Studio Skill vs Expression

[Errol McGillivray]

The thread in AD is here.

Around PP "learn anatomy" is like a wind chime in a mild storm. Ever persistent and a pain in the a** to the neighbor that didn't want a goddamn wind chime, but has to hear it because the guy next door did.

I've seen people complain when they're told to learn anatomy. I've seen excuses like "I just want to do cartoon styles" or something. (This is the same as the "it's my style".)

It's not just anatomy either. It's color theory. It's light theory. It's anatomical mechanics. It's biology. It's fashion history. For the "I'm making a manga" crowd, it's narrative storytelling and sequential art theory. For everyone it's design basics. Really, to be an effective artist, there is more to just making shapes and lines.

Not wanting to take the time to learn actual studio skills is a lot like people wanting to be a great musician on guitar, and seeking to get there by playing guitar hero. They get really good at pressing the color button they're told to press in time. They can master the game on the hardest setting and can play every song perfectly. But they still can't play a real guitar and can't make their OWN songs or read sheet music. The game doesn't teach you anything but following commands to a beat. This is pretty much what all the people that use other people's drawings as a basis for their own are doing. The people that rely heavily on stock images to do their poses and eyeball other drawings and then change things to their liking.

"You have to work hard to develop your abilities so that you can express. Most art students are allowed by art colleges to focus on expression. Until you have skill you have nothing to express with and so they usually fail. They feel deeply, work at their work but their technique fails so it is visual gibberish to everyone but themselves. It is tragic. If you play at expression without getting down to the serious work of study and refining your studio skills you will fail. I have seen it so often. Work hard now and you play at what you love. Besides, doing work in a mediocre way is absolutely no fun, and the art world does not pay for mediocrity. You have to be really good as lots of people want to do this. It is fun and you can express your spirit. There is nothing like it but it takes WORK!" - Stephen Perkins: Sculptor, Instructor

This applies greatly to cartoons. Part of why cartoons appeal to people is that while they're pure fantasy, they can convince us that the cartoon really feels something. You can't really do that well if you don't know what you're doing.

This especially applies to the manga crew that only draw 4 facial expressions. Happy, Sad, Mad, and Nothing. They also don't tend to draw body expressions simply because they don't know how. Pin ups are popular, but you can't do sexy if you can't speak to someone's sex drive through visual cues that actually happen with people.

tl;dr: ******** learn your basic studio skills. And read, you lazy s**t.


You do not know the talent you may or may not have unless you have the technique to bring it forth. The truth shall set you free. Ignorance imprisons talent.  

[perplexi]

YOU ARE SO F*CKING RIGHT AND AMAZING- THANK YOU!!!

None of these people friggin' understand and go around calling themselves artists. I call them full of crap.

Are you going to art school too, comrade? blaugh  

[Errol McGillivray]

Trying. Honestly, I'm not ask skilled as most people I know, but I have a damn good eye. I hope to train my hands. Lots of studies. gonk  

[heyy13]

I agree with parts of this and not with others. As someone who is completely self-taught there is a great advantage in looking at real photos as referances. But not eye-balling them and copying them detail for detail. Photos are a great way to learn how things work, from differant levels of visable musculature to how a tree is constructed!

Referances are an important part of art, especially in the begining whilst your learning. Tracing is not, direct copying is not. But learning the theory but looking at the phenomenom in nature is a great idea.

That isn't to say that reading articles on colour theory, anatomy and light theory is bad. (heavens no! i love reading colour theory is particular. ;D) But you can learn light theory from taking out a lamp (or three for multiple light sources) with coloured bulbs and randomly placing objects in the middle and observing how differant light reflects off differant objects from differant angles can be just as good.

Infact i don't think you can learn theory without also learning to apply it to real situations. It's all well and good to look at the diagram of human musculature, but then you need to realise how to apply that knowledge to what you wish to draw and how that stiff model changes with differant environments.

I do however think that trying to learn anatomy or light theory etc from other drawings is a really bad move as your having an interpretation of an interpretation. The original of which is effected by that artist's "style", tecnique and personal learning. It's like chineese whispers, when one learns from a drawing which another learns from and so on down the line by the end it has verry little truth or reality in it.

Everything has it's place.

I hope that made sense, it's 1am and my brain isn't working properly... >__>;;

 

[Badeye]

I agree wholeheartedly with what's been said here.

The real pity is that I never wanted to learn the basics when I started, which results in me being something of a cad after all these years of drawing whimsically from my head. It's a tough process to learn and apply all the intense art knowledge there is out there, but I feel like i've begun to see the limit of what drawing purely on instinct can do, and I prefer the harder path now.


Er, basically just agreeing with y'all. Time to go hit up buttloads of tutorials and draw from life.  

[Freiheit]

I don't think referencing becomes a a problem until you start depending on it and put to much time reproducing it rather then understanding it.

Other then that, it's always been something I agreed with, give yourself the meens to create and share your ideas...don't just throw yourself in hoping it'll work sweatdrop  

[queenoftroy]

I agree that you need theory. I have been drawing for many years...and always thought my drawings were awesome!!! razz I decided to start taking classes and the difference in my work was amazing! I went from very flat childish drawings with no real depth...to highly detailed panoramas.

I feel that using reference is fine as well though. Im not saying copy someone elses work, because in that instance you really havent CREATED anything....but looking at the masters for inspiration....when you have a feeling or an emotion you want to express looking at stock photos so that you can create your individual vision...this i think is ok. for instance...this picture



was made almost entirely from reference...and its one that i am most proud of, because it was a tribute to my sister, whos body i drew, and my daughter, whos face i used...the one that was becoming a mother, and the one that made me a mother....it still expressed my individual vision while using reference materials.  

[daughtK]

8D I lol'd at the manga part at the end about the pin-ups. I totally agree. I guess I don't have the models to draw from to practice my anatomy, but I try. It's jsut sorta werid for me to be staring at somebody for too long. xD

In art class, I was really hyped about doing anatomy, but my teacher who is an utter failure at his job taught us nothing about anatomy or proportions. All we ever did was draw various people in the same generic poses. CURSE DRAWING 1.

And I want to do manga style, but unlike many, I know that it's based off of the HUMAN FORM so I have to practice anatomy! Not that I don't want to. It's rather fascinating to do. Just time-consuming. xD And I really do need to take sequential art classes or SOMETHING since I don't even know how to do a well paneled page. Plus, I'd have to take up loads of writings classes to improve my diction, vocabulary, grammar, style etc. I totally agree about everything here! Art takes work.  

[cheerios18]

I say kudos, and I also think that this can be looked at like any kind of study and field work. Without both your hopeless, pathetic, and useless. And honestly the only thing that should be used as references a trees, not even the exact branches ******** trees.....  

[13Haru13]

ummmmmmm, i don't find looking for facial expressions in other people works... for me i have to make the faces myself, i find that feeling the expression gives you a better sense of it than seeing it.  

[Kristina-chan]

As my experiance says it IS important to train basi skills. Things like hands, eyes, mouths, and shadows always help you improve. And also anatomy (bones, muscles and such) really helps even if you draw only manga. smile