art tips – Mindflight

11 things I wished I’d known as a young artist

Or, “Art, Talent, and Arrogance”

This is a painful subject for me, and one that has hampered my progress my entire life. I still struggle with it. In fact some would consider I’ve lost the battle merely by writing this article!

I’m talking of course about arrogance in relation to art. Personally, this has manifested in the idea that my thoughts were superior to others. I didn’t often think of it that way but that’s really what I was saying every time I refused input, avoided constructive critique, or thought my work didn’t need improvement. This was deadly to my progress and nearly caused me to leave art altogether. I know I’m not alone here, this is something many artists struggle with, and that’s why I’m talking about it. If I can cause even one artist to rethink some of the decisions that caused me so much struggle, than it’s worth it.

Quick story: I was having fun with art, drawing whatever my li’l heart desired. I was on DeviantArt. I was posting every day, doing all kinds of paintings and drawings and proudly posting them. I was a bit too blind to my mistakes. On my profile I’d put that I was professional level and had some high number of years in art – over twenty years I think, because I was counting the stuff I’d done when younger. Some of it was middling, some of it had promise. Someone came along and posted on my profile that I didn’t look like I’d been doing that art that long. I don’t even think they were all that rude about it. I was crushed – that was one of the biggest reasons why I deleted my profile. There were others at the time but that was a biggue.

The biggest problem here was the poster was right. Objectively, if a person compared my stuff to an actual professional (not just one who occasionally did an illustration or two for pay) the difference was like night and day. I had a long way to go, mostly because I’d focused on the stuff I thought I was good at, rarely pushed myself, and hated using references. At best I was an amateur with promise provided I actually applied myself.

I see that now and that’s why I carefully label myself as “hobbyist.” I’m finally getting to a level that I’m somewhat pleased with but I know I have a hell of a long way to go before professional level. It’s okay though because I’m enjoying art again and that’s important to me. I could avoided a lot of heartache if I’d seen feedback – even HONEST feedback – as the gift it is.

When I got feedback as a young artist, I never really saw it that way. I pretended to because after a certain point I knew it was expected, but it always hurt inside. At some level I saw my work as perfect, and I saw myself as talented, special. As a talented person I didn’t need to think of these things as much as others did. Or maybe my judgement was superior. Sometimes I told myself that it wasn’t my fault if other people didn’t see what I was trying for. Actually it was – art is primarily about communication and I can guarantee you my technique always needed work.

One of my biggest roadblocks was believing the idea that I was talented. If so, that was mostly in the fact that I was a bit better than average at getting my tools to do what I wanted them to. I certainly wasn’t better at observation or remembering what I saw! My visual memory is actually a bit worse than average. Over and over I deluded myself that drawing from imagination was better. However since no one around me could draw at all, I got away with it until I went to school for art, and saw how wrong I actually was. It hurt a lot. Later I went online and saw how amazing so many other people were. That was great to see but hurt more. I started realizing that I needed to quit believing my own PR.

A great art teacher recently said that if someone looks at your art and says you are talented, they are in a way insulting your hard work. I totally understand that for most people it’s just a simple compliment and they don’t mean anything by it, but I wish I’d heard that when I was young. For me, my “talent” was mostly a passionate interest that caused me to practiced more. If I had practiced properly, and had worked harder in the right ways, I could have harnessed that interest into some really phenomenal art. If I’d actually taken people’s advice and used references more, or learned to draw from life, it would have been a game-changer. But I was too busy thinking I was too special and too talented to do all those boring things, meanwhile I was still getting paint up into the ferrules of my brushes and lacking basic studio skills.

I’m not bashing myself. I am however looking honestly at the fact that I hampered myself more than circumstance ever did. That mindset hurt me more than inadequate art supplies or poverty ever did. You can make amazing art with the simplest of tools if you have the right mindset! Here are the things that would have helped me most:

Tips for anyone wanting to be great at art (or anything really)

Maintain Beginner’s Mind – there’s always something to learn

Stay Curious about new techniques and how others do things

Listen when feedback is offered, because it truly is a gift – probably the hardest tip in here

Find out the basics about your tools even if you think you already know them

Whenever possible, practice from life, or at least photos – even fantasy is based on reality

Spend time on the fundamentals, they are the basic building blocks of your craft

Think about what your goal is and what you want to communicate

Observe in as many ways possible, new information is grist for your creative mill

Forgive yourself your mistakes but always try to figure out what to do better

Keep it fun by challenging yourself

Stay humble!

