Back to the Basics: An FAQ regarding the foundations of creating art

[Form]

"Talent is like the next weeks weather forecast"

nice metaphore, redsox!

[serf]

One jewel of wisdom I was given in one of my drawing classes at college was so simple, yet so profound:

Don't ask yourself "What can I put in this piece?" Instead ask yourself "What does this piece need?"

[Danilo]

I saw that some artist here dont respect abstract art. Also lot of "accademic" artist and teachers dont respect illustration art.
Please, both of you, open your eyes!

Ok, new one from my proffesor: Dont learn just technique, strech your ideas from the first drawing.

[look]

Try different styles and mediums.

It's being said that not to jump into a style right away, but it's also useful to try different styles. Certain style, such as vector illustrations, can simplify the shape, and make complicated things easier to understand. Other style (such as the fine art that uses strong colors) might be able to help you to understand texture and skintone better.

It's also good to try different mediums. You may learn new techniques with new medium and apply it to other mediums.

[OptimusDinkus]

I guess Ill go ahead with my 2 cents
First, Study most if not all forms of art; cause there is treasures in each of them. With animation, your figures will have more balance and weight and believability and it’s easier to visualize the image. Abstract art has wonderful compositions, depending where you look of course. Even minimalism can teach someone simplicity to help visualize with stylization.
Second, you need to know the rules before you make your own. This is very important and takes time to learn. Allot of us will rush through a piece and become very stubborn and mad, well in my case this did happen once till I just kept at it, sometimes 8 hours a day, it will come to you eventually.
Third, as far as critiques go, not everyone sees the same, so when you’re getting critiques, your actually enhancing your vision by someone else’s sight. Also taking breaks away from a piece is a must since it makes you see mistakes that were disregarded.
Finally, its your work, you can do whatever you want with it, heck try just putting the pencil down, don’t lift it, and draw whatever you see in front of you, or even tear it to pieces if you wish. You need to see that its your art, to others it may be a work of art, but to you its yours.
Also as Pablo Picasso said, and its true to this day, Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

[madster]

#27. Forethought prevents "for naught..."

Take the few minute's time to think about what you are wanting to create, and draw 3-5 small thumbnail sketches to try different Compositional combinations. This will help you make the most of the time you invest in a work...

~M

[Magic Man]

Awesome thread, seriously, everyday something on CA makes me sit up and think "I hope CA never goes away..."

I read everyone's tips and I agree with everyone, awesome points.

I know they were touched on by some others, but I feel strongly enough about it to re-iterate them:

28. Form follows function, this basic pervasive industrial design thought process is decievingly simple, yet amazingly precise, espcially in the field of concept design this definitely applies. Everything from cars, to ships, to buildings to the human bodies - first and foremost, the thing in question MUST satisfy its obligatory function, what it is intended for, without which that thing is just a useless ornament not worthy of much more than a moment's glance. This translates to understanding what is "udner the hood", I've heard many people ask what is the nessesity of learning the bones and internal organs to create realistic figures? The answer is that without this internal understanding, your designs are merely stabs in the dark - no matter how well placed.

29. Compacency and apathy are the killers of ability, being lazy should never be part of any person's vocabulary, nothing is ever gained without great sacrifice, and anything gained without great sacrifice is probably not worth sacrificing for. Learn how to push yourself to the edge of madness, to the boundaries of perfection, learn to bleed for your art or anything else you feel strongly about. We only have one life to live, learn to live it passionately.

30. Technical knowledge is not a strong basis for art, it is a nessesity, it gives you the visual vocabulary to command a viewer's emotions, without this sound basis in visual communication your communication of emotoion - which is ultimately the goal of all good art - is a hit and miss affair. Technical knowledge should always be a precursor to imagination, for imagination without the skill to pull it off leads only to frustration.

