will someone accept me as an apprentice?

[riceface]

i cannot afford school... hell i can't even afford a sandwich right now, and im hungry! *no joke*

I am asking as a starving artist wannabe who loves nothing more then to work as a concept artist.. and "make it"

will someone accept me as their student and give me weekly excersizes? I know its a tall order to do for free.. I'm not asking much, just give me a weekly assignment and critiques on my progress...

I remember liquid! chris something, who colors joe mads work, gave me an assignment, and it was to find 50 photos and draw in their skeletons.. which i did, until i pissed him off and he blocked me.. lol

so who will take me under their wing, accept me as a student... u will be my jedi master!

p.s. if theres zero takers.. its ok i wont be angry

[Brushcommander]

If there are zero takers just use CA.org as your mentor. Your weekly exercises could be CHOW, COW etc. and you get good critique in there too. And make use of the Critique Center as well.
:/

[Rist]

Well if you pissed off your last mentor who is to say the next will be willing to take you on?

[nicehighs]

pencil, reference, piece of paper kool aid for watercolor.

[corel]

Rist - is that John Locke from LOST thats on your avatar?

[Rist]

Rist - is that John Locke from LOST thats on your avatar?

lol no its a self-portrait!

[Brushcommander]

'sup Mr. Locke

[Viridis]

Honestly if you want weekly challenges there's plenty of stuff on conceptart right here. CHOW, COW, EOW.... plus the Daily Sketch Group and all the other challenges, there's more than enough to keep you busy without someone hovering over your shoulder... and you can post studies in a sketchbook or the critique center to get feedback.

[riceface]

what are these chow, cow, eow things everyone keeps talkin about

[Aphotic Phoenix]

what are these chow, cow, eow things everyone keeps talkin about

No offense, but the way people lack observational skills never ceases to amaze me. There is an entire subset of the forums devoted to activities, and the "of the Week" challenges are all in the Community Activities (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=74)section.

[riceface]

No offense, but the way people lack observational skills never ceases to amaze me. There is an entire subset of the forums devoted to activities, and the "of the Week" challenges are all in the Community Activities (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=74)section.

personally im offended

[alesoun]

Riceface, you need to get out of the Lounge more. There's a whole big wide world out there.... ;)

[Hexokinase]

You know what would be a great idea? If there were some way for mentors and mentees to easily find one another, and keep in touch. It could even be a section of some sort of 'art forum' if you will, where each thread represents a sort of 'classroom' .

Mentors would be able to give their assignments there, and mentees can post their work there as well. After this the mentor could outline what worked and what didn't work in any particular assignment and why. The way I see it, even other members of this 'art forum' could follow along any of those threads on their own. They probably shouldn't be posting in there (too much of a burden on mentors), but they could post anything they're struggling with in a 'critiquing section' of this 'art forum'.

Now that I think of it, it might be possible for this site to implement such a feature....

Oh wait (http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=137)

[riceface]

You know what would be a great idea? If there were some way for mentors and mentees to easily find one another, and keep in touch. It could even be a section of some sort of 'art forum' if you will, where each thread represents a sort of 'classroom' .

Mentors would be able to give their assignments there, and mentees can post their work there as well. After this the mentor could outline what worked and what didn't work in any particular assignment and why. The way I see it, even other members of this 'art forum' could follow along any of those threads on their own. They probably shouldn't be posting in there (too much of a burden on mentors), but they could post anything they're struggling with in a 'critiquing section' of this 'art forum'.

Now that I think of it, it might be possible for this site to implement such a feature....

Oh wait (http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=137)


wow thats amazing, it looks confusing.. how does it work?

[Hexokinase]

wow thats amazing, it looks confusing.. how does it work?

Well, technically speaking, you could make a thread there requesting for a mentor. You'd list (for example) things you're struggling with, what you're looking for in a mentor, or even your time commitment to this one-on-one feedback.

HOWEVER, after taking a quick browse through there, its probably not the BEST way to find a mentor (as there are many "I'm looking for a mentor" threads but none with any success in recent days).

