Is it possible to become a good artist?

[Commotion]

Hey guys Ive always wanted to do art, however Ive never actually taken art classes, I occasionally draw to relieve stress and enjoy it but im very bad like very very bad... But I really want to get better but im not sure if its one of those "gifts" or if you actually have to learn to draw. Mind giving me some insight hints or anything would be appreciated even where to start!

 

[Dalph]

There aren't gifts, the secret is to:

practice practice practice

Practice a lot, constantly, always and be detemined and motivated about it.

I'm not an artist either but I'm practicing a lot with pixel-art and I'm starting to learn it and like it too, I'm confident that one day I'll become good and I won't stop until I will achieve my goal.

 

[Commotion]

Do you just keep drawing randomly or do you watch videos. study etc I know one thing Im very bad at is blending color

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Anything can be improved with practice. I guess I do believe the notion that some people are gifted with a talent, but I bet they still practice a lot. You'll have to draw a lot to get better at drawing. Finding good teaching material, of course. There is a lot I've found on the Internet. 

Even the things I am good at now I didn't suddenly start doing and at the same time I also have not stopped getting better at them.

I draw and write music. I never drew much before I started taking classes at school so it was definitely something I was taught. I had very little skill in drawing naturally. I'd say I'm at least somewhat competent at it now. I still have to practice a lot. The drawings I make today are consistently way better than what I did 6 months ago.

My music is very much the same and I've spent an incredibly large amount of time improving that craft. I had a very, very deep interest in music and ever since child hood. One of my most vivid memories is sitting under the Christmas tree with a toy piano I had just just gotten. "Joy to the World" was playing on a tree set and I kept repeating the song and mashing keys on this toy until I could play back the melody.

I would quite commonly practice my violin for 6 hours a day. I don't have that sort of time anymore. But I was determined, interested, and self taught. But I still have to practice relentlessly at times to keep not only my playing skills sharp, but my composing as well. The music I write today is also consistently getting even better. I wrote a lot of terrible and questionable music to get up to the point I consider today.

Self teaching is very powerful. My advice to use is to pick up some 'how to' books, Google some resources too, get some materials, and have at it.

 

[EternalShadow]

I've seen many people on this forum go from 'ok' artists to brilliant ones. There's no 'trick' unless you're just a good artist from the very start!

 

[TheoAllen]

And everytime you feel bad and depressed, remember ....

Spoiler

 

[Bloodmorphed]

I went to the Art Institute of Dallas for a tour of their campus.

I was looking into the Game Design degree, every single people I talked to there said they couldn't draw anything worth a darn, now they can draw full level concepts like its no big deal.

Being able to draw, paint, etc etc can be taught. Of course you do have natural talents out there, but natural talent does not over throw hard work.

EDIT: Also that poster is hard to read, lol.

 

[Gui]

Like Dalph said, practice is the key: talent is 99% of work and 1% of talent. Dedicate at least 5 or 10 minutes every day doing the sketch of a subject (object, animal, people, etc.) and at least 1 to 2 hours once a week drawing a subject in every details, and you'll improve fast. It's a good idea to have a sketchbook and a pen with you all the time, to work on every subject you find interesting, even small details, during a few minutes; you can also take photos with your phone for longer work sessions when you're back at home.

Learning the basics will help too, on human proportions and posings, complementary colors, perspective, etc. If you can't afford art classes, you can find books: ask to a librarian, and preferably one who works into an art/drawing supplies store. Or you should be able to find online tutorials: there's plenty on DeviantART for example, some of them very good and useful even for professionals like myself...

Don't do the mistake of keeping things for yourself. Show your works and accept criticism: it's one of the best ways to improve. You'll see that, in far less time that you can imagine, criticism will progessively disappear and slowly be replaced by compliments.

'Hope it helps! 

 

[Evan Finkel]

I'm a beginner, I always wanted to become famous like one of those.

Practice, practice, practice.. after that I've seen a good improvement in my own art. My old arts looked very, very awful when I compare it to newest ones.

Practice is the biggest key to the goal.

 

[whitesphere]

I've heard it takes 3,000 hours to master a craft, whether it's drawing, creating music or whatever.  So, usually we tend to master the things we love because we enjoy the 3,000 hours of practice it takes to get good at them.

A famous musician was once asked "How do I get to Carnige Hall?"

His response was always the same:  "Three things:  practice, practice and practice."

The hardest thing sometimes is looking at what you can do, comparing it to the output of these people who HAVE mastered the craft and then NOT saying "This really sucks, there's no need to keep doing it." 

Right now, I've just started doing a tileset, and I'm sure it won't be anywhere near Sharm or Celianna's amazing skill levels, but I'm sure they've been doing that for years to get their skill up to that level.  And I'm sure before they did tilesets, they enjoyed doing lots of drawing/painting/sketching, which gave them excellent eyes for color, shadowing, etc.

