I think its really important to establish why you're drawing and putting your art out there. If you're drawing and sharing your art on social media because that's what you like to do and you want to share it I wouldn't worry too much. If your doing art as a hobby or only looking to make a little extra on the side it shouldn't hold you back. If you're putting your art out there and growing your following because you want to enter the professional art space its a little different. Employers will expect you to have the skills to render a piece fully. Get to a point where you're able to render things fully and then once you've established yourself you'll be able to embrace the sketchy vibe you enjoy again. Karl Kopinski is a good example of this. Also don't forget the skills you learn from rendering (light and shadow, colour, composition) can all improve your sketching as well. Finally, I just wanted to say that your work has value no matter how rendered it is because you took time to put your unique view of the world down on paper.

This is one of the big problems of the social world, in the past we didn't care so much about what other people were doing but everyone followed their own path. I understand you when you say your favourite part is research and concept, I love the research phase too, it's so inspiring! My suggestion is not to look too much at what others are doing but to proceed at your own pace and follow your own path, developing what you like to do, because at the end of the day we don't live off likes and followers but off the small percentage who are willing to pay for our work. Find what you like to do, what gives you satisfaction, because there is nothing worse than spending days, weeks at your desk or in the studio doing something you don't like to please others. Believe me, I've had the misfortune of being stuck in a graphic design job that I didn't like and that ruined my health (and self-esteem) through stress. Was it worth it for a few paychecks? (very low, by the way. I earned more as a dishwasher, with less stress!). I like nature drawing. It's not stuff that attracts a lot of likes or followers, but doing it gives me satisfaction and at the end of the day I'm happy with what I've done. I get requests where I get paid what I ask for, instead of the unrealistic prices many people ask on Instagram, Deviant Art or twitter (seriously. Why should I work a day on a drawing for $20 when I can earn €50 working 4 hours as a cleaner while listening to an audiobook)? In short, do what you like to do, get good at it, develop a recognisable style and you won't have to scramble through hundreds of people doing the same thing because the people who will be looking for your work will be for their differences

If you have the most fun sketching, then it is ok to do just that. You will still need to find a way to make your sketches presentable and appealing if you want to find a larger audience, but this is something you will figure out by doing it a lot. With that being said, you should be aware that most art takes a long time to make. Even if you see a cool sketchy character design, an artist has probably done multiple iterations of it, which takes time. If you think about art a career choice then it is probably a bit of a different story. I am not a pro, so I may be wrong on that, but I would imagine sth like that will limit your employment options. Still, there are jobs which involve doing a lot of quick sketches - storyboard artist being the first that comes to mind. Hope it helps!

Man, I feel like you need some realness,so here's the thing: of course you don't find joy in rendering out pieces that take 100 hours. The point of a cast drawing (etc.) isn't to have fun, it's to train your eye and hand to take a drawing to a very high level of finish. To be frank, I don't think you'd be asking this question if you were happy doing what you're doing. Even if you can fool the world, YOU know you're avoiding the challenge of finishing a piece. Of course people aren't gonna take your art seriously if all you do is quick, loose stuff, because you aren't taking yourself seriously. If you want to be taken seriously, you gotta pay your dues. You can do all the fun sketches you want, but don't expect people to value them if you don't put in the thousands of hours that it takes to get good. You absolutely CAN make highly rendered pieces, you just need to find a mentor or school who can coach you to that level. Mastery takes a long time and it demands everything of you.

Mark, art is not about pretty pictures (they make a huge deal, but that's not the point). I see good responses below, and let me add some to it: 1. You are drawing for the sake of drawing, that's how you get enjoyment. 2. Sketching, and quick concepts are valuable skills, but keep in mind, those have a vast room for improvement in technicality, speed, technique, and media. 3. Any good piece of artwork should have a 'story', - I believe you can draw more just a pretty face, - that's not that hard to learn to do. 80% of cute portrait digital painting is just not that hard. You set proportions, you know your color pallet, you know where skin is pink-warm, and where it's cooler. The remaining 20% is just the way you finish it, a set of little tweaks (tricks) you do to make it stand out. 4. But, if you want to be a Concept artist, just quick sketching maybe not enough. I would recommend invest some time in understanding speed painting (Marco Bucci, just watch a ton of speedpainting), thumbnailing, and maybe doodling for story telling. 5. Skills should be continuously developed. If you notice something is becoming easy, find to try something else. Have fun with it. If it works for you, do more, if not, leave it for now, - most definitely not the right time. 6. If you want to do comic books, drawing skills level may be not the (only) issue. Story telling skills are important. If you draw character concepts and all of them are just standing, maybe you can start practicing from there contour lines, dynamic shapes, some action, emotions... I always wanted to see a comic book in a concept art style :))) tried, but realized I have so much more to learn. Good luck, try things until something new clicks

Hey @Mark Sukaiti! I can totally relate to your concern and felt the same way for a long time. I'm a cartoonist, so I absolutely love sketching loosely, generating ideas, iterating and messing around with a creative process. For us who are more into this "fast-paced" creative part of making art (as opposed to mastering detail-oriented picture-making techniques), polishing and rendering can feel like a boring thing to spend long hours on. However, as we scroll down our feeds and see so many skillful "eye candy" artwork across the Internet, we can't help but wonder if THAT's what we should be working on instead... But from what I've learned so far in life and in art, what I truly believe now is for each one to do their own thing, whatever it is. So I'd say don't worry about making your art in a way to please what you think other people might like better - do the art that pleases you and show it, then the people who share similar interests will come to you. And there definitely is plenty of artistic value (aesthetic and even technical) in sketching and concept, so if that's what we like the most, let's go for it - let's get awesome at it and let people know that's what we're really interested in. Of course, this doesn't mean we get lazy or neglectful. There's knowledge and technique to good sketching and concept, so I definitely encourage everyone (myself included) to study and learn as much as possible, even - and, sometimes, especially - things that are out of our comfort zone. I've had a share of studies on human anatomy, realistic lighting, painting, textures... and, even though these things might not show a lot in my cartoons, I feel like they definitely create a grounding support for my process and for my art to express what I want in the way I want. Nowadays, I tend to face these as two separate activities: studying to level up whatever skills I feel I need to work on at the moment, regardless my personal creative preferences; and creating artwork to convey my own ideas in the style, medium and process that I prefer, regardless the skills or techniques involved. Hopefully this makes sense! :) And here's a quick list of some awesome artists off the top of my mind whose work is more focused on either line art, sketching and/or concept (and, in the case of some cartoonists, is also far from "well-polished") - maybe it can help inspire you: . Nico Marlet . Alex Woo . Bill Schwab . Charles Schulz . Sergio Aragones . Bob Mankoff . Shane Glines . Stephen Silver . Mike Mattesi . Diego Lucia . Taylor Krahenbul . Roz Chast . Natalie Nourigat . Andy Estrada . Laerte . Bill Watterson (and sure there are many others I didn't remember to include. And, by the way, this list is in a completely random order - they're not listed by my personal preference or by the "quality" of their art or anything, I just spilled them out erratically as I remembered). Hope this helps! Let me know if you have questions or other thoughts about this. Best of luck in your art journey! o/