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At 12/12/09 11:37 AM, TurkeyOnAStick wrote: Don't think I like the phrase "self-taught", especially for drawing.
a) It's all individual; only you know your influences and creativity, not a supervisor. They can only push you.

Meaning they can also push you in a certain direction... I think that could be the only difference between schooled and unschooled artists...
Of course this depends on your teachers, because whereas they can push you in a certain direction, they can also push you to explore different things/widen your horizon.

But as with any education in our current information age, I think if you would not go to an art school you could still acces the resources on the interwebs... you can get critiques from poeple here on the art forum, or on deviantart or conceptart or any other community... If youre motivated enough, whether or not you went to art school should really matter.

At 12/12/09 11:59 AM, J-qb wrote: Meaning they can also push you in a certain direction...

As far as actually teaching anything, most compulsory art classes in elementary school -> high school are absolutely useless. They just give you these time consuming little projects from which you gain no real knowledge. You realize this when you step into the classroom and the people who know how to draw already know how to draw, the people who don't don't. And when you leave at the end of the semester or whatever, the demographic is still virtually the same. The same people still can't draw and the same people can, but not to a greater extent. I'm guessing College art courses, which focus on the more practical aspect of art, are far more useful but even then, there's just this feeling of redundancy to them like; "isn't this time better spent just drawing?"

I think that's a preconception people have about art classes; that you'll always come out [i]better[/i] when you're through with them. That's not always the case. I haven't taken any formal art classes aside from "AP drawing", which I took for a semester to fill up my schedule. The classroom had this extremely faux-professional, pompous atmosphere that sickened me, despite the fact that 99% of the people really COULDN'T DRAW at all. As in, they lacked the practical knowledge to be able to draw a decent human figure, etc, etc. I mean, they could make all these "pretty pictures" but none of them showed any real promise. They simply showed an aptitude for "completing tasks" set out for them in a strange, methodical manner that both retarded and discouraged any actual learning. And a lot of them would complain; "I can't DRAW a [this] or [that]." And it's just like; "Well, you've been doing all of these useless fucking projects, why don't you practice drawing for once?"

And it's just one of those things where it's like "art class" has become such a formality that the practical and learning aspects have completely been stripped from it. I recently applied to Cooper Union and, having viewed the other applicants' portfolios (people in their 20's-30's who had been through a large repertoire of extramural art courses), I realized that most of them just suck. Just outright suck. They did not showcase an ounce of actual artistic KNOWLEDGE. And I'm pretty sure the reason is that some art class buffoon misguided them; he got them thinking that art is all about creating "pretty pictures" without any real bearing to it. So they took art classes, completely neglected to learn anything and instead set out to create "the prettiest pictures, like, ever" instead of realizing that tasks only exist to create practical knowledge. You only draw people to learn how to draw people. You only draw still life to learn how to convey values and texture, etc, etc.

But anyway, I'm sure a lot of the artists on NG are just guys who, like me, have spent a lot of time drawing. And that practice is what makes them good at what they do. No art class can substitute for real practice.

Like Gumby there, there are some things CypressDahlia said that I agree with and disagree with.
Like practice for example. Practice is good, and yes probably the best thing for any artist to do if they want to get better, but if you practice the wrong technique, then those incorrect movements become reflex and art harder to break later on when you try and correct yourself.
I'm still trying to fix bad habits from when before I went to college

mostly procrastination :P

And let us never forget that sometimes having a tried and true professional set right beside you and show you new things is always a valuable resource that the internet cannot always provide.

I`d like to add that although you may not actually learn anything from those art classes, they can make you more open to it...
My skills didnt really improve during the highschool art classes I had, but It did make more clear to me that that was an opportunity.
I had nowhere near the skills I have now back then, but If it wasnt for those classes, I might very well have always been doodling in sidelines and stuff without making more of it.

Hey does anyone like this little character I made. The bottom part was scanned in and just a ink blob that I made a second arm for and added legs. The head was made solely in photoshop.

At 12/12/09 07:17 PM, angryglacier wrote: Hey does anyone like this little character I made.

Come on glac you're not new here. Critiques in the Critique Thread.

plus that picture is waaaay to small, it's impossible to see any details.

At 12/12/09 07:36 PM, Captain-Ben wrote:

At 12/12/09 07:17 PM, angryglacier wrote: Hey does anyone like this little character I made.

Come on glac you're not new here. Critiques in the Critique Thread.

plus that picture is waaaay to small, it's impossible to see any details.

I didn't want critic I just asked if anyone liked it. I'm also horrible at photoshop so the image is small because if it gets any bigger it will be way too pixelated.

Man.. 14 days or so without a computer so far. It's frustrating I must say, surpriceingly frustrateing really. I never noticed how much energy I put into the forum until I didn't have the means to do it, and now I have no idea what to do with my time :P on the bright side, now I am working with traditionel medias again, I had really been neclecting that, especially after I got a tablet. Anyways, just dropping by to say hello :)

Good news to me that is art related:
Guys I think I might be getting Flash for christmas!!!
There's like a super college discount on Adobe products, but since I'm just in high school, I can't get it.
LUCKILY, my brother is in college, and they have been on the phone with him a bit more since i told them about it, my dad went to see him this morning (it's not that far away), and he came back with a folded up piece of paper.
So, I don't know, it seems to me like I could be getting flash, I'm so excited.
I'll be ok if i don't get it, I wont be crushed or anything, but things are looking good.

I really want to get good at animation, and I think I would be alright at it, cause i'm in to simplistic kinds of stuff, which is nice for animating.

At 12/12/09 09:15 PM, Spaghetti14 wrote: Good news to me that is art related:
Guys I think I might be getting Flash for christmas!!!

Lucky! I've wanted to animate for so long, but unfortunately I lack the resources to do so.

At 12/12/09 09:25 PM, Spunky6666 wrote:

At 12/12/09 09:15 PM, Spaghetti14 wrote: Good news to me that is art related:
Guys I think I might be getting Flash for christmas!!!

Lucky! I've wanted to animate for so long, but unfortunately I lack the resources to do so.

Do you have a camera a sheet of paper and a pencil.

At 12/12/09 11:24 PM, angryglacier wrote: Do you have a camera a sheet of paper and a pencil.

And a super human amount of free time and patience.

and yes, free time is a superpower.

At 12/12/09 11:31 PM, M-Vero wrote:

and yes, free time is a superpower.

and the older you get the harder it is to hold on to that special ability

At 12/12/09 11:51 PM, havegum wrote:

At 12/12/09 11:33 PM, Kinsei01 wrote:

At 12/12/09 11:31 PM, M-Vero wrote:

and yes, free time is a superpower.

and the older you get the harder it is to hold on to that special ability

... Untill you reach an age of aprox 70 where you will have way too much time.

But it wont be called a superpower anymore :(

well you still have superpowers, but they are used for other purposes by this time >.>......

At 12/13/09 12:00 AM, havegum wrote:

At 12/12/09 11:52 PM, Kinsei01 wrote: well you still have superpowers, but they are used for other purposes by this time >.>......

Yes, you do still have it, but it is incredible hard finding if older than 70.
The free time you get is a natural process, while the free time you have as a child is the superpower.

Here, let me draw you a chart:

you know, with minor adjustments, I could actually see that on a t-shirt... i'd even wear one o.0....

you guys know that with us getting on to a random topic like this again, we might get in trouble >.>

At 12/12/09 11:52 PM, Kinsei01 wrote: well you still have superpowers, but they are used for other purposes by this time >.>......

OFF TOPIC
Stop motion is so much more tedious than animation in flash or even something like windows movie maker. What you accomplish in a week with stop motion could be achieved in a good day in flash. I don't know how you did it ben.

Even with this convenience I have yet to do ANY animating, sad face.

At 12/13/09 12:11 AM, havegum wrote: Question:
What is "on-topic" in this thread anyway?

Art

At 12/13/09 12:11 AM, havegum wrote: Question:
What is "on-topic" in this thread anyway?

Not sure, but Ben was saying something about us having a actual conversation and not just random stuff about well.... random stuff o.0...

At 12/13/09 12:13 AM, M-Vero wrote:

At 12/13/09 12:11 AM, havegum wrote: Question:
What is "on-topic" in this thread anyway?

Art

Lol.

So here's a funny (not really) little story.
This is the story of my first and only time with flash (it was on a school computer)

It's really hard to figure out if you don't know what you're doing.
I ended up making a inconsistent ten frame moving animation of a squiggle that went in a wierd shape.

The End.

So, when i WAS using flash, i noticed that the line tool is orgasmic.
That's all.

At 12/13/09 12:15 AM, Kinsei01 wrote: Not sure, but Ben was saying something about us having a actual conversation and not just random stuff about well.... random stuff o.0...

Yeah, you guys were starting ramble. Just stay on discussion, don't go off on nonsense tangents.

At 12/13/09 12:17 AM, Captain-Ben wrote:

At 12/13/09 12:15 AM, Kinsei01 wrote: Not sure, but Ben was saying something about us having a actual conversation and not just random stuff about well.... random stuff o.0...

Yeah, you guys were starting ramble. Just stay on discussion, don't go off on nonsense tangents.

Damn it, I say some ones name and they appear, WTF man!
>.>..... may be I have super powers after all...

hot girl, hot girl, hot girl....come on work dammit!

At 12/13/09 12:31 AM, havegum wrote: Has anyone made any christmas decorations?

At least it is art related, and It could turn out to be interesting :P

Other than those clothes-pin reindeer, no, but it would be interesting to do.
However even if I could find a blank ornament, I'd probably break it.

heavy handed drawer.