[Transcendence]

I'm here to learn. I mean..I dont have a scanner and i'm not too skilled with freehanding using a mouse yet...and besides i need to learn this crap anyway. I enjoy it too. I don't really know if that counts as an answer or not, but thta's my 2 cents on over it

[AliasMoze]

Fred,
I'm not sure if there is a generation gap or what. But I hear allot of the same stuff here I've heard from animation students and other young artists, where people want instant results. Learning complex skills is NEVER instant.

Personally, I believe drawing and painting, in all of their forms, can be learned through the right application of practice. But an artist has got to go out and work at it. Time and work are the crucial ingredients; they are absolutely required to learn any skill.

I guess it's hard to swallow the idea of devoting hundreds or thousands of hours to practice. The road is paved with many times of belittlement and disappointment too. But a learner (and that includes everyone) HAS to be willing to fail over and over and over. And take criticism.

Another thing that always gets me is an artist who wants to ignore the basic skills -- the fundamentals. Too oftens someone nods his head and says "yeah, yeah" to the basic skills, but doesn't listens and doesn't work at it. Fundamental skills have to be practiced constantly. That means lots of doing seemingly rudimentary exercises when you'd rather be playing Quake. You can't read books and learn to paint or draw. They will only teach you HOW. Being able to paint requires that you actually do it repeatedly, especially when it comes to the very basics. Fred's cubes are a good example. It's impossible to cover up lack of skill with style. Any learner who is smart would do cubes until he's got it right -- no cheating, just practice, a hundred of them if that's what it takes.

On the other hand, I find the learning experience to be an exciting trip. I'm an animator by trade, but I'm learning to paint. I'm not very good at painting. It's tough, being a working pro, to start out doing something so foreign. But I have a neccessity to be practical. That means listening to good advice and working. While other learners I know bang away at attempts at polished, finished work, I toil over basic skills. As a result I've gotten better at a pretty brisk rate. It doesn't mean I come out looking good, but I will be a better painter for it.

Lastly, I wish I'd had resources like this when I was a teenager. I grew up in a small rural town and had to do allot of learning in a vacuum growing up. I am absolutely thrilled that there are so many talented people here giving advice and building a community. So, as someone who's here to learn, I think the forum is doing just fine.

That's my two cents, I guess

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AliasMoze
:) :) :) :)
"That activates my hilarity unit."

[eetu]

sorry to interrupt but:

aliasmoze, why do you want to ask in private mail?
it could educate us all..

eetu.

[Francis]

I agree that this is a great resource. I grew up in a small Texas town, and picked up various bits of art "instruction" on my own, with pretty much no guidance. At this point, I've managed to learn a few things properly, but I'm still in the process of learning/relearning stuff that people like Fred and samdragon (excellent composition posts!) are already very comfortable with. This is also why I don't post a whole lot of critiques of other people's work - I still consider myself very much a student, and if I'm going to assume the position of a critic with regards to someone else's work, I want to be sure that I have the relevant information down pretty cold myself first. This isn't meant to come down on anyone else doing crits, which for the most part seem to be genuinely helpful - just my own little neurosis.

This forum, and the web in general (although you sometimes have to do your own quality control with web content), provides a wealth of information. Hope you "young'uns" appreciate it - it sucks trying to learn about art in a vacuum (no pun intended).



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TeamGT Studios

[micke]

Great paintings Fred. I wish i had time right now to learn how to paint properly.
I have everything at home, brushes, oilpaint..Someday SOMEDAY......

I could'nt find any particulary negative things about any of the paintings, except for the last Star Trek ship. First of all i'm not very fond of the Star trekd esigns(he he). I think it's the composition that makes it a bit boring. everything is pointing down to the lower right corner. i think the colours and shadows looks wonderful. You've captured
a very nice texture to it

I wish i had more time to follow the head
and cube classes I try to whenever i got some spare time left.
-Micke



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-Mikael Noguchi-

http://www.katode.org/noguchi/