Writing vs. Drawing

[Sabotage]

Both :/ Well.. I find writing "easier" (airquotes) in the sense that I can slap on words and form ideas on the fly. Drawing is much more difficult because it's a matter of skill. I'm not "that" skilled with coloring and backgrounds so I find doing it really slow and tedious. And it's hard because people will judge your game by the art. If they don't like the art, they won't give it a try (I'm sure not everyone's like that, but majority of people are). So drawing is kind of daunting for me as a lesser-skilled "artist".

When it comes to the final product though, writing needs a LOT more attention. You can edit something you wrote and still not be satisfied after the nth rewrite. You can write down something you think is great one day, and wake up the next day to realize it's complete crap. But art? Once your art is done, good or bad, you are "done".

You can improve in drawing little by little. There will be a point where you realize that "Hey, I'm not so bad. I can do this." When you start to think about your writing like that, like "Hey, I'm kinda good", you have no way to know if you're right. After all, there is a difference between "good" art and "bad" art. This isn't about style. There IS a difference between the head of the character looking like a lumpy tomato and getting the anatomy right. You can tell when you have bad art. Writing is not the same deal. Everyone can write but not everyone can write well.. And you will only know that you're doing something well if other people will tell you, if they start to believe in your story. Otherwise, they won't really say anything. If you ask most people what's wrong (taken that most people aren't writing critics), they will just shrug and say, "I can't put my finger on it".

And yes, the writing, the story, the plot can make or break your work. Art can't do this. It can only enhance the experience. If your art is fine but your writing sucks, then people will remember it as a mediocre game and will probably leave insulting notes at your doorstep (kidding).

So yes, I find writing easier.. But I also find it harder :<

[Geckos]

But art? Once your art is done, good or bad, you are "done".

Tell that to the sprites I initially made for Jacob's Island, and then later had to redraw once my anatomy skills weren't horrible.

While I don't think my word really counts here, I definitely find writing more difficult. This is likely due to my studies being focused all on the art side of things. While writing a compelling story and drawing a compelling image have similar difficulties, storytelling, I feel, is definitely harder to try to grasp and lay down in words.

[Fox Lee]

In my experience, people pay more attention to poor artwork than to poor writing; by the same token, good artwork is more likely to buy interest in a badly-written VN, than good writing is to buy interest in a badly-drawn one. Unfair? Totally. But it seems to be fairly reliable.

Ultimately, I think I find writing easier, especially since in a VN, almost all the text can be character dialogue, which I am better at than actual narrative. Better yet, with a few emote poses for each character, you can rely on them to lend context to the dialogue, so you don't much have to describe emotions in text either.

I guess I would say there are multiple levels: crafting text is much easier than crafting art, which is much easier than crafting a good overall plot, which is much easier than doing animations. (All of which are much easier than bloody backgrounds >3>; )

[Semienigma]

Sometimes I'm not so sure which is easier. Because I can write but that doesn't mean I can write anything good. As for my Art that is something that has been confirmed I can do alright but I myself actually find it really difficult. I have the easiest time creating worlds and characters to go in them if that makes sense

[Aines445]

I find them both dificult. I'm not so good at writing, and I sometimes can't get characters how I want them to be, and when I use an eraser (Buying food is more important than a tablet, sorry XD), eveything gets smudged, and I hate it. But I love both writing and drawing, I love coming up with ideas for worlds and characters and settings, and drawing them is also enjoyable! I just need to be less lazy.......

[ghostbunnies]

• I Can't use a tablet, I don't have the correct hand-eye coordination to use one. (Too used to drawing on paper.)
• My pen doesn't do pressure sensitivity in Photoshop (and I still don't know why not #@!)
• Scanning a drawing results in More work than simply drawing it straight into Photoshop because one has to redraw the ENTIRE IMAGE anyway with the pen tool.

The hand-eye coordination is pretty much like typing, when you think about it. o3o

Sorry to pile on more advice, but I have a Bamboo Fun as well and it still took years of pen tool *shiver* before
I even realized pen pressure was a thing...

You could see if pen pressure works by manually going to Brushes tab (or wherever your presets are in your version),
and then Shape Dynamics > Size Jitter > setting Control to Pen Pressure. If that works, you might have the default basic brush set in place? (There's also Brush Presets> Other Dynamics> Opacity Jitter > set Control: Pen Pressure. It does squishy fun paint things.)

The alternative is that it might be the tablet being dumb, in which case you should find your Tablet Preference File Utility and remove all preference files. Reload PS, make sure you're using a brush with the right settings, and see how it goes.

Also, just on the last thing, you don't necessarily have to redraw the entire image if you go for a certain look: tutorial.


I'm pass-out woozy time for bed, but I just wanted to let you know what's worked for me. ;;

[modesty]

Physical comfort tends to color my situation. I work an office job and the chair is okay. I can write a lot at work (since it is my job). At home I write less because I don't really have comfortable seating in a place that would free me from distraction. Someday that'll change. Once I can afford the furniture.

Right now writing is a bit more fun for me, but I did just buy a new art program (Manga Studio 5) which has gotten me excited about sketching and digital art again.

By far, character design (both visual and conceptual) is my favorite part ever in any story based medium.