31. It is the divine role function of the artist to manipulate a viewer's emotions, to let them escape into your world and visions for a limited time, you OWE it to them to be able to do this as completely as possible, only achievable through the dogged union of numerous factors such as technical skill, imagination, cultural understanding, composition, lighting, contrast and color - no more, no less. To fail to fulfil this prophecy is nothing less than a grievous sin borne of the aforementioned societal cancers of laziness, apathy and complacency, you fulfil a higher role function in society, make sure you honour your birthright.

[Ismail]

Much has been said in the above posts, if you're reading this far you've read the above posts aswell. So you'll understand why this one is brief.

Study and do sculpture. Be it with super sculpty or 3D (Maya, z-Brush) acquaint your eye with interpreting form. As mentioned before lifedrawing.
www.fineart.sk <---Loomis Books rock! GNOMON DVD's too. Also the library. People and places. Various organisms. Feed your mind.

Have a state of mind of progression, visualize, visualize. and LIVE LIFE. The more experiences you can draw from in life the more flexibility you'll have in what you want to express in your art.

[MindCandyMan]

Turn off your TV...uninstall your video games if you have too (for a short while...you need to play them to know how to design for them). DON'T TALK ABOUT BEING AN ARTIST...BECOME AN ARTIST. Do what you have to do to get to where you want. Don't waste weeks talking about going to a particular school or reaching a goal. Define the goal and just do it. The most direct way of becoming good as an artist comes from just doing it. Don't talk about wanting to draw/paint...draw or paint instead.

[Nexus]

Don't ever do the bare minimum. Take pride in your work because it is a reflection on both you as an artist and a person. If you ever find yourself working on something you're less than enthusiastic about then it has become time to readjust your thinking. Every chance you get to produce art is just one step closer to you furthering your skill and moving on to a level of skill you had never concieved of. As painful as some projects may be they are still training and a great artist never stops training, ever.

[grantrl78]

Don't listen to what other people say.
Including me.
You will only get better by doing it.

[Stupidity'sUglyHead]

Also as Pablo Picasso said, and its true to this day, Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

This quote is a point of contention. I think Picasso enjoyed propagating confusion. The greatest artist has nurtured their own unique style.

[Vulgar`]

34. Have fun with your art. Being one of 7 billion human beings it's important that you enjoy yourself. Art has no limits.

[blanquish]

HEY, i was gonna bump back this thread, looks like someone beat me to it!
Anyway, take my words with a grain of salt, im definately not a pro but i do have something to say!
35:
1st tip- enter lots of art competitions either online, or in your neighbourhood, its good having it on a resume etc, and the prizes may help financial issues
2:Repetition is the key to anatomy. Dont expect to draw a figure once and be able to do it again perfectly. It takes a few tries to understand, and more to remember.
3: DO selfportraits. Its a valuable exercise and it beats ref stuff by a mile. Use a mirror and not a photo. Mix up some long ones with some quick ones.
4:Before you draw, learn to draw! Lots of apriring artists start from their head and miss out on the fundamentals doing so. WHat I mean is start by doing simple exercises like from ref, life etc. Learn how to get proportions spot on everytime, make rendering your strong point. Back this up with anatomy studies!
5:ALWAYS carry a sketchbook with you( You can buy miniature sbs that are big enough to squeeze into your pocket, but are big enough to draw in.
You never know when inspiration will hit you, most often or not your not prepared, and cant get the idea down quick enough, so you lose it. It is also a good idea to carry a camera, even if its just attached to your phone.
6:Experiment in different mediums: You can learn a lot from a lot of traditional methods that will help you in the long run. And you might find that one area isnt your strong point, but another is.
7: When you think your done, or are nearly finished, leave it for a while, perhas overnight and look at it again in the morning. Most often or not, youll notice a plethora of mistakes. Its also valuable to get someone elses opinion, because after staring at it for an extended period, you dont notice the subtle mistakes.
8: Suck up as many tutorials as you can. Whether it be from magazines, the internet, books, dvds. You can learn a lot of new techniques and styles in doing so, and youll learn about new tools/features of programs that you havent used before.
Last but not least- enjoy yourself, If you land a good job, you never have to work a day in your life!

