Art: Mind or Matter?

[smrr]

You know, when I first saw this thread, I clicked on 50/50 and that was the end of that.

That right there is the perfect example of how I "studied" art at the beginning of 2013. Thoughtless, without intent, without any real question as to why I was studying this subject or that, other than "because I want to get better". This is wrong. I did pages and pages of these mindless studies, just copying what I saw, because I thought that if I drew a lot that is how I will improve and become a better artist (haha, the naivety kills me)!

Coming back to this thread and actually thinking about it, I changed my vote.

In my opinion, it's more 90% mental, 10% physical*.
* note: in the long run.

Now, I suppose there are so many differing opinions because it's true, the question depends on how you take it; I think the majority of us are thinking about it in terms of improvement, so, some people could take it as mental vs physical meaning straight up study to application, whereas the other half could be taking it as knowledge and experience means fewer strokes, more meaning - i.e. the better half of the artistic process now happens from the mind and the physical side is just an extension of gained knowledge and experience.

I agree with both. Think about:

There’s a great story about Pablo Picasso. Some guy told Picasso he’d pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, “One million dollars, please.”

“A million dollars?” the guy exclaimed. “That only took you thirty seconds!”

“Yes,” said Picasso. “But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds.”

Well the quote went something along those lines, but that pretty much sums up how I feel about the topic.

In the beginning, I believe it's more of a 50/50 ratio. It's all about thinking and just drawing and drawing and drawing. 'Fail again, fail better' is the way to go to improve of course, but only when we're actively thinking, otherwise we're simply sheep without a shepherd. It's through trial and error training of our arm - in the beginning - in which we come up with ways to effectively convey the fundamentals that is, perspective, form, value, etc.

But this shouldn't be compared to the effectiveness of thought, as by a certain time, all of the experience or specialised knowledge will add up and there will be a standard that we reach that is able to convey an idea from our mind, now with a lot less struggle; i.e. 90% mental, 10% physical.

Isn't the simplest experience for metal/physical thing is just trying to draw with your second hand? or try to paint with your foot :D

This!
Once we've gained a good understanding of how things work through actively thinking and applying in the beginning, then using our opposite arm (or foot even!) is no real biggy!
It's all about muscle memory.

Very lame example, (sorry!) but I don't have the time to look for an example from a more successful artist's:

Beginning of studying art, using my right arm (main arm):
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/attachme...?aid=13231
vs
After having gained knowledge about fundamentals, now using my left arm:
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/attachme...?aid=43081

And yeah, that's my take on it.
The mental and physical side do go hand in hand, but in the long run I believe it's more of a 90/10 ratio, after a solid grasp of the fundamentals are gained the physical side of it is just an output of our now trained thoughts. And not to mention but, the mental side includes your whole frame of mind! Which essentially determines everything you do, so...