Learning how to draw

[synthsin75]

1) Be realistic
No one learns to draw overnight.
It's all about practice.
People have said to me that they tried to learn how to draw. When I asked them how much time they invested, they replied, 1 semester in college or one month. When I asked how many hour, they replied 1 hour, maybe two.
No one can learn at that pace.

Yeah, like any great skill, it can take the better part of a lifetime to master. Personally I wouldn't know about finding an instructor, but I assume if you're starting later in life this could be important.

And other people's work will definitely be an influence. My style is almost always evolving depending on what little bits of this or that I've seen recently. Hell, even likenesses of people from real life sometime intrude. The nerve.

[heyvern]

2) Search for a good instructor
This is difficult. Good teachers are hard to find. In my experience, especially in college, I found that bad teachers can do more damage to a student trying to learn. In college some of us were told that 75 percent of us would never make it in the field or become artists. Don't pay money to be discouraged by instructors who do not know how to encourage and nurture students. Tell these assholes to go to hell and continue to study, on your own if need be.

I have to disagree just a little bit.

First off I think that grade school teachers SHOULD encourage rather than discourage just as you said. At that early age an artistic talent should be encouraged. When I was in grade school, I was PUNISHED for my creativity.... uh... I still did it though and my parents just laughed at the teachers when they complained about sketches on the backs of my test papers.

But if we are talking about college level teaching harsh lessons are NECESSARY! Teachers must prepare the student for reality. I had teachers like that when I was in art school. One teacher made a girl cry. She didn't like his criticism so he grabbed her sketch threw it on the floor and stomped on it until she cried.

She became a much better artist because of this. He did that for a good purpose. The real world will stomp on your talent and make you cry every day. Better to learn that early than be surprised and disappointed later. The real world won't tell you you are good so your feelings aren't hurt.

If you know ahead of time that you will face incredible rejection trying to make it in the creative arts, and you have learned to deal with this rejection and still can continue with it then you are a stronger person.

At the college level an "art" teacher shouldn't be paid to be a parent who puts your art on the fridge and says "isn't that pretty."

By the time I got to art school that was my only experience. "isn't Vern great, isn't he talented" blah blah blah. I heard that through my whole childhood (except from teachers who didn't care about it of course. ).

When I got to art school I learned the harsh reality but I still wanted it, I didn't decide NOT to be an artist. I learned to be realistic about my own talent and find my strengths. Some teachers can be harsh, but many times those are the ones who really care.

-vern

[blacksunproject]

The real world will stomp on your talent and make you cry every day.

I agree, as an instructor myself I am always realistic with my students. I don't sugar coat anything, but I will not discourage them before they even make an attempt to succeed. That's for other people to do, and god know their are enough pessimists out their, I leave the "negativity" to them.

I've never lied to my student. I've always told them that the creative industry is a difficult and at times "harsh" career path. I am very critical of their work. I always let them know when something is below standards that they should be at or working to be at. I push them as far as I can and help them to understand what they are getting themselves into, but, I will not discourage them before they've event made a sincere attempt.

I do not compliment bad work and I will never tell anyone they suck because "again" everyone develops at their own pace, and most important" there will come a time when they have to choose for themselves whether they want to continue down the path of learning.
I don't hold their hands, I am not their parent, I am their guide and instructor. My job is to teach, not discourage. Life will do the rest. As I was once told, "you either swim or sink, the choice is up to you", and that's what I tell my students.

Life is fucking tough, but that does not mean that I have to be a fuck, I'll let other people play that role.

Please forgive my passionate response, "but", as a former art student, I met alot of these so called "instructors" who though they were doing me a favor. After I finished my studies I realize that I was paying the salaries of people who did nothing to encourage student and potential artists. I promised myself that If someday I became a teacher/instructor, I would not be that type of instructor.

As a professional artist, I have gone through my highs and lows and I would much rather be a positive guide. God know I work with enough assholes everyday.

Thanks for reading,
Gustavo

[InfoCentral]

I believe that drawing is like playing a musical instrument. If you want to put in the time and practice you can do it.

