Question about taking it up again

Call Me Jimmy

Hey guys, with very little going on in my life I am interested in getting back into art. I'm 24 and haven't really done it much since my leaving. I was always very good and showed lots of promise but other things got in the way.

I used to be best at live drawing, I did a bit of animation but thats it.

What I want to know is... what is the path to improving? I feel like, even though I was good when I was younger, it was usually copying an image (from paper or life). I want to start again and understand the fundamentals but for say drawing even, I'm overwhelmed by how much someone has to know. I don't even know where to start.

I assume most of you are so good because you simply kept it up and maybe went to college to study etc. but when I look at art, even on the "show off your art" thread I'm overwhelmed by how much skill that stuff takes to do. Even though I feel like I have the raw materials to one day be good again, I just can't seem to focus on something. I'm afraid of spending time doing things that aren't necessary.

Where does one start? Classes aren't really an option because of money. How do I begin from the beginning?

What about your experience, did you learn formally about perspective, rules of thumb, anatomy, colour theory etc.

Sorry if the post is a bit all over the place, I just can't even fathom how someone could learn enough to produce anything decent. By the way, my aim is to build up to animation but i'd like to be lean the fundamentals... which is a lot... any advice?

I'd be interested in as much detail as you can about how you progressed and how you think I should proceed as someone who has stopped drawing for a few years.

dammitjanet

You'd be supprised how much of it will have stayed with you.
I stopped drawing/painting for over a year after I left ncad (I know, not that big a gap) and my Gran took up painting again after a 15 year break. Would you look into if there are any art groups in your area? They'll be free if they're local run and there's nothing better than learning with a group of people
As for getting started, grab an object to draw, grad a pencil, get started. Throw yourself into it has always been my approach, no point hesitating, art is about doing it

SheFiend

+1 to the above.
Seing as how you used to be good at drawing, you should have little trouble getting back to that level and then progressing beyond.

My advice, buy a sketchbook, something small, with plenty of pages.
Buy a pencil, I like 2B.

Then challenge yourself to do a few sketches every week, or maybe every day, depending on what free time you have.

Pick a subject. Still life is aways good, or self-portrait in front of a mirror. Light the subject with a lamp, so you get some good shadows, light and dark.
Study the subject for a bit. Just stare, see the light and darks, then have a look at the lines, where objects over-lap etc.

Limit yourself to do the first sketch in a minute, this will force you to see and draw the most obvious shapes of your object. You may draw many lines to suggest one line, in trying to get the angle right, but this is good, this is training your hand-eye co-ordination, and reminding you to study angles, shading etc.

Do the next in 5 minutes. Here you will have time to go into more detail.
Don't try to make the sketches perfect!
Don't rub out mistakes! Start a new sketch and avoid making the same mistake again.

This will really help wake up your drawing hand.

I can't emphasize enough: don't try to be neat! Fiddling and "fixing" a dodgy sketch does not teach you anything.
Don't be ashamed of your first few dodgy sketches: if you do a few every week, then you will look back in just a month or two, and realise the progress you made!

JerryHandbag

dammitjanet wrote: »

You'd be supprised how much of it will have stayed with you.
I stopped drawing/painting for over a year after I left ncad (I know, not that big a gap) and my Gran took up painting again after a 15 year break. Would you look into if there are any art groups in your area? They'll be free if they're local run and there's nothing better than learning with a group of people
As for getting started, grab an object to draw, grad a pencil, get started. Throw yourself into it has always been my approach, no point hesitating, art is about doing it

Totally agree with this. Starting to get back into art myself after not doing very much with it in the past 10 years. Did art for the leaving cert and even though people used to like my art, looking back now it wasn't that good at all, very child like and no real idea of perspective and form in my paintings.

Once I went to art college, the amount I learned from the people around me, and watching how they sketched and painted, I improved so much. A group learning environment was hugely beneficial to me.

But as already said, its very hard to forget how to do something if you were once good at it