How to find (adult) art friends?
#1
How does one find people in real life, who also practice art?
I imagine thats easier, if very young, but it seems to me that almost no adult people are interested in art (i mean people in real life, not internet).

Do you have real art friends? How did you find them?

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#2
I heard some artist use discord but i don't know what a friend mean to you .But in person to person format unless you go to actual art class it really going to be hard to find people who regularly engage in art related topic .Art friend in my opinion are simply people you happen to be meeting in your class.How would you define an art friend from a friend... is it someone who enjoy art or is it someone who engage in some kind of art themselve.Does it have to be the same craft or not?How do you define art...

My Sketchbook
The journey of an artist truly begin when he can learn from everyone error.
Teamwork make your dream work.
Asking help is the key to growth.
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#3
Best way to find art people would be to go where the art is, right? Life drawing classes could be good, otherwise art classes in general. With a bit of research you might be able to discover art groups in your local area (like through facebook, for example). Could even try using something like Meetup to find groups of people who meet together and talk about art. The latter is likely the easiest for establishing connections, whereas it's more difficult to talk to people in something like life drawing.
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#4
(07-19-2020, 09:52 AM)darktiste Wrote: How would you define an art friend from a friend... is it someone who enjoy art or is it someone who engage in some kind of art themselve.Does it have to be the same craft or not?How do you define art...

You are right, it might have been not specific enough.
What I meant were people, who also do art (drawing), but who one knows in real life, so they live in your area.

But because of your questions I was thinking about it. And why I would want that.
The reason is to have somebody, who does a similar thing (also creating a graphic novel or also creating some similar thing), whose progress I can see regularly, so that I feel like I am falling behind and I better give it my best, because otherwise the other person creates something soo cool, while I am not.

So I wanted it for motivation and a bit like competition/urgency. But I realized, it has not really to be locally in the same area. Maybe it could be something over the internet. But over the internet the urgency goes away, as soon as you turn off the device..

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#5
If you want a constent remind of how much you are behind visit artstation.com everyday i don't think that exactly the best approch for the moral but if you need a kick in the butt it a good place to start.Ultimately the reality of being an artist is not alot of people are going to be willing to kick your butt and there certainly even a smaller chance that someone will sit by your side and make sure you do the work.It come down to how much you want it and much you are ready to take on those responsability and be disciplined.We for the most come from a school system that is constently kick were ass but when we are left to do the kicking wereself we have become really impotent in that for some of us.It one thing to want something it an other to do the sacrifice.If what you need is a structure you can go take art class but you might find them to be to rigid... having class mate to compare against is always nice but it also toxic to other.

If you want a feel of urgency learn to create deadline for yourself and consequence if you don't do x y z.But of course you are the one apply the punishment and you can end up miserable failling to meet your own expectation.

The only thing i can share with you about motivation is the longer your not doing the thing you want to do the harder it gonna be later on because of other responsability getting in the way.If your young your problem will mostly be discipline and if your old it going to probably be to find the motivation to find the time to do art.

Having clear intention is the key to sucess but the clearer it get the scarier it get because you are now in front of what you have to achieve and that can be scary.The problem is that people tend to be vague about there goal there lost exploring and that is normal to find what you like but it not necessarly constructive to achieving a clear direction.Some people treat there art journey as an adventure and some treat it as a career it depend what your seeking.

My Sketchbook
The journey of an artist truly begin when he can learn from everyone error.
Teamwork make your dream work.
Asking help is the key to growth.
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#6
I took a life drawing class a year back. I vent mostly to practice my art, but I also wanted to meet new art friends. I have also attended sketch-meets in my city that I found through Facebook.

In my opinion, a lot (if not most) of the people at the life drawing class were not really artists, but rather seniors who just wanted something to do. There were only a few people there between 20-30 years old. However, I did end up connecting with some professional concept artists and designers, so it was not a total loss. And of course, I got the chance to practice my drawing skills.

The sketch-meets were much better for meeting friends and networking, so I really recommend those in that aspect. You can probably find some in your local area on Facebook, otherwise, you may want to look into setting up a one yourself. If you stick with it, it should grow nicely and attract more people over time.

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#7
The art community here in my city is pretty small, and they weren't very in touch with each other. I found out once that someone started to make videogame art meetups and i went. After two meetings they stopped, so i talked with the guy that was running it and offered him my help. Since then and for two years, we were making those meetings monthly and a lot of artist came. All ages and experiences. I started to meet and being in touch with colleagues.

I think the casual instance opened social possibilities, maybe in studying environments you may be restricted with the structure of the course or perhaps the people mindset itsn't very social.

In this case, the meetings were always in pubs (people had between 19 to 35+ years old) where we could talk and drink something. Some people went there to draw, share sketchbooks, or talk about art in general and the industry experiences. But I found out that not many artist really wanted to talk about those things and were not very passioned about the craft or learning process so i actually didn't make many art friends (but i made some close friends anyways).