I think a BETTER idea is to look for threads created by MENTORS who are looking for mentees. If you fit the qualifications and you are interested in that particular mentor, reply to the thread and hope for the best. I know for example, Idiot Apathy has a SIGN-UP thread for mentoring. He gets a lot of traffic, but a select few DO get the opportunity to be taken in under his wing (as you can see in the Cooking with Idiot threads that have various episodes). Either way, be sure to do a lot of digging beforehand.

If you DO get a mentor, be sure to be polite and courteous. Remember, these are artists who are generously donating their valuable time for this project. When you get an assignment, don't make excuses and show your commitment. Chances are there were about a dozen other mentees that could have been chosen over you, so don't waste your mentor's time. Your mentor's busy schedule takes precedence over yours (not saying that the mentee's schedule is irrelevant mind you). Be sure to also subscribe to whatever thread will be your classroom so that you get email alerts whenever there's a new post. The worst you can do if forget about your mentor in the middle of the mentoring program.

Based on the high demand for mentors, its quite possible that you don't end up with a mentor at all. Don't get discouraged though, for this site is still valuable to the learning process. Here are some things that most artists here should do more often:

Make a Sketchbook - Keep it updated first and foremost. Showing your commitment can encourage people to leave some constructive critique that will assist you on your journey. Be sure to check out some sketchbooks of artists you deem similar to yourself in skill level and read through what critique they get. What does this artist do better than you and how do they do it? (asking yourself this will greatly improve your observational skills). Mindcandyman's sketchbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870) comes to mind. Its well worth the read through to see the progress, the critique along the way, and for a good old kick in the ass motivation :)

Visit the Critique Center - A lot of what applies to the sketchbooks applies even more to the critique center. Need help with a piece? Post it there. Still working on it but need help nonetheless? Post it in the Studies and WIP Section. More importantly, read through the critique that other people get - chances are you can learn a lot about common pitfalls and ways to avoid them.

Browse through the Mentoring Thread - Didn't get a mentor? So what! All the classrooms are visible to the public. Go through some of the threads, and do the assignments listed on your own. [Don't post in other people's classrooms though unless permission was explicitly stated by the mentor in the first post! - this can be very rude]. There have been some truly great mentoring sessions that are all available in CA's archive. This is greatly underestimated and EXTREMELY valuable to any learner [read: artist]. This is a wonderful opportunity to find assignments you can give yourself if you're worried that you wouldn't be able to keep the commitment to a mentor. Do a lot of digging for great mentoring threads current and past. If you need help finding one that you can go through on your own, just ask us here and we might be able to point you in the right direction.

[riceface]

Well, technically speaking, you could make a thread there requesting for a mentor. You'd list (for example) things you're struggling with, what you're looking for in a mentor, or even your time commitment to this one-on-one feedback.

HOWEVER, after taking a quick browse through there, its probably not the BEST way to find a mentor (as there are many "I'm looking for a mentor" threads but none with any success in recent days).

I think a BETTER idea is to look for threads created by MENTORS who are looking for mentees. If you fit the qualifications and you are interested in that particular mentor, reply to the thread and hope for the best. I know for example, Idiot Apathy has a SIGN-UP thread for mentoring. He gets a lot of traffic, but a select few DO get the opportunity to be taken in under his wing (as you can see in the Cooking with Idiot threads that have various episodes). Either way, be sure to do a lot of digging beforehand.

If you DO get a mentor, be sure to be polite and courteous. Remember, these are artists who are generously donating their valuable time for this project. When you get an assignment, don't make excuses and show your commitment. Chances are there were about a dozen other mentees that could have been chosen over you, so don't waste your mentor's time. Your mentor's busy schedule takes precedence over yours (not saying that the mentee's schedule is irrelevant mind you). Be sure to also subscribe to whatever thread will be your classroom so that you get email alerts whenever there's a new post. The worst you can do if forget about your mentor in the middle of the mentoring program.

