Ink mistakes

Permanent lines, little to erase. Plan with pencil; build values with line weight and hatching.

27 faults, most common first

Brick and tile texture drawn everywhere at equal strengthEvery individual brick, mortar joint, or roof tile is rendered with sharp, dark lines across the entire structure. Rescue
Copying every detail of a reference without simplifyingThe drawing is filled with high-contrast, tiny marks spread uniformly across every square centimetre. Rescue
Hands drawn too smallThe hands are noticeably undersized for the figure, often ending abruptly at the wrists like tiny paddles. Rescue
Hatching too even: no value planningThe hatched areas possess an identical density and spacing throughout the drawing. Rescue
Not checking work in a mirror or at a distanceA portrait or figure exhibits an unintended tilt, an eye sitting higher than its partner, or an overall drift to one side. Rescue
Pen lines drawn without a pencil construction, then corrected badlyArchitectural verticals lean at chaotic angles, and receding walls point to mismatched horizons. Partly
Smudging when ink is not dryFresh ink strokes have been dragged into long, unwanted smears across finished areas. Partly
Subject has no focal pointThe canvas contains equal amounts of detail, contrast, and sharp edges everywhere. Rescue
Wobbly lines from drawing too slowlyThe drawn contours have micro-tremors, uneven thickness, and abrupt pauses. Partly
Building cropped with a dead-centre horizonThe horizon line runs exactly across the horizontal centre of the page. Rescue
Buildings leaning with converging verticals gone wrongThe vertical edges of the buildings slant inwards at random, accidental angles. Rescue
Clouds drawn as outlined cotton ballsClouds are depicted as rounded, bumpy outlines with uniform curved bumps along every side. Rescue
Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromasThe painting features high-intensity, pure pigment across every corner without a clear dominant hue. Rescue
Composition cut off at awkward placesLimbs, joints, or primary objects hit the boundary of the page in an awkward manner. Partly
Cross hatching creating a grid-like texture instead of formHatching lines cross each other at rigid perpendicular ninety-degree angles. Partly
Ink blobs and bleeding on the wrong paperClean line work is spreading outwards into fuzzy, feather-like fringes. Start again
Limbs drawn as sausage outlines with no overlap or foreshorteningLimbs are rendered as flat, symmetrical tubes meeting end to end. Rescue
Local colour only: ignoring reflected light and temperatureThe object is painted using only its local hue mixed with black for shadow and white for highlight. Rescue
Neck drawn as a tube stuck under the headThe neck appears as two parallel vertical strokes connecting the jaw directly to the shoulders. Rescue
Stiff pose with no weight shift or line of actionThe figure stands rigid, with shoulders and hips drawn parallel to one another. Partly
Stopping too early because it looks fine in the phone photoThe physical artwork appears faint, lacking rich darks and crisp details, despite reading clearly when photographed. Rescue
Tangents: edges kissing awkwardlyTwo distinct edges in the picture touch exactly at their borders without clear overlap. Rescue
Two perspectives in one drawing (inconsistent vanishing points)Different buildings in the same scene follow separate, competing eye-levels. Partly
Wrong head to body ratio on petsThe pet's head is visibly out of scale with its ribcage and limbs. Partly
Framing wrongly: cropped or overmattedThe outer border of the frame or mat cuts directly into the subject matter, leaving no margin for the composition to breathe. Rescue
Shapes all similar in sizeThe masses, light patches, or negative spaces across the work are all roughly the same dimensions. Rescue
Windows not shrinking with distanceWindows and doors along a receding wall stay the same width and spacing as they go back in space. Rescue

Faults that apply to every medium are collected on the any medium page. Measuring problems may also be worth checking with the proportion grid, and paint drying questions with the drying time guide.

Checklist: check your work against these

Each line is the quick test from the matching page. Print this page for a studio checklist.

