Nature isn’t flat

While copying a piece of art, you’re only drawing or painting from something that’s already flat (except when you’re copying a sculpture, which I know very little about, so I’m not going to express here any opinion on it).

When copying something that’s already drawn, you don’t get to fully understand the details or why the lighting is as it is. And if you want to be really good at what you do, you must learn and understand all these things by yourself and by figuring out your own work. Also, that’s why drawing from a photo when you’re learning isn’t the best idea too. Pictures drawn from photos or other drawings usually seem flat and lifeless.

Learn to think

Any form of creativity is a process, a series of decisions you are making all the time and when copying someone’s work, you don’t think for yourself, you’re following someone else’s thought. As an artist, you must learn to think for yourself.

The objectivity

The most dreadful trap in all this is that your favourite artist doesn’t necessarily have to be a good artist, especially in places like deviantArt. You have no idea how easily you can get all the bad drawing habits from someone whom you like, but they might not be as good as you think they are. And it’s very difficult to get rid of those habits afterwards. So be careful.

Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes take photos instead of making quick sketches and then paint stuff based on them, but my skill is already pretty strong and my goal isn’t exactly to learn drawing from nature, because I can already do that.

When you’re getting the skill, it’s always better to draw from nature. Some tips what to draw to get the skill, when you’re learning:

Catch the moment

Go to a ZOO, draw a crocodile or a tortoise. They’re fairly complicated and they don’t move a lot. This can be good and bad at the same time, because you need enough time to make the right sketch, and sometimes it’s bad to spend too much time on one piece. It’s very easy to turn a live, fresh sketch into something overdone and boring. I find it very educating to draw birds, also at the ZOO. They are moving all the time, but there’s enough of them in a cage to catch a certain pose for just enough time to put it on paper. Don’t worry if the picture isn’t very exact. With this kind of sketch, the most important thing is to catch the basic shape, movement, the character of an animal, the single moment.

Think in composition terms

Look around your town. It’s full of challenging composition sets. Don’t just draw architecture lines, put some life into it.

Study to perfection

Set yourself a still life, use items of various forms and texture. This is a perfect subject to study lighting, composition, colour and detail. Even better if you have access to a live human model, it’s challenging, educating, and if you can properly draw and paint a human body, you’ll be able to draw and paint anything.

I didn’t like it to a point where I’ve received a lower grade for my thesis examination for Master of Arts degree, because I was supposed to tell about my pictures, and I didn’t really want to. Perhaps because there was not much to tell, they were just abstract oil paintings, partially inspired by nature, and partially my imagination and emotions. A play with colour and form.

For some time I didn’t paint at all, in fear that I would reveal my emotions this way. It took me almost four years to acknowledge the fact that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and no one could actually hurt me by watching my paintings. More than that, I could paint emotions and be artistically satisfied by it.

That’s when I first heard about the synesthesia. After Wikipedia:

Synesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.

So basically, synesthesia is perceiving one sense’s experience with another one.

My first thought was: “I thought that everyone else had it too!”. Seeing emotions, sounds, touch and taste as colours. I don’t think I’ve experienced this consciously so far, it’s just been with me for my whole life, and I thought it was a normal thing, so I’ve never given it much thought.

I remember one event from my childhood, I wasn’t even ten. My parents were having guests over, and they were drinking some kind of alcohol. Vodka, I think. Alcohol was rarely used in my family, so I was curious what it was and asked if I could taste it. My mom gave me her glass, so I could stick my tongue into it. I did it, didn’t like it, and said: “This tastes like blue stripes!” and everybody laughed. I was astonished that they had no clue what I was talking about, and felt a little bit offended that they were laughing at my experience. Until now I had no idea, that what I had experienced then was synesthesia.

What a great thing to play with as an artist, I thought. I began to notice stuff that I haven’t noticed before, taking it for granted and thinking it wasn’t anything cool or special. I began taking notes. I can stop being afraid of expressing emotions, because I don’t have to do that in an obvious way! I can paint the taste of coffee, or my favourite pesto. The sound of harp and bagpipes. Or the feeling of migraine, or motion sickness, for that matter. There are infinite possibilities. It can take a lifetime to complete all the things.

I started in December 2008, I’ve completed five synesthesia paintings so far and began about ten more. In the meantime I’ve got a temporary job and I had no time to paint, today was the first time since last month.

But be sure, more are coming. I’m making my life project out of this. For now, at least.