Based on the high demand for mentors, its quite possible that you don't end up with a mentor at all. Don't get discouraged though, for this site is still valuable to the learning process. Here are some things that most artists here should do more often:

Make a Sketchbook - Keep it updated first and foremost. Showing your commitment can encourage people to leave some constructive critique that will assist you on your journey. Be sure to check out some sketchbooks of artists you deem similar to yourself in skill level and read through what critique they get. What does this artist do better than you and how do they do it? (asking yourself this will greatly improve your observational skills). Mindcandyman's sketchbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870) comes to mind. Its well worth the read through to see the progress, the critique along the way, and for a good old kick in the ass motivation :)

Visit the Critique Center - A lot of what applies to the sketchbooks applies even more to the critique center. Need help with a piece? Post it there. Still working on it but need help nonetheless? Post it in the Studies and WIP Section. More importantly, read through the critique that other people get - chances are you can learn a lot about common pitfalls and ways to avoid them.

Browse through the Mentoring Thread - Didn't get a mentor? So what! All the classrooms are visible to the public. Go through some of the threads, and do the assignments listed on your own. [Don't post in other people's classrooms though unless permission was explicitly stated by the mentor in the first post! - this can be very rude]. There have been some truly great mentoring sessions that are all available in CA's archive. This is greatly underestimated and EXTREMELY valuable to any learner [read: artist]. This is a wonderful opportunity to find assignments you can give yourself if you're worried that you wouldn't be able to keep the commitment to a mentor. Do a lot of digging for great mentoring threads current and past. If you need help finding one that you can go through on your own, just ask us here and we might be able to point you in the right direction.

the thing is i actually wanted a real mentor outside of this forum, someone i can talk on skype with or aim... and be a one on one thing and long term.. not a one shot deal for a specific assignment thing.

someoone who gives me weekly assignments updates whatever...

[corel]

Ok now seriously - I honestly don't understand why you need a mentor.
I took a look in your gallery, and all i can say is - man you have a so much better "starting" position than a lot of the striving artists here, i suggest you just go ahead and keep doing what you've been doing, plus read the posts being posted here - they contain really valuable information! You have the visual "sense" and thinking from what i can see, so its just a matter of practice. Get yourself together and start drawing now!!!
I always see those posts(yes yes - i posted a couple myself, but hey - i'm a human too :)) as some need for encouragement and "approval" as to if you can make it or not with or without a mentor(sorry for bad english). The help you are seeking is already here - available to you 24/7. You just need to boost your motivation and start working.

Hope it helps...

Corel.

[Farvus]

Look into some pro sketchbook thread with regular updates. See what type of exercises artist does to improve his skill and you'll some have idea what you could practice yourself.

[Hexokinase]

the thing is i actually wanted a real mentor outside of this forum, someone i can talk on skype with or aim... and be a one on one thing and long term.. not a one shot deal for a specific assignment thing.

someoone who gives me weekly assignments updates whatever...

The mentoring thread classrooms are seldom one-time exercises (the good ones at least). The way I see it, skype or aim could easily become troublesome for any given mentor. However, it does happen sometimes (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158001).

[Qitsune]

Apparently CA will be having online classes soon, so get a job and start saving your pennies.

[riceface]

Apparently CA will be having online classes soon, so get a job and start saving your pennies.

wow thats cool! where can i read more about that!, i hope its reasonably priced.. considering theyre goal is to help us and not the bottom line....

[Qitsune]

That was in the thread about the downloadable vids coming to a stop soon, they will be replaced by streaming AND live webcam demos with instructors who will give feedback on work. I think Bobby Chiu has that kind of class already too.

[Dusty]

I hear this guy might be able to help.
http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/04/09/images/02emperor350.jpg

Seriously, though...what others have said about doing the COW, CHOW, etc (Creature of the Week, Character of the Week...you can find them in this very forum) will be very helpful. It gives you a weekly assignment and people vote and critique at the end based on your concept/ability/attention to the subject matter.

I'd be doing it every week if I had the time...it's excellent practice, especially if you ever suffer from "artist's block". The topic is already set for you!
http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=74
-D

[Nibras]

I wonder if I can get marko to take me on as an apprentice...........


