Effective learning

[Tristan Berndt]

Recently I've talked a lot with a buddy of mine about our general approach to art, our study habits and so on. We're both into "academic/classical art" (he's now an instructor at an atelier in Germany) and what we talked about really resonated with each other so I wanted to bring part of that discussion here. The world of online art can sometimes feel like a bubble and I think it could be healthy to inject some ideas I haven't really seen floating around here as of late. 

The main idea we were talking about was what the more efficient way for us to learn was. The thing we both found was that we really only learned anything when we were enjoying ourselves. Those days we spent staying late at the studio to do additional studies when we were already tired didn't actually do much for us. Rather, they made it so that we felt burned out the next day and couldn't focus as well. Then in our projects, nothing valuable ever came from the days were we were just grinding away on autopilot. The time when we learned the most were the days when we would go to the studio early in the morning on the weekends, it's all quiet and empty and we would just work on our projects for hours on end. This was the time when we would get all kinds of ideas and solve many of out own problems we were struggling with, and it all came from time when we were enjoying the work we were doing. For me, it felt like every weekend I learned something major that totally changed the way I worked or how I thought of something, and then I'd be exited to get to continue on my figure drawing on monday. 

Now if I remember correctly there is a bit of psychology/sciency-stuff backing this. You're gonna have to check me on this but if I remember correctly, when something is being done the brain shoots signals back and forth and the more knowledge and experience someone has in the subject they're working with the more efficient the brain becomes at transmitting these signals. Then when this knowledge and experience is being access, put into use and feedback is given, the brain releases hormones that make us feel good. This would be why watching something like soccer is very boring for someone who has never watched it before but becomes very intense for those with knowledge and experience of the game. The same for art. Again, you'll have to check me on this. This is what I remember form a psychology course I took like 2 years ago. 

So how I'd assume this works for art is that when you are actively using the knowledge in your head to work with a drawing and getting visual feedback from this, this releases these hormones that make you feel good. Then if you're tired, upset or distracted, your brain may have trouble sending these signals back and forth and this good feeling doesn't arise. Also, if you're doing something that doesn't access this information in your head, it's gonna be fairly boring to work this way. 

I think there's another thing that a lot of artists, especially self taught artists are most at risk for and that is a lack of clarity when understanding the principals of drawing and painting. We often hear people talk about 'fundamentals' but what about them? Just because we know that a subject like values has to do with a greyscale from white to black, it doesn't give us any tangible information or principals to work with, and without that, we can't access the information in our head and apply it to get that good and intense feeling as well as gaining additional information. Without clear principals to work from, I think learning becomes very difficult. 

I'd liken it to climbing a mountain and clear principals are like a clear path. You know that if you follow the path you'll get higher on the mountain and if you don't, you know that you haven't followed the path properly and you can more easily self correct by emphasising the following of that path. A lack of principals is as if a mist came in and you can't see the path. You have a general sense of where to go but you don't necessarily know the most efficient way to get there. 


So to summarise: I think that a gage on how efficiently we are spending our time is how enjoyable the thing being done is. If it feels like a long grind, I don't think you're learning a lot form it, even if you get a bunch of decent looking drawings by doing so. Now this is important, I do not mean to say that you should avoid struggle, difficulty and challenges. Challenging yourself is very important and really going up against something very difficult is important, but your goal is to over come it and feel extremely good when you have done so. I remember that I struggled a lot with one of my cast drawings. For about a week I was struggling a lot and I kept trying different things to get it to work, eventually I figured out what the problem was, fixed it and learned a lesson I will never forget. The thing to remember is that when struggling, keep trying things to overcome your challenges rather than just poking around and suffering, or worse, accepting a bad drawing/painting and not truly taking on the challenge. It's kinda like Dark Souls. You struggle but you're enjoying the struggle, even if things at times get difficult. 

Anyway, let me know what you think of this. I know there's a weird culture online that I think stems back to the old CA days where the more you suffered, the more bragging rights you got. I know that I kinda got sucked into that way of thinking for a while and it wasn't very fun. Hope you guys have some interesting opinions on this ^^

[Hobitt]

I can really relate to this, ( coming from more than 4 years of ineffective self teaching.)

