When did you get serious in art?

[Fisharto]

Greetings,

As the title says when did you get more serious into doing art? As for me I am still not in the serious mode, but more into the hobby mode since I am focusing on graphics designing. But I am trying to stick with at least 1 page sketch per day and then move on with more paper sketches per day etc.

Anyhow enough blabbering I got a bit more serious with sketching around 3 months ago.

What about you? Did you start in this year? 3 years ago? 5 years ago? etc.

PS: If there is a thread like this then feel free to close this one.

[bill618]

I got serious about art back in my diaper palette, finger painting days.

[Velocity Kendall]

2 years ago at 28. love it more every day.

[Maidith]

In a "oops, I guess I have to actually practice to get better"-, then "Mom, Dad, I want a graphics tablet for Christmas"-, and then "dude, I really need to work on that anatomy"- way: About 9 years ago.

Fulltime professional: 4 months ago.

[Fisharto]

In a "oops, I guess I have to actually practice to get better"-, then "Mom, Dad, I want a graphics tablet for Christmas"-, and then "dude, I really need to work on that anatomy"- way: About 9 years ago.

Fulltime professional: 4 months ago.

Somehow I lol'd. But I possibly need to get myself a tablet as well.

[Heyriel]

About 3-4 years ago (must have been 12/13). Obviously I'm not a professional, but that was the time when I got my first art-related book (The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren) and decided: 'I'm gonna learn this shit.' Before that I had been drawing loads as well, but my english wasn't good enough to browse/understand sites like dA/CA/whatever.

[Nowio]

This summer. After dropping out of school and looking for an art job I got my nose punched pretty hard. Before this I was all like: "Yeah I have artistic talent, I can do everything!"... Well... ... ... No. However I couldn't see myself working somewhere on a "real" job, at least not full time, so I wanted to work on games and films, thought that they are waiting for me and I was sure that I will get in pretty easy... Now that I looked the industry up and saw all hell on earth in it I also felt in love with the idea working there. I realized that I was lacking at much as every needed skill required and now I am up to go back to the roots and go up from the very fundamentals to specific skills. Not only practicing in techniques but also reading good live and art related books, looking up other artists, keeping track with the art sites and practice, practice, practice... And I became stubborn and somewhat of manic, even or because of everyone keep telling me that I won't make it and that the industry itself can't be called a serious business. I WILL MAKE IT!

[OmenSpirits]

Age 16.

Learning to draw went hand in hand with self-taught art history. Knowledge of the past artists, helped with learning how to create art. Never make the mistake of focusing totally on learning to draw/paint without the history that comes along with it.

[QueenGwenevere]

Dunno. I've been drawing as long as I can remember, just because it's What I Do. But as for taking it seriously, as in, "Hey, I could make a living at this, but am I good enough, MAYBE I SHOULD PRACTICE MOAR" I guess that started to kick in when I was thirteen or so and starting to think about future careers and college and all that... By around fourteen I was taking life drawing classes and assorted Community College design classes and picking up little freelance gigs around town and joining any art groups that would let me in.

No, I will NOT say how many years ago that was.

[Kolbenito]

Been drawing on and off my whole life. Always been my favorite way to make time fly. Started more time on it each week this past summer. Will let you know in a decade if I was serious about it

[LORD M]

01/11 2009. I remember because I wrote the date up in my sketchbook here on CA.

[Fisharto]

01/11 2009. I remember because I wrote the date up in my sketchbook here on CA.

I have checked your sketch book and all I can say is that you made a tremendous progress from page 2 up to 16. Keep up the good work mate. And one thing for sure is to never give up no matter how bad something looks

[Kashmir]

6 months ago

[JDSart]

Damn, i don´t think i ever have tbh.

i could say that, yes, there was a point where i started learning more and figured my career should be steered in that general direction, but being "Serious about something" really get a whole new dimension when you meet certain people or just look at their work and routine.

Sucks to admit but at 23 i still don´t think my drawings really get close to that of those who really take it seriously.

[JFierce]

Another of these threads. Though this one is 'serious' as opposed to when you started. Honestly fuck if I know. It's an off/on thing for me depending on what is happening in life. Bursts of learning and experimentation.

[Dusty]

1994, age 15.

I had drawn all my life, but after Image Comics came out, I started to really get into them and seeing a change in my art. The realization that people can make a living at being an artist came pretty quickly.
And yeah, people dog on Liefeld and other early Image Comics artists a lot of the time. But I can't deny that those tiny stupid detail lines and his inability to draw hands and feet gave me TONS of confidence.

