I'm not an artist... until I make art a priority. Until I found your channel, I didn't dare to call myself an artist. Per general definition "artist" is a profession. I'm not a professional artist. Per my own definition an artist needs to have skills, needs to know and master his materials and should be able to express with his art what he wants to express. By this definition I'm not an artist either. But I'm learning. So I accepted a new definition that I also found somewhere and that I can identify with: An artist is someone who has made art a priority. That being said: I don't think tracing etc. is cheating. Who would be cheated? But since my own understanding of being an artist involves being able to express what I want to express, I need to learn the skills, the materials, the techniques.
@@anjapinkau3737 who would be cheated? Exactly my thoughts. I’m so glad you feel more permission to connect to your practice and think of yourself as an artist. Thanks so much for your thoughtful contribution here.
@@artiststrong I'm very grateful to you! Feeling allowed to call myself an artist although it is not my profession is so liberating! And surprisingly enough since July I have been making art every single day! Sometimes when I was too tired to come up with something original of my own, I re-worked a sketch or coloured something. But more often than not did I paint or draw for half an hour, an hour or longer. And I'm so happy about it. I wrote on the first page of my latest sketchbook: "Proudly call yourself an artist!" So thank you for making me an artist! Together we are artist strong!
@@anjapinkau3737 I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you are making art most days. That is AMAZING!!!! Here's the thing though: YOU made that choice. YOU did it!! Not me. I'm so glad to help though. And yes, Together we are Artist Strong.
So I’ve used the term crutch before but not to dissuade people from using an approach at a difficult problem. Left unchallenged we may never learn a topic and limit our ability in the long run. That said, there’s nothing more limiting than avoiding the problem altogether. Because that’s a path to not doing art at all. Let’s substitute the term “crutch” and “cheat” for approach, make art and keep challenging ourselves to grow as artists. #artiststrong
If anyone gives you grief for tracing or using a grid, offer to share your outline with them so they can reproduce your finished work. Oh no, are they not up to the task? Could it be that there's way more that goes into a good finished painting or drawing than just accurate outlines? Interesting. Also, like every single class on realistic art I watch from professional artists is like "okay, here's how you draw this... and now in the next lesson we find out we're just going to trace it to save time."
Yeah in my intro to design class in college like a decade ago (for Comm. Degree) we were encouraged to experiment with using the light table and even had a lesson with it- the idea of not tracing anything is bonkers lol (Edit to add: I think some ppl can’t tell tracing for art theft from just like tracing as a concept, and get hung up on it bc of that)
Good video. Never let the scolds keep you down. I've worked with many artists, some famous. I remember the whole 'cheating,' nonsense when David Hockney's Secret Knowledge book came out. Those who insisted, "Renaissance artists didn't cheat!" were all academic art historians.... no artists. The artists I know? If using a camera obscura or a camera lucida or sacrificing chickens at the new moon would lead to better work, they wouldn't hesitate. I've also met many amateurs, some of them Fixed Mindset. Know what the fixed mindset artists say? I mentioned to one that Robert Graham uses 8B and 9B pencils. They flew into a rage, "How dare you compare me to....!" This wasn't the first neurotic outburst. I thought it might benefit them if I shared one more of Bob's practices. " If I told Robert Graham that 'anonymous amateur' artist used X in their work, he'd be curious. If there was an interesting result? He'd want to know everything he could. At minimum, he'd be curious. If it might help him in some way? He'd absolutely want to know. He'd insist." Another artist I met was working in metal body art. They'd started to make shapes that stood away from the body on wires. So I asked, Are you interested in some of the techniques and tools of Alexander Calder? No. Where to get piano wire straightened? No. (Piano wire comes on spools, there are two different twists in it. I know the one place in the U.S. that straightens it. Straightening it on your own, as this artist was doing would always lead to uneven shapes, or take a lot more work. I never worked with Calder, but I've spent a lot of time with his work and figuring out how to make them.) Vermeer is a great example. He clearly did use some form of lens projection. But it's not just a cheap trick. It was a powerful tool. There's a terrific video called Tim's Vermeer. A tech guy set up a replica of Vermeer's studio and used what he deduced was Vermeer's method. And I think he proved two things. First, this is how Vermeer did it, but also that Vermeer did so much more. Tim's Vermeer looks 'true' in the video, but I've heard that in real life it's a lot of daubs of paint, clearly not the same thing - but still marvelous. One thing common to amateur plein air painters. Often colors and shapes, push out of or into the image in odd ways. The water in the background pushes forward of the foreground, the fronds on a palm tree seem to be behind the water. Field Ground Reversal. It's common. (It's also wonderful. Go out just after sunset and look up at the branches of trees.) I was just at a street fair. An artist showing her work. Bright, colorful, pleasant. In some paintings this field ground reversal bothered me, but in a couple of others it wasn't a problem and