I wish someone had told me this stuff! If they did, I wish I would have listened! Who knows, maybe I’d be doing art for a living? It’s an expending field with more opportunity than ever.

Do you have any tips that should be included? Things you wish you would have known?

Art idea: Silhouettes

Tips for Artists

Silhouettes are a lot of fun to use in your art. You can make them in any number of ways and they are a great chance to explore the use of negative space. You can do them in black and white, color, in multimedia, with collage, or use them as embellishments on other things if you’re more the crafty type. Pablo Picasso used to make cut paper silhouettes of animals when he was a boy. Silhouette work tends to look elegant and tied together. It also invites the imagination and can really engage the viewer.

If you’re looking for a new project, this is a fun theme to explore!

Ideas for projects involving silhouettes

Black and White – on a white background, draw the outline then carefully color it in. Try this reversed, too, so the silhouette is white and the surrounding black.

Black and White with Color – color either the surrounding of the black silhouette, or inside the white one. You could be realistic or abstract.

Shadow Play – photograph things that form an interesting silhouette. Or create one behind a white screen then photograph that.

Collage – cut silhouettes of people, animals or objects out of colored pictures. Place them alone on a plain background or make them into scenes. You could even use decoupage techniques to put them on an object, such as a box.

Resists – color a silhouette on watercolor paper with white crayon then paint over it. Or, use frisket or another form of masking fluid.

Papercutting – draw your silhouette onto paper then cut it out. Glue it onto a backdrop, adorned or not as you choose.

Painting – try something classic, like silhouettes in front of a blazing sunset, or perhaps someones shadow in a window.

A word about Sharpie markers: Though they are quite handy for silhouette work, I advise photographing or scanning whatever you make right away to preserve what you have done. They are not archival quality and can fade significantly in just a few years.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/silhouette/

Pairing Poetry with Pictures

Exploring Poetry, Tips for Artists

If you want to draw your readers to your poetry, add color. Better yet, add a drawing or photograph. It can be surprisingly easy to pair a poem with an appropriate photograph. Here I’ll share some tips for doing just that!

First, start with your poem. I’m using this one, recently written by poet Lenore Plassman.

August Afternoon

Birds down in the creek dive and chatter

the cells in my ears twitch in acknowledgement

tomatoes ripened to a mirror shine

my bones stretch to grasp flown over,

common doves arc my synapses alert,

sucking in moisture another Sunday,

another tromp humble pie and humble be

for now that’s what I get:

another moment piled into all that live

cell into cell, above, below.

It’s nice, and could use an interesting photo to draw her readers in. So I noodle around on Pixabay (I’m a contributing member, but you don’t have to be) and select something that matches the mood and theme of the poem. I look for something with an area on it that could be overlaid with text. I come up with this image:

That works okay. Next, I think about my text. I decide to go with a simple font in white to match the simple words of the piece. I use GIMP, a free program, for all my editing needs. I work in layers to make things easier. You could do most of this in Paint if you wanted to. I placed my text, picked a size that was readable, tweaked the position of various things, and cropped my image to make the poem the focal point. I got this:

August Afternoon Poem 900.jpg

Simple, eyecatching, and great for Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. You can even have the poem printed out at a drug store or online, and make little handout cards with them. Happy creating!

Copying a style

Tips for Artists

Peter Comparison.png

This Easter, I wanted to make a card for my Mom. She loves Beatrix Potter so I decided to at least approximate her art style. Trying to copy another artist’s style, especially one that is very different from your own, can actually teach you a lot about process and even improve your normal work.

I began by choosing an image and analyzing the materials.

In this case, the painting was made with watercolor and fine ink pen. The strokes were delicate and the effect pleasingly mottled.

I thought about using watercolor, but decided to use colored pencils instead so I could get a similar effect with less room for failure. I used a combination of a brush pen and a very fine manga pen to at least partially approximate the original work.

I looked at how the lines were laid down, the weights, the way the shading was done. I then decided which elements were important to keep and which weren’t. I tried to copy the shapes, the line style, in what I did.

I also decided I didn’t want to deal with a background. Even though I didn’t end up with a perfect copy, I still had fun – you may too if you try this. It’s a great way to explore new techniques and materials.

