Learning how to be "arty."

[Draven]

Ok, so I'm one of those people that always thought "I'm completely crap at art, I'm far better at logical stuff". I've now come to a conclusion that:

A) My logic is crap anyway.
B) I'd really love to be able to do some artistic creative stuff.

I feel somewhat "creatively unfulfilled" so once my dissertation is in on Friday I intend to throw myself at trying to learn much about doing artwork. I've already found one good site on learning the basics, and the eventual idea is to be able to draw something in this sort of style (by Karincoma on Deviantart). I love her artwork and it is exactly the sort of thing I would hope to aspire to, with the drawing of sort of stylised comics. I'm assuming she has drawn a rough sketch, then scanned it and coloured it in Photoshop and Corel Painter X.

I'm wondering if anybody else has any other help, resources, suggestions, or tips that would help. I'm an absolute, absolute beginner and know practically nothing about art, but I'm willing to devote myself to learning it. Once I can draw I intend to do colouring of pictures on the computer, and was interested in knowing if GIMP is a good program or if I need to shell out bucks on the new Photoshop et al. Maybe once I could do that I would stretch to a purchasing a graphics tablet.

I like a lot of the art that some people on AltNation do (sardonyx, Deadboy, displaced, and Bikuki & Shannow's photography to name a few) so any help would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[slicer]

I'd maybe look at exactly what, medium(s) and style(s) you'd want to do then find a class to learn it. Or a photography club. Evenings or something? Don't know if it's something that beginners classes would start at a particular time of year and run with a syllabus, like some photography clubs though.

You can also get loadsa great books on photography and many different styles of art and mediums that might be good for a step in the right direction.

[bikuki]

I got into photography by joining Deviant Art, looking at hundreds of photos and deciding which ones I liked, then determining what about those particular photos made them special and went out to emulate that. I think I'm lucky in that I have a good eye for composition, but exposing yourself to loads of good examples of the particular medium you like and reading about it in books, magazines and websites (for example, for photography I've read about the different settings on a camera and what they can do; for drawing or painting you could read about different materials and techniques etc) will put you in good stead. Also, just practice LOADS - it shoudn't be a chore. You should choose whatever it is you want to do because you find it fun.

[Draven]

Thanks you pair.

Photography interests me, but I would like to learn to draw first, then I think I will move onto the photography. Will just see how it goes, like Bikuki says just see what I find fun doing and go with the flow.

[slicer]

Definitely man.

Even if you were to carry a decent enough wee compact camera with you (I'll send you a PM bout something else), you could just take shots of anything you think looks pretty cool and get a bit of practice at composition.

You could do that at the same time as learning to do drawing etc.....providing you have enough hours in the day Could be a bit of fun.

[Draven]

Originally Posted by slicer

Definitely man.

Even if you were to carry a decent enough wee compact camera with you (I'll send you a PM bout something else), you could just take shots of anything you think looks pretty cool and get a bit of practice at composition.

You could do that at the same time as learning to do drawing etc.....providing you have enough hours in the day Could be a bit of fun.

I've got a 7 (or 9?) megapixel camera that I got at Xmas that has criminally been underused due to the monstrous dissertation that has dominated my life, but I think this is a good idea, going about taking photos of cool things and fiddling in Photoshop. Will give this a bash as well thanks!

[slicer]

Haha, well there you go man. Yer half way there. I've got an Olympus 7 mega pixel compact(ish) camera. Got it a while back and it's done the job so far but not too happy with it......was only like £125 at the time. Didnae want to spend more on a camera that I was gonna take to Download last year lmao.

Considering having a look and gettin something pretty decent now

[poprock]

There’s no substitute for some basic drawing classes. A good teacher will help you understand how to ‘see’ properly, rather than worrying about how to draw. Translating the real world into something draw-able is the thing, y’see.

[Draven]

Originally Posted by poprock

There’s no substitute for some basic drawing classes. A good teacher will help you understand how to ‘see’ properly, rather than worrying about how to draw. Translating the real world into something draw-able is the thing, y’see.

Yeah totally, that's what my problem has been all along. I will consider classes in the future, but at the moment I'm a bit skint so looking to self-teach myself some stuff, just to get the "creative" juices flowing.

[DiskoTwist]

If you can't afford lessons and are in Edinburgh I would spare sometime to talk about what you're trying/wanting to do. I don't claim to be amazing or a teacher but still might be able to help somehow.

Like everyone is saying, if you find something you love or have a passion for then learning to replicate it through different mediums so not be impossible

[linz]

I would invest in some big bits of paper, some charcoal or a pastel, and take a fairly simple object, and just make some really big, loose marks on the paper to represent the object. Starting off with small tricky fiddly drawings can make you a bit put off if your drawings isnt exactly the same and its often harder to fit a lot of detail onto a small pieces of paper with a finer drawing implement. Plus its always nice to make big sweeping lines with charcoal and end up looking like a chimney sweep when you rub your face

[Gaias Id]

I unlearned how to draw, but i learned mad word skillz yo to compensate.