But seriously, work your ass off and just ask for general advice.
What your asking for is someone to actually do all the hard work for you, give you the assignments, figure out your work for you and thats just plain freakin lazy.
No body gets someone to just guide them alllll the way, art is all about self exploration and building good habits.
Try taking some time to yourself to draw for yourself and then start really working

[riceface]

I wonder if I can get marko to take me on as an apprentice...........


But seriously, work your ass off and just ask for general advice.
What your asking for is someone to actually do all the hard work for you, give you the assignments, figure out your work for you and thats just plain freakin lazy.
No body gets someone to just guide them alllll the way, art is all about self exploration and building good habits.
Try taking some time to yourself to draw for yourself and then start really working

the hell u talkin about i draw all the time, i just want a personal master, obiwan to my luke skywalker..

what hard work? they already know all the excersized from school and what not that i know nothing about.. and a linear path with gradual assignments that builds up..

hey lets have a musician just keep making shit up on piano without ever learning proper technique or read music.. hows that? genius

[Dusty]

That's not entirely true. With a little bit of self-motivation...it's entirely possible to self-teach yourself MANY techniques. Go to the library and check out books, read online tutorials, buy conceptart.org dvds (or ask for them as gifts for holidays if you are broke), set up your OWN "class" and "schedule" and force yourself to adhere to it...then if you want, come and post it in the critique center to get "graded".

It's absolutely 100% possible to do this without having someone be your personal teacher. Countless artists have done it and will continue to do so.


-D

[alesoun]

Luke Skywalker probably couldn't draw worth a damn. Don't know if Obiwan could either.

There's always the Karate Kid.....

What pissed off your last mentor, Riceface?

Lilnebo is right, btw. Make the effort to look around on here and you'll learn a lot.

[p sage]

Okay, if nobody else will say it, I will.

What makes you so special that you deserve free mentoring?

Wouldn't it be great if free mentoring were available to all. Then everybody who wanted to be a great artist could be a great artist.

This is not a flame; if you can genuinely give a good answer to that question, there's a possibility that someone will take you on free-of-charge. If not, then good luck.

It seems like people in here are trying to give you alternatives that just might get you where you want to go. If you really want to learn the craft well, it seems like you'd do whatever it takes.

[ShroudStar]

riceface, dig around in your box of interests and draw them until you've got them down like a pro. Your interests and your weaknesses can dictate what you can and must learn. While having a mentor is great, it's not necessary. Dedicate at least 4-6 hours a day studying something different and you'll find your own schedule and gain improvement.

You obviously like drawing people. So break down learning anatomy - a different topic (hands, feet, head construction, nose, lips, etc.) each day. One day, you assign yourself nothing but hands. Hands from Bridgman, from Ron Lemen, other people's hands, your hands, and perhaps copies of the Old Masters' hands. The next day, faces in different perspectives and so on. Then, what do you like to draw or want to draw? Get good at that.

See, for me, it's not hard to think of things to teach myself. I spend at least every weekend working on something from Bridgman and always switch up the subject. Then, during the week, I apply what I've learned to speedpainting, which also develops my digital painting skills. I'm working in black-and-white and grayscale, so at the same time, I'm learning value. I always have at least one WIP ongoing, so I'm never dry on projects. I love anything dealing with military weaponry and uniforms, so I'm in the process of learning how to draw and paint fighter jets, combat helis, guns, G-suits, and mecha. I also have Zhang Lu's vid and have a goal of drawing 100 heads. With that much on my plate, how can I ever stop learning just by myself? (And like the others said, with CHOW and Thunderdomes taking place, you've got more subject matter to tackle and perfect).

Get yourself a digital camera. Take pictures of anything that captures your interests. Observe the clouds, the color of the sky before it rains or during dusk, your local bush and shrubbery - hell, even the architecture around you. Take your sketchbook with you outside and do gesture drawings of people. Feel the textures of a brick wall and observe how water reflects. Then bring that all back and use it in your own personal project. You can't fail with that.

