10 Steps to being a better artist By Green_beginning
Step 1. Draw. Always, always draw. If you don't use up a rainforest's worth of paper in a month, you're not drawing enough. Or if you want to spare the trees, invest in a tablet and either photoshop, painter, and/or open canvas.
Step 2. Talk. Talk about your art and what's important to you. If you just think about your ideas they won't go anywhere except around in circles in your head.
Step 3. Listen. Listen to critique. It's the most important thing you'll receive as an artist. If you get a critique, it's not something to take personally as a bad thing. When someone points out something wrong in your piece, it means it's effected them enough for them to look at it long enough to start pointing out the flaws.
Step 4. Critique. A great way to improve is to critique the art of others. Look at what you find good in other pieces and learn to have an eye for what you don't.
Step 5. Experiment. Always try new things. Don't worry about style because you won't really develop one until your mid twenties. And even then, still try new things. You can NEVER know too much.
Step 6. Persevere. If you've taken the last five to heart, then keep going and don't stop. Never put down your pencils and paint. If you think you're above the last five steps, then put your ego away or look into other career options because it's very unlikely you'll survive in the professional art world.
Step 7. Read and write. Writing is as important to an artist as drawing. Being able to express yourself verbally, explaining your ideas, and what you're trying to convey in a piece is integral to being an artist. Always practice your writing. Just because your English teacher doesn't give a crap about your bad spelling and grammar doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Step 8. Research. Know your history and not just stuff relating to art. You'd be amazed how often a random passage in some reference book can spark an idea. Educate yourself. See Step 5.
Step 9. Relax. This doesn't mean slack off and don't work. It means take your time and pace yourself. Improvement comes gradually. You can't push your limits until you know them. Work from what you know, and just keep going.
Step 10. Rinse, repeat. Just because you've done a step or two once doesn't mean you'll make it. You have to keep doing it. If art is easy, you're not working hard enough.
Step 11. ????
Step 12. Profit!
Edit: I fail at the copy pasta. Here's the rest!
Share some of your life lessons as an artist. Experiences that have both helped and hindered you and how you got through them.
My two cents? The sketch will always be better than the final outcome. Never lose your sketchbooks.
Another thing to remember is to not be afraid to draw. Don't worry about messing up, it isn't a bad thing! When you mess up, what you did wrong will be registered in your brain to help avoid the same mistake next time. And NEVER (never ever ever) THROW YOUR ART AWAY! Doodles, screw-ups, everything should be kept. Even when you mess up big time don't draw an 'x' through it or crumple it up and throw it away. When you do that a part of your drawing spirit dies. Don't you have to admit everytime you do that you feel bad about your work? Don't do it! No matter how 'bad' it is there's always something good in it. You learn from it, too. When I screw something up in my sketchbook I hate it but the next day I look at it and say, "You know what? It isn't that bad". You find all the things you did RIGHT. Also, when you start a drawing it's best to finish it. Even if it's going not-so-great you should finish what you started.
 Zukkyun · Sat Jul 19, 2008 @ 03:18pm · 0 Comments |
