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| I-misanthropic
I-misanthropic
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[38632758]
[2016-03-03 14:11:52 +0000 UTC]
(United States)
# Statistics
Favourites: 655; Deviations: 26; Watchers: 11
Watching: 86; Pageviews: 3435; Comments Made: 158; Friends: 86
# Interests
Favorite visual artist: Franklin BoothTools of the Trade: Mostly ink at this point
# About me
Long story short: Drew all the time when I was a kid and teenager but put away art for several years. Now I'm in my thirties and trying to be a real artist.# Comments
Comments: 38
I'm disappointed to see nothing new in your gallery. It seems you got off to a bang, then stopped just as abruptly. What's wrong?
Remember what you said - it's a learning process. You got that right, so, stick to it. Put yourself out there and, whatever the difficulty may be, work through it.
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You're most welcome.
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WELCOME to DA!
Best advice (from someone who's been there: set up a modest, barebones daily practice schedule and stick to it. I have some resources linked on my profile page that you may find helpful, like this www.deviantart.com/users/outgo…
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Thank you! I appreciate the advice. By saying you've been there, I assume this is actually possible? That is, tackling something as big as ART (all of it, lol) later in life and actually becoming good? Maybe even great at some point? Because honestly it feels kind of impossible some days.
I bought a subscription to New Masters Academy and it's been great. The instructors are fantastic and I can definitely seem improvements every time I watch a video. But it just feels so BIG , you know? Like there's so much to learn just to become mildly competent. Many times, I wonder what I actually should be practicing. Figure drawing, anatomy, head and hands (I'm particularly bad there), value, shading, dare I say color?!
Ha. Sorry, got carried away. Didn't mean to unload my insecurities on your comment. I really do appreciate you taking the time to comment and advise. I do actually have a schedule, by the way and I'm pretty great at sticking to it. Like I said, my biggest problem is not having a clear progression in front of me. Not necessarily knowing what to work on, what to practice and where to go next if that makes sense.
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I can't say anything about being great. LOL. Just that it is possible to go back to art and pick up where you left off - make progress and enjoy it.
At some point I overhauled my skills and started from scratch based on new, more comprehensive knowledge than when i began. I had to fill in much about fundamental knowledge and skill.
I used the methods and approaches of the Renaissance artists, the Great Masters. The first thing I learned was the importance of drawing, which is the foundation of all skills and of realistism. After that I learned the basic formula: gesture>volume>detail and all the permutations of its meaning, i.e. gesture=rhythm=action; volume=mass=type-form=lay-in=3rd dimension
In addition, I had to study anatomy in depth, since it provides the structure that expresses rhythm, and, so, bridges the beginning (gesture) with the end (detail). That meant making it a regular part of the schedule.
As far as the stepwise path, the natural divisions follow this order: line>tone>color. In this we follow a natural path from outline drawing, through tonal rendering, to color. While these areas are separate from each other, each serves as a prerequisite for the next.
The most important thing is principle. Learn the principles of art and practice applying them at your current level of skill.
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That is the single most helpful comment I've ever gotten. Thank you so much, truly.
That progression makes a lot of sense and I suppose I'm on the right path. I've been working my way through a series of lectures on figure drawing by Karl Gnass and they're helping. I suppose I'm just impatient. I see all this beautiful, gorgeous work and I want to be able to do that too. And, of course I want to be able to create what I see in my head as well. But, I suppose that frustration is inherent to any creative work.
Again, thank you so much for your comments and help. I genuinely appreciate them.
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Sure. Any time.
I want to mention one more thing, a book - The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicholaides. This is not a HTD book. It says nothing of, say, how to draw a hand, or a foot or anything like that. It's basically a compilation of exercises schedules geared to provide the student with fundamental, tactile experience. Each exercise is explained thoroughly in what amounts to an essay.
He introduces the student to three kinds of drawing at the beginning - gesture, contour and core, or massing, which form a nexus for drawing and painting in general (he doesn't distinguish between drawing and painting - to him painting is drawing with color.) The idea is simply to use these methods to explore the medium of graphite or charcoal on paper, using all your senses, especially sight and kinesthesia.
I posted reports as I practiced the schedules. They're in a subgallery of a subgallery (Gallery>Sundog studio>Updates) . Actually have the link here sol-caninus.deviantart.com/gal…
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That sounds like a really interesting book; certainly not like anything I've done before. I'll pick up a copy. By the way, I really like your writing style. It's clear and reasonably concise but not dumbed down. I'll definitely be reading more when I get time.
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LOL. Thank you. Yeah, I'm writing to myself, because it really is my journal. That can be a problem, too, because sometimes I forget that others will be reading it, so it can get obtuse. But, in general, it's my way of analyzing - making things clear for myself - putting into words and concepts things that might otherwise go straight to my hands.
You can get that book at Scribd.com by trading a document of yours for it - anything you have rights to or that is in the public domain. You can probably find it free online at other sites as well.
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I like your journal. It's interesting to see things from another's point of view and yours is clearer than most. It's also fascinating how much better we can understand a concept after actually writing about it or trying to explain it. I read somewhere - I forget where - that you never fully understand a thing until you try to teach it, and I think there's a lot of truth in that. That's one of the reasons I think the act of keeping a journal is so useful. Although I do prefer writing to typing. It just seems more visceral to me. I seem to remember things better and stick to goals better when I actually write them out instead of typing them up somewhere. I also like nice pens and paper, lol.
Great tip about the book. I found it on Google books.
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Yes. That's it exactly - the journal is my way of teaching myself (for better or worse). The hope is that it will be of benefit to others, as well, used one way or another.
I have no doubt that if I followed all the schedules, I'd be much farther along the way. But they are difficult! haha. And, also, long before discovering Nicholaides, I tuned in to the natural way. I was calling it "organic" and applied it to learning how to ink. But, because it was indeed the natural way, it soon had me putting aside all that I had done to start over, beginning with drawing, following the progression previously outlined. Honestly, it didn't take too long. And everything I learned then seems to have contributed to moving so quickly with digital drawing and coloring/painting.
Something happened during the period between 1850 and 1920, generally the time of the Golden Age of Illustration in the U.S.A, of Art Deco/Art NouVeau, realism (for which photographs were studied - so the true beginning of photo-realism) and Impressionism. It produced great artists, like Nicholaides, who knew carried on in the tradition of Renaissance man and communicated it. I hope you enjoy the book - or should I call it a training manual ? That's what it is.
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You do beautiful work, sir. Very impressive!
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Ditto. Beautiful work by the way.
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Thankyou for your support in comment and fav form ^.^
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No problem. You do good work and I think people have the best chance at success with lots of encouragement. Keep it up!
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Thank you for the favourite, I'm glad you like that painting
Welcome on DeviantArt, I hope you'll have fun here!
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Thanks so much for the watch^.^
Your art is incredible, can't wait to see more ♥
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No problem. Yours too!
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