[blacksunproject]

I believe that drawing is like playing a musical instrument. If you want to put in the time and practice you can do it.

Yes.

[bonjob]

haha. I'm also facing the same problem as you.
I don't know how to draw no matter how hard I study.
maybe it has a purpose why GOD didn't bless me
that kind of skill. :D

[dueyftw]

I have come to the conclusion that learning to draw or learning anything is done by copying others. I’m so bad at drawing that I have a separate desk away from the computers where I have only books, paper and pencils. That includes tracing paper. I used the tracing paper once on a drawing in a book, then I try drawing by looking at what I’m copying. Last by memory. Almost everything you learn is by copying others work. Drawing, writing, computer programming, you name it and you will realize that your work is a copy of someone else. BUT, a better way of saying this is that all these are influences, hopefully, from many sources and you learned to use what you like and make it your own.

The other thing is structure. The way things are put together. Everything has it and one need to understand how it works in the field or endeavor one is trying to learn. Most people want to skip it and go right to the “good stuff”. I’m very guilty of this kind of behavior, very detrimental to learning anything.

So when a book on drawing starts with shapes instead of completed figures, funny most do? I work on getting the shapes “right”. That includes drawing them repeatedly until I have a memory of them. Then I’m working my way up from there.

Last look at drawspace and ratemydrawing for tutorials.

Dale

[synthsin75]

I'd have to agree, Dale.

Granted I'm a great artist now, but when I was young one of the best exercises was tracing photos of people in advertising circulars. This is kind of like learning a martial art, you just do it until your hand learns how to repeat the motion without over thinking it. Personally, I don't think art is so much a talent as it is an aptitude to put the time and effort into learning a new skill.

[heyvern]

Recently I've been giving some thought to the artistic mind as an inborn trait. I use to think that anyone could "learn" to be an artist if they started young enough or worked at it hard enough, but there seems to be a lot of "other" less "fun" traits that tag along with an artistic talent.

For instance it's almost a stereotype that artists are "messy". This is NOT an absolute rule of course... but more often than not artists are... slobs like myself... well... maybe not as bad as I am .

My poor housekeeping skills in my work area has always been one of those things they put on my performance reviews. You know; areas needing improvement.

One of my bosses, who was a very talented artist, gave me a book he used to overcome his slovenly housekeeping. There were many talented designers and art directors at the agency I worked for who had desks and offices exactly like mine.... piles of stuff in layers on our desks (we never lost anything. Could find anything needed in a few seconds).

When I was younger and even now, my family gives me some slack because of the "sloppy artist" stereotype... although... as a youngster this might have been part of the cause .

So, if this "disorganized" trait is part of the artists mind or talent... then... could you become a better artist if you started to leave your clothes on the floor instead of hanging them up?

Another trait found among artists is depression. Sometimes associated with some form of bipolar disorder. I have MANY artists in my family tree... along with LOTS of depression and bipolar/anxiety disorders. I often wonder how those things might be connected?

This too is often a stereotype you see on TV shows or movies about "moody" artists.

-vern

[toonertime]

i am the most messiest of messy minds there are.
my room is scary messy.

everything i touch ends up messy.

i leave trails of messy wherever i go.

i have always loved art and cartooning
as well!

[FCSnow]

Vern Wrote:

I use to think that anyone could "learn" to be an artist.

Vern, you are partly right. As I tell kid who think they want to be artist, "I can teach you how to draw, but I can't teach you how to create."

Synthsin75 Wrote:

but when I was young one of the best exercises was tracing photos of people in advertising circulars.

Unfortunately, schools teach that copy the work of others is a big NO-NO. It is difficult to undo this attitude in young beginning artists. If you telling someone to trace an image, you should watch them do it. They should trace the image as it they were drawing it, with short strokes. Not with one continuous line. Eventually their own drawing style will show through.

