I need help getting started again.

Forums: Art And Photography
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Edit [Moderator]: Moved from Art to Original Art & Photography.

I was really into fine art in high school and into college. I enjoyed painting, photography and especially printmaking. I decided on graphic design as a major and really enjoy doing it as a living.

The problem is the more that I got into design the more I got out of fine art... to the point that I haven't done anything in a few years. I have come to realize that being a designer just isn't creative enough for me. I need something else.

I picked up a blank sketch book the other day and got really frustrated because I had lost what skills I did have. I am so out of pracice I don't know where to start. I have all of these HUGE ideas that I just can seem to get down on paper and it is driving me crazy.

Any suggestions?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 2,121 • Replies: 26

No top replies

Here's one. My Dad was in the same predicament until he started carrying a sketchpad with him every day. Try to sketch all the time and then go through your book looking for inspiration. It worked for him.

0 Replies

jpinMilwaukee - Start by starting small. Keep a pad with you. When you see something that interests you, sketch it. No need for a finished product. Just keep sketching, until you find something that you want to make into a finished piece.

The point is, that the more that you sketch, the skills that you have thought that you lost will come back to you. Don't worry if your first efforts look like nothing special...they don't have to be. The skills that you need are already "imprinted" into your brain. You just need to practice getting the brain to remember how to work the hand. Good luck, and let's see some of your efforts!

0 Replies

what she said

0 Replies

Phoenix said:

Quote:

Good luck, and let's see some of your efforts!

I concur...i would love to see your work here. Very Happy

0 Replies

I tried sketching the room while I was sitting on the couch watching the news one night... it was really quite funny. It is amazing how fast you loose what you have when you don't use it. I was never one for still lifes though... they bore the heck out of me.

I think part of the problem is I am thinking in so many mediums at once. I want to paint I want to take pictures I want to sculpt things... I even went on ebay to see if I could find an inexpensive printing press (Which I didn't... anybody know where I can find one?).

0 Replies

I'll have to dig some of my stuff out and take a few digital pictures, but I would happy to post some things.

0 Replies

Alright Ifinally found some of my old stuff. I'm still looking for my favorite photography projects and some more of my drawings but I did find quite a few things.

Drawing:

sculpture:

photos:

prints:

This is one of the few that I actually title. I called it: Bernard's first seven years of bad luck began when he painfully mistook his knife for a comb.

http://arena2045.net/fritz/spike_print.jpg

0 Replies

Cool, JP! Love the pinecones.

I have no advice for you, just commisseration. I still haven't been able to get back into the swing of things. Had an exhibit of some old work several months ago and got a lot of very positive feedback, invitations to participate in art shows, etc., but hasn't translated to anything yet.

0 Replies

What do you do Soz? (paint? sculpt? draw?)

Do you have any work posted anywhere?

0 Replies

All of the above. Watercolor is my main medium, but did drawing and sculpure too.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SgAdA3sWb1XjIW0z3ASeptMrZLydjewjJUyVvhaK6xa!Yx51AfB!BH*YuSNJfg2xGwurhFG2rTeL8viVIsXJ!MjXGfcNKgNX1rrz6hgDoUwQFaFbr8POqA/Monsoon.JPG

0 Replies

(That's cropped badly, there is more to the left of the sewing machine. Just laid it right on the scanner, that was all that was scanned.)

0 Replies

very nice soz...does the subject matter mean anything? I'm at a loss...but you have some real skill with the watercolors. I'd like to see more of your work on it's own thread. did you paint your pic as well? I don't remember seeing a hunk of cheese in the original Razz

jp, you'll need to show some pics of what you can do now so we can see the difference

0 Replies

Very nice Soz... at first glance I thought it was Frank Smile

You used a very interesting color scheme for water colors... it is darker than your usual watercolor.

Stuh... I posted some of mine on the first page... it may take awhile to load though becasue there are a bunch of them.

0 Replies

I just re-read your post stuh... you mean what I am doing NOW...

I'm working on that. Thing is I haven't done anything good enough to post yet.

0 Replies

It's a guy carrying a sewing machine in a flood. The water's up to his neck. (From a photo.)

I worked on it a long time (OVER worked it), and laid down lots of layers. I painted it when I was 18, but don't have any more recent works scanned.

0 Replies

your early work shows a strong graphic element jp

what sort of work do you like? free and loose? or quite graphic?

I would say do lots and lots of charcoal drawings - charcoal is so painterly and expressive and you can look at light, movement, composition, lost and found edges etc - also what the others said, always carry a small sketchbook.

Draw anything and everything - try using just line then do the same thing with no line at all - just blocks of tone - look at the masses and not individual items - then combine mass and line in a third drawing of the same subject.

what subject matter interests you? people? landscape? abstraction?

0 Replies

Vivien wrote:

your early work shows a strong graphic element jp

what sort of work do you like? free and loose? or quite graphic?

what subject matter interests you? people? landscape? abstraction?

It is a tale of two personalities for me.

As a graphic designer (my profession) I like things orderly. My job is to solve a problem and communicate information. As an artist I like things down and dirty. I like to get ink on my hands and paint under my fingernails.

Subject matter depends as well. I find art that tries to convey a message trite and contrived. I may put my feelings into a piece but I don't care, or want, the person viewing it to understand what I was doing. I want them to take their own meaning from it... and sometimes there is no meaning. Sometimes a picture of two pine cones is just a picture of two pine cones.

0 Replies

jpinMilwaukee wrote:

As an artist I like things down and dirty. I like to get ink on my hands and paint under my fingernails.

go for the charcoal then! I always manage to get covered in whatever I'm painting in and charcoal is excessively, gloriously messy!

If you want to get away from the graphic then you do need to work and large and really go for it, work fast, the lost edges and expressive marks will take you away from the graphic style detail.

Are there any classes you could attend to get feedback from a tutor? it could help you move forward. We have adult ed classes for all levels here from beginners to post grad challenging ones.

0 Replies

Vivien wrote:

Are there any classes you could attend to get feedback from a tutor? it could help you move forward. We have adult ed classes for all levels here from beginners to post grad challenging ones.

Yeah, I attended MIAD (Milwaukee Insistute of Art & Design) and as an alum I get a pretty good discount at continuing education classes... I just have to find the time to do it. That is a good suggestion though.

0 Replies

I need help getting started again.

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know