My professor told me to stop using so many custom brushes and I'm glad I listened

In my second year of art school, my digital painting professor, Mr. Evans, pulled me aside after class. He said my work looked 'muddy' and that I was relying on fancy brush textures to hide weak fundamentals. He told me to do my next three projects using ONLY the basic round brush in Photoshop. I was annoyed and thought it was a dumb rule that would limit my style. But after a week of struggling, my shapes and values got way cleaner because I couldn't just smudge things with a cool brush. It forced me to actually learn how to paint light instead of just decorating. That advice from two years ago completely changed how I start every piece now. Has anyone else had a teacher give you a simple rule that actually improved your art a lot?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_roberts491mo ago

That approach can work for some people, but it sounds like a pretty strict way to learn. My own style really came together when I started using custom brushes to get the exact marks I wanted. Limiting your tools can sometimes just limit your voice. A good teacher should help you use your tools better, not take them away.

rubyschmidt1mo ago

Totally depends on the person, right?

victorb171mo ago

Yeah, the part about limiting tools limiting your voice really hits home. I got stuck for a long time trying to use every fancy brush pack I owned. My work looked generic. What finally clicked was forcing myself to use just one basic round brush for a whole month. It sucked at first, but it made me learn to actually control the software to make the marks, instead of just hunting for a brush that did it for me. After that, when I went back to my custom tools, I used them way more on purpose. The limit didn't take my voice, it forced me to actually find it.