But it was an amazing experience and of course the connections were valuable.
Today it's harder to find that kind of event because of the isolation. So I started to look for friends and communities online.

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#8
I would search on Facebook for some local live model drawing events or check if there is urban sketchers group in your area. Urban sketchers is basically group of people meeting somewhere in the city and drawing surrounding together. I organized few such events and it's even covid-proof because you can do it outside. The only downside you can't really do it in the winter because it's too cold. Another popular format is Drink&Draw which is basically meeting in pub and drawing together. I'm not sure if it's possible now where you live.

One thing I noticed about such events is that often there is group of people willing to participate but nobody is confident enough to organize it themselves. In that case it's just matter of asking in some local group and if people are interested you can create facebook event yourself. Takes like 5 minutes and it's free.
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#9
I joined the local watercolor society. I found them in the arts & entertainment section of the newspaper. They'd have monthly meetings at a restaurant and people would bring what they were working on to show or get critique. They have national juried shows every year with a prominent artist as judge. They also arranged for the judge to teach a 4-5 day workshop. They often have other activities like life drawing or painting still lifes. They also have plein aire parties.

Anyway, when I finally mustered the courage to attend a meeting I met a lot of different people. Even managed to make a friend. . . we talk about a lot of things besides art.
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#10
Seems this thread resurrected. Having gone from zero irl art friends locally, to a majority of my friends now being artist friends, I can confirm, you need to get offline and gtfo of the house (if possible)
I was lucky enough in last two years to have a few Atelier type places open up in town. I did / have been doing regular classes since then, and I met so many people. Many I see regularly. Because it's Wellington, there are a large number of artists around for such a small city, many working at Weta and all the other post prod shops around. Its a mix of students, pros and yep for sure, If you only go to life drawing there will likely be a few more senior or older hobbyists, but don't discount people because of age or trajectory with art, just because they aren't trying to be "serious" about it. You can still connect In meaningful ways with people if you're open first.
I've even made some fun acquaintances with the life drawing models, many are dancers or actors that vibe just as well with a creative lifestyle.
Farvus is right, there are Urban Sketchers groups worldwide and drink draws. Check em out, and if nothing, try start one.
Go to life drawing for sure, but best of all go to a class irl if around, and don't be scared to just talk to people when there. I find commenting about their work or perhaps discussing what you found fun/difficult/interesting in the pose or exercises is an easy ice breaker. They won't bite. Probably.

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#11
Heh, I didn't even notice the start date of this thread, just the latest post. Oops.

I agree, getting out is certainly important if you want to meet like-minded people. There are a range of styles and abilities in the watercolor group. Sometimes it's nice to be around people who don't take things so seriously. ;)
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#12
(04-23-2021, 08:01 AM)Redfang Wrote: Heh, I didn't even notice the start date of this thread, just the latest post. Oops.

Sometimes it's nice to be around people who don't take things so seriously. ;)

Don't worry about it. It's normal on CD. Outside of sketchbooks most sections are dead.

Yeah exactly, on the "serious" thing. I find people who are too serious about getting ahead or better tend to be more insufferable, or insecure and rigid as people. That said when you do meet people who are passionate and dedicated AND chill about their craft, it's an awesome thing to be around.

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#13
(04-23-2021, 12:03 PM)Who Wrote: Don't worry about it. It's normal on CD.

Good to know. Some places are a little stuffy about necroing an old thread. Wink

In a class or meet-up I'll be in the back with my friends talking and laughing and getting the hairy eyeball from the "serious" people. Party
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#14
(04-23-2021, 12:03 PM)Who Wrote:
(04-23-2021, 08:01 AM)Redfang Wrote: Heh, I didn't even notice the start date of this thread, just the latest post. Oops.

Sometimes it's nice to be around people who don't take things so seriously. ;)

Don't worry about it. It's normal on CD. Outside of sketchbooks most sections are dead.

Yeah exactly, on the "serious" thing.  I find people who are too serious about getting ahead or better tend to be more insufferable, or insecure and rigid as people.  That said when you do meet people who are passionate and dedicated AND chill about their craft, it's an awesome thing to be around.
I find that life drawing classes are the best. Events like gallery shows are a bit awkward if you don't already know the people there. Life drawing has more of a purpose and a mingle vibe.

But on the insufferable part I think it also depends on your local community. Mine seems to be full of people who are overly defensive, have horrible figure art, love the tortured artist complex, and other various unpleasantries. They do the typical artist thing where they rent in horrible areas of town to save money and then complain that it's a bad area. But there are aspects of fine art I just don't vibe with too, like making casts of your nipples and selling them.

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#15
(05-08-2021, 02:13 AM)Anomily Wrote: But there are aspects of fine art I just don't vibe with too, like making casts of your nipples and selling them.[/font][/size][/color]

Weird. Is this a lucrative way to make money? ....uh, asking for a friend.

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