[dcorc]

(Riceface - Think carefully BEFORE responding to the points I make below - remember you're trying to find a mentor, you don't want to put people off ;) )

the hell u talkin about i draw all the time, i just want a personal master, obiwan to my luke skywalker..

I suspect that quite a few of us think of you more as Anakin than Luke :D Headstrong the young Padawan is. Filled with anger he is, a path to the dark side he is on :D (Patience, youngling).

what hard work? they already know all the excersized from school and what not that i know nothing about..

That's a reasonable request, but if you look around on the forum, look at other people's sketchbooks and other mentoring threads, surely you can see there things you could use to work up your own list of what you need, and put together a course of action for yourself by seeing what others are doing. If you know nothing about them, then you can inform yourself by looking around. After all, the "exercises from school and what not that i know nothing about" are the sorts of things those other threads are doing, right now.

and a linear path with gradual assignments that builds up.

Well, if you want people to set you assignments and mark them, there's a place for that, and its called "school", and normally people pay for it because it takes time and effort to set up for you (and is frankly pretty tedious for the teacher, for the most part). If you want people to teach you for free, you have to do something in return to make it sufficiently rewarding for us to want to spend the time doing so. One way is to be compliant with what is suggested to you, so that a potential mentor doesn't feel its an uphill struggle - also, showing initiative by making a start on things for yourself, or at least drafting a list of things you think might need to be covered, would be good (and would incidentally also give potential mentors a good idea of where you currently are, in terms of what you think you need by comparison with what they think you need.). Trying to analyse problems for yourself would be good, so that you could say, for example "how much skull anatomy do I need to know", as opposed to "this head sucks"..

hey lets have a musician just keep making shit up on piano without ever learning proper technique or read music.. hows that? genius

Ok, good, but my experience at having suggested various things to you is that at best you tend to take little notice, and at worst are downright rude. For example, several of us told you just the other day that you ought to read the Munsell Student book, and your response was "80 bucks, wtf" - you could have asked us, for example to point you to other information about Munsell, or taken the hint to find out something about it for yourself, but your main comment was that you'd heard it was for oil-painters and you didn't think it would be much use to you as you work digitally...

If I said to you, "go read threads on Bargue plates", I'd bet your first impulse would be to tell me that they're not relevant to you, instead of going to see what you can get out of reading about them?

You keep missing opportunities by being oppositional, instead of engaging in a dialogue with people who clearly know more about the subject than you do.

Read this thread:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=60753
(not just the first post, but at least all of page 1).

and this thread:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112049

and this one:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15745
with this:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

and this thread:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=160487

How much of this forum have you read:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7

or this:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42

Should be plenty there to keep you busy for a while :)



Dave

[McLean]

Man, you guys are really just spoon-feeding it to someone who's not much of a "go-getter/self-starter". I'm surprised this thread hasn't already dropped like a brick. Some people gotta learn it the hard way, or not learn it at all.

Not to say that anyone is doing the wrong thing in trying to help, but I seriously wonder how much of the wonderful advice in here will actually sink in.

[dcorc]

Well, if riceface doesn't make good use of the information in the discussion, perhaps others will. Quite a few of the comments we've made would also apply, at least to some extent, to some others asking for mentors too. (Given that the forum was set up and people encouraged to ask for mentors, its perhaps not that surprising that there are a lot of posts from people who appear not to be "self-starting" - but perhaps we should really be discussing that on a separate thread?)

Also, lets give him a chance, he may turn out to pleasantly surprise you !

Dave

[HunterKiller_]

Also, lets give him a chance


Heh, you know what's funny? This is like the 10th 'chance'.

[Kagemusha22]

Heh, you know what's funny? This is like the 10th 'chance'.

He has more lives than Ilaekae...

[dcorc]

You're starting to make riceface sound like Chuck Norris :D

[Kagemusha22]

Riceface is Chuck Norris's twice removed cousin. :wink:

[dcorc]

Indeed, but I'll bet that neither Chuck Norris nor his cousin need mentoring, and if they did, they'd have the common courtesy to make a polite reply thanking all the people here who spent time and effort offering advice. ;)