[TheDirtSyndicate]

uhm... this may be kind of stupid... but i say pass on what you know.
teach when you can... especially to kids. i see so many kids giving up when they try to draw a house and it just "doesn't look right"
you've got to encourage them, push them, and convince them to never give up.

i hate it when i hear people my age say "i wish i could draw"
i always tell them: "YOU CAN. you just have to want to learn, and just do it."

but yeah... encourage the kids and teach them as much as you can.

[Form]

definately!! teaching someone always leads to more knowledge.. its a way to force yourself to think about your theories cos you gotta make sure they are right befor you teach them!!

and you never know what your 'students' can teach you, in turn.

[blanquish]

dont be beaten by a slump!
draw no matter what the circumstances, dont get into habits and excuses like "Im tired, or maybe tomorrow",

[Snuggles]

34. Have fun with your art. Being one of 7 billion human beings it's important that you enjoy yourself. Art has no limits.

I was thinking about saying this. It's vital that we don't get so caught up in what our teachers, our employers, even our fellow artists want that we forget WHY we do art. If you just concentrate on being better without also doing things just to enjoy them, then your progress will be much slower than if you balance what you want to do with what you must do to progress.

All in all, yeah, if you want to be good you've got to do all the things the professionals on here tell you. Study the masters, draw from life. Practice-Practice-Practice. But if you don't enjoy yourself, if you don't stay balanced and healthy, it'll show through in your work no matter how skilled you are.

[Devere]

I must say I completely agree with you thanks allot for all the essential points. I find allot of students in my Industrial design program at Humber don't do most of this stuff enough, myself sometimes to but thanks for reminding me I almost gave myself a crutch for the on going dsign competition when the guys sponcering it basically turned down all my concepts for the project. but now I'm gonna jump right back on track and take their suggestion and make it work.

[Seedling]

Oh, what a wonderful thread!

If I may share a story. . .

There was once a student of the violin who sought out a master to play for him and ask his advice. “O wise teacher,” he said “do I have what it takes to be a great violinist?” “No,” responded the master. “Perhaps you would be more suited to a regular career.”

Crestfallen, the student put away his violin, and turned with a sigh to a career in banking. And ultimately he became a successful and happy banker.

Many years later he met the master violinist again. The student-turned banker said to him “Because you opened my eyes to my inadequacy as a violinist, I am now wealthy and have a stable career and a good family. It frightens me to think of the life I would have led as a second-rate violinist. Thank you for warning me away from playing the violin.”

The master violinist smiled sadly at the banker, and replied: “I tell all of the students they are inadequate. It is the ones who choose not to listen to me that have the stubbornness to succeed.”



I don’t remember where I first heard this story, I’m afraid.


FYI, if anyone here is looking for sketchbook assignment ideas, or info on the games industry, check out the links in my sig. . .

[EricT]

Know that you are good yet awful:

You need to feel good about what you do and enjoy doing it, but also be aware that you are not flawless yet so you can improve. I know people that capped after 1 year of drawing. They tought they were awesome and didn't look at ways to improve. I saw their work 4 years later, and it's still exactly the same

[TheDirtSyndicate]

Know that you are good yet awful:

You need to feel good about what you do and enjoy doing it, but also be aware that you are not flawless yet so you can improve. I know people that capped after 1 year of drawing. They tought they were awesome and didn't look at ways to improve. I saw their work 4 years later, and it's still exactly the same

heh, yeah. like that guy on the forums the other day saying "im 54 now, and i've been doing illustration for 40 years, i dont think i need to improve" i swear to god thats what he said. and his art was on par with that of a deviantart furry artist. yikes..

[RaistlinTheDark]

Ok I feel great about MY work, but when i loaded like 11 pics into the gallery on my profile, all i got was page #'s. How do i get to see the pics? plz help, i'm lost...

