It was a whirlwind to take Drawing II at the community college with four hour long classes held four days in a row. Plus homework. I gained a few more pounds due to missing good lunches and eating in restaurants for dinner as I was too busy to cook from scratch. And eating candy bars for fast energy when fading fast in class.
I learned things in the class during the lecture and other things from directly talking to my professor during class with 1:1 help. I also had more reinforcement about what I already knew or suspected about how to learn and how to master something. I already knew things from my own life experience and also from self-teaching and from having homeschooled my children. So much I am now hearing and seeing I already knew, such as the following:
It is okay to make a mistake. Learn from the mistake.
Redo (redraw) the same thing to try to get it right, redraw over and over until you nail it.
Drawing teaches the foundation needed for painting, animation and digital art. You must know composition, value, proportion, perspective, and figure drawing to do all those things unless you plan to only be an abstract painter. If you want that you still need to know color theory or have some natural talent for it that didn't need instruction.
Practice, practice, practice.
The way to mastery is intentional practice. So if taking a class don't just do the homework and move on when the deadline is over. Keep practicing on your own.
Classes do not give enough practice before moving on to the next thing. Extra work outside of class or done after the class ends is what helps you improve.
Mastery comes from your own motivation and drive to get things done. If you only work when you have a deadline from someone else it's not enough. You will not get good let alone excellent.
Many of the successful working artists (including animators and video game character developers) have their foundation in the traditional art education as taught to fine art students. A human like monster needs a body and you build out from there. You don't start with the costume then do the body parts. So, traditional figure drawing is what is required to draw humans and monsters from your imagination.
Daily practice is essential even if it's only sketching your surroundings or figure drawing in gestures.
Information can be in books and you can self-teach but you probably won't see your flaws and/or know how to fix them. Therefore a (good) live human teacher is essential.
Books for self-teaching only do so much, it really all relies on practice. Owning the book will not make you good, and reading it once won't work either. Practice, practice, practice.
Showing posts with label mastery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mastery. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Wanting To Learn vs. Mastery vs. Over-Shopping
Today I was in my art supply closet putting away some supplies and looking to see if I owned odorless mineral spirts (I do not). I am very carefully, slowly and thoughtfully selecting supplies to start oil painting with and do not want to overbuy.
I have a lack of knowledge but an overabundance of curiosity. I want to do things but lack the know how. At certain points in time I have had an excess of cash so have found it easy to purchase supplies that I never use. At other times I have been in the presence of discounted art supplies and was tempted as it was on sale or at an overstock store for 90% off so I bought it not even having a real plan to use it.
Right now my current debate is which oil paint brushes to purchase and how many. I had overbought synthetic brushes at great discount from Tuesday Morning. What good did that do me now that I am tempted to buy natural bristle brushes?
One thing I have learned from taking and finishing the Drawing I class is that really all that matters is doing and practicing. Art making is a process and you learn by doing. You have to do, do, do. When it feels scary or intimidating you need to push through and just do it as that is when you learn. The struggle and frustration and trying to fix a mistake or make a thing look better is how you learn and grow because you learn through trial and error and by correcting and improving.
With the drawing class I was able to use a lot of the previously purchased art supplies from our homeschool days. However I realized that by using sets of pencils that the ones I really used were a small number compared to the set so I have untouched supplies here. Lesson learned: sometimes you save money by purchasing a la carte even though seeing a set somehow seems to be a bargain or gives you the idea that it has all you need to help you learn that medium. Also I later found out that some of what I owned was crap that only belonged in the trash bin or a pencil that was repurposed for daily writing or maybe should go to the library for patrons to use to scratch down notes of book numbers.
My advice to myself and others at this point is this:
1. Explore possibilities by reading and watching videos
2. Choose a art method to try.
3. Use a limited supply list to try that medium. Buy decent paper and decent supplies but keep it to a small number. Avoid buying sets unless you have a plan to use 90% or if you would spend more buying basics a la carte.
