Weird/peculiar things you do when drawing

[Darmodej]

most people go sketch -> lineart -> colors, but i start with color blobs and incrementaly add more detail -> lineart if i want to
i got used to it from a drawing game called drawception which had no layers and you had to draw in under 10 minutes

[ellievoyyd]

one of my favorite ways to draw things lately is zooming in really really far to make pixel art level stuff and scroll around, then zoom out and draw , zoom back it, etc. it makes it really interesting and fun of an experience for me idk. i kind of like the weird "bad" weirdly-composed and "unbalanced" look i get as a result of it

[Icey!]

I sometimes will scribble on my drawing and then undo it (I only do this when I am using the computer.)

[easy_breezy]

• I leave out certain features such as belly buttons, the details in the ear lobes, and eyebrows unless the character is emoting
• I randomly give characters sharp teeth

[shevek]

When digital drawing and editing the stuff I drew (adjusting colors, brightness, contrast etc.) I am a sucker for pulling the settings sliders to the extremes before settling for something I actually want. For some reason it's both hilarious and actually helpful to me, because I somehow need to know the range to judge how good this now fits my needs. I simply enjoy temporarily making my art hideous or ridiculous with way too high or too low contrast or an unfitting hue or vibrancy. Just in the preview of course, before I reset the sliders.

Just imagine someone doing their art very seriously and sternly, then opening the settings window and decidedly dragging everything to the max, smiling at the result, and then going back to serious mode. That's me. Channeling Monster Factory, I guess.

[plantovision]

For all my life, I have been guilty of going full caveman mode and holding my pencil in a fist. Not just for drawing, but for writing too. Instead of using my pointer finger to make small movements, I rest the side of my palm on the page and make small movements by flexing my pinky finger. This will probably be the cause of my future carpal tunnel.

You would not believe the amount of people in my life who have seen me do this and thought, "oh that's just what left handed people do," (spoiler alert: it isn't). That being said, whenever I find out someone else is left handed, I immediately generate a spiritual connection to them.

[doubleincision]

my weirdest drawing habit is probably that i breathe through my nose VERY loudly when i draw, completely involuntarily-- i don't even notice i'm doing it until someone points it out. i'm simply channeling my energy into the drawing

When digital drawing and editing the stuff I drew (adjusting colors, brightness, contrast etc.) I am a sucker for pulling the settings sliders to the extremes before settling for something I actually want. For some reason it's both hilarious and actually helpful to me, because I somehow need to know the range to judge how good this now fits my needs. I simply enjoy temporarily making my art hideous or ridiculous with way too high or too low contrast or an unfitting hue or vibrancy. Just in the preview of course, before I reset the sliders.

Just imagine someone doing their art very seriously and sternly, then opening the settings window and decidedly dragging everything to the max, smiling at the result, and then going back to serious mode. That's me. Channeling Monster Factory, I guess.

i actually find this super helpful too!! i feel like my eyes get too used to whatever the drawing looks like, so i like to shake things up a little bit and i often find that i prefer how it looks with a few color or contrast adjustments.

For all my life, I have been guilty of going full caveman mode and holding my pencil in a fist. Not just for drawing, but for writing too. Instead of using my pointer finger to make small movements, I rest the side of my palm on the page and make small movements by flexing my pinky finger. This will probably be the cause of my future carpal tunnel.

You would not believe the amount of people in my life who have seen me do this and thought, "oh that's just what left handed people do," (spoiler alert: it isn't). That being said, whenever I find out someone else is left handed, I immediately generate a spiritual connection to them.

not a fist, but i had a very weird Pencil Stance as a child that my teachers at school forced me out of. i would put all four of my fingers on one side of the pencil, and my thumb on the other, like a little crab claw. i was pretty good at drawing and writing that way, too 

[Memory]

most people go sketch -> lineart -> colors

I suppose the only "weird" thing I do with my art is I never sketch. I go straight into lineart with every piece I've ever done.

Why? I think it's because I'm lazy LOL. Sketching is a whole other process that I'd rather not spend time doing since I'm just gonna have to draw over the lines eventually anyway, so why not start with the lineart?

