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How I became an artist

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Re: How I became an artist

#81

Post by kig »

ArtBot-1 wrote: post #55
Swizec wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about difficulty, it's about mastery. It takes thousands of hours of practice to be able to draw the perfect line. Even if drawing said perfect line took seconds. A large part of mastery also goes beyond the technicalities of expressing, it's also about having a good eye for what is worth expressing and what is mundane/boring/etc. But it basically boils down to: art [of all kinds] is tricky and takes a lot o…

Here's a Flickr stream with lots of art with good to great technique: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7474079@N02/ Boring isn't it? (Interesting as history maybe?) The "what is worth expressing" is where creativity happens. Technique makes you a competent hack. It's not enough for originality. So it's misleading to think it's all art. Technique and originality are different skills. The best artists have lots of both, b…

Ok, I'll bite. I found these fascinating. You could live in every one of them, it feels like I'm transported to different times and places, wondering what these people are up to, what's going on, enjoying the sunshine / snow / rain / rough seas. In a word, interesting.

What do you classify as interesting?

Re: How I became an artist

#82

Post by 4ndr3vv »

jackvalentine wrote: post #79
jreimers wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humorous, but relevant. PHP and Wordpress are derided by many, perhaps rightfully so. Despite many well founded claims against them they remain ubiquitous. Which metric do we use to define success here? Can shitty software be considered successful just because everyone uses it?

People don't buy a drill, they buy a hole in the wall. People don't buy the best most perfect fancy publishing platform, they buy something that lets them publish their content and move on with their lives. I think the success is pretty self-evident?

Where can you buy holes for your wall?! "People don't want a drill they want a hole in the wall."

Sorry for pedantry, but think it helps with the metaphor.

Re: How I became an artist

#83

Post by hemdawgz »

superuser2 wrote: post #36
sktrdie wrote: post #9

This is great and you're of great inspiration to young artists or simply anybody that wants to pursue their dreams. I think that living a humble life doing simple things that don't necessarily lead to professional success, is still a very noble lifestyle. The pressure society has brought upon us to follow our dreams, simply because it's nice to follow your dreams, is a bit of a pipe dream. What I'm trying to say is t…

I'm not sure this is true. You can be happy with work that anyone skilled in the art thinks is terrible, i.e. maybe you're really proud of your $REGISTER_GLOBALS dependent, SQLi-vulnerable, spaghetti PHP app. Maybe you're really happy with your scientific paper that the peer review community has ripped to shreds as false. Or you really, really like the novel you wrote, despite well-articulated and uniformly scathing…

What I think OP was saying was that the success of /an individual/, not the work he puts out, is not objective. There are certainly objective standards of quality for the work an individual creates. I think OP's point was that even a person who's put out nothing but unsuccessful work is a successful person if he is happy with it.

Re: How I became an artist

#84

Post by hemdawgz »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #35
hiou wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more. What you are describing is craft and not art. Not to say that one is in any way better or more valuable, only that once something has a firm set of "particular effects or experiences" it have moved on from art and into the world of craft.

if you never leave the world of the abstract- sure, i can see how you would disagree. but everyone i know who is a good artist knows that craft facilitates art, and they all bust their ass on craft.

Much of contemporary art seeks to subvert that notion, even if you find it difficult to consider it real art (I do).

Re: How I became an artist

#85

Post by hemdawgz »

ArtBot-1 wrote: post #55
Swizec wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about difficulty, it's about mastery. It takes thousands of hours of practice to be able to draw the perfect line. Even if drawing said perfect line took seconds. A large part of mastery also goes beyond the technicalities of expressing, it's also about having a good eye for what is worth expressing and what is mundane/boring/etc. But it basically boils down to: art [of all kinds] is tricky and takes a lot o…

Here's a Flickr stream with lots of art with good to great technique: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7474079@N02/ Boring isn't it? (Interesting as history maybe?) The "what is worth expressing" is where creativity happens. Technique makes you a competent hack. It's not enough for originality. So it's misleading to think it's all art. Technique and originality are different skills. The best artists have lots of both, b…

The divided opinions on this gallery are revealing. I can see why someone would find these works excruciatingly boring, in that they are all essentially photographs with no variety in artist's intent or 'method of art' for lack of a better term. But looking at them less abstractly, there is a rich variety of scenes depicted which are skilfully created enough to merit closer observation. I think the parent discovered a really useful litmus test for how someone approaches art.

Re: How I became an artist

#86