made for a more interesting (and still pretty) painting. She can paint like this for the rest of her life, no problem. If she really engages in her work and keeps reaching for 'more,' she will eventually turn this 'problem' into a strength and her work will soar. A friend's mom gave me one of her plein air paintings. I've only see two of her paintings. The one I have is absolutely wonderful. A rowboat pops, the sea cove recedes. At first glance it looks like a tourist shop painting, but it's so much more. It's not that she 'got it right,' it's that she painted something in a way that no photograph could capture. It's not better, it's different. I never tire looking at it. Some of the work painted by serious amateurs I've known could hang in major museums. One woman used to have me come to her studio every six to twelve months. At least four times she asked me to re photograph the same painting. The second time I said, Don't bother, paint something else. But then I Iooked at it. It was better. It kept getting better. Abstract, and wonderful. If that painting was hanging in a Hans Hoffman exhibit, it would be a standout. In honor of the painting and her efforts I wouldn't charge her for re photographing it. I'd drive just to see it again. The drawing a dog made me remember another artist. The first few years he was pretty bad. He was trying to draw portraits and they were just not good... He absolutely would not give up. He didn't have limitations, he was going to keep at it. He got to be really good. I know of at least one well known museum that has his work in their collection. The life and career of an artist is the pursuit of positive feedback loops that keep the work and the working moving forward. This can be in almost any direction, and it can start from almost anywhere, any level. Maybe there is a rule for art and creativity. Keep working, keep pushing.
"or sacrificing chickens at the new moon would lead to better work, they wouldn't hesitate. " this made me laugh out loud. Yes to the endless pursuit of growth and learning!
Enjoyed that. I definitely have gaps in my learning, some skill in drawing, and sometimes my vision in my mind’s eye is beyond what I can do. I can improve my weaknesses or I can make a compromise in my vision of my work. Bonnard’s drawing was sometimes sloppy but his paintings are deeply soulful.
I’m not an artist if I don’t follow my own heart and soul. I would for example would not be happy tracing or griding! Because I would not enjoy that! Simple as that!
I'm not an artist... until I make art a priority.
Until I found your channel, I didn't dare to call myself an artist. Per general definition "artist" is a profession. I'm not a professional artist. Per my own definition an artist needs to have skills, needs to know and master his materials and should be able to express with his art what he wants to express. By this definition I'm not an artist either. But I'm learning. So I accepted a new definition that I also found somewhere and that I can identify with: An artist is someone who has made art a priority.
That being said: I don't think tracing etc. is cheating. Who would be cheated? But since my own understanding of being an artist involves being able to express what I want to express, I need to learn the skills, the materials, the techniques.
@@anjapinkau3737 who would be cheated? Exactly my thoughts. I’m so glad you feel more permission to connect to your practice and think of yourself as an artist. Thanks so much for your thoughtful contribution here.
@@artiststrong I'm very grateful to you! Feeling allowed to call myself an artist although it is not my profession is so liberating! And surprisingly enough since July I have been making art every single day! Sometimes when I was too tired to come up with something original of my own, I re-worked a sketch or coloured something. But more often than not did I paint or draw for half an hour, an hour or longer. And I'm so happy about it. I wrote on the first page of my latest sketchbook: "Proudly call yourself an artist!" So thank you for making me an artist! Together we are artist strong!
@@anjapinkau3737 I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you are making art most days. That is AMAZING!!!! Here's the thing though: YOU made that choice. YOU did it!! Not me. I'm so glad to help though. And yes, Together we are Artist Strong.
So I’ve used the term crutch before but not to dissuade people from using an approach at a difficult problem.
Left unchallenged we may never learn a topic and limit our ability in the long run.
That said, there’s nothing more limiting than avoiding the problem altogether. Because that’s a path to not doing art at all.
Let’s substitute the term “crutch” and “cheat” for approach, make art and keep challenging ourselves to grow as artists. #artiststrong
@@johnestock7283 love it! Thank you John.
If anyone gives you grief for tracing or using a grid, offer to share your outline with them so they can reproduce your finished work. Oh no, are they not up to the task? Could it be that there's way more that goes into a good finished painting or drawing than just accurate outlines? Interesting. Also, like every single class on realistic art I watch from professional artists is like "okay, here's how you draw this... and now in the next lesson we find out we're just going to trace it to save time."
Haha - your last line. Mike drop.
Thanks for sharing and for taking the time to watch and contribute to this conversation.
Yeah in my intro to design class in college like a decade ago (for Comm. Degree) we were encouraged to experiment with using the light table and even had a lesson with it- the idea of not tracing anything is bonkers lol
(Edit to add: I think some ppl can’t tell tracing for art theft from just like tracing as a concept, and get hung up on it bc of that)
Good video. Never let the scolds keep you down.