[Blade-14]

Know that you are good yet awful:

You need to feel good about what you do and enjoy doing it, but also be aware that you are not flawless yet so you can improve. I know people that capped after 1 year of drawing. They tought they were awesome and didn't look at ways to improve. I saw their work 4 years later, and it's still exactly the same

That's something that artists often lose wen they are afraid of making a mistake wen working on a piece, i know i've been there. But i think that may be a good thing in 1 respect. It shows that the artist is keeping those mistakes in mind so progressively they make better artwork.

Self confidence is something that humble artists don't seem to have a lot of, thing is i don't think thats a bad thing at all because they eventually gain it through their work improving and pros verfiying this. It also shows the artist doesn't think they're 'the shit' and only has enough confidence as it's required. (or however u say it)

That leads me onto the 2ND point u mentioned about people who think they're all that. It annoys me that people like that who are good artists but aren't willing to listen to honest critique which actually helps your work forward, are still stupidly popular and worshipped by people. I'm glad i've found an art community that put's talent recognition and improvement 1st, rather than,' all my other 100,000 friends say it's wicked and perfect looking' type attitude and following that up.

[i.am]

Please keep this up. I'm soaking in all this knowledge and advice.

[daveneale]

awsome advice-lots of common sense in there but always good to be reminded-I find inspiration from amazing artists helps me to improve and develop-and after joining CA I have a whole load of inspiration thats given me another big push to practice and try to get a whole lot better-its all too easy to be told by freinds/family, even clients that you rock and start to get complacent-I'm always looking for ways to improve, and theres a whole lot in here im gonna adhere to, cheers guys

[Remember my name]

Really great thread! thanks alot everyone who posted, really good stuff and has certainly made me think about a whole bunch of stuff.

So, i know im prolly not supposed to Post this, since im not or proffesional or even that good, but after reading all the posts i think a very important point have been overlooked, PUSH THE LIMITS! i, myself where at a point in my life where i drew alot of action-figure types and became really good at it, and my friends where very impressed, but suddenly i felt i became weaker in other aspects of drawing, and so i re-thought my way of creating, by a certain rule : NEVER DO THE SAME THING TWICE, if you just did one pose, do a new one, if you just drew a monster, draw a beautyfull woman, be as well-rounded you can be, because by doing that you will eventually become better at just that thing you wanna draw the most. ofcourse working for a client will hamper your ability to do anything except what you are told to, but even then try out different things with each thing you do. Never limit yourself to one thing just because "im good at it" - you can only become better at it, by doing alot of other stuff too. Its a bit like traveling around (a good recomadation aswell if you got the cash) even tho home is nice, it will only broaden you attitude towards life if you see and experience as many different places as possible.

And also (funny no-one noted this) : Build up a BIG libary of refference, take photos, lots of em, the more refference of the real world you have the better, it will really help you alot when you sit inside your room at night and you cant really remember what a particulair thing looks like.

thats it for my 2cents, feel free to delete the post if needed.
and remember :
"Some people hear and inner voice, and follow that voice, such people become crazy.... or they become legend"

RMN

[Earendil]

Great thread! I'd like to add:

Be honest with your critiques. For yourself, and for others.

Don't be mute.

[kev ferrara]

If you do not believe what you are doing, nobody will.

Art is a signature of a soul, it will radiate what you radiate.

Art will tell the truth about you. Art never lies.

Commit to it. Let your art change you.

Good strong images cannot be constructed. They must be pre-visualized starting at the emotional core of the dramatic moment you plan to depict. Train your brain to hold onto the images your mind produces, then trace off your imagination onto paper.

All the technical parts of creating art must become easy to you, because the spiritual parts will kick your ass every time out of the gate!

Think of your eraser as being made of white lead. Draw with it, just as you draw with the black lead. There is no wrong end of the pencil to draw with.

Everything is a brush.

Dare to be professional about your work. Dare to research. Dare to do a preliminary. Dare to do a color comp. Dare right now to be as good as Vermeer. Dare.

Best,
kev

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=101106

[sweet_sorrow]

Also as Pablo Picasso said, and its true to this day, Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

I interpreted this quote as a great artist stealing an onlooker's attention, a good artist only borrows it for a few moments.

Great thread btw.