Now, I wouldn't consider myself a "good" artist yet, just not "bad". But, I've only been not "bad" for a very short time. As little as 3 years ago, I was a horribly bad artist. Now, if I messed with a drawing for long enough, I could make you think I was ok at drawing, but it was extremely frustrating and difficult. If I had to draw the same character in multiple poses, it really showed that I was "bad". And if I had to draw something really fast, it was so embarrassing That I will never show any of those drawings to anyone.
Some people are naturally talented at drawing. I was not one of those people. So, in 2005 I finally just got fed up with being bad at drawing and started studying. For about 2 years I just copied stuff and took drawing classes. I think I've paused every frame of every Disney movie and copied the drawing. To this day, I still start my day with 1-2 hours of studying. I still make really bad drawings that I don't show to people. I am constantly forgetting the basics and having to relearn them. I have whole days or even weeks where I can't do a single good drawing. But, as a whole, I've come a very long way from where I was and hope still go a lot further.
One of the most inspiring things was seeing that other artist who I consider to be "great" were horrible when they were as old as 25 or even 30. Now again, some people are "great" when they are 15. I've seen it and it can be very discouraging to the rest of us who are not naturally talented. But there is hope. So to all my fellow "Bad" artist, who don't have any talent, don't give up hope. You can make up for it with hard work.
rad is a really inspiring guy...i absolutely love this! he's one of those people who gives me hope that it is possible to be amazing if you try hard enough! it's hard to believe he was ever as bad as he says though... lol... but its a great thing that he's taking what he learned and sharing it. :) one of those great teachers! have you ever met him? you should take his figure invention class next term at CDA! (if you haven't already) i'm gonna be in that class :)
ReplyDeleteMy first blog comment! Thanks Elora :) I have not met him yet but I look forward to one day. I'll be pretty busy with work and taking three classes at Fullerton in the Fall (Sketching for Animators and Illustrators, Life Drawing, and Animal Drawing) but it sounds like a great class. That's really cool that you'll be taking it. I'd love to hear about your experiences in the class :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wondering if you'd like to help me come up with some character designs for a children's book I've written. It's about an asthmatic duck named Muckaluck. I'd be happy to email you the script if you'd be interested. Let me know!