Drawing: Detail Level (+poll)

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Most of my topics center on writing, but I want to try making more topics to discuss art. And not the kinds where everyone drops tutorial videos and then leaves, but REAL discussions where people talk about their stylistic preferences, and the motivations behind them.

So let's start with something basic: How would you classify your art style in terms of detail level? Think of things like drawing individual strands of hair, wrinkles on clothing, leaves on trees, etc.

• High Detail
• Aiming for High Detail
• Low Detail
• Aiming for Low Detail

Show results

If you've ever seen my art (especially my comics...) you know I'm Low Detail all the way. My pet projects include continuing to improve my cel shading techniques, and coming up with brighter, bolder color palettes to make the images really pop.

When I was younger, though, I didn't think like that at all. I knew I wanted to be a comic artist, and wherever I looked for inspiration, whether it was manga or doujinshi or even Marvel/DC, detail seemed to be king. So I was always 'Aiming for High Detail'.

But after a while, I realized I hated doing all that detail. I really hated it. I'd do studies of my manga and get the proportions all nice and even copy the shapes of the clothing perfectly, and then sigh in dismay as I tried to figure out where all 60 of those damn shirt wrinkles were supposed to fit. It just felt like too much...

For a while, I thought of it as a personal failing, like something I just had to accept and apologize for as a comic artist. But now that I've matured and 'seen the world', so to speak, I've learned to let go of my lack of patience and instead focus on what I do best: line art and color. ^^

Here's an example of the kind of stuff I like to try:

She's a character for an upcoming Webtoon~. Even the shading is Low Detail; I tried to get it as minimal as possible and instead use varying line thickness to make it dynamic and 'professional-looking'. This is partly to speed the comic production, but it's also a fun challenge, to see how little I can get away with. I would love the art to get to a place where it could be literally just lines and still look awesome~

[TimCaloweh]

I'm aiming for something in between low detail and high detail.

[sprite_1ww]

There should be a choice for the halfway point. I try to make mine detailed enough so that it's a bit appealing but not too detailed that it'll take me so long to finish a piece

[Kelheor]

Well, Hexameron is probably halfway? Compared to many comics it is quite high detailed, but not enough so I'll draw all these 60 shirt wrinkles.

But these are two of my favourite mangakas. Not even somewhere close in terms of details =)

But I hope I could come closer to SSSS, I think it is in perfect balance for the coloured comic.

[Likri]

I try to aim at hire detail, but in my current comic I let it slip into middle ground, because I gotta streamline the process with the schedual I want to keep up and, given the story and style, I don't feel most of it warants as much work as I would put into a standalone illustration. Though I hope with practice I'll draw faster and can have more detail and better color.
Common page

Mid deatil Illustration (earlier from development, so the character isn't quite himself yet)

Though I give more care to important stand alone pages

[Kann]

High detail for drawings and something between high and low details in comic to save time.

[Strontium]

Simple characters, high-detail backgrounds. That's my warring inclinations as a character designer and as an illustrator.

[inkycharland]

I put in high detail because I would love to work in the comic industry someday. You can always do the same with less, plenty of great comics are minimalist. I think it's a matter of influence, practice, and goals.

As a word of warning, though, high detail has to be purposeful. Drawing every brick in a background building wastes time and hurts the overall drawing.

Here's one of my pages so you can see my level of detail.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I'd like to do high detail, but I didn't want to fall behind my buffer so I stuck with a medium low simple details. Enough to know what's going on without looking sloppy. I'd rather aim for high detail for a stand alone art piece, an establishing shot, or cover.

[TheKawaiiGarden]

In my comic Legends of Kayal I've been slowly changing my art/coloring style a little bit per page but I'm pretty happy with how it is at the moment. Guess I'd say I'm "Aiming for High Detail"

Newest page for example :

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I always wanted to be a high detail artist. But my favorite images have always been the simple ones.

I mostly aim to have bright colors, and lines that seem action packed and exaggerated.

[sprite_1ww]

I have mad respect for pixel artists like you

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Thanks! It's been a learning process for sure. I'm finally starting to see improvement in it.

[JeanGuillet]

like @Strontium I've got high detail backgrounds and not-as-high detailed characters... although they're fully painted, so I'm marking it up as 'high detail' overall. I'm just working on upping my linework game. As my skill with anatomy improves the linework gets more detailed...or perhaps it's better to say 'deliberate'.

[Raven_C]

in my illustrations i've been trying to aim for mid-level details i guess. So...not quite high, but not low either?? I don't know.

However, for the illustrated story I'm working on right now, I'm planning to go for low-detail backgrounds to speed things up.

[Zyephen]

I'd say aiming for high.

I'm no Berserk level of detail in my comic, but I'd like to think I'm above average at least

[amortelito]

I consider all my art to be low detail. I don't mean low detail as a synonym of lazy but I really prefer that is visually very easy to identify and digest. And If I have to make a lot of detail in the line art (like in my covers) I paint everything is a similar shade to make sure the figures are distinguished easily. The character designs have also very basic clothes and hairdos But I make sure they are distinguishable.

I also prefer watching simple art too. I respect and admire the work of artists that make elaborate art, because they have to spend a lot of time, effort and skill making every single panel. At the same time, I think that the more detailed, the more those details are taken for granted as you scroll down a comic. I prefer when the focus is one thing at the time.