What are the different forms of drawing/painting arts?

[ZenzybaR]

At the moment I'm on an Art and Design course. I thought it was going to help me with drawing/painting but it seems to be taking time away from me doing either.
But the course is designed to help student experience the different types of art out there and to decide if unsure what they want to go into.

Anyway, the teachers constantly asks us what sort of art we want to go into and at first i said illustration, and they retorted with talks on design, so i started saying concept art but i'm not even sure what that means and they start retorting with more design talk; so now i just say fine art.

But i don't really know what the types of drawing/painting arts are.

soooo yeah, a brief explanation will do nicely.

[ZenzybaR]

k thanks, i'll try your suggestions.

Although I just want a tiny description of the main ones.

[arttorney]

this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Manual-Paintings-Materials-techniques/dp/0811813770
can apparently be had for as low as $3 and is the tiny description you seem to be looking for from a materials perspective. As far as the description of types of art that one could make from those materials there are several other book titles on the linked page that may be interesting. The attitude of many on this site about "types of art" is that there are two types: the type I like, and the type that sucks. I would suggest a comprehensive review of various schools of thought down in the art section of your local library so you can make truly informed decisions about that.

[Jon Sun]

I guess I'm in a similar situation where I don't really know what I want to do with my art yet. I just know that I want to draw/paint.

From my understanding of it, there are 2 main ways to make a living drawing and painting.

The first is fine art, where you paint whatever you want and hope that people like your stuff and buy it. You can put your art up in galleries, do commissions, etc. This way is less stable, because you never know when someone is going to buy your art (if they ever do). However, this way you can make what you like and you don't have to deal with people bossing you around telling you what to do. You probably also need a lot of self motivation to paint, because you're on your own.

The second way is commercial kinds of art, like illustration, concept art, graphic design, etc. In this way, most of the time, you actually have a stable job with a paycheck. In these kinds of jobs, people tell you what to draw and you draw it. If they don't like it, then you have to change it. You have to work with clients a lot, and sometimes clients can be difficult to work with. In this way, you never really get to draw what you want, but you're always drawing what other people want.

And I guess there is a third way which is kind of halfway between both, and that's freelancing. You work based on commission, but you also have to deal with clients.

This is just from what I understand of it. I hope that helps.