[ZippZopp]

so i have a meeting with my drawing professor today to come up with a topic for my semester long project. i had 3 good ideas
1 a study on trees
2. a study on architecture
3. study on movie characters (star wars, Lord of the rings, etc)

all 3 ideas shot down
1 trees, he says its too cold outside right now to work from real tress (i can't use reference photos)

2. architecture, again too cold out to actually work from a real buliding and what would be the common theme to link them

3. characters, basically i showed him a good drawing of darth maul(i thought it was good and many have told me its good). he looked at it laughed and proceeded to tell me that i could do movie characters but there would have to be a common theme!

i told him i wanted to try digital paiting...shot down to which he told me that he found photoshop very very underwhelming which i was absolutely shocked by!! he told me that anything that can be done in photoshop he could do!

so basically he gave me nothing constructive and mocked some of my work...

sorry for all this i'm just a little uninspired right now, i just needed to vent and bring forth one question based on this.....if i do a piece of work, enjoyed doing it and am inspired by certain things, who is to tell me that its not a good idea...so now the question

WHAT IS ART?

[ January 21, 2002: Message edited by: ZippZopp ]

[ January 21, 2002: Message edited by: ZippZopp ]

[Dr. Bang]

tell him to visit goodbrush.com

i'm REALLY curious on what he has to say. PLase, can you do that? I really look foward to hear from you. Cya

[ZippZopp]

i'll send him an email right now....

[Icannon]

art is for pansies!

[Jason Manley]

haha...mr unreasonable sounds fairly reasonable to me...

he wants you to work from life...that is good...listen to him

he wants you to be comfortable while you work..also good

he wants you to learn traditional medias...also great

sometimes teachers say things that sound harsh but if you look you will find meaning in there...he doesnt want you to use photoshop because it is much easier to do digital painting than traditional (sorry boys..tis true...the undo key and saved versions are part of that) also...if you work with a computer you will not have as easy of a time working from life...

the funny thing is ...that is the kind of teacher Id take. if ya back down to his small comments then you arent going to make it in the professional world...it is there that you will have to deal with words like that every single day...dont do this..change this..I dont like this...wow I like that..I wish youd do this....tis just the way it is.

listen to your teacher...odds are he is unaware of the great digital painters today..most traditional artists are...but he is right in everything else he said as far as I could see.

it is also possible that he doesnt want you to do what you want...but what he wants...and that is a great lesson to learn. so qwit ya sobbin and get to a drawwin.



j

[PixHortHiT]

I wish I had a art teacher...

[Jason Manley]

hey pix...

email me and Ill give you an assigned lesson.

there ya go...wish granted.

jason manley

[Brain]

Heh. Had very similar experiences with high school art teachers. Especially the digital art thing. And I'm glad they did it. It's kinda hard to see now, but he's highly likely to be right. He acts all above you and all knowing because he probably is. Try not be threatened by that; embrace it and learn a thing or two. @:-)

[SporQ]

jason, perhaps you could start a "lesson thread". im sure everyone here would love that, and want to participate. if not, email me a lesson too, lol

[[Shizo]]

Hmm, since you need a theme with live reference and warm environment - i suggest you pick a theme "Nude Models" hehe
Or "Furry Hampsters" but i think "Nude Models" is better.

[Jason Manley]

Ill think about the lesson thread...maybe put something together this week..we'll see.

j

[Jason Manley]

ps...if you have anything in particular in mind...let me know.


Im thinking of a lesson in working from general to specific in order to finish a piece of art....I dunno..that is what came to mind...Ill let ya know what it'll be later this week.

j

[Gort]

Dood - that's a major bummer. It's unfortunate that your professor is narrow minded. Wow - he must be a real expert in Photoshop to make such judgmental comments on Photoshop; I'd take him up on his offer - give 'im some of Graig's work and tell him to get busy.

My advice would be to not wrangle - just try to give the prof what he wants, finish your program and be done with it. Move on. I had a similar professor in college; he flat out refused to acknowledge the computer as a legitimate form of art. To compound matters he was the chair of the illustration department, so you couldn't exactly argue for the department as a whole; imagine that - no Photoshop or Illustrator. Even within the realm of traditional media he was biased - don't dare show anything unless it's wet media - no Berol Primsacolors, oil pastels (even!), etc.

So the best thing you can do is try to keep learning your digital stuff on the side. Look at other schools (if you have any locally) and see if there are any "cross-credit" classes you can take (I did this with two art history classes; they were offered in the evenings at another school, so I was able to go there while still a student at my other school while retaining credit). As you move closer and closer to your degree related classes, you should be able to propose to the department head some areas of specialized study for credits - in this case digital painting, illustration, etc. So with that said, keep doing what they want as far as the foundations are concerned; demonstrate a competency with the foundations thus garnishing respect and then try to approach the specialized stuff.

