ahhhh The ugly stage.

We all have it. I have found it comes often with coloured pencils … it’s that moment where everything looks ugly, crap, where our vision in our heads is not meeting what we see before our eyes.

For me the ugly stage usually is before I start to blend the pencil, it’s usually when i have a few layers down in most areas and it just doesn’t look like its going to come together. It’s often quite tempting when you get here (particularly when your first starting out)  to give up, procrastinate, move onto something “more important” the only problem is, if you leave it here when you come back it will still be there!!

When working on an artwork Creative tension is quite common, I find that if something is causing “tension” or not working this tells me that I need to look again re-evaluate it or with my coloured pencil art… more layers, layers and then some layers and keep working !!!
It usually means I am on the brink of getting to the next stage so I have to  ignore the uglyness and keep going!

So with that,  I will share with you:

5 tips to help fight the ugly stage.

1. Recognise  that you maybe in the ugly stage, it’s nothing to do with your ability as an artist and all you have to do is push on! As you continue on it will pass to the next level.
2. Walk away. Go for a walk, clean your house, do the washing, write a letter or post on your blog. When you come back with a fresh eye it will look different.  So, often when I come back to a drawing I am able to ressolve the issue I was having previously.
3. Take a photo, either put it on a website or blog or just look at it on your own camera in the view finder more often than not you will see things you haven’t previously seen.
4. Giving yourself distance walk back and look at it from a distance  preferably from the other end of a room (stand it up) amd can see things in a different light.
5. Ask a friend, or the ACPN members for advice by posting it on the forum, experiment with your layers, put more on in a section and see how the pencil blends together this will help you see more how it will work as a final piece.

I hope this helps you with the ugly stage, please share with others what you do when/if you find the ugly stage with patience and persistance hopefull this will pass.