|
Artwork advice <3
Hello,
So I took art classes this year as a Freshmen Art one and I love art, so much..and I took that class so I could hopefully get better at being an artist.
I'm not really planning on this to be my career, but I would like to improve.
Is there any artists, or anyone who enjoys drawing on this site? IF you have any tips for me please tell.
I would like to get paint soon, and a canvas..what do you think I should do to prepare before painting? I'd love to know.
I'm semi good at drawing, but I am not very good...ha but I want to improve..thank you!
<33
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
The best advice my teachers ever gave me about painting was to keep practicing. Read, research and learn about different types/movements/artists. I fell a bit in love with impressionism and did most of my High School art using some of their techniques, but mixed it up a little with surrealism and my own thing.
You develop technique in any form of art by practicing. You get used to the way you like to move the brush or the pencil, the way you make things look, the kind of detail you put in...etc.
I'm talking mostly about painting because that's what I know about the most. The thing I love about painting is that if you make a mistake, you can just paint over it! So you can practice and get as experimental as much as you want on a canvas.
The second-best advice my teachers gave me was to look at art. Go to galleries (if you aren't already, which I'm guessing you probably are) and just look at the art. Get as close as you can, see the way the paint is used to create the shapes/image/colour/depth. Sometimes I stare at an artwork in an image and think "how do they do that?!" then I see it in person and I realise how. So, if I ever decide I want to do something like that in my art, I can!
When you look at art, step back too. Look at it as a whole. Look at the way it all comes together, the colours, the form... You should do this with your own works as well. You have to work so close with it, but you should always step back now and then to see how it looks.
There are lots of tips and techniques on painting/drawing/sculpting...etc like using a smaller brush to paint things that are far away and a bigger brush to paint things that are closer, using warm and cool coloured paints, and all that business, but there's just way too many little tips like that, that are impossible to put down here. If you're interested, start googling "tips on painting" or something like that and things will come up. But really, you learn a lot just from looking at paintings and practicing. Your teacher should help you out with your technique and if you don't know how to paint something, then ask your teacher (or google it!)
Before painting:
1) get a pack of small paints. I get this pack of about 10 little cartridges of paints that's about $30. They're chromacryl acrylic paints for students. There should be at least black, white, cool blue, warm blue, cool yellow, warm yellow, cool red and warm red (if you want a specific kind of colour, this brand or other brands will stock something close to it, and if you can't find it in an art shop, go to a house paint store and check out their little $3 sampler paints). Look around at different art shops to see who has better prices (and mention that you're an art student - they might give you a discount!) Most art shops will have little packs of paints/drawing tools that you can pick up. For drawing, depends what you want to use. Maybe a not so expensive pencil set (of lead or colours, your choice) and practice with them. You can always invest in more expensive pencils later.
2) Brushes. Once again, don't have to spend much and they usually have packs. Get something that's maybe around $20 at most. Depending on how big your canvas size is depends on your brush size. Just a few different sized brushes is fine to start with, and if you need a bigger or smaller size you can always go back and buy more. You can get paintbrushes really cheap from discount stores, but feel the brushes first. Sometimes the brushes are really course and it makes them difficult to paint with.
3) Canvases. Depends on what you want to paint and how big you want to paint it. I recommend getting the thicker canvases rather than the thinner (so about an inch thick). It's just easier to paint on and they don't warp so easily. In school my canvases were a meter by a meter and a half, but I had a lot of paint at my disposal and lots of brushes. Now I work on smaller canvases, like half a meter by about 25cm. You can get canvases from discount stores. They're usually up to $20, but pretty cheap for the small ones.
4) Try out impasto/modelling compound. Impasto you mix with the same amount of paint and when it dries on the canvas it comes up thick and bumpy. Modelling compound you have to put onto the canvas and let dry first, then you can paint over it for a bumpy 3D effect. I LOVEE these two materials! But also, don't be afraid to try other materials. I used food dye (I think... or some kind of cheap dye that was in the cupboard) and ink on one of my canvases and it turned out great. You can always cut into your canvas and sew it back up, or sew things into it. Ideas are endless.
5) Have a bit of an idea of what you want to do. If you wanna just go for it, then do it, but I always get stumped when I try that. I usually sketch in pencil what I want to draw and have the image(s) next to me at all times incase I want to mimic a colour or shading.
And don't forget to have fun! I hope that was of some use :)
]
More Questions: |