: research, observe, draw from reference, work out a mental model of a hand, a foot, a car, etc.

The second one is an indication that you probably have a rote automatism somewhere in your skill, which breaks.

For instance, suppose you have a specific "memorised" way to construct a figure, but it does not work well with hands, because they are harder to fake. So the hands turn out bad, while you think the whole figure is acceptable. But it's probable that the figure is likewise bad, you are just too used to it or not trained enough to see that it is fake, too. The hands are just the indicator of a bad overall method.

Or, suppose you have a specific memorised way to draw comic book figures which look good for you, but once you try to draw a car, which needs specific perspective and proportions, your "faking" fails. This means that your figures are likewise broken, you just don't see it yet. The cars are a symptom; what you really need to do is practice perspective, and then you will be able to draw better cars and better figures too.

The list can be endless. I've seen artists who are great at drawing dogs, for example, but once they try to draw a cat or a horse, it turns out quite like a dog instead. Rote memorization.

So if you "hate" to draw something, you should take it as a flag that is waving at you over your worst problem. Avoiding it only means that you will keep having a fundamental problem.

You must attack it instead, or you'll keep jogging in one spot without ever getting anywhere. And even if it turns out a lack of knowledge, and not a fundamental problem in your method, you will still have gained something.

[QueenGwenevere]

Um... arenhaus... I think you are taking this thread WAAAY too seriously...

Also I think you're mistaken in equating "things you hate to draw" with "things you can't draw." I don't know about everyone else, but that's NOT what I meant. If I have to draw a suburban scene with cars, then of course I do my research and try to draw it as well as I draw anything else. I just don't enjoy it as much as other things, because the subject bores me. I ain't a drawing machine. I have certain tastes and interests, which invariably render certain subjects more or less interesting to me.

I mean, come on - if I have a choice to draw, say, a dinosaur fighting King Kong and a squadron of biplanes in an alien city with a volcano erupting in the background, or an SUV parked by a curb, I'd rather take the complicated dinosaur scenario anyday. Even if the SUV would be technically easier to draw. Because dinosaurs are more fun than SUVs. Period.

[arenhaus]

Gwenevere - read the thread again. "I don't mind drawing torso, head, hands, legs... feet always elude me". It wasn't about what's more fun or personal theme preferences; it was precisely about those "sticky" problems.

[QueenGwenevere]

Gwenevere - read the thread again. "I don't mind drawing torso, head, hands, legs... feet always elude me". It wasn't about what's more fun or personal theme preferences; it was precisely about those "sticky" problems.

Dunno, seems to be phrased broadly enough that it could be interpreted either way... at any rate, I read this:

i mean if i apply myself i end up producing something half decent, but more often than not i dislike drawing feet.

...and I thought it meant "I can draw feet, but I don't like drawing them." I've actually met a number of people who, literally, just hate feet. In general. As in, they see bare feet and they say "eewww, feet, gross." And if they're artists, this makes them avoid drawing feet. (Though this may be a girl thing, mostly.)

ON the other hand... I guess you could argue that not liking certain subjects (for whatever reason) means you'll avoid drawing them or studying them in depth unless you have to, which means you won't be as adept at drawing them as subjects you like. If you're interested in, say, horses, you'll probably draw lots of horses at every opportunity, and look at lots of horses, and study horses, and as a result you'll know all about horses and be comfortable drawing them from imagination; or if you're drawing them from life or refs, you'll know what to look for at a glance because you understand horses. But to draw something you're less familiar with, you'll need to do extra research and study more carefully.

For instance, I'm fairly comfortable drawing people from my head, but I need some sort of reference for cars, because I'm not a car expert - I have no clue about all the little details, or even most of the basic structure, unless I look it up. So you could argue that it's harder to draw things you don't like drawing because it may require lots more study. (So it's more work, so there's the temptation to avoid drawing them out of laziness, etc.)

Dunno if that kind of relates to what you're saying...

[zx52hg]

People. The stuff they are wearing? Interesting. The people themselves? Definitely not.

[chuntung]

The other eye.

ahhaha same dude, i always kind of get that weird feeling like... are they looking in the same direction? and then i just end up doing a lot of fixing and adjusting.

i never really intended for this thread to be a cry for help, btw... there are a few things i'm not particularly amazing at drawing but with the right research and practice, they are obstacles i can overcome. and i totally think that statement applies across the board.

but yea i was just wondering if there were any particular bits and bobs people don't enjoy drawing

i've never actually drawn a car but it seems the good folk on this thread are allergic to cars i used to know this guy who sat next to me in class and he drew nothing BUT cars.

[shifty_uk]

Definitely faces, faces, faces! I really should practice more. As Arenhaus pointed out, I simply do not know hot to approach them properly.

[Kuroyue]

People. The stuff they are wearing? Interesting. The people themselves? Definitely not.

Huh, I'm the opposite.

Plus: backgrounds, different facial expressions, and toes.

[Alex Chow]

I dislike drawing "sexy". I tried but it just never works for me. I found trying to draw somebody beautiful to be an incredibly limiting trait on what faces and body types I can portray. When I could throw the goal of "beauty" out, I can get away with exaggerating more which makes characters infinitely more fun to draw.

[Mr Man]

I dislike drawing children... thank goodness I dont want to illustrate childrens books. However Ill probably have to eat my words later on in my life. Usually the things you avoid come out to get you.

[Greyday]

blanks

^^This!

[DBZMerciter2005]

I'm not a huge fan of drawing backgrounds. It's not that I can't, it's just that I have difficulty putting one in once I've got a character drawn.

[sharprm]

I hate drawing furries. I drew one for a cartoon making fun of furries, but I still hated myself. Some things can't be undone.

[hunchback]

genitals anyone?

[nofu]

When there's something in a picture that there is a lot of and if it's very repetitive, chances are I aint gonna like drawing it. Say like windows on an extensive street view, or huge crowds of people in the background, foliage etc. I had a picture not too long ago showing the roofs of a dozen or so houses and man was I sick of tiling them after three hours.

[Greyday]

Oh, and I loathe shading and rendering, but that's because I'm not good at it. I'm working on it though.