I've worked with many artists, some famous. I remember the whole 'cheating,' nonsense when David Hockney's Secret Knowledge book came out. Those who insisted, "Renaissance artists didn't cheat!" were all academic art historians.... no artists.
The artists I know? If using a camera obscura or a camera lucida or sacrificing chickens at the new moon would lead to better work, they wouldn't hesitate.
I've also met many amateurs, some of them Fixed Mindset. Know what the fixed mindset artists say? I mentioned to one that Robert Graham uses 8B and 9B pencils. They flew into a rage, "How dare you compare me to....!" This wasn't the first neurotic outburst. I thought it might benefit them if I shared one more of Bob's practices. " If I told Robert Graham that 'anonymous amateur' artist used X in their work, he'd be curious. If there was an interesting result? He'd want to know everything he could. At minimum, he'd be curious. If it might help him in some way? He'd absolutely want to know. He'd insist."
Another artist I met was working in metal body art. They'd started to make shapes that stood away from the body on wires. So I asked, Are you interested in some of the techniques and tools of Alexander Calder? No. Where to get piano wire straightened? No. (Piano wire comes on spools, there are two different twists in it. I know the one place in the U.S. that straightens it. Straightening it on your own, as this artist was doing would always lead to uneven shapes, or take a lot more work. I never worked with Calder, but I've spent a lot of time with his work and figuring out how to make them.)
Vermeer is a great example. He clearly did use some form of lens projection. But it's not just a cheap trick. It was a powerful tool. There's a terrific video called Tim's Vermeer. A tech guy set up a replica of Vermeer's studio and used what he deduced was Vermeer's method. And I think he proved two things. First, this is how Vermeer did it, but also that Vermeer did so much more. Tim's Vermeer looks 'true' in the video, but I've heard that in real life it's a lot of daubs of paint, clearly not the same thing - but still marvelous.
One thing common to amateur plein air painters. Often colors and shapes, push out of or into the image in odd ways. The water in the background pushes forward of the foreground, the fronds on a palm tree seem to be behind the water. Field Ground Reversal. It's common. (It's also wonderful. Go out just after sunset and look up at the branches of trees.) I was just at a street fair. An artist showing her work. Bright, colorful, pleasant. In some paintings this field ground reversal bothered me, but in a couple of others it wasn't a problem and made for a more interesting (and still pretty) painting. She can paint like this for the rest of her life, no problem. If she really engages in her work and keeps reaching for 'more,' she will eventually turn this 'problem' into a strength and her work will soar.
A friend's mom gave me one of her plein air paintings. I've only see two of her paintings. The one I have is absolutely wonderful. A rowboat pops, the sea cove recedes. At first glance it looks like a tourist shop painting, but it's so much more. It's not that she 'got it right,' it's that she painted something in a way that no photograph could capture. It's not better, it's different. I never tire looking at it. Some of the work painted by serious amateurs I've known could hang in major museums. One woman used to have me come to her studio every six to twelve months. At least four times she asked me to re photograph the same painting. The second time I said, Don't bother, paint something else. But then I Iooked at it. It was better. It kept getting better. Abstract, and wonderful. If that painting was hanging in a Hans Hoffman exhibit, it would be a standout. In honor of the painting and her efforts I wouldn't charge her for re photographing it. I'd drive just to see it again.
The drawing a dog made me remember another artist. The first few years he was pretty bad. He was trying to draw portraits and they were just not good... He absolutely would not give up. He didn't have limitations, he was going to keep at it. He got to be really good. I know of at least one well known museum that has his work in their collection.
The life and career of an artist is the pursuit of positive feedback loops that keep the work and the working moving forward. This can be in almost any direction, and it can start from almost anywhere, any level. Maybe there is a rule for art and creativity. Keep working, keep pushing.
"or sacrificing chickens at the new moon would lead to better work, they wouldn't hesitate. " this made me laugh out loud. Yes to the endless pursuit of growth and learning!
Great video, thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for watching!
Enjoyed that. I definitely have gaps in my learning, some skill in drawing, and sometimes my vision in my mind’s eye is beyond what I can do. I can improve my weaknesses or I can make a compromise in my vision of my work. Bonnard’s drawing was sometimes sloppy but his paintings are deeply soulful.
Keep making that art John. Our world is better for it. Thanks for watching!
I’m not an artist if I don’t follow my own heart and soul.
I would for example would not be happy tracing or griding! Because I would not enjoy that! Simple as that!
@@gustavgeelarsson know thyself.
Just do art!
@@CAT-Anne that’s it! Let’s make more art 🥳
I really appreciate your videos. Excellent content. This one hit a spot. Thanks!
Thanks so much Rosemary!