A gallery owner told me my clouds looked like cotton balls - here's what I fixed

I was showing my landscape piece at a small open mic night for artists in Portland last month. This older lady who runs a gallery nearby said my clouds looked too soft and puffy like they came out of a bag. She suggested I try using a hard round brush with low opacity instead of the soft airbrush I always grabbed. After about 10 tries I figured out how to layer colors without blending them completely smooth and now my skies actually look like real sky. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you redo a whole style?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah_hart25d ago

But did you actually like the way your clouds looked before she said anything? I get that her advice helped you improve technically, but sometimes changing your whole style because of one comment from a gallery owner kills the thing that made your work unique. Clouds DO look soft and puffy in real life, that’s kind of the point. Not every painting needs to be photo-realistic. I’ve seen artists get talked out of their natural style by people who just prefer a different school of art, and they end up making generic stuff that blends in with everyone else.

william_torres26d ago

Lol that gallery owner basically told you your clouds looked like craft supplies. Gotta love when someone hits you with that kind of blunt feedback though. I had a similar thing happen with my trees looking like broccoli florets for like two years and a friend finally said something. Switched from that soft blender brush to a rough chalk brush and suddenly my forests stopped looking like a salad bar. It’s painful at first because you think your style is just your style but sometimes it’s just a bad habit holding you back lol. Props to you for actually trying out her advice instead of getting defensive about the cotton ball comment.

grantp2826d ago

Tbh, nothing says "brutal honesty" like being told your clouds look like a bag of cotton balls from Michael's.