Yes, even YOU can become a good artist!

[dstarsboy]

I'm sure most of you have already seen this, but if you haven't here is a link to a forum about a guy's quest to become an artist. He drew sketches every day (several more on weekends) and uploaded everything he drew, regardless of quality. It's a little bit mind blowing.

Day 3


Day 2562


So, while you may think you have no talent for art, with enough practice, you can definitely get there.

Admittedly, it's kind of disheartening that it's taken him over 7 years to get this good. Being a great artist is not really a hobby, I guess, more like a way of life.

[luminarious]

Didn't someone say that 10000 hours of work is what makes someone great at any given topic? 7 years seems about right, then..

[Deji]

Glancing through his thread, I saw him follow pretty much every recommendation I know/have heart for people aspiring to be good artists:

- Draw from life (landscapes, objects, people)
- Copy (eyeball) works from artist you like/admire (actually eyeballing photos helps a lot too)
- Study how things work/behave (shapes, light, anatomy, etc. Observation, deconstruction, simplification!)
- Ask other people for advice/critique
- Challenge yourself
- Buy books and follow tutorials
- Take art classes for further/quicker improvement
- And draw a lot every day!

You still need a good amount of creativity to be a great/awesome artist, though, so you can come up with new, interesting and exciting things ^^
(which is something I personally lack, haha. Also I don't follow all the examples above because I'm lazy and lame 8D )

[Tsundere Lightning]

Didn't someone say that 10000 hours of work is what makes someone great at any given topic? 7 years seems about right, then..

The author of The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell. In his book Outliers, he goes into detail about it with numerous examples. Including the Beatles, come to that.

[LVUER]

No wonder, it's a public secret that if you spent so much time on just one thing, practice and study really hard at it... no matter how stupid you are (unless you have a brain damage or something), you will become good ^_^

[Koveras]

Glancing through his thread, I saw him follow pretty much every recommendation I know/have heart for people aspiring to be good artists:

- Draw from life (landscapes, objects, people)
- Copy (eyeball) works from artist you like/admire (actually eyeballing photos helps a lot too)
- Study how things work/behave (shapes, light, anatomy, etc. Observation, deconstruction, simplification!)
- Ask other people for advice/critique
- Challenge yourself
- Buy books and follow tutorials
- Take art classes for further/quicker improvement
- And draw a lot every day!

You still need a good amount of creativity to be a great/awesome artist, though, so you can come up with new, interesting and exciting things ^^
(which is something I personally lack, haha. Also I don't follow all the examples above because I'm lazy and lame 8D )

I think just unlocking your brain's R-mode is enough to make you a passable artist if you already have creativity but no pre-defined drawing skills. ^^ Well, and generic practice, of course, but that goes without saying.

[JinzouTamashii]

Kind of off-topic but I can see this inspiring a lot of the forum members. http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Chinese-W ... B002USOXXU Vintage Chinese Watercolour Painting Traditional

This is what I was kind of trying to get at last night on the chat: http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30 How to Use References Correctly

[VenusEclipse]

Some people can be called a good artist just by being able to draw one thing well. If you can draw cars really well and that's the only thing you can draw, and then have random people see it. They'll instantly assume you're a great artist without knowing if you can draw anything else.

And many 'non-artists' instantly assume you're great and VERY talented.

[PrettySammy09]

Wow! That thread is AMAZING. :O So inspiring.

I'm really going to try to draw more frequently. I sketch everyday, but I really want to practice coloring, perspective, and other more complicated artistry techniques.

[Koveras]

And many 'non-artists' instantly assume you're great and VERY talented.

Indeed, many non-drawing people see drawing as something mystical and incredibly difficult, whereas once you try, you'll find that drawing is no more complex than handwriting. ^^ Of course, drawing well is as difficult as writing in perfect calligraphic font, but it is amazing how many people treat the ability to just reproduce an object form recognizably on paper as something extraordinary. It's like being astonished by a person writing down a sentence they just heard. ^^

[neowired]

It really annoys me how people praise any of my realistic from-life paintings or drawings (I have a few, just never post those anywhere) while they totally disregard what I draw from imagination even though it's much much harder and takes a lot more time and skill

Personally, to me painting from real life is copying and it's worthy only to use as practice. It doesn't give me much satisfaction at all.

And I totally agree with the statement that good art is made from 10% talent and 90% of hard work. But there are still those rare people, who are maybe without some form of spatial ability, who seem unable to learn to draw well even though they practice and practice (makes me sort of sad for them). And there are those rare people with some form of very visual memory or thinking, who can learn to draw much faster than others, and with a much higher quality (though they still need to practice a lot)

[VenusEclipse]

Of course, drawing well is as difficult as writing in perfect calligraphic font, but it is amazing how many people treat the ability to just reproduce an object form recognizably on paper as something extraordinary.

Yes, reminds me of this one person who can't do anything with art. She would just draw a bunch of hairy cute blobs on her notebook all the time and people who pass by her desk would go "wow, those are cute! You're a great artist!" Or something similar to that.

It really annoys me how people praise any of my realistic from-life paintings or drawings (I have a few, just never post those anywhere) while they totally disregard what I draw from imagination even though it's much much harder and takes a lot more time and skill

The audience is just too picky. For most people, they only see the appeal from the final result instead of the work you put in. Something you work really hard on can easily be disregarded. Sometimes I want to tear their limbs the paper in half because of it. XD

[Tsundere Lightning]

It really annoys me how people praise any of my realistic from-life paintings or drawings (I have a few, just never post those anywhere) while they totally disregard what I draw from imagination even though it's much much harder and takes a lot more time and skill.

No kidding. Making the unreal look realistic is VERY hard, and screw anyone who says otherwise.

I remember from the early days of the D&D 4th Ed ads that there were a lot of discussions and anguish from the artists about how to draw the Dragonborn so that they seemed - well, beleivable. And it shows - I really, REALLY like the 'draconic heads on a broad body' approach they took. It was much less weird and off than the more serpentine bodies they tried earlier.

[pkt]

Making the unreal look real is indeed hard. I've had people very good at visualizing things but utterly horrible in their opinion at drawing. There's the inverse as well. What usually separates a good artist from a great one in my own opinion depends on how well they can make things seem nice though it's fiction.