I've been playing with Python (the programming language!) on and off for awhile now. I'd really like to get a better understanding of the language and programming in general, since the logical nature meshes with how my brain works surprisingly well. It's actually fun to learn! My girlfriend is an amazing artist and that looks fun (watercolors). She had me watch Bob Ross magically create a painting and that was interesting. I'd love to do it myself, even in photoshop, but I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Edit - it was actually freaking astounding but I was rushed for time! Dude was a master. I'd also like to learn how to empathize better, but I don't know if that's even possible.
Nope. That's demonstrably not true. You have no patience to create art whatsoever. Huge difference. Most people who 'cant art' usually fall into one of two camps (or both!): those who simply aren't patient, draw something real quick, and it ends up sucking. Or those who simply don't know the techniques, but spend a lot of time making simple mistakes simply because they aren't aware. The 'worst' people at art tend to do both. That was me :P. I found the two 3DS titles: Art Academy and Pokemon Art Academy really fixed that for me. Taught some techniques, and taught me to slow the fuck down and take time. My art went from this: to this: Granted, the 'after' images are from the walkthroughs/tutorials, but are 100% drawn by me (except the charizard background :P) But yea. It's just taking the time and putting in the work, along with knowing some techniques used to make certain things. but I have no artistic ability whatsoever.
The first two images are so vastly beyond anything I've even attempted to create that it's not even funny. Your 'after' images are awesome! You're right, though. I don't have the patience to create art because I know how shitty I am at "art things" and attempting it seems like a waste of time and resources. I'm sure if I sat down in a class or with a book, I'd be able to produce something more than a pile of crap, but as of right now, I can't even close my circles when I draw them, so they look like a squished grape or something. Hold on while I work my magic on this piece of paper. Feast your eyes on my magnificence.
Do keep in mind both those "before" images are both images I drew while explicitly attempting to make something remotely showable/good. Both are from after years of doodling and getting 'mini' lessons from a childhood friend. At that point I still thought I completely sucked. And those are probably the best things I did :P. It's also worth noting I actually took an art class at my community college, which probably upped my skill a bit. Yup. I suck with a pencil. And your "magnificence" is pretty much what a good majority of my stuff looked like. The latter two images you saw both took well more than an hour to produce. While the former two probably took maybe 5 minutes. Either way, just slow down, take your time. Some quick tips are to draw 'with your eyes' meaning don't draw what you think you see, but draw what you see. And be generous with the eraser. Digital makes this a lot easier (just press 'undo' :P). Once I got to those after images I'm like 'oh shit', and it sort of clicked that it's not that I can't art, but rather I didn't art. Here's another one I did, which I don't really like: It's all about slowing the fuck down, removing mental barriers of "I can't do this", and generally applying techniques that are used to create specific looks. That, and actually looking at something while you draw. Drawing from your mind is damn hard. As I said, if you're interested in getting better at art, just set aside an hour a day at least to work on it. Perhaps grab one of the art academy games. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of patience. I find it jaw dropping that some people spend well over a dozen hours on a single piece. Getting over that lack of patience is difficult. Especially when you come from a "write a few lines of code and see results." mindset.The first two images are so vastly beyond anything I've even attempted to create that it's not even funny.
don't have the patience to create art because I know how shitty I am at "art things" and attempting it seems like a waste of time and resources. I'm sure if I sat down in a class or with a book, I'd be able to produce something more than a pile of crap, but as of right now, I can't even close my circles when I draw them, so they look like a squished grape or something.
How do you produce original content if you're just copying? Also, how do you possibly draw digitally without one of those fancy pad things? I'd definitely have to see what I wanted to draw, because I can't hold an image in my mind at all. If I concentrate, it just slips out of my "mind's eye" and everything is just blobs. Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can learn for free before actually throwing money at it. I really would be interested in figuring out how to draw half-decently!Either way, just slow down, take your time. Some quick tips are to draw 'with your eyes' meaning don't draw what you think you see, but draw what you see.
Sure, but I mean specifically looking at a picture and copying it down. My own style is incorporated into the piece, but it's not really mine. It's just my take on someone else's piece. I'm certainly no expert on what would qualify as "art", but I wouldn't be impressed with someone else's version of The Mona Lisa, for example. Someone creating their own Superman comic, while copying the style of Superman, would be creating original content. They'd just be using an established character. I don't know if I explained that clearly, but I hope you understand what I mean. If not, I'm happy to try again!
You just described a lot of fan art. These people you see who make original art almost always start with fan art of some kind. Maybe they were the 10yo drawing perfect Bart Simpson. Today they are the kid on tumblr wowing their favorite webcomic artist with fan art in their own style. Tomorrow they'll have their own story.
Practice :P. You need to be able to draw before you draw and come up with new things at the same time. And generally people have a lot of references and such when they are coming up with new things. Mouse? The latter images I drew on my 3DS. The former were done with a mouse. With no pad/stylus, you definitely have to go a bit slower. But there shouldn't really be a difference. Yup. Draw what you see, get good at that. A lot of artists have done this. Once you start getting the hang of it, then draw new stuff (by drawing a bunch of various references in a particular way :P). Even with something like Anime, they still use a ton of references. Backgrounds? They go around, take a picture, and draw that picture in 'anime' style, adding or removing things as desired. Naturally imaginary/fake stuff is a bit trickier, since you don't have an existing reference. But say you want to draw a robot or alien or something. Find existing ones that are sort of similar to what you want to do. Take your time to get the various characteristics and such. And draw what you see, but put your own spin on it. It's not going to ever be a 1-to-1 copy, and generally you can get a good idea of how to add variety once you get going. Again, liberal use of the eraser is key. Take a pad/pencil, and just pick some random object each day to draw to the best of your ability. Take your time and be sure to capture the shadows/shape/etc. As I mentioned, I personally grabbed Art Academy for the 3DS, which worked wonders. I hear bob ross' videos are good for learning to paint. Patience+Technique+Practice=Good art.How do you produce original content if you're just copying?
Also, how do you possibly draw digitally without one of those fancy pad things?
I'd definitely have to see what I wanted to draw, because I can't hold an image in my mind at all. If I concentrate, it just slips out of my "mind's eye" and everything is just blobs.
Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can learn for free before actually throwing money at it. I really would be interested in figuring out how to draw half-decently!
Thank you for all the information and suggestions! Please enjoy my drawing for the day.
I've started to work through lessons here http://www.reddit.com/r/artfundamentals What he is doing free of charge is incredible.
Thank you. This looks incredible. Sorry for the late reply, your post didn't show up in my inbox (or whatever it's called) anywhere.
Try learning C++. The fact that it's more low-level will give you a better understanding of computers and programing in general, but it's a much harder language. StackOverflow has a huge list of books on the subject: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list
It is. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase empathy. Beyond that, just make a conscious effort to put yourself in others' shoes. Intentionality goes a long way. I'd also echo Kafke: art, like most things, is about practice more than 'talent.'I'd also like to learn how to empathize better, but I don't know if that's even possible.
Make sure you use Python3, it has less gotchas than Python2 and Python2 is rapidly approaching EOL. If you're using a tutorial intended for Python2, just jiggle it until it works in Python3, you'll even learn more that way. -- Also the new static typing module (part of the standard library in 3.5, but only checked by third-party tools which lets you backport to 3.2 (with limited support for 2.7)) is awesome. I'm currently working on making its error messages better ...
Yep! On Python3 at the moment due to the suggestion of a buddy who is much deeper into the programming world than me. I have no idea what the second part of your message means. I'm still an ultra-noob!