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I used to think high-res canvases were a waste of time
Had a talk with a guy named Dave at a small meetup in Portland last month, he showed me his 8K piece zoomed in on the texture of a single leaf. It hit me different because I always worked on 2000px canvases and called it done, but the detail he pulled out made my stuff look blurry and lazy. Has anyone else tried jumping up to a bigger canvas and found it changed their whole workflow?
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henderson.oscar24d ago
zoom in on the texture of a single leaf" - that part got me. Did you find yourself changing how you compose stuff after switching to bigger canvases? Like planning for those close-up details from the start instead of just adding them later.
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the_emma24d ago
Ended up hearing about this from my buddy Jake who works in game art. He tried a 10k canvas for a personal project and said it completely wrecked his old habits at first. Told me he kept getting lost in the tiny details on tree bark and almost forgot to step back and look at the whole scene. Said it forced him to plan his layers way more carefully because zooming out showed every messy brush stroke he used to hide. He actually had to start using reference photos for the larger shapes because the small stuff was eating all his time. Still thinks it made him a better painter but said it's like learning to walk again for the first month.
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sarah_hart24d ago
Yeah, that Jake story hit close to home. I spent three weeks on a 4k canvas for a forest scene and kept getting stuck zoomed in on moss details while the whole composition was off balance. It really messes with your head when every little thing is sharp and you can't hide behind blur anymore.
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