10 Common Mistakes Beginner Artists Make

This list is the result of one thing - experience and learned lessons. I literally made ALL these mistakes when I was first starting out. And I don’t want you to make them too. Some of these mistakes I made much later than I should have. So, if you’re an intermediate or expert artist, hopefully this article can help you a little too.

1. Not Sketching First

When I first started out, I used to think I should be good enough not to need a sketch. Now, that sounds insane to me. The best artists ALWAYS sketch. This one small habit will take your compositions from good to great. You don’t necessarily need to create a really precise sketch and trace with a light box (although that’s what I do for client work). For personal work, I just do a really rough pencil sketch off to the side or in a sketchbook and then another in peach watercolor pencil below my painting. Just spending a few extra minutes thinking out my compositions has made my work so much better. Also, it’s actually made painting a lot more fun and less stressful. You can kiss the fear of the blank page goodbye. This is a much easier way to ease into your work.

2. Not Painting from Life or Reference Photos

I used to think in my head “I’d like to paint a vase of flowers” and then I would make it up as I go. The problem with this approach is that my vase of flowers couldn’t have been more generic. All expert artists paint from life or reference photos. I know this because I’ve been paying attention to how the best artists work. This is the only way to get an interesting, believable painting with unique lighting. My trick is that I don’t use just one reference photo. I use several. And, when I can, I use royalty-free photos just in case my paintings start to look too much like any one photo. A good habit too is to keep a library of pictures you’ve taken as inspiration on your phone. There’s no better source of inspiration than a photo that is unique to your camera roll only.

3. Not Color Planning

There’s always one way I can tell the work of beginner artists from that of amateur artists, and it’s color. Beginner artists use all colors, and they tend to use the colors you would expect - blue sky, green grass, red apple, etc. Expert artists are much more selective. They have a handful of color formulas they always mix up, using only the colors they really love. They don’t care what color something is in real life. They use whatever colors they think will be most beautiful together to show something from their unique point of view. A trick I have is that I keep color swatches of all the colors I love (out of the tube and mixed) in my studio. When planning for a piece, I choose 3-5 swatches as my main colors. In my experience, the less color the better. However many colors you’re thinking of using, try to remove one before you start working.

4. Looking for Inspiration in All the Wrong Places

When I was a beginner artist, I thought the only place to find inspiration was looking at the work of other artists I admired. This was actually the opposite of what I should have been doing. The problem with doing this in the beginning is that you’re easily influenced. Spend some time looking at another artist’s work, and suddenly your work looks just like theirs. And this couldn’t be more frustrating, because all you want to do is make something unique. Instead, try looking at art throughout history. Or graphic design and interior design. One of my favorite exercises is to choose a photo of a beautifully designed room online, and paint something I would hang in that room. Once you advance in your art and settle on your own style, you won’t have to avoid the work of other artists as much. Just be careful in the beginning when you’re most impressionable.

5. Restricting Yourself to One Medium

For the first few years I was making art, I was convinced I was a drawer only. “No painting here! I hate painting…” I would say over and over again. This hatred was based on art classes I took in oil and acrylic painting as a child. It sounds silly now, but for several years I limited myself to markers and colored pencils only. It was a frustrating few years because the art never felt easy. Two years in, I decided to do something “crazy” and try gouache. It was love at first brushstroke. I realized I didn’t hate painting at all. I just hadn’t found the paints I liked yet. And the key for me was working with small brushes, something I’d never tried before. Now I’m kicking myself that I didn’t experiment with new mediums sooner. Today, as a more advanced artist, I try new mediums all the time. I’ve learned never to restrict myself again. Is it really that crazy to try a new medium? Definitely not.

