For those artists out there

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How did you decide to be an artist? Did you have outside influence? Instructors that encouraged you? Were you able to trust your own opinion on your art?

I would like to be an artist, and lately I've been getting positive feed back from some of my drawings. Although personally I think my stuff is childish at best, if not down right awful.

So what makes you think that you could be an artist?

I got really elaborate with my drawings in kindergarten, creating epic panoramic scenes full of people and objects and vehicles, and from that my teachers recommended that my parents encourage the interest (probably because I wasn't interacting or communicating much any other way), and they did. My folks knew a local artist from church who tutored small groups of students after school and I was a student of hers for several years. I was also a huge fan of comic book art - since I was already obsessed with monsters and dark themed stories, I fell in love with the Warren horror comics Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella which were all done in black and gray inkwash by some of the most talented graphic artists in the business at the time.

That said, I've never felt I was gifted with any particular innate 'talent' - I'm a skilled hack who learned to do it by sweat and repetition and I'm my own worst critic. Just because someone else oohs and aahs over it doesn't mean I don't still see a piece of sh*t when I look at it.

I've watched artists with natural talent work, and it makes me sick how beautiful lines just flow out of their hands onto the canvas like magic. I have to have a bottle of White-Out and four types of erasers and still spend hours on things they can do in minutes, but what the hell - I love doing it, because it feels so cool when it all comes together. Its all worth it for the pieces that really click. There's no better feeling than looking at the stuff that does turn out beautiful and knowing I did that.

About ten years ago I got interested in tattooing and I'm now licensed and doing that professionally. It is really awesome to put a beautiful design into someone's skin and know they're going to be able to enjoy that every day for the rest of their life.

could never draw and i was 30 before i tried to create "art". i could use my imagination and experimentation to create things not seen before. what is art? who to listen to? listen to yourself. i love some of my conceptual pieces. i really don't have anyone to show my work to. comes with being different.

think about this, there is a painting floating around that critics and appraisers are torn over. some say it's worth 5,000,000 dollars and others say is worth 5 dollars. es verdad! it all depends on who painted it. it's also the subject of a movie: who the f..k is jackson pollock.

if you like it, go for it. you must want it to be it. i felt compelled to create things. it's not something you do half-
as.ed.

I've drawn ever since I was a kindergartner. My drawings started out as being stick figures, then evolved into amorphous blobs later in my childhood. It was when I was eleven years old that I finally put more effort into constructing figures using basic shapes. Adolescence saw me sketching objects at different angles, although to be honest I still have problems with perspective at age 20.

I've taken a few art classes, but I don't feel any of them did me much good. Most of what I know about drawing comes from books, other people's advice, and my own practicing. However, I plan to take a drawing class next spring.

I've been doing artwork ever since I can remember, probably even before kindergarten. I really started putting serious effort into drawing once I became obsessed with anime at around age 11. When I was in elementary school, a lot of classmates and teachers praised my work, but once I got into junior high I was outmatched by artists with a lot more talent.

I've never been able to trust my own opinion of my artwork. When I was a teenager I was 100% certain that I'd be a famous manga artist one day - until I posted my work online and it got torn to shreds by critics. Looking back, I realize that my artwork a few years ago was very amateurish; there was virtually no sense of proportion or anatomy.

Ever since then, my opinion of my artwork has been the opposite: I don't think I'm very good at all. Even though it's a fact that I've improved over time, I'm still not convinced that I am a 'good' artist. My parents and siblings constantly tell me how wonderful I am, but I don't believe them. I think that they're only telling me I'm good because they love me and don't want to hurt my feelings. At the same time, I'm afraid to post my artwork online for an honest opinion because I know that if and when I do get criticized - constructively or otherwise - it will hurt my feelings and I will likely cry over it. (poor sport, I know)

So I'm basically stuck in a sort of limbo of not knowing exactly what the quality of my artwork is because I don't trust my own or my family's opinion, yet I'm too afraid to seek out an objective opinion.

