What`s YOUR artistic Revelation? The thing that made you progress...

[Waster]

What`s your artistic revelation?

My artistic revelation was the basic practice of motoric skills of my hand (Dunno if motoric is the right word.) for 5 minutes first, then going on to draw an object. I drew line upon line 10 times with wrist, elbow and arm, then some circles. I`ve yet to have sufficient "Quality of line" to satisfy myself, but I do feel an increased safety when I draw.

Anyone else have any small or grand revelations they`d want to reveal?

...I hope?

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Interesting. I never made any wrist exercises, I probably should though.

Here's two things:

Make a lot of studies. On the rare occasions I do studies I improve heaps.

Resist the urge to put 'highlights' on every detail and think more about the bigger picture. I have to remind myself of this constantly.

[Dan.v.D.]

practice with charcoal. afterwards pick up a pencil and u´ll think u were born with one in your hand

[Blue2]

writing helps me draw. if i have trouble drawing, a write a short story and i'll have plenty of inspiration and drive to draw after that. :)

[Gunbu]

writing helps me draw. if i have trouble drawing, a write a short story and i'll have plenty of inspiration and drive to draw after that.

That's a good point Blue. It really helps when you are motivated to draw something. If I just sit down and say "I'm gonna draw somethin", it usually never turns out as good if I haven't at least a goal for the piece. Physical exercises are good too, but so are brainstorming concepts.

[captnblack]

there is no spoon.

[kennygeeze]

I wasn't even trying to get 'better' like most of the things I practice for currently.

Last Christmas I was trying to draw a realistic portrait of one of my friends as a present.
I was having a tough time with it as I had spent most of the past 2 years just drawing cartoons... so it was quite the challange sketching from a photograph --- and getting likeness as well.
I must have filled 2 3rds of a sketchbook with the same face over and over.
It was exhausting, but when I went back to drawing after that I noticed a huge growth in my abilities.

Revelation: Drawing from life helped me out more than I ever thought it would....
And next time I give a present to a female friend... I should probably explain my intentions as to avoid the mess.

EDIT: yeah, I know it was a photograph, but I moved on to real people almost right after that.

[Calibretto]

I think Blue made a very good point; while it may not help in the drawing skill department, it certainly helps in the insparation department. Almost all my art comes from stories, worlds, and characters I have envisioned in my head, so the ideas just flow out naturally. Aside from that, my recent artistic revalation has been the power of pre-production! I have notcied a marked improvement in my work when I make many sketches and plan the piece, as opossed to attempting a final right off the bat.

[sic1]

Originally posted by captnblack
there is no spoon.

agreed.

[mtw]

I was just sick for the past week. I didn't feel like doing anything, just sitting on the couch watching TV. I normally have a very busy mind, but sitting there helped to slow me down. I think that helped me figure out a better method of drawing and painting, but I'll need more practice to see.

[chadrm17]

I think art related exercises helps me alot with my creativity. For instance, my favorite creative exercise is to randomly draw a couple of lines on paper, then use those lines to draw something. I find it helps me be more creative when I have an idea of something to draw.

[Signature]

I started a somewhat similar thread a while ago @ Sijun when I was depressed.

Maybe anybody is interested? There were many interesting opinions.
At least I think so ...

http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31695

[AnarchyAo2]

You know, I hate to say it but I'd be lieing if I said otherwise. Anime and Manga was my revelation. I saw Akria in 9th grade, I loved it so I started to draw anime. But, it got me to draw a lot and I really didn't do much fanart. Most of it was right out of my mind. And then I discovered Shane's The Drawing Board, I looked at a lot of those people's work. I notice how cool traditional and fine arts are besides just doing anime. And thats what started the switch from the most cliche thing in drawing, manga, to fine arts.

[JoshuaTheJames]

Figure drawing and Life Painting...there is no substitute.

-Joshua

[gekitsu]

the moment i started to not care about having a super-correct construction for every piece of shit was quite imortant. i started doing more "direct silhouette" things after having had a lot of yoshitaka amano and began to scribble a lot after seeing justin sweet's and vance kovacs' sketchwork. i ended up somewhere between with a bit of a constructing focus- helped me loosening up and draw less stiffly.

also, the point when i abandoned the alltoo graphic approach of line and hatching only. my dad always told me that these are the true techniques for graphics. but what does he know about painterly approaches, the flat side of the lead and all that? :)

[Mr. Teatime]

Hands work for me too. I spent hours drawing my hand over and over, and then i was able to finish my drawing of a warrior guy. It just seems a lot easier after drawing the hand in various pasitiond

[OLSEN]

Good art direction is the key for me. I have done a few personal projects and a digital painting or two that im pleased with, but all my best stuff is made when somebody is forcing me to rework my pieces until they are good enough for whatever they are for. That and money.

[oglzogl]

I think for me it was angles. I remember sitting in a drawing class doing a portrait and suddenly I saw every relationship on the person I was drawing's face as an angle. For example.. the relationship between the corner of the mouth and the corner of the eye is defined by an angel. And the relationship between those and the tip of the nose is defined by angles. Seems obvious, but when I saw that it looked like a whole new world to me.

Boy, I just realized too.. angle is a funny looking word!

[I.was.ink]

Originally posted by JOSHUATHEJAMES
Figure drawing and Life Painting...there is no substitute.

-Joshua

AMEN!

[captnblack]

Originally posted by JOSHUATHEJAMES
Figure drawing and Life Painting...there is no substitute.

-Joshua

HAHAHA. i can't draw a person to save my life and it hasnt stopped me from getting a job. i think its overzealous of you illustrators to push drawing naked people on to the masses. i would much rather hear a statement about learning to see instead of just looking...

[bizarre]

DRAW NAKED!!!!

haha no... but figure drawing helps.

Blind Contour Sketches. works wonders.