I think finding really good "How to" books or tutorial videos is a great starting point.  Then just practice.  On the bright side, there are a ton of free and very inexpensive tools you can use, and even professional artists use them.  MsLittlefish uses LMMS (free DAW software), for example, and Sharm likes Pyxel Edit (which I think is around $10) for tilesets, but you can certainly use GIMP which is free.

 

[TheoAllen]

Do you just keep drawing randomly or do you watch videos. study etc I know one thing Im very bad at is blending color

For drawing part, you can just randomly draw anything you want

For technical part (such as how to use layers / brush / etc ... ) watch video

 

[nio kasgami]

first man you have to remove to your concept of "good or not good" of your head they don't have "better artist" or "worse artist" we all have our own style  and our own talent

take this in term of "experience" it sure the art of someone who draw like for 11 years will look better of a artist who only do that since 1 years.

They are not better then you but MOre experimented then you because they do that for years.

you have to go step by step and train a lot for get experience..think this like ...a rpg ...where you beat monster~ you have to do some leveling and be patient~

also like in rpg..the experience curve is totaly different so you will take a different time for get to a certain level then a another artist...this all up how you learn fast

don't hope to become extremely "HO MY GOD I DREW THIS!?" in the first years this the "newb" period where like in rpg ..your skill will be really low and you will do "Meh....this not good ....arg I hate this ....." 

but around 4 years or 3 depends how fast you go...you will notice some result who sastified you but! don't stop and continue ...

around the fifth year...you will notice a big change and progress.

After  7 years I become able to draw awesome draw but still...I will always learn new things~

(OUPS sorry I get excited and I wrote a whole paragraph....>>)

so in simple 

PRACTICE PRACTICE * 1000

be patient 

and

suffer~

haha joke for suffering but... this true you will experiment the "artist" feeling who are "damn I suck  why MY ART ARE SO MUCH UGLY!?" but don't worry this Nooormmmalll~

so I hope my paragraph will motivate you xD and not the contrary~

EDIT : and also don't be jealous of other artist "talent"..this will only slow you

 

[Sharm]

Talent does exist but it makes so little difference that it may as well not. People with absolutely no talent at all can become much more skilled and popular than someone with talent by the application of hard work over time. I wish people would stop saying "you're so talented" and instead say "you're so skilled". It would acknowledge all the hard work I put into my art which I find a much bigger complement than "you were born with something I like".

Right now, I've just started doing a tileset, and I'm sure it won't be anywhere near Sharm or Celianna's amazing skill levels, but I'm sure they've been doing that for years to get their skill up to that level.  And I'm sure before they did tilesets, they enjoyed doing lots of drawing/painting/sketching, which gave them excellent eyes for color, shadowing, etc.

Yep, all true. I did a lot more of other types of art and was studying those when I was starting out with pixels. There are a lot of skills that transfer over very well. I also think anyone could get to my level and better if they want. Just gotta put the time and effort in.


I think more than just practice you should try for focused practice. If you're bad at hands, drawing an entire person over and over again isn't going to get you over it very well. If you're having troubles representing rocks, just staring at rocks is a bit like reinventing the wheel. Read tutorials, get feedback from artists, practice at what you're bad at and learn how to do it better, try things that you've never tried before. That will get you where you want to be much faster than a general practice would. It's also a lot harder on the ego, so be prepared for some harsh words and some hard work.

 

[Tuxedo Leila]

Honestly, if you try your best, practice a lot, look at tutorials and maybe watch speed paints, study some artworks, you will see improvement. One of my favourite digital artists, AquaSixio, had no experience with drawing but over time he became really skilled (his art is so darn beautiful omg). He uploads a variety of tutorials and has a lot of speedpainting videos and WIP done, so you can see how he approaches his work and the time and effort that he puts into it: http://aquasixio.deviantart.com/#/art/Retrospection-8-years-269668464?hf=1

Also, I think it's also helpful if you look at other artist's artwork and study them a bit (nothing too serious, but understand what kind of colours they use, what do you like most about it etc). Oh, and surround yourself with positivity! Good luck.

 

[Diretooth]

Like any other art, the only way to becoming a good anything is with practice and dedication. I started writing stories when I was in sixth grade. I am twenty, I graduated last year after being held back due to lack of credits. All of that time, I've been reading and writing, finding my literary voice and my strengths. I dare say I am a pretty damn good writer by now, and I'm always improving.
You, I'm sure that if you strive to draw well, you will, and there is nothing in this world, aside from yourself, that can stop you.

 

[Nivlacart]

I like that poster that TheoAllen posted.

Your taste is why your work disappoints you at the start.

My art is mostly entirely self-learnt.

The key is copying your favourite artists and art.