-tc

[Lev]

Jason- a lesson thread would be cool!

[Novacaptain]

A lesson thread would be great...I'd like to participate.

Odds are that your teacher probably has had quite a few students before you and if you want to get the most out of his experience, just trust him. Take his advice and do as he says.

If you think he's wrong on some points keep it to yourself and avoid confrontation by trying to prove him wrong. You won't make him excited about teaching you new stuff that way. So take the good in with the "bad" and you'll probably make more out of it than by being resentful.

[ZippZopp]

i realize i will encounter this sort of stuff, but i needed to get it off my chest. i'm still tryin to come up with a topic for my semester long project! hopefully it will come to my mind sometime soon! thanks for all the replies though

[Gort]

Jason -

Of course - anyone can learn painter in "two weeks". By contrast anyone can learn to use graphite and newsprint - in seconds. I think perhaps I didn't clarify myself - or maybe you misunderstood me. I was under the impression that the professor was underestimating the functional nature of Photoshop as a tool, and I find that view narrow minded - and I speak from personal experience (as stated from my last post).

I did place an emphasis on the fundementals -they're essential in developing a skillset for using any tool down the road.

"Whether you like it or not, or even realize it or not, this art teacher does have something to offer you." - Pat

Yes! How to deal with these kinds of situations. By learning to deal with and accept these "frustrations" in a constructive and mature manner, you'll certainly be prepared for more of it down the road.

-tc

[edible snowman]

the thing with highschool art is, there's usually not enough time to do what would be most beneficial. if his classes are like mine, they're an hour long. that means if you paint from life, you have to go outside, find a good spot, then take out your traditional tools, and set everything up. including cleanup, this would leave you little time to actually paint. i'll grant that painting traditionally from life is probably the best way to go, but you can still learn a lot from using photographs while painting digitally, especially if you understand its limitations. If you're only working for an hour, it might be the best use of your time.

actually now that i bring it up, what are the exact limitations of using photographs as opposed to drawing from life. i can think of a few, but i'd be curious to know what someone's views are who actually knows what they're talking about.

[SporQ]

if you're open to suggestions for a thread jason, there's tons of stuff id like to see.

• greg pro once mention a 4 edge rule, that i'd like to learn in more detail, if you know anything about it
  
  
• lighitng is good too. how to define form, and the basics like that. maybe stuff on fills, and how to choose good lighting schemes
  
  
• choosing palettes. this is always hard for me. finding the right colors, and especially the right saturations that work well together.
  

i know some of that is vague and pretty basic, but im just trying to get your juices flowing on what would be a good alley for you to expound upon. im sure pretty much anything you could whip out would help many here though.

[Sukhoi]

Don't you think that he's just trying to get you cooking, Zipp??
Perhaps he's just trying to "open you up".
I have had teachers doing this to me, albeit art teachers, but perhaps this is the same?!
"expression" is what he want's to see...
I dunno.

This does not apply if he's a purist ofcourse.

Sukhoi

[Jason Manley]

tom...

I disagree with you.

If the teacher can help him with traditional medias all of those teachings will apply to photoshop.

it doesnt take much of a brain to use a 2d program...my six year old nephew can paint with it..it takes brains to make great images. it takes training and hard work to make great images...it takes the ability to learn and listen and grow...photoshop and acknowledgement of the computer arts does not make a teacher a good teacher. take a computer illustration class for that kind of thing.

what class is this professor teaching??? drawing and composition 1? that is a charcole and graphite class...not a digital class. the course work applies to the course...you cant take figure painting in oil and expect to turn in images in painter...you cant take digital medias and expect to do your images in conte crayon.

ya know what I mean?

I took only one semester of digital illustration in college. I took 15 semesters of figure drawing and painting. I learned to use painter in two weeks. that is what Im talking about...I cant teach a non artist to make great images in painter...but I can teach a good artist to do it. stick with the traditional stuff..master it...draw from life...that is where you will find the fuel for all your imaginitive fire. you cannot run on an empty tank.

jason

[Pat]

quote

Quote:

so basically he gave me nothing constructive and mocked some of my work...

ZippZopp, you should probably learn to deal with this sort of thing. You're going to encounter these types of frustrations frequently as an artist. Whether you like it or not, or even realize it or not, this art teacher does have something to offer you.

-Pat

[J-D Leon]

man. every u can see can't be draw.
for example:

hand, water, cloud, (that what i haven't conquer)

and go kick that bad ass prof's ass.
he doesn't know the spirit of digital art. tell him to open him mind. and ask him this: can u make star war?