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Full Version: Find That Magic!
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Find That Magic!

What defines “Magic” in a piece of art? How do you, as the artist, quantify the “WOW” factor? What makes one piece of work masterful and the next simply above average? Is it the creative use of color in a given piece of work? Is it the composition combined with hard and soft lines that lead your eye softly to the focal point of the work? Is it the small details like the shine in hair, the dance of the clouds, or the reflective properties of a sharp sword? “WHAT IS IT?”

sigh...sometimes trying to create Magic makes me want to bang my head against the wall...

So here’s the deal, you can teach yourself to render, but finding that “Magic” and exploiting it takes skill. If you watch Youtube training videos you witness artists capture that “Magic” with a few simple brush strokes or watch as an artist waits till the very end of a piece, and then, with a few well placed strokes completely changes the way the painting feels. Often, we like to think we have it, the “Magic” that is, but when you look upon a real master like Brom you soon realize that most of us don’t.

This is where I’m at in my personal art path. Sometimes I think I’ve found it. When I look at a modern master’s older work there is often a point when that artist’s work begins to convey Magic on a regular basis. Many times it’s when the artist defines his voice, or for some, their style. Have I been able to reliably put that into my own work? Well, let’s just say I’m still working on cracking that code.

Anyone want to share their secrets for creating magic in their work?
I think it comes from having a strong passion for the art that you're creating. When you really love your art it shows in the work itself and other people pick up on it. Lots of commercial artists create art that they dont like just to pay the bills. The result is usually art with no passion that is lacking any "magic" as you put it. Passion might not be there for people that are still beginners or intermediates either because they have expectations about the final product and this only leaves them disheartened. The best way to be is to just love the process and not care if what you're working on doesn't turn out to be a masterpiece. If you love creating art you'll put 100% into it anyways and more often then not surprise yourself at how good it turns out.
Its too individual to try to peg honestly. For me I had to rediscover what I liked as a child to really get a sense for what I truly like. I think that if you take a look back at what kinds of things you were generally interested in as a child you'll learn a lot about where you should be going in the future. I lost touch with those interests, and subsequently I went down many paths that I didn't truly enjoy but somehow felt obligated to enjoy to please others or something

I like artists that convey emotion or mystery well, or on the flip side something just completely ludicrous, neither of which *require* crazy rendering skills. In my view the magic arises when you actually discover what *you* really enjoy, in your art and others, and stop trying to do what you think others will like. Like you I don't think Ive really gotten there yet, but being conscious of how it might work for yourself is a step in the right direction