4. Dive in and make art with that medium.
5. Avoid shopping until it is absolutely necessary. I found myself needing a better pencil sharpener and an eraser that actually worked, for example. When I ruined one chamois by accident I had to buy a replacement. Buy the smallest size paint tube to start.
6. If you are frustrated by your end product it may be due to you lacking art fundamentals such as how to draw in general, not undestanding how to represent value, scale and/or perspective, not knowing how to draw a face or bodies or people. Knowing color theory and helps with harmony, sometimes what is off or wrong is due to the color or too many colors being used. A decent understading of composition is necessary. Knowing to know how to use a material is self-limiting if you are frustrated with trying to represent something that looks awful in the end. Go back and learn the fundamentals so you can use that knowledge to make the art you want look the way you see it in your mind.
7. My new mindset is before you break the rules you can learn a lot by learning the rules.
By chosing to not overspend on art supplies you have no real plan to use, and therefore have no real intention of ever using, you are helping yourself focus on what it is you really want to do and how to spend your time.
The only way to get really good at someting is with practice and practice takes intention, time and energy. Get the smallest amount of necessary supplies with your money then spend your emotional and physical energy on making the art and on learning.
I have a lack of knowledge but an overabundance of curiosity. I want to do things but lack the know how. At certain points in time I have had an excess of cash so have found it easy to purchase supplies that I never use. At other times I have been in the presence of discounted art supplies and was tempted as it was on sale or at an overstock store for 90% off so I bought it not even having a real plan to use it.
Right now my current debate is which oil paint brushes to purchase and how many. I had overbought synthetic brushes at great discount from Tuesday Morning. What good did that do me now that I am tempted to buy natural bristle brushes?
One thing I have learned from taking and finishing the Drawing I class is that really all that matters is doing and practicing. Art making is a process and you learn by doing. You have to do, do, do. When it feels scary or intimidating you need to push through and just do it as that is when you learn. The struggle and frustration and trying to fix a mistake or make a thing look better is how you learn and grow because you learn through trial and error and by correcting and improving.
With the drawing class I was able to use a lot of the previously purchased art supplies from our homeschool days. However I realized that by using sets of pencils that the ones I really used were a small number compared to the set so I have untouched supplies here. Lesson learned: sometimes you save money by purchasing a la carte even though seeing a set somehow seems to be a bargain or gives you the idea that it has all you need to help you learn that medium. Also I later found out that some of what I owned was crap that only belonged in the trash bin or a pencil that was repurposed for daily writing or maybe should go to the library for patrons to use to scratch down notes of book numbers.
My advice to myself and others at this point is this:
1. Explore possibilities by reading and watching videos
2. Choose a art method to try.
3. Use a limited supply list to try that medium. Buy decent paper and decent supplies but keep it to a small number. Avoid buying sets unless you have a plan to use 90% or if you would spend more buying basics a la carte.
4. Dive in and make art with that medium.
5. Avoid shopping until it is absolutely necessary. I found myself needing a better pencil sharpener and an eraser that actually worked, for example. When I ruined one chamois by accident I had to buy a replacement. Buy the smallest size paint tube to start.
6. If you are frustrated by your end product it may be due to you lacking art fundamentals such as how to draw in general, not undestanding how to represent value, scale and/or perspective, not knowing how to draw a face or bodies or people. Knowing color theory and helps with harmony, sometimes what is off or wrong is due to the color or too many colors being used. A decent understading of composition is necessary. Knowing to know how to use a material is self-limiting if you are frustrated with trying to represent something that looks awful in the end. Go back and learn the fundamentals so you can use that knowledge to make the art you want look the way you see it in your mind.
7. My new mindset is before you break the rules you can learn a lot by learning the rules.
By chosing to not overspend on art supplies you have no real plan to use, and therefore have no real intention of ever using, you are helping yourself focus on what it is you really want to do and how to spend your time.
The only way to get really good at someting is with practice and practice takes intention, time and energy. Get the smallest amount of necessary supplies with your money then spend your emotional and physical energy on making the art and on learning.
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