Can peoples art get worse overtime?

[Waterdrain]

It's a scary thought but, I remember talking about this to some of my friends and they said it does happen to people. I never knew it could actually happen because if you keep working on it you'll get better overtime. Right? So is it true that instead of progressing in an art style, people can get worse overtime? and how does it happen?

[abbastudios]

It can only get worse if you stop practicing and learning.

[TristanJensen]

I don't think so if keep practicing... I found this video a while back and it really helped me avoid that.

[Strontium]

I went through a self-considered nadir of art making in 2012... Coincidentally, it was when I wasn't taking any art classes at all. I was too focused on style and left other aspects of art by the wayside. When I resumed art classes in 2013, tho they were general art rather than specific to cartooning, my art improved a lot and quite quickly.
Like @abbastudios said, as long as you keep learning and pushing yourself, your art should get better. If you don't, your art could stagnate. Art is always about applying yourself in new ways!

[mariusthered]

yes . as been said if you stop practicing is a reason. too much self doubt can harm you art too, don't worry about it just enjoy it.

and the most scary reason hurting your eyes or drawing hand. a few years ago I broke my hand it was hell not drawing for three months and when I got back to it I found I could no longer draw a perfect line . thank god for digital rulers.

[AnnaLandin]

If you stop practising and consciously improving, and start getting sloppy, then yes, I suppose you could get worse. But I want to put emphasis on the "sloppy" bit - the only way to get worse is to either start rushing things and not bothering to do it well, or if you stop drawing for a while and start forgetting things you used to know.

If you don't start making rushjobs of your drawings, and if you don't focus on improving, it's far more likely that you'll maintain the same level.

[ifluke1]

A good rule of thumb may be comparing your handwriting over a period

[Redthic]

Pretty much what everyone else said. You can regress if you stop practicing or trying. You might also have a day where your art isn't as great as other days. But if you keep learning and trying to improve, you should be ok.

[CiciEnixa]

Another potential way for art to actually get worse is if you find yourself learning and practicing bad art habits like poor anatomy, bad perspective, and the like. Practicing will only improve your art if you practice what's... well, correct, for lack of better term.

[VermillionWorks]

Okay, in most cases I'd say it was impossible to get worse so long as you keep drawing...and even if you stop for a while the worst that could happen is you get out of practice and rusty; you have to remember how to do things again.

BUT I do believe it is possible to have the quality of your art freeze in place or at least improve really sloowlllyy, even if you still draw a lot.

There is a webcomic artist I've been following for years, I won't bring up said person's name out of respect for them (they're not on Tapastic), but they have been around a LONG time, it has to be pushing over 15 years now...

....and their art has barely. Changed. At all.

Okay, to be fair their art got a bit cleaner and their style more streamlined, but once it got to that point the improvement just stopped. They've been drawing backgrounds in a really lazy fashion for years and all of their angles are very, very basic. Rarely do I see experimental angles or character conversations that aren't just a load of talking heads.

In fact, in some ways, they've gotten worse because the artist has also become more fond of using copy/paste face shots for long-winded dialogue scenes and it's really distracting. Said artist must've decided early on that their style was good enough and they preferred ONLY quantity over quality, because I have never seen them make an attempt to make backgrounds more detailed or to improve how their characters are drawn by all that much.

So apparently, even if you continuously draw, it is VERY possible to fall into comfortable habits that stunts your growth. I do not mean to bad mouth this person because I do the same thing in some areas, I know there are things I need to stop and REALLY refine that I merely get by on now, I just haven't had time to, so as a result, it has only improved a LITTLE bit, if at all.

This is why I think, even with webcomics where you're trying to keep things consistent looking most of the time, you should still try to experiment when you can so you make some improvements as you go.

[Doubtcent]

There are some times where, after learning new skills, that you might feel that your art is lacking than before.
Much like when I learned to use shapes instead of just drawing straight. At first, it seems like it was a worse way of doing things, especially since I already had something that I had thought was good. But once my skill level adapted to the shaping of things and eventually got used to it, I found that what I drew after was much better that what I used to, and it was much easier to draw what I wanted, with better consistency.

[Menbung]

Well, sadly, it is possible. I've seen occasionally, but it wasn't because of the artist stopped drawing, quite the opposite, it was because of drawing too much, yep, you read it.

