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How I became an artist

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Re: How I became an artist

#41

Post by gbog »

Most comments seems positive here, nice. I'm a bit less enthusiastic. A twenty-so young boy has no lesson to teach. He can't be an artist because artists are either over fifty or dead, no matter how many times he'll repeat the mantra. One does not choose art among other professional activities: a very few men or women are chosen to become artists and they will be no matter what else they try to do.

Also being an artist is a curse. In just finished reading the trial by Kafka for the fourth time: it must have been extremely painful and hard to write such a deep novel. I wouldn't wish having this curse even on my worst enemy. Normal people far very much being an "artist" and they are right, as bring one means having the most miserable life, no sane relationships with other people, and if success is there you get paranoia.

Even worse is a young guy who knows nothing about that and says "me too! I want to be an Artist!". Just like those fools willing to become soldiers in 1914...

Re: How I became an artist

#42

Post by methodover »

I'm totally blown away by your art, Noah. It's wonderful.

I have a question for you, if you'd be willing to entertain it: As your own art has improved, would you say that your own imagination has improved as well?

For me, I'm interested in a few things that aren't [strictly] visual art -- creating video games and writing stories -- but I often find myself having trouble fully visualizing the ideas that bubble up from my imagination. For example, I might have a story that involves a futuristic space ship, but I can only retain a shadow of its image in my mind's eye. The general shapes might be there, and a few details, but it's a far cry from the rich detail that I can conjure up of, say, my home growing up.

One idea I've considered, as a means of sharpening my imagination, is getting into sketching or painting. Perhaps learning the techniques of putting imagination to paper will make my imagination all that much sharper, more vibrant, more real. Would you say that there's any merit to that line of thinking?

Re: How I became an artist

#44

Post by dre85 »

I would love to know what percentage of your professional and current work is digital and how long it takes you to create one of these beautiful completely finished pieces.

Re: How I became an artist

#45

Post by noahbradley »

methodover wrote: post #42

I'm totally blown away by your art, Noah. It's wonderful. I have a question for you, if you'd be willing to entertain it: As your own art has improved, would you say that your own imagination has improved as well? For me, I'm interested in a few things that aren't [strictly] visual art -- creating video games and writing stories -- but I often find myself having trouble fully visualizing the ideas that bubble up from…

Absolutely.

One of my greatest fears around the time I was beginning to take this seriously was that I simply wasn't creative enough. I didn't know what to paint. But I found that as both my technical abilities expanded, I was also expanding the person I was and the things I was exposed to. Forming the person you are also forms the way your mind can come up with ideas.

Re: How I became an artist

#46

Post by noahbradley »

WestCoastJustin wrote: post #3

Awesome post! Very useful to have the inside scoop. There was a recent posting on "Ask HN" about pressure to quickly succeed. The exact quote was " I'm 22 and I feel if I don't hit it big within the next 2 years I probably won't ". [1, 2] Success is a slow road, as this post so nicely illustrates, you need to constantly be putting in the hours! It's easy to browse HN/startup eco-system and only see the career highlig…

Exactly this.

As an artist, I constantly have people stumble across my recent work and exclaim how much they like it. That's awesome! It makes me feel so good. But they see that without the context of the years that came before it. They don't understand the struggles that lead to that piece.

So this article was all about providing some of that context.

Re: How I became an artist

#48

Post by noahbradley »

dre85 wrote: post #44

I would love to know what percentage of your professional and current work is digital and how long it takes you to create one of these beautiful completely finished pieces.

95% is digital these days. My work takes anywhere from 10-30 hours to complete one of the finished pieces, depending on complexity and how efficient I am. That time is always broken up into many, many smaller pieces.

Re: How I became an artist

#50

Post by noahbradley »

tjradcliffe wrote: post #11

The best thing about this piece is the rationality of his decision-making: didn't get a scholarship so take a year off to get better. School was getting too expensive so find a cheaper way to go. Need to pay off student loans so move back in with parents. These are excellent artistic decisions, because they allowed him to practice his craft and never take his eyes off his goal, yet didn't wed him to any particular pa…

Thanks so much. I'd chock that up to a mix of luck, the influence of watching my dad run his own successful small business since I was born, and all of the business books I read on my own throughout college.
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