Hardest step when drawing.

[deviltales]

What's more difficult for you in the digital art department?
Inking, shading, adding textures/patterns, adding the right effects?

For me shading is like a double-edged sword. One moment looks alright, and after I finish the whole thing is just so.. not .

[Auro-Cyanide]

You missed one: Sketching. Sketching is the hardest part for me because it's often before I have a clear idea of what I want. After I actually figure out what it is I'm drawing, the other steps are merely time consuming work rather than difficult.

[9-of-Hearts]

The hardest step for me is creating clean linework. That about kills me because even if I have a drawing/sketch I love, if I can't transfer it to a smooth image with thin, flowing lines like my favorite art does....ergh. My favorite drawings, especially when I think in VNs, the linework is thin and not quite a fleshy brown, but whatever it is, however it's done, it's gorgeous.
.....So I have a ways to go, especially since I'm not quite producing the quality I want to yet. ^^;;

[Deji]

Inking.
When I have a sketch, I usually feel it's fine, but when I ink it, I see all the mistakes and it gets stiff and now it doesn't look so good anymore >_o
This is normal, but still... blah >_<

[MaiMai]

Oddly enough, I like the inking process. There's just something about creating lines of different weights that fascinates me (which is why I despair when I see an image with terrible lineart...) I'm not sure if anything else is actually hard for me, but there's always room for improvement.

[Nuxill]

Lineart has always been the biggest hurdle for me. It feels more like a chore than a part of the art process. At least, when it's inking in photoshop. Sketching is relaxing and fiddling with color is lots of fun.

Oddly enough, I like the inking process. There's just something about creating lines of different weights that fascinates me (which is why I despair when I see an image with terrible lineart...) I'm not sure if anything else is actually hard for me, but there's always room for improvement.

I love line weight in art but I've been so preoccupied with making my work nice and smooth that when i finish I'm so sick of doing it that I just move on to the color. I did recently get Manga studio for my birthday and so far it's been making the process a lot easier (especially being able to rotate the canvas! How did I ever live without that?

[MaiMai]

Lineart has always been the biggest hurdle for me. It feels more like a chore than a part of the art process. At least, when it's inking in photoshop. Sketching is relaxing and fiddling with color is lots of fun?

Maybe it's my tablet settings, but I never EVER found lineart (or coloring for that matter) in Photoshop fun. It always felt too clunky and not fluid like Sai where the interface is simple and smooth. It's a shame because I know that PS has great customized brushes for CGing which I would like to experiment with more, but I love being precise which Sai lets me do.

[Endorphin]

especially being able to rotate the canvas! How did I ever live without that?

Photoshop and Sai both have that feature. =D
In PS, it's grouped with the hand tool~
(I use a shortcut for it, rotate the canvas while still holding the key, and when I release it I'm back at the current tool [normally the brush].)

It would be digital inking--except that I don't have lineart. :'D
I love every part, it's all fun.
What's hard really depends on the picture--sometimes shading kills me even though I normally love it and sometimes the sketch just doesn't work out, which is problematic, as the other sketches depend on it.

- R.

[dramspringfeald]

Putting pen to paper. Seriously you cant do the rest with out actually drawing it and MAN that's a pain to get going.

[Desu_Cake]

Everything.
By which I mean to say, keeping my motivation up to do everything properly. If I've spent a long time doing sketching and lineart, I don't feel like spending a long time on the colouring. Or if I've spent ages shading the hair beautifully, I don't want to spend ages shading the clothes.
It's pretty stupid, but that's just how I am.

[Nuxill]

Photoshop and Sai both have that feature. =D
In PS, it's grouped with the hand tool~
(I use a shortcut for it, rotate the canvas while still holding the key, and when I release it I'm back at the current tool [normally the brush].)

My problem is I have a version of photoshop that doesn't have that feature. They added it in CS5 and I've got CS3 And I can't get sai because I've got a mac.

Maybe it's my tablet settings, but I never EVER found lineart (or coloring for that matter) in Photoshop fun. It always felt too clunky and not fluid like Sai where the interface is simple and smooth. It's a shame because I know that PS has great customized brushes for CGing which I would like to experiment with more, but I love being precise which Sai lets me do.

There are a few ways to help get a better feel for lineart in photoshop. I found this work around YEARS ago on suta-ratio.com when it was still updating and it's helpful at least for getting rid of some of the blobby feel. It's still not as nice as Sai's vector-ish lines though. From videos I've seen they look so easy to manipulate, I can't help but feel jealous.
It's more experimenting with colors and combinations that I have fun with, even though I'm not bad at cg coloring and softer types of rendering. I wish I could use the blend/water/whatever It's called tool that Sai has. There's a way to semi fake it in photoshop but it slows my computer down way too much to be of any use.

[Arowana]

I second sketching. Even if everything else goes perfectly, if the underlying figure or composition isn't satisfying, it all feels like wasted effort. ;_;

[nyaatrap]

Designing on costumes and poses.
I spend most time on Googling to get references.

[Taosym]

Designing on costumes and poses.
I spend most time on Googling to get references.

Pretty much this.

[Lumen_Astrum]

Sketching and inking.

Technically sketching is the hardest because I can't decide on a damn pose that doesn't look generic and there's body language and all that, and the face, and the EMOTIONS. Grr. Plus the anatomy too. I erase so much, the ink bleeds when I ink XD

I actually like inking. The part I hate is that once you start inking do you only start noticing the gajillions of mistakes and you can't do anything about it >_>