I do often just "sketch" though, but again, it's just immediate lines on a blank canvas with no "under painting" or otherwise.

[egbert]

i draw every one of my works in one single layer... i call this the mspaint disease

[dotmidi]

sitting on my legs but that's what i do most of the time im in a chair xD (i draw on computer with a wacom)
i also actually try a new brush for lineart in each of my pieces.. right now i've been using brushes i HATE and the piece comes out quite nice which leaves me with a sense of pride 

[bugfeli]

i saved up enough money to afford a wacom a few years back, it comes with a touch screen and it's really useful for zooming in and out of my canvas, as well as rotating. but, for some unknown reason, i literally cannot explain this, whenever I'm drawing i will randomly make my canvas do a loop-de-loop. some people i've talked to said they thought it was a way to check the piece from any angle(?) but i just do it for zero reason whatsoever. zooming out after some up-close rendering? spin. just cropped my canvas perfectly? barrel roll. copying and pasting the other eye? you bet its time for a quick roundabout. i don't realize i do it half the time so i think maybe it's a nervous habit? who cares, spin your canvas you only live once.

[Mela]

I don't like having many layers because when I scroll through them I end up forgetting what I was looking for, so I tend to use very few layers. If there are many details, then I often make different layers but then merge them together once I get the general shapes and shading.

[tarraxahum]

Honestly the only "weird" thing I remember about myself is a thing that, I feel, half of artists and animators also do...

Which is having dozens, if not hundreds photos in my phone's camera reel of me with the WILDEST expressions 'cause I needed an emotion reference (and I'm, thankfully, really good at overexaggerated emoting).

Although I've also caught myself multiple times subconsciously making the same face as the character I'm drawing even if I'm not looking at myself or need the reference at all. Maybe it helps to feel which muscles are engaging? I'm just glad no one has ever walked in on me staring very intently at the screen, deep in the process, while absent-mindedly making some unhinged face   

[deuil]

i'm surprised no one has said that yet, but i talk to my drawings. like, i talk a LOT. if i'm drawing in public i don't, but i can't stop myself from sighing and mumbling something anyway. but if i'm alone it's constant. it's to the point where if i'm voice chatting with someone while drawing they're used to it, but i still have to regularly clear it up because i end up going "oh that's NOT good" "are you happy about this ? i'm not happy about this" "do you think you'll cooperate with me anytime soon ? this is tedious" "don't do this to me man" and having to confirm to whoever i'm on call with that i am... still talking to my art program, or a fictional grown man i'm drawing 

when my art program freezes up is the worst of it. full on bargaining for 30 seconds until it's working again.

[jadefyre]

It's not so much what I do when drawing, but my habits with my digital drawing documents. I'll do several 'drafts' of a certain part of the lineart (or all of the lineart), and therefore have, like, SO many layers that are redundant. I try to keep them tidily tucked away in their own collapsed group, but the layers menu can be such a mess sometimes. 

You would not believe the amount of people in my life who have seen me do this and thought, "oh that's just what left handed people do," (spoiler alert: it isn't). That being said, whenever I find out someone else is left handed, I immediately generate a spiritual connection to them.

I notice IMMEDIATELY when people IRL and in videos and such are left-handed! There are so few of us, relatively speaking, and it's always fascinating to me to see how other lefties hold their writing and drawing implements. For me, I'm trying to train myself into holding mine in a non-death-grip, because the death-grip actively screws with the amount of time I am able to work on a given project in a single sitting. I never really understood this whole "draw from the shoulder" thing people always talk about when drawing because of how I usually hold my pencil, but since working with this new method, I've come to realize that, ohhh! When you can relax your grip while maintaining articulation, you actually have more control!

What I was doing before was resting the pencil on my middle finger, death-gripping with my index finger and thumb right near the tip (but before the taper), and also using my index finger to guide the pencil. The new method is holding the pencil with my middle finger and thumb (which still feels SO weird even though I've been trying this out for like 3 months now), resting my index finger in generally a straight-ish line, and moving my whole arm instead of just my wrist. And holding the pencil much further back than the tip. It's... an odd experience. But the giant callous I had on my middle finger has softened a lot so that's progress, at least!