12-16-2014, 11:48 AM
(12-15-2014, 07:21 PM)Bookend Wrote: Actually, I noticed something that some pros have often said about drawing/painting. I checked out your deviantart before I'd make an utter fool of myself, haha, and, well, you're obviously pro as well, and far ahead of me, so... Maybe this will help, and maybe it won't. :)
So: What the pros often say is that we should treat drawing like painting, that we should try to 'sculpt out' our forms, let them emerge, and that we should follow the contours of the form with our pencil as we would with a paintbrush, if that makes any sense.
I'm just figuring it out, and, actually, I feel like I've been treating painting like drawing rather than the other way around, slowly pulling myself in the other direction. By doing so, I do feel that my own work has improved a great deal when I put this mindset into practice.
Anyway... Obviously there is no absolute way of doing things, and every artist is different. So, this method may help some artists flourish, whereas others benefit from thinking of each medium as an art all itself.
Obviously, artistic growth involves a great deal of exploration into what works for the individual artist... So... My point is only to reveal a little bit of something that I've learned. :D
Haha, I'm so not pro but I appreciate it nonetheless. I hope I don't come across as authoritative; I've become a bit tired of people dancing around the point they're trying to make and trying to make it sound like they have no business saying it, but then say it anyways, so I've decided to just say it very plainly and matter of fact-ly. It should go without saying that it's just what I've gleamed from listening to other artists, from my own experiences and that it's different for everyone and that I don't expect anyone to take all or any of what I or what anyone else says blindly without trying it themselves, unless its a provable fact, which this isnt!
But i've also realized, similarly to you, that sharing your experiences and listening to others, not taking it as gospel, cherry picking the parts that are useful to you and assimilating it with your other knowledge is really the best path to higher knowledge. My own process is such an accumulation, and you sound like you're on your own path to discovering yours.
Sometimes I say things just to challenge people, to challenge the way they think. More often than not it has no effect immediately, but the fact that that seed was planted means that an idea can grow from it and it might have nothing to do with what I said, but that doesn't matter. It's happened a lot to me, where someone has said something that shifted my line of thought just 2 or 3 degrees. But if you follow that line, 2 or 3 degrees in the long run is a big change
As it relates to art, I often like to challenge people to step out of line drawing. This isn't really the case here, but it does have to do with the mindset difference that occurs when you try painting as opposed to drawing, and the problems that are associated with it. I dont think one is better than the other or that you should treat one the way you would the other, but just be aware that the way you approach them is different.
And I think when you become aware, consciously (everyone is aware subconsciously that they are different, but to sit down and think about the differences is well... different d:), that you can approach something in many different ways and combine things that are dissimilar to improve them, that's when you start to see improvement.