While there are many aspects of being a good artist the one thing that I observed in myself any other traditionally trained artists is that we all have the same mindset when it comes to our work. A mindset that is drilled into us as part of our education, and what I feel is missing from many self-taught artists. Some come by it naturally and other need to be taught it, but it seems to be one of the main differences I see in people who are proficient in their disciplines and those that are not.
I don’t want this to be a long post so I will get right to the point. The difference is repetition! What I mean by that is that in traditional art education from any decent school of art you are taught to do many short studies of a scene. It might be five ten minute studies of a subject from different angles or even the same angle, or it could be four different color studies of the same scene. After years of doing this, you develop a certain confidence in your skills to reproduce a subject over and over. It leads to a practice of doing many versions of your subject prior to the final work to see what works and what doesn’t.
What I often see in young artist or undeveloped artists is that they tend to try to start with their final work without any experimentation or studies to lead up to the final work. Never start with what you believe to be your final work. Always do several small studies on the same subject each with different aspects to see what works best. Try a different composition, color, styles, and contrasts to see what works best before you decide on the final work. By the time you start working on the final piece you will know the subject inside and out and be able to reproduce it without effort.
Another issue that I see that is related to this observation is that students will often lose interests in their work very quickly because they have no rhyme or reason for what they are doing. By adapting these practices, it will teach you to draw, and paint better without even realizing you are increasing your skill level because you have a reason to be doing it. It can be hard at times to draw or paint because you don’t have a plan, or process. You don’t know why you are doing what you are doing so you lose interest. Once you wrap your head around this concept all you need do is pick a subject and then use this process to keep you engaged with your work.
It’s important to remember that you are the artist, and that the art comes from you. It is your skills that are unique, not the art itself, the art is just a product of your skills and vision. Do not put your art up on a pedestal or be afraid to alter or mess up your work. If you find yourself feeling this way, it just means you haven’t done the work to reach the level you need to do it again. Start over with 4-8 small, simplified studies to find what works best for your vision of the final work. Over time your work and skill will improve immensely from this process.
Now go try it out and let me know how it goes!