Diagnose / Causes / Observation
Observation mistakes
Drawing what you think exists instead of what you see.
- Afraid of darks: the darkest value is too lightPencil. The drawing appears timid, ghostly, and washed out. Rescue
- Brick and tile texture drawn everywhere at equal strengthPencil. Every individual brick, mortar joint, or roof tile is rendered with sharp, dark lines across the entire structure. Rescue
- Cast shadows painted black and opaqueOil. The shadows cast by objects appear dead, opaque, and jet-black. Rescue
- Copying every detail of a reference without simplifyingAny medium. The drawing is filled with high-contrast, tiny marks spread uniformly across every square centimetre. Rescue
- Detail before structure: rendering an eye before the head is rightPencil. Individual features look polished and finished, but they sit awkwardly on the face. Partly
- Drawing flat: no value range (everything mid grey)Pencil. The entire drawing operates within a narrow strip of mid-tone grey. Rescue
- Drawing the symbol of an eye instead of the shape you seePencil. The eye is drawn as a symmetrical pointy oval with sharp corners and a perfectly round, isolated iris. Rescue
- Flip-canvas check not used to spot proportion errorsDigital. The face or figure slants markedly to one side, features sit at conflicting angles, or one eye drifts noticeably higher than the other. Rescue
- Fur drawn as outline scribbles instead of directional massesPencil. The animal's silhouette is covered in frantic zigzag scribbles meant to indicate fur. Partly
- Hair drawn as strands instead of a mass of light and shadowPencil. The hair is rendered as dozens of individual, scratching pencil strokes from root to tip. Rescue
- Hatching that follows no formPencil. Shading strokes run in straight, arbitrary directions regardless of the surface curvature. Partly
- Hatching too even: no value planningInk. The hatched areas possess an identical density and spacing throughout the drawing. Rescue
- Highlights painted as pure white spotsAcrylic. Highlights appear as harsh white chalk marks plastered across fruit, vases, or forms. Rescue
- Nose outlined instead of modelled with shadow shapesPencil. The bridge and nostrils of the nose are drawn with hard, dark perimeter lines. Rescue
- Objects without cast shadows sitting nowherePencil. The objects have form shading, but the ground underneath them remains clean and blank. Rescue
- Overuse of undo and zoom leading to lost proportionsDigital. Individual features look exquisitely rendered in isolation, but sit at incorrect angles, disparate scales, or awkward heights relative to each other. Rescue
- Trees drawn as lollipops: outline plus scribbled leavesPencil. The tree is drawn as a straight, brown or grey stick topped with a circular contour filled with uniform scribbles. Partly
- Animal legs drawn from memory with wrong jointsPencil. The rear legs of a four-legged animal bend forward like human knees or resemble straight sticks. Partly
- Clouds drawn as outlined cotton ballsPencil. Clouds are depicted as rounded, bumpy outlines with uniform curved bumps along every side. Rescue
- Cross hatching creating a grid-like texture instead of formInk. Hatching lines cross each other at rigid perpendicular ninety-degree angles. Partly
- Dead eyes: no highlight, no eyelid shapePencil. The eye appears as an unvaried black disk without curvature, highlights, or distinct lid rims. Rescue
- Feet pointing nowhere: no ground contactPencil. The feet slope downward as though viewed from above or hanging loosely, even when the rest of the figure is seen at eye level. Rescue
- Highlights lost: no lifted lights with an eraserCharcoal. The entire drawing has drifted into shadow or midtone. Rescue
- Limbs drawn as sausage outlines with no overlap or foreshorteningPencil. Limbs are rendered as flat, symmetrical tubes meeting end to end. Rescue
- Mouth drawn as a flat line with teeth outlined one by onePencil. The mouth is rendered with a dark, continuous horizontal line separating the lips, and the teeth are outlined individually like white bricks. Partly
- Neck drawn as a tube stuck under the headPencil. The neck appears as two parallel vertical strokes connecting the jaw directly to the shoulders. Rescue
- Skin in the lights overpainted whiteOil. Light areas of the skin are painted with pure or nearly pure titanium white. Rescue
- Stiff pose with no weight shift or line of actionPencil. The figure stands rigid, with shoulders and hips drawn parallel to one another. Partly
Other causes
- MeasuringProportion, angle and placement errors that checking would catch.
- MaterialsPaper, paint, tools and how they behave.
- Drying and timeWaiting, layer order and drying behaviour.
- CompositionHow shapes sit on the page.
- ColourMixing, temperature and saturation.
- EdgesHard, soft and lost edges.
- FinishingFinal stages, protection and presentation.