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BrandonSP
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14 Jun 2011, 1:10 pm

I know I have to do a bunch of sketching if I want to grow as an artist, but I'm not sure exactly what kind of subject matter I should pick. Some people advise me that I should pick any number of subjects, no matter how mundane (e.g. objects lying around my apartment, my bedroom, people at my local coffee shop, etc.), whereas others recommend that I should choose only subjects that are related in some way to my special interests. I like the latter idea more, as I find that my artwork suffers if I try to draw something that I'm not passionate about or has no connection to something I'm passionate about, but the problem is that most art teachers advise you to draw from life, and most of my special interests involve things that I don't experience in my everyday life. For example, I would be totally cool with drawing Mesolithic African pottery, as archaeology and history are among my special interests, but while I can easily find photos of that pottery on Google Image Search, it's obviously not something I can find in my apartment and sketch from life.

I should note that I don't mind doing anatomy studies, as their applicability to drawing tribal warriors and beautiful women is obvious. It's everyday objects and places that don't have such an obvious connection to my special interests that I have problems drawing.


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_Square_Peg_
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14 Jun 2011, 1:57 pm

Is there a museum you can go to that has ancient pottery you can draw?



BrandonSP
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14 Jun 2011, 2:31 pm

_Square_Peg_ wrote:
Is there a museum you can go to that has ancient pottery you can draw?


Unfortunately no, or at least not one that's easily accessible.


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TB
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14 Jun 2011, 3:02 pm

The only way to grow is drawing stuff that you dont like. Either you learn to like it and do it or you just do it wether you like it or not.

Think of all the things that you suck at with drawing and do hundreds of sketches involving that.

If you only draw dinosaurs or special interest related stuff like the egyptians and stay with the same style what seems to be what you have been doing up until now you will not improve. Draw different things and draw in different mediums lots of them.

Balance Life drawing, studies and imagination. (bridgeman, loomis perspective whatever just google to see what is recommended)
While doing studies you memorize how things look doing imagination after that will enable you to put those memories into practice which further strenghtens the memories.

Remember make drawings you know are going to suck, thats the area where you can improve the most.
The point is not making drawings that look good, the point is making lots of drawings on a subject you find hard. Fill up pages to the brim with sketches even overlapping each other it doesnt matter. The more sketches you do the faster you will improve.



curlyfry
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14 Jun 2011, 5:40 pm

I like the styles of your characters. It should be possible to translate the same style to everyday objects of everything you see. You just have to train your brain to concentrate on those details that make that object unique, keeping with the graphic style you use for your character. Some art teachers allow this and some are more strict to the classical approach of having you do an exact copy. We had to do still lifes of fruit and objects, chairs, trees, and people came last.