Different approach to art?

[FlameDragon]

Those of you who have been seeing my drawings that I've posted know how mediocre of an artist I am. I'm tired of it, I REALLY want to get alot better and hopefully soon (not soon as in within a few weeks, soon as in maybe 2-3 years). I think my entire approach to art has been fundamentally flawed. I've never taken art classes where we did much drawing with pencl, my art classes in junior high mainly had us doing painting or using charcoal as the negative space while we draw with an eraser. I dont remember learning much art concepts either. So I think I need to take a completely different approach to how I do art; do you have any ideas?

[armando]

The method in Niccolaide's "The Natural Way to Draw", is one of the best places to begin. My advice would be not to spend a year on it like the course demands, but around 3 months, just have to make some choices as to whether you understand the idea and then move on. At the same time I would recommend reading Rudolph Arnheim's "Art and Visual Perception", which does a good job of explaining what Niccolaides calls gesture.

[journeyman10]

Learning about negative space and all is good, but its good to learn how to draw as well. I think more than anything, being skillful involves learning how to look at things more intensely. Practicing on things that seem to be silly and boring, (geometric shapes, hatching and shading, simple still lifes, etc.) can be where you begin being better at what you want to do. Learning is about experimenting with things that you have no knowledge of and then seeing what happens with what you have just tried. Learning basic concepts will help too, but I think that learning to see is one of the most important lessons that you can learn.

Cheers!

[Dead Pedal]

I’ve just joined this forum and didn’t find an intro thread so I’ll jump right in.

I would recommend also taking a class or workshop. If college or art school isn’t an option look for some local workshops where you do some studio work. When you have an instructor and other artist there it’s a wealth of experience that can give you recommendations or different ideas on the spot for you to try.

This will also give you a chance to watch other people work which may also give you new ideas or approaches.

[FlameDragon]

I’ve just joined this forum and didn’t find an intro thread so I’ll jump right in.

I would recommend also taking a class or workshop. If college or art school isn’t an option look for some local workshops where you do some studio work. When you have an instructor and other artist there it’s a wealth of experience that can give you recommendations or different ideas on the spot for you to try.

This will also give you a chance to watch other people work which may also give you new ideas or approaches.

Well at my college it looks like I'll be staying an extra semester or so so maybe I'll take an art class!