6. Expecting Instant Results

At the beginning of my art journey, I was convinced I had a gift. I was a talented artist who just hadn’t made anything in a while! I had excelled at art in elementary school and high school. Any work I made right off the bat should be amazing right? WRONG. The minute I sat down and started working, it was a huge letdown. I wasn’t any good (YET). If my art journey has taught me anything, it’s that we’re all born with interests and that’s what makes us WANT to get good at something. It’s why some people choose music, some choose cooking, and some (like me) choose art. But talent isn’t inherited. It’s learned. To truly get good at something, it’ll take years, more likely decades. It’s easy to look at another artist’s work and assume they were born good. However, scroll through their Instagram feed and you’ll probably find decades of work.

Your work will not be good in the beginning. And that’s expected. Don’t focus on that. Get so busy making things that you don’t even stop to think about how good they are. Before you know it, you’ll look over your body of work and see how much you’ve improved. But, again, this will be over the course of many many years. If you can’t help but focus on how good you are, just focus on being better today than yesterday. That will get you everywhere.

7. Not Creating on a Regular Schedule

I wasn’t able to fully commit to my art until I carved out a little time every day to do so. You don’t need to commit to every day, but try to commit to the same days per week, roughly at the same time - similar to how you would attend a fitness class you signed up for. Take your commitment to your art seriously. Put it in your calendar. I think the concept of habit stacking really worked for me here, because I would paint every day when I was done with my freelance graphic design work and right before dinner. I just decided that was my creative time slot, and I stuck to it. It can help to set a short timer too where you can’t get up until the timer goes off. I also did really well when I kept my phone in another room during this time. Creating on a regular schedule is the only way to stick with your art permanently and in a way that will actually get you somewhere.

8. Not Seeing a Piece Through

I used to keep a garbage can right next to my desk for crumpled up pieces of art I didn’t like. I would get 10 minutes, or even an hour into a piece and then decide I hated it. What a mistake that was! Now I know that some of my favorite pieces were ones I didn’t like all the way through. The important thing is learning how to problem solve, and the only way to do that is to finish your work. ALWAYS. Each piece you finish will give you confidence that you can work your way through anything. And that confidence is priceless. Who cares if you finish a piece and you don’t like it? Welcome to the club! Are the stakes really that high? Just file it away and move on. I promise you, you will only get better if you learn how to finish your work.

9. Treating Every Piece as Precious

This one goes hand-in-hand with seeing a piece through. Remember - done is always better than perfect. There is nothing truer as an artist. Your work will never be perfect. For every dozen pieces you make, you might love one (if that). Just keep cranking them out, but don’t spend too much time obsessing over the details. This is my secret to being a productive artist. I have boxes of art I keep for every year, and I’m just trying to fill them. That is my mission. I’m trusting that the “getting better” part will happen on it’s own as long as I keep my head down. And, so far, it’s really worked for me. I’ve gotten a lot better without even noticing. Remember, no piece is too simple or too small either. Sit down as often as you can to make art, even if it is just a little sketch that takes you 10 minutes. These mean everything. It’s you honoring the commitment you made to your work. The idea that every piece has to be finished work for your portfolio will strangle your creativity (and productivity).

10. Constantly Reinventing Yourself Online

If there’s one thing that drives me CRAZY, it’s when artists delete all their old work online and start over every time they develop a new style or try a new medium. Even worse is creating an entirely new website or social media account every time this happens. There is nothing more self-destructive. Every single artist in existence reinvents themselves from time to time. That’s part of the journey. However, erasing your online footprint is a horrible idea. Any traction you’ve gained will be gone. Any fans you’ve acquired, kiss them goodbye. I fell into this trap really early on, not knowing how to brand myself. Luckily I snapped out of it, but I see other artists doing this all the time. By sticking with the same accounts for 10 years, I’ve generated a decent following. With how congested social media is now, it’s impossible to start over. Just please do yourself a favor and don’t! Instead tell your fans, “Hey, I’m trying something new. What do you think?” Give them a chance to see your wild and crazy journey front and center, even if it looks a little all over the place. When in doubt, just make art under your name, the one thing that probably won’t change!