Brick and tile texture drawn everywhere at equal strength. Squint at your subject or reference photo: if the distant individual bricks vanish into a solid tone, your drawing has too much detail.
Copying every detail of a reference without simplifying. Squint heavily at your source photo; if half the tiny details disappear in your blur, but they are clearly rendered on your paper, you have over-copied.
Hands drawn too small. Hold your own open palm across your face; notice that your hand extends from your chin up to your brow or hairline. Compare that same measurement on your drawing.
Hatching too even: no value planning. Squint at the artwork from two metres away; if all the shaded areas merge into an identical flat grey veil, your values are unseparated.
Not checking work in a mirror or at a distance. Hold the work up to a flat mirror or invert the canvas upside down right now; any lean will jump out immediately.
Pen lines drawn without a pencil construction, then corrected badly. Hold a straight ruler against your building verticals and horizon line; if walls tilt inward irregularly and lines diverge erratically, perspective construction is missing.
Smudging when ink is not dry. Inspect the heel of your drawing hand; if it is stained with wet ink, you have dragged it across live areas.
Subject has no focal point. Look away for five seconds, then glance quickly at your artwork: if your eyes dart around frantically rather than settling on one clear spot, you have no focal point.
Wobbly lines from drawing too slowly. Look closely at a long straight line; if you see small wobble kinks spaced every few millimetres, you are drawing with slow finger creeping.
Building cropped with a dead-centre horizon. Measure from the bottom edge to the horizon line: if it lands at exactly fifty percent of paper height, the composition is split.
Buildings leaning with converging verticals gone wrong. Hold a clear plastic ruler upright against the side of your drawing board to check if your drawn walls drift away from true vertical.
Clouds drawn as outlined cotton balls. Look at the edges of your clouds: if you can trace around the entire cloud with a sharp point without losing the line, you have drawn a symbol.
Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromas. Take a photo of your painting and desaturate it halfway; if the composition suddenly becomes calmer and easier to read, your saturation is unmanaged.
Composition cut off at awkward places. Hold your hands or two sheets of paper over the margins to test shifting the crop inward or outward by two centimetres.
Cross hatching creating a grid-like texture instead of form. Look at your cross-hatch marks with a magnifying glass or phone zoom; if the lines form sharp little squares, you have built a flat grid.
Ink blobs and bleeding on the wrong paper. Touch a tiny dot of ink to a corner margin; if the dot immediately expands outward into a fuzzy starburst, the paper sizing is inadequate.
Limbs drawn as sausage outlines with no overlap or foreshortening. Check your line work at the elbows and knees; if all lines meet at closed points rather than crossing over each other, depth is missing.
Local colour only: ignoring reflected light and temperature. Examine the shadow edge of the object; if it is merely a darker, duller version of the light side, you have missed ambient bounce.
Neck drawn as a tube stuck under the head. Look at the side profile of your drawing; check if the neck stands straight at 90 degrees instead of slanting slightly forward from the back of the ribcage.
Stiff pose with no weight shift or line of action. Draw a vertical plumb line down from the pit of the figure's neck; check whether the supporting foot sits directly beneath it.
Stopping too early because it looks fine in the phone photo. Step back three metres from the easel in normal room light without your device and see if the darkest darks still hold authority.
Tangents: edges kissing awkwardly. Trace the silhouette outlines with your finger to spot any places where two different objects share an identical boundary line.
Two perspectives in one drawing (inconsistent vanishing points). Trace several receding roof and base lines backwards with a ruler and see if they meet at a single line across the page.
Wrong head to body ratio on pets. Measure the length of the pet's head from nose tip to occiput bone with a pencil; check how many head lengths fit along the pet's back from collar to tail base.
Framing wrongly: cropped or overmatted. Place four scraps of white paper along the edges of your painting to simulate a mount window and see if any focal points get crowded.
Shapes all similar in size. Squint at the artwork and group the elements into basic shapes to see if they all take up roughly equal area.
Windows not shrinking with distance. Measure the horizontal gap between the furthest two windows with a pencil tip and compare it to the nearest two; the far gap must be distinctly narrower.