" Those days we spent staying late at the studio to do additional studies when we were already tired didn't actually do much for us" I used to this all the time even if was tired to go on, because of the ca mentality you mentioned " the more you suffered, the more bragging rights you got" I lived this way until recently where i just couldn't do it anymore, so now im trying to slow down and have fun while doing this, because as you sed when you enjoy something the learning process becomes easier and much more fun.



"Lack of clarity when understanding the principals of drawing and painting. We often hear people talk about 'fundamentals' but what about them?" Can also relate there are so many tutorials on many subjects,but almost none of them tackle how to approach the fundamentals and what goes on behind them and how to use them and it is not very complex information its fairly basic , but they must be explained clearly.

In the end challenges are important, but within reason and not overdo it.

So yeah very good points and this kind of information should be spread around more, i feel the Ca.org mentality did more harm than good to most people.

[Adam Lina]

There are some great points here. I can say from my own experience lately that enjoyment of the process definitely can come from engaging my mind with clear principles. Enjoyment can also come from things other than pure technical problem solving. So to say enjoyment is the key to learning efficiently isnt entirely true. That's assuming we're talking about learning drawing and painting realism. Sure it makes putting in the hours required a lot easier. The bit about having a clear idea of the principles you're trying to learn is what will make learning most efficient. I think most of us have struggled at one point with trying to learn too many things at once. Identifying the problems and then tackling one thing at a time makes learning much smoother. Playing a game that has no defined rules isnt very fun so it follows that establishing rules to follow in art will be more gratifying.

[Amit Dutta]

Speaking from my own experience, I am by nature a very engaged and active learner. I love learning new things in all arenas, not just in art. I enjoy that basic process, whatever the field, and generally it has meant that I have been able to pick up concepts and things relatively quickly.

So one of the reasons I think this is so is because I love solving problems. And what is behind the learning process of representational art, if not problem solving? Macro decisions overall and thousands of micro decisions with every stroke. Enjoying this process is for me, mandatory, or you're not gonna last before burnout and frustration will eventually hit you.

I think besides enjoying the process I believe if you can think of learning art as just straight out problem solving and not bring your feelings of self-worth and inadequacy into the game, it can help direct your effectiveness. This depends of course on how suited the solutions you try are to the problem at hand! And that's where things start to get cloudy because everyone has their 10c to share about it.
One thing that constantly rears its head for me is, simply "knowing" what you need to do, is not enough. You have to practice how to actively apply, with conscious intent. The key word for me is "conscious". The more stuff you have to learn, the less naturally this comes!

I suffered on the assumption at one point that I "knew" the fundamentals of value and perspective because I was getting ok with them so I didn't have to think about them too hard anymore. Only when I consciously stepped back for a moment, tested this assumption and applied with conscious energy and effort (and enjoyment!) did I realise that I improved a lot more in a short amount of time.

It is all in the conscious application of tailored solutions to well defined problems. Not in "knowing" alone.
And I honestly believe having been on a forum of self teachers for several years, the single largest block to efficient learning, isn't simply a wrong technique, or process or workflow, but it is in the mental barriers that often cloud people and make them unable to follow effective problem solving methods.

We simply get in our own way, way too much.

[Artloader]

Effective Learning?

I definitely agree that having fun during learning does boost effectiveness.  

My own experience is that having fun boosts motivation which has been key in me continuing my learning path.

I started off on here with the thought that my main area of weakness was environments so I tried to focus on that but I found it difficult to press through the drudgery of studying.  I then changed tactics and focussed on what I enjoyed most - characters.  I found that because I enjoyed the subject - I was able to push through the drudgery.  The bonus being that the things I am learning - perspective, lighting etc ... should improve my environments as well when I eventually do get around to learning them.

This thread has also made me think about what things help me enjoy doing art?  Here's just a quick brain-dump:

• Creating something that looks good to me.
  
• Learning something that makes my art better.
  
• Drawing characters.
  
• Having an end goal to my art (creating a comic).
  
• Listening to music while I'm drawing.
  
• Belonging to a cool art community (such as this one :)).
  
• Helping others with their art.
  
• Being helped by others with my art.
  

There's probably more but I'll leave it at that for now :).