Both my parents were artists. I've always drawn, painted, sculpted. I graduated two art schools. They both helped. You must draw, paint do whatever you would like to get better at continuously. You must do thousands of attempts and you will get better. Talent helps but continuous work is needed whatever the talent you have. Go to exhibitions, art galleries, museums. Copy other artists until you learn what they can do. It's a long process but it makes for an interesting life.
Ad be your own roughest critic. If something is lousy don't pretend otherwise. You must learn different techniques, different materials, and try to get original ideas and approaches. If you find all this boring, then screw it. It's not for you. The whole process should be interesting and fun.

Well when I first started art...I drew very childish at best as well, then I had a boyfriend that drew. He would draw me pictures and I copied them until I perfected them. That is the way the masters learned to draw and paint...is copying the masters before them.
I then was placed in a mental facility cuz I kept trying to run away ( rather not say why). While I was there for 6 months, I terribly unpopular, so I spent alot of time with my budding art and poetry. I drew everything that I could see whether it looked bad or not I kept at it. The objects I drew taught me how to draw...meaning...as I drew them I learned more about drawing in general.
When I got out, I took some art classes in high school, and with a little instruction, my skills skyrocketed.
I then went on to art school where I broadened my horizions, but my love for painting ended since I was forced to work under conditions such as picky teachers, teachers that expected me to spend 20 hours a week on a painting, then when I was done..if it was good, the students critque was harsh (because of jealousy) or if it was bad, I got a low grade. So either way, I was negitivly reenforced. After I got out...my love for painting slowly quit. But all is not lost, I took up fiber art...which is fiber sculpture, yarn coiled basketry (which is really cool btw), knitting, spinning fiber on a wheel, needle felting (which is like painting with fiber) and still exploring different fiber medias.

So my advice to you is this. Since your interest is in drawing...I will give you some advice. The reason your drawings are childish is because the last time you really took up drawing is as a child. The more you draw, the better you will get. This is a craft which it takes time to master...unless you are a savant on the subject. The rest of the world who wants to draw and learned to draw...it takes ALOT of practice. What makes it so hard? You are taking a 3 dimensional object and recreating on a 2 dimensional surface. There are tricks to the trade. First get 2 artist's journals (which are journals that have blank artist quality paper in them) You can get them easily at an art supply store.

the first one is for blind contour:
place 1 or more objects in front of you.
fix your eyes on the object, and put your pencil on the paper.
move your eyes around the contour (or outside edges) of the object as you do that move your pencil on the paper in synch with your eyes.
Do not look at your paper...only the object's contour until you are done.

When you are done, be prepared, it will look horrible, but that is not the point.
The point is to train your eyes and your hands to work together, so you draw what you see, not what your mind thinks you see.

Take this journal and go out and do blind contours of whatever you want to: Do ten a day.

The second journal:

After you get a handle on how lines move around objects, start drawing everything you can see...make it a special interest.
but when you do this, pay close attention to how an object looks. Sit and stare at it for 5 mintutes. Noticing every little detail about it. Pay close attention to the lines...inner and contour lines of the object(s) After 5 minutes, draw it...it will be better than you think. But make sure you draw exactly what you see...and only what you see, and not what your mind thinks SHOULD be there be isn't. It is a mental game at best.

After mastering what you can see, then you can easily draw things that you want to out of your imagination.

And dont go to art school, it will ruin your love for the craft, becides self taught artists are more esteemed in the art world anyway.


But do take some high school art classes and continuing education art classes at local colleges or tech schools. Also get some books on learning to draw...there are tons of them. Most importantly get this book: "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron
It has some spiritual qualities about it, but she offers some non-faith solutions. It will change how you view your art and help you be alot more creative. It is a workbook. It has changed my creative life for the better. The automatic journaling and the artists date are very important skills in this.

If you need anymore help, pm me.

Jojo