Choosing Colors

Tips for Artists

While this is considered an absolute rule by many artists, especially painters, I consider it more a helpful hint and something to try.

The idea is to use a limited palette of colors to create a unified look. Pick three colors that represent the majority of items in your work, plus black and white, and only use those three colors (and the colors that can be mixed from them) to do the whole piece.

It’s easier than it sounds. For example, a forest painting might be done entirely with a yellow, a deep green, and an umber. Or a seascape might be a deep blue, a deep green, and a purple. In watercolors, usually this means picking three tubes of pigment and just using those. This really does help avoid the problem of the painting looking too busy or garish. I’m sure we’ve all seen a painting that just uses two many colors!

I’ve been told by an old watercolor painter that this is an absolute rule except in the case of city scenes, but I am not willing to be quite that rigid about it. Still, choosing two to three colors and using them and their mixtures can make a really nice, unified looking piece.

Interesting Angles

Tips for Artists

It’s a simple idea, yet powerful.

If you are drawing, photographing or painting a particular subject, consider a different angle other than a simple straight on view. For a portrait, try it from one side or the other, tilt the head slightly, etc. When depicting a scene, consider a low angle, or maybe even an overhead angle. Think of ways to add interest. The more interesting a picture looks, the more likely it is to stand out in the crowd. Too many people pick a centered straight on view for a portrait rather than a three quarter view, that can look flat and uninteresting.

Different angles can also help convey mood and enhance your message.

Observation: The Artist’s Eye

Tips for Artists

If you are a representative artist, observation is the key to everything. If you take pictures, look at your subject from all possible angles. See things others might miss. If you draw or paint, pay attention to where the light falls, where the shadows lie, how the colors change in your subject depending on when you look at it.

Try different ways of looking at an object, too. Blur your vision and look at the masses, the major areas of color or form. Look at a tiny area of it. Try tracing just the outline of an object, to help you look at the negative space around it. Maybe even pull out a magnifying glass.

For example, take a look at this photo. Can you tell what it is? You could make it into water, or fabric, or a landscape, or take it as it really is – sun shining off cat fur.

How you see is as important as what you see!

Consistent Lighting

Tips for Artists

Whether you are drawing in chalks or graphite or pastels, painting, or doing pen and ink, pay attention to where the light falls. It can really make or break a piece. When you look at anything, look at what is dark, and what is light, and pay attention to where the light is coming from. Make it a habit to notice.

Before you begin a scene drawn or painted from imagination, decide where the light is coming from. You can create a lot of drama and interest this way. You can convey mood, too, by deciding the type of lighting. Is it strong? Even? Shadowed? Diffuse? What color of light? Golden sunlight of late afternoon? Bright white of an office? Colored, as from stained glass? Soft and diffuse, as from a cloudy day?

Decisions like these can be a great way to add life to your work!

Writing Tackle: Sealing Wax

Tips for Writers

Sometimes I have fun writing letters. At my best, I had a box full of interesting paper, stickers, cool pens, and even a bronze seal with a stick of sealing wax to use it with. I need to make another one of those, because they are fun!

Sealing wax is neat stuff. It’s more pliable than candle wax, which will just break. You light the little wax “candle” and drip a blob onto your paper, or whatever you want to seal shut. As the wax is still soft, then you stamp it with your seal, which can even be a signet ring. I really wish I’d done a better job making my signet ring in college, I may have to make a stamp from Sculpey clay to replace it.

Of course, seals were often used by kings and nobles in medieval times onward, and are still occasionally used on official documents. It’s a fun way to lend an aura of regality to a letter or note. You can get seals and sealing wax at stationery stores, in all different colors. Look for something that looks like a small square candle, like this:

Tell a Story

Tips for Artists

Whether you are painting, drawing, or sculpting, it is best to tell a story. It doesn’t have to have a beginning, middle, and an end. But there should be little details about the character and setting that help your viewer place themselves inside the work.

If you are painting a landscape, what creatures live there? Are there little nibble marks on a stump, perhaps? Tracks? Weather?

If you are drawing a portrait, give the posture a little life. A little contrappasto, a bit of jewelry that says something about the character. Have the person doing something. Not just staring at the viewer, doing nothing!

It’s such a simple tip but it can really make a difference in your work. Details, energy, life. All these help make a great piece.