Sometimes deadlines are so brutal that takes a blow on art quality. Drawing with no rest is a one way ticket to sickness more often than not.

I have seen artists that have amazing volumes at first, but down the line the art gets more simplistic, with less details, more rushed... sometimes terrible art. But it's because of what I mentioned, the artist can't keep it up, even tho (s)he draws on a daily... the stress and sometimes illnesses are not friends of good art, mebbe.

oo.oo

[Kura]

In concerns to comics I think deadlines if often the quality killer culprit. I saw it most common on inkblazers when it was still around, when people were trying to fit the page quota to be featured/premium or be able to stay in featured/premium.

Or you know... physical aliments like getting hurt, overworking or arthritis.

[williamjbowles]

I wouldn't say that your art can "get worse", as in losing the ability to draw. But you can get rusty from going without practice for a sizable length of time, but that's basically only a temporary "worse", and getting back into the groove of things will usually bring an artist back to where they were before they stopped.
At least, that's been my experience.

[joannekwan]

I think it's possible, but I also think someone's style can change and in effect looks "worse" than before.

I have a friend who shall go unnamed and I used to like her cartoon drawings a lot, but then around senior year of college and afterwards she started looking into extra-curricular classes and did a Stephen Silver workshop last year. Her drawings became more stylized but in a manner that I am not a fan of. The essence of her characters gets lost in overly exaggerated caricature features and they aren't very appealing to me overall. But as long as she's happy...

[ConradComics]

I have witnessed people picking up and exacerbating bad habits overtime, especially when they were overworked. That's where the great advice given in this thread of practice and learn (constantly) really helps. It'll allow one to see that mistake they're making or remember a technique they were omitting.

I suppose one could also be tempted to keep a bad habit picked up under the excuse of 'But, it's my style.' So, that's something to look out for too. It's just a sensitive subject for some; understandably.

[Luie]

There are two ways you can get "worse" and I put this in quotations because experience never goes away. Even if you haven't ridden your bike in a few years and you aren't the wheely champion you used to be, you still know how to ride that bike and you still remember learning how to do tricks with it. You can get worse if you stop drawing and pick it up again, but your experience will come back after a while. The second way is under-or-over-confidence/ lack of practice. These two usually go together. An overconfident artist is less likely to have practice sessions to improve their range of skill. They're less likely to continue learning to draw new things because they can already draw a handful of things really well. So when they have to draw something new, they don't know where to start. An under-confident artist doesn't know how to improve their skill level and doesn't feel they can. For whatever reason there is, not practicing and not taking steps to improve can slow skill level. Trying to wing a drawing without thinking critically about space and proportion or taking time to work out measurements and guidelines may be more fun, but it's a poor way of improving method. Ideally, every artist wants to freehand and have perfect line placement, but that can only come by practicing with the training wheels first. This is also why art classes are so important. A lot of artists don't know the right way to improve their skill and need guidance. Very rarely can an artist improve at the same rate solely by self-teaching.

[TAMAnnoying]

This is a weird question for me, obviously your art can get worse if you don't practice, just like you'll loose your muscle if you stop exercising. But i've seen a lot of artist that i believed their art got "worse" however other people loved their art even more. So i feel like the idea of saying someones art got "worse" is as just as opinionative as saying someones art is "good" or getting "better."

If you start out with the artist early on and watch their art develop into something completely different you'll think one of two things, that they got better or worse- depending on the reason you liked their art to begin with, and if their development removed that aspect that you liked. So many times i believe its just the persons opinion that the artist has become worse, CAN it happen? yes. but is it always true that your art is worse when someone dosnt like it as some of your old stuff? ....eh no, you should always find out the reason why they dont like it, its posible its just developing in a direction they don't care for. If they love realism they might not like your new chibi drawings :v

[jacintawibowo]

Same as most people have noted on the "keep practicing" thing. I also think some artists get "worse" when they've kind of just told themselves they're "already good" and don't need to get better. Their art starts stagnating from there.

[Tentakustar]

I don't think it's possible to get worse if your drawing all the time. it just doesn't seem possible at all. stopping and then starting again I can see how your art will get worse. but if you're practicing and are continuing to brush up your skills it's just not likely to happen.

there's also the case of you being lazy with most of your drawings. by just rushing it. not necessary improving.