At 11/7/09 06:56 PM, kr8to wrote:
My most recent work as of when this NG post was written can be seen here
Definite improvement
I believe and know first hand that in order for someone to improve they needed to do studies, there is no "I'm perfect i don't need to study" person out there.
I wouldnt say studies is the right word so much as just practice, but practice with the intention of improving. Do the same thing over and over incorrectly will never help, but doing something and attempting to fix whatever was bugging the artist will improve the work. Its important to remember styles and tastes factor in, not everyone works realistically. It does help when they knows the rules of realistic drawing, but it doesnt mean they have to have the skills to carry those out to be good artists.
Now i may be a rough critic but i only want the best out of people. Too many people here impose a facade of skill and mastery and they feel that they don't need to study, they feel they will be masters someday if the keep drawing from imagiation.
Masters no, but that might not be their goal. Plus masters at what? The term master dosent mean renaissance realism genius. Jasper Johns was considered a 'master', so was Robert Rauschenberg, neither of them did a single observational drawing in their career.
Ask any master who you look up to and view there work with amazement how they got there, they will tell you it takes PRACTICE.
And did they also tell you that simply drawing ANYTHING will cause improvement, because you can have all the knowledge in the world, but without general hand eye coordination and being comfortable with your media you wont be able to do anything. Granted if you dont apply the rules you know improvment will be slow, but you WILL improve simply by drawing. If all you do is stick figures, those sticks will be much better and more refined as time goes on just by simple repetition as you get used to the shape.
I have talked in person and online with leaders in the fine art and game art business and no less then 100% view studies as a required necessity.
You arent talking to enough people then. Ever heard of 'visionary artists'. They are artists who have no formal training and are entirely self taught. Granted a lot of them aren't exactly on par with ones with training, but you would be suprised the stuff they can do that no trained artist ever would even think of because their 'studies' wouldnt let them. Hell there are entire museums dedicated to visonary artists. The main reason why people say that you need some background training before getting anywhere is because 9/10 times those who lack it aren't good enough, or it would make having to teach them new things a bit slower. Its easier to teach someone 2 point perspective if they already know 1 point, but it dosent mean that it cant be done if they don't know.
Grab a sketchbook and a peice of paper and do studies from life, whether its people, clothing, objects, environments, hell anything.
I recommend that people focus more on the area they are aiming for when drawing from life. If they never have the intention of drawing an anatomically correct figure then dont bother drawing people. And excellent example of an artist would be our very own captain-ben, he makes no attempt at creating realistic things, but instead his focus is more on material and color interactions. If I were to tell him to do observational drawings I would say look for things that would be well suited to your medium and have intense color contrasts. Observational drawing is only beneficial if your style demands it. The reason why people use it as a starting point is because often times its a good way to get them used to a media because they dont have to worry about making things up yet. If you ever plan on doing things that are meant to have real world lighting or physics applied to them then yes, observational drawing is essential, otherwise its only recommended, but not required.
Look at art as any other subject, for example football, you can either A: be a player and screw around and just show up to high school games and not make it to college or the pro's.. or .. B: Constituently Work your ass off working out and learning, pushing yourself towards your dreams.
Thats how it works there is not other way its up to you and your commitment.
Football is a crappy analogy, because there are those who are naturally better than others, they could slack off and still be better than the kid who tries his ass off, sometimes your best just isn't good enough in sports like that. In art its somewhat similar, some people can try and try and will never get as good as someone who is just naturally gifted. That dosent mean dont try though.
As for your critiques, maybe look at the art101 critique thread to make them better. And seriously dude, you need to consider alternate styles more, photorealism isnt everyones goal.
