Hello, JR here. Today, I want to talk about how to check your artwork for mistakes.

There are quite a few methods of doing so, if you feel that even with the methods, you can’t tell what is wrong yet, overtime you can train your eye to see the mistakes more easily with the methods. However, I believe that the first method will bring whatever mistakes you see to light very easily.

#1: Flip it~!

Take the image you are working on and flip the image horizontally/mirror it/flip it.

It is as simple as that. The mistakes you have will come to light very easily. Why is this so?

This is because you have, overtime, gotten used to seeing your image as you work on it until you cannot see the mistakes anymore.

It is even said that the flipped version is actually how your audiences see your work for the first time and they, seeing it for the first time can tell instantly what is wrong with it that you, who have gotten to used to how it looks like labouring over it, wouldn’t have seen.

Flipping your work often, (I even have a keyboard shortcut dedicated to doing this), as you work will help you spot the mistakes faster/earlier and lets you solve them as you go along.

Zoom out and flip it and see as a whole what the mistakes are.

#2: Cover Parts Of Your Work Up And Analyze It!

Take a white piece of paper or make a new layer with a white square or use your hand and with that cover up parts of your work and analyze whatever is left as individual parts to improve on.

This will let you see possibly which parts are actually the problem, which parts need improvement, which parts can be changed, taken out. etc.

Now, the problem with this method is that you can likely zero-in too much onto the little details and mess up the big details/forms as a result, so use this method with the big picture still in mind.

You can start by covering up the whole piece then slowly moving the cover/your hand down from the top to the bottom or the left to the right then to individual pieces to see what is wrong.

#3: Take A Break, Come Back Later/Look At It Again.

This one is simple, you have been staring at it too long, you feel that something is wrong, you can’t tell what, you flipped it, you covered it up, its time.

Its time to take a break and come back later/look at at again later. There comes a time where pushing your work for too long, for too much to the straining point, leaves you at a point where you cannot tell what is wrong, you are grinding/spinning your wheels in place, doing little strokes and things here and there which don’t contribute anything to the picture.

So that’s when its time to take a break, come back later.

#4: Place Down A Grid System

If its a composition issue or a perspective issue that you are having, putting a grid down to recheck perspective, recheck composition, recheck alignment can help as well with your painting.

Your usual rule of 3rds, perspective grids, alignment of certain objects that are supposed to be aligned. They all can be rechecked as you may have gone off them/what you wanted as you worked on your piece.

There are many different ways to check your piece of mistakes, here are just 4 ways for you to try and I hope that it will help you at least spot the mistakes in your work and train your eye to spot them fast in the future.

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Keep Creating~!
JR