It seems that "Slovenliness Is Next To Artistic-ness". I don't know of any artictic friends who say, "Hey, come on over and see my work area!" If art galleries looked like an artist studio, artist would be extinct as a species. Every now and them an artist must clean him or her self up so they can be presented to the public. I, myself, find it hard to confine my area of disruption inside the walls of my home. I've alway wondered if this is the reason that some artist are solitary creatures, unable to attract a mate. Are we on the verge of extinction? Will we eventually be replace by computer clip art and flash animations? Think about it. (I think I bit my tounge!)

FCSnow

[heyvern]

I've alway wondered if this is the reason that some artist are solitary creatures, unable to attract a mate. Are we on the verge of extinction?

Oh wow! That explains a LOT. I think you are on to something.

p.s. I once dated a woman who was a bigger slob than I was. We.. uh... hung out at her place most of the time... uh... the bedroom was off limits (Not what you think). The door locked. I was not allowed in that room. We had to make do... with other places. For weeks I imagined all kinds of things locked behind that door... satanic worship paraphernalia, serial killer tools... hundreds of photos of me glued to the walls with candles... voodoo dolls, etc etc.

Finally after many uncomfortable sleepless nights on a lumpy sofa bed I insisted she open that door...

I stifled the urge to run away screaming like a little girl only because I understood her plight... and... I didn't want her to hear me scream like a little girl. It took a couple of weeks to clean it out (you could not walk in. You could barely get the door open.) and then, VOILA! We had a bedroom we could use! There was actually a bed in there! Yeehaaa!

-vern

[Rudiger]

Heh-heh. I found this discussion very entertaining. I'm a slob as well, so I'm glad now I can use the artistic thing as an excuse. The British show "Spaced" (from the guys that went on to do "Shawn of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz") had a great stereotypical artist character played by Mark Heap. Things like pretending to his parents that he was actually a high-powered lawyer instead of an artist and only being able to create when he was miserable were all just hilarious.

I personally think there's two distinct elements to being a good artist. One is the ability to create an image and the other is the ability to have interesting ideas on what images to create. The first one in quite technical and has to do with proficiency with the tools and media, as well as detailed knowledge of the subject matter. To get better at this part is simply a matter of practice. The second is the more creative side can take much longer to develop.

One of my favourite artists is Salvador Dali. If you look at his early work, when he was in his late teens to early 20s, it's relatively uninspiring; mainly generic still-lifes and landscapes, etc. But I believe that producing these artworks gave him the technical skill to ably express his unique ideas later on in his career.

[heyvern]

and only being able to create when he was miserable

There you go. I do my best work under the gun and under pressure. Nothing like a looming deadline to get the creative juices flowing.

This is why some of my own projects are hard to complete. There is no pressure. There is no deadline. Make up a deadline? Yeah well... your brain knows there is no deadline.

I need to find a contest before the deadline is a few days away and I have enough time to "realistically" finish. I always find them way too late... like... with days to go or... they are handing out the prizes.

p.s. Recently I did a 3D animation project on my own in a month. I "created" the deadline because I was going to a comic convention and was taking the finished animation to show at one of the exhibitors booths. I did this entirely on my own so the deadline was "fake". BUT the deadline was still very "real" and I had to finish.

-vern

[Rudiger]

and only being able to create when he was miserable

There you go. I do my best work under the gun and under pressure. Nothing like a looming deadline to get the creative juices flowing.

This is why some of my own projects are hard to complete. There is no pressure. There is no deadline. Make up a deadline? Yeah well... your brain knows there is no deadline.

I need to find a contest before the deadline is a few days away and I have enough time to "realistically" finish. I always find them way too late... like... with days to go or... they are handing out the prizes.

p.s. Recently I did a 3D animation project on my own in a month. I "created" the deadline because I was going to a comic convention and was taking the finished animation to show at one of the exhibitors booths. I did this entirely on my own so the deadline was "fake". BUT the deadline was still very "real" and I had to finish.

-vern

Ah yes, the deadline is truly the procrastinator's best friend. Only as it draws near does the anxiety of not getting it done slowly replace the anxiety of it not being good enough.