I remember being like 13 years old and saying "Man...I HATE drawing hands. But hey, so does Rob Liefeld and if he can get work so can I!".

Of course...that could have gone sour if I had accepted that all the way into adulthood. But it didn't. So I can add even Liefeld to my early list of influences (though in reality it would be Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri that were the real jaw droppers for me back in the day).

[-Tragedy-]

I've always enjoyed art and have always drawn; but in regards to actually becoming serious about it was about 3 years ago.

[creeptool]

I want to get serious about drawing and would like to learn how to paint but theres never enough $cash for art supplys and art books and stuff like that.

[OmenSpirits]

No, I will NOT say how many years ago that was.

Want me to guess?

[QueenGwenevere]

Want me to guess?

NO. I'm busy pretending to be 25 for the next few decades. D:<

[rem92]

2 years ago.. when i decided there aint nothing else i could possible want to spend the rest of my days doing for a living

[MalevolentMask]

Hmm I still feel like I have quite a ways to go but personally I feel like I got serious after taking a Drawing and Painting class in my Freshmen year of high-school. I doodled a bit before that but after finding myself in a class with a bunch of VERY talented artists I found that I wanted to improve myself and ended up have loads of fun in the process. I'm a senior now and I've found that I've improved greatly but I still feel as if I'm not as serious enough. I need to kick myself into gear. (My teacher for the most part though has really pushed me and kept me serious though, which I'm thankful for.)

[Candra H]

2 years ago at 28. love it more every day.

That's pretty precise. Just out of curiosity, did you do anything in art previously?

Not sure I can be so accurate but probably around four or five years ago at thirty two. That was when I decided to actually do something with my art other than mucking about. It took two years to figure out I couldnt rely on my previous "skill" so I guess I started studying in earnest about two years ago.

Another of these threads.

I feel the same but I still cant resist coming in and telling my own story. It's got to be an internet ego thing because I don't talk about my art at all in real life, I just do it.

[karta tajba]

When I started to be serious about doing art, I was 18, I will say that because that is when I started drawing the basics instead of doing anime, that was when I was like 17. so I kinda started lately then there was a lot bad work ethics i had awhile in my first year of college.

[FourTonMantis]

7th grade. This is the book that did it for me.

[eru]

Now this is an interesting topic. I think most people like I been drawing since their little except I do not have a talent. Even in some cases when I got serious was about 4-5 years ago but I could not draw properly, I tried following tutorials etc and still fail at drawing something to look awesome to show anyone. SO my drawings wern't great but I was serious in doing it because I took a painting class to help me but it wasn't much of getting taught in class so again I struggle. About a year ago I started to understand a bit about anatomy and proportions through life drawing classes and friends who would help me out. I guess I ve always taken it seriously in some cases.

[Jonny Dark]

7th grade. This is the book that did it for me.

That book was huge for me too.

I KNEW absolutely KNEW i was an artist 2 weeks into Kindergarten when i was 5. I had broken my left arm in a skate board accident (PRO TIP: Don't run and jump on a skate board with no protective gear when you've never ridden on a skate board before!!!) Then, sitting in the family room watching TV i was doodling. My brother said to me "It's a good thing you didn't break your other arm Jonathan or else you couldn't draw" and in that moment i had this moment of pure enlightenment and the room glowed and i knew "I AM AN ARTIST"

From then on you couldn't pull the pencil out of my hand if you tried. I have been drawing and painting and sculpting since i was 5 years old and earlier and it is as much a part of me as my left lung is. I have gone to university to get my BA in illustration not to get a nice job... but because it was the expression of my soul to learn more about art!

[jackthesketcher]

Okay well i guess i got serious around about 15 originally i use to doodle and you know i would get compliements here and there but i was more the engineer type it was until i kinda fell into the wrong crowd and started doing graff after being caught and my folks being pissed about me drinking and doing this i was grounded for 5 months and all i had was my comics my empty sketchbooks and pencils and markers so i started drawing and gradually i actually started becoming addicted one of my good friends who was doing programming said he needed a concept artist and character designer so i took it and then my art teacher was asking me to send my art to japan for comps and i even got a certificate of distinction and only 60 people got chosen now at 17 and still drawing daily i plan on leaving to be a concept artist or comic artist lol my last resort is joining the army like my father or doing industrial design

[Jason Ross]

I could always draw fairly well. It came pretty natural to me when I was younger, but I pursued a lot of other shit well into my 20's. So I could draw and paint all my life but I didn't become an artist until about 28.

[tobbA]

I've allways been serious in art. Or perhaps I've never been very serious at all. Either one works, really.