Now don't get me wrong. I despise making bad art.
I want to give up and throw it away just like the rest of you.
In fact what I'm talking about today still allows for throwing away the art! Today it's the process I want to talk about.
Before you click away because you're assuming this is another "just enjoy the process" monologues, hold up.
This has nothing to do with the painting or the process of making.
Instead it has everything to do with what we're doing while we're making.
It's about seeing. Noticing.
Let me be more specific...
When I make art, I use references. That might be something I can see in front of me as I draw and paint it, or a photograph.
When we create art based on a reference, the process includes looking at the reference, right?
But we have to do more than just look at it.
If we just look at it, then we won't remember how to draw it and our art wont turn out the way we expect.
This is why drawing even simple things without a reference is difficult. We've all seen a chair a hundred times, but did we just look at it? Or did we truly notice it?
As artists, we have to truly notice something in order to recreate it.
When we notice something, we observe the minute details of how it curves, where the shadow lays, and how it relates to the space around it.
So let's get back to the point of this, making bad art.
We make bad art because the first time we look at something and try to recreate its likeness, it will turn out bad.
BUT.
We actually noticed it. We tried to see the details and the next time we try to make it we'll notice even more, and the next time we'll notice even more, and so on.
The more often you notice the world and try to recreate it in your art, the larger your catalogue of objects and scenes will become.
Maybe one day you won't need a reference to draw a chair, maybe you'll even be able to create your own chair and it will be believable because it pulls from all the "noticing" you did of real chairs.
But all of that starts with bad art.
So go get making.
Stay creative,
-Alyssa
