How to Judge Your Own Work

Every artist wants to see progress. Whether it’s from one drawing to the next, or from the beginning of a drawing to the end, it’s vital to know how to judge your own work if you really want to improve.

No one knows that better than an artist who has been creating for over 40 years!

Today’s post comes in response to a reader question.

How can I judge my work and tell if I am making progress when most artists I know don’t work in this medium? I have been working with pencil crayon for years but don’t know if I am improving. David

What a great question! Thank you to David for asking.

If there’s one thing a lot of artists struggle with, it’s the ability to see improvement in their own work. If you’re anything like me, you tend to see the shortcomings in every drawing or painting, so it never seems like I make any progress.

But if you want to improve—I mean, really improve—you need to know how to measure progress.

So the question becomes: How do you do that?

How to Judge Your Own Work

There are many ways to judge your own work, no matter how long you’ve been drawing or painting. I’m going to describe two methods that have worked for me, but you may need to look for other methods to find the best one for you.

The first, and most obvious (to me anyway) is comparing new work to old work.

Comparing Old and New – Redoing an Old Drawing

If you’ve been drawing long enough to have drawn several pieces, the easiest way to tell if you’re making progress is to compare your latest drawing with your earliest one. If you don’t have your early drawings and didn’t scan or photograph them, then use the earliest drawing you have available. Even if it’s just a few years old, it will help you see where you’ve improved.

Here are three examples from my work.

Below are two drawings of the same subject. I used similar methods, the same type of paper, and the same reference photo for both. The first one was drawn in 2009, the second in 2016.

One sure way to see how much your drawings have improved is to redo an old drawing, as I did with this one.

TIP: If you don’t already, get into the habit of photographing or scanning finished work, especially if you sell (or hope to sell) your originals. Take the best photographs possible. Not only do they provide a record of your work; they provide an excellent means for comparing old work to new.

Comparing Old and New – Similar Subjects

Comparing similar drawings is also helpful in determining how much progress you’re making. These two landscapes were drawn on different types of paper and of different (though similar) subjects.

When I finished The Sentinel in 2013, it was by far the best landscape I’d ever done with colored pencils. It’s still a nice drawing, but it doesn’t hold a candle to August Morning in Kansas from last year.

The fact is, I’m itching to redo The Sentinel, just to see how it turns out a second time!

Comparing Old and New – The Beginning and End of a Series

Sometimes, comparing the first drawing in a series with the final one is sufficient to show progress.

Last year, I did a series of three landscapes on sanded art paper. Below are the first and last drawings in the series. The second one was of about the same quality as the first one.

Then I made a discovery on color selection that took the third drawing to a new level, thanks to Lisa Clough.

Improvement doesn’t always happen like this. Usually, it’s more gradual. That’s why knowing how to judge your own work over a period of time is so important.

But admit it. Those “quantum leaps” in skill level are exciting!

Compare Your Work with Another Artist You Admire

Another way to measure your improvement is to find an artist who works in the same medium, and in a similar style.

I know that a common rule of thumb is that no artist should ever compare themselves to another artist. If all you’re doing is beating yourself up, then that rule of thumb is true.

But if you can objectively compare your work to the work of an artist who draws similar subjects in the same medium, there is no better way to see where you need improvement. If that artist also happens to produce tutorials, so much the better. You can not only see how your work compares to their, but learn what they’re doing that you might try.

That’s an excellent way to get better results no matter how long you’ve been drawing.

To find artists doing videos on colored pencil methods, search for “colored pencil tutorials on YouTube” or something similar, then view enough to find an artist whose work you like. It’s a good idea to select two or three artists, because no two work exactly the same!

Do I do this? Absolutely! In fact, I’ve subscribed to several colored pencil artists (and some who work in other media, too) and I watch their tutorials. I’ve learned a lot. Remember that leap in improvement I mentioned before? That came directly from one of those artists. I wouldn’t have made the discovery on my own for a long, long time.

Continue Learning the Craft

Nothing replaces always learning. Be open to new ideas, new tools, and new methods. Whether you read books, read blog posts and tutorials, watch DVDs or online videos, or take workshops and classes, it’s all important.

Then try some of what you’ve learned. Reading and watching is good, but won’t do you much good unless you implement it.

I add this last suggestion even though it seems out of place because you need to learn what makes good art good before you can accurately judge your own. Learning the importance of value, for example, enables you to decide whether or not you need to improve how you draw values.

And seeing the results another artist is getting gives you a standard against which you can compare your work.

Conclusion

Whatever method you use to measure your progress as an artist, it’s important to be consistent. No method works if you don’t use it consistently.

So find what works best for you, and make it part of your  studio routine!

Want to Learn More?

I recently wrote an article for EmptyEasel on this topic. How to Honestly Evaluate Your Own Work shares additional tips for evaluating your progress from the beginning of a drawing to the end.

You might also be interested in learning how to make a crit sheet to self-evaluate your artwork., also written for EmptyEasel.

Got a question? Ask Carrie!