05-07-2018, 08:54 AM
@coinhero.
Drawing foundations will help you improve overall a lot for sure. Drawing well is the best thing you can do. But I disagree pretty radically with Fedo's take on it. I would say don't do one thing over and over and over until you "get it perfect" before moving on. This isn't how learning works most efficiently. Research in education has clearly shown for a long time that changing up tasks in a focused consistent way over time and having time between different learning tasks helps retention improve rather than cramming one thing. It is also this idea of "making it" that is an attitudinal bias at work. If you think you will "nail it" at some point...you don't really get it at all. A skill like art is a constant evolution no matter your skill level, and the best artists never feel they have nailed anything. Everyone has a subjective opinion based on how they personally feel they learn better, so there is no single way but I feel a smart balance is always better.
You seem to be doing art in Uni so I don't know what other exercises you are doing and maybe not posting. I think you are improving and learning a great deal by attempting full paintings because they are so challenging. It's not WHAT you do only , it's HOW you do it that is more important. How actively engaged and critical you are in your own learning process. You seem to be approaching things fairly well, by studying things to apply to problems you have on the fly. This is great. Many people on the study grind school of thought don't do this enough. Hell that was the whole point of the Bloodsports when it was running! I can see general improvements from that for sure. However, you are probably erring too much on the side of invention and not doing enough foundational studies in order to be DIRECTLY applied to these pieces. Go a bit further with this idea. After every piece, identify what issues or gaps in knowledge you had with each piece. Study some foundational things to fill in the gaps. Attempt to apply these learnings again. This will be less boring as you say and solidfy those study things into your working knowledge much better.
In terms of depth. You need to apply more consciously the idea of value contrast (or the effect of atmospheric perspective) and overlap. You seem to not control value contrast as well as you might for a good depth read. Everything is similarly contrasted and instead you use high chroma to create the contrast and don't really use value to help. This can work but it's only one factor of it. Things further away tend to get much lower in contrast. It's such a simple concept, but a few studies of this effect with intent and then applied with intent will help you "get it".
Understanding the words of a sentence or art concept for example, doesn't mean you automatically become a master at it. To be able to apply that learning and make it intrinsic, it needs many rounds of conscious intent driven practice and application. That is what effective study is.
Drawing foundations will help you improve overall a lot for sure. Drawing well is the best thing you can do. But I disagree pretty radically with Fedo's take on it. I would say don't do one thing over and over and over until you "get it perfect" before moving on. This isn't how learning works most efficiently. Research in education has clearly shown for a long time that changing up tasks in a focused consistent way over time and having time between different learning tasks helps retention improve rather than cramming one thing. It is also this idea of "making it" that is an attitudinal bias at work. If you think you will "nail it" at some point...you don't really get it at all. A skill like art is a constant evolution no matter your skill level, and the best artists never feel they have nailed anything. Everyone has a subjective opinion based on how they personally feel they learn better, so there is no single way but I feel a smart balance is always better.
You seem to be doing art in Uni so I don't know what other exercises you are doing and maybe not posting. I think you are improving and learning a great deal by attempting full paintings because they are so challenging. It's not WHAT you do only , it's HOW you do it that is more important. How actively engaged and critical you are in your own learning process. You seem to be approaching things fairly well, by studying things to apply to problems you have on the fly. This is great. Many people on the study grind school of thought don't do this enough. Hell that was the whole point of the Bloodsports when it was running! I can see general improvements from that for sure. However, you are probably erring too much on the side of invention and not doing enough foundational studies in order to be DIRECTLY applied to these pieces. Go a bit further with this idea. After every piece, identify what issues or gaps in knowledge you had with each piece. Study some foundational things to fill in the gaps. Attempt to apply these learnings again. This will be less boring as you say and solidfy those study things into your working knowledge much better.
In terms of depth. You need to apply more consciously the idea of value contrast (or the effect of atmospheric perspective) and overlap. You seem to not control value contrast as well as you might for a good depth read. Everything is similarly contrasted and instead you use high chroma to create the contrast and don't really use value to help. This can work but it's only one factor of it. Things further away tend to get much lower in contrast. It's such a simple concept, but a few studies of this effect with intent and then applied with intent will help you "get it".
Understanding the words of a sentence or art concept for example, doesn't mean you automatically become a master at it. To be able to apply that learning and make it intrinsic, it needs many rounds of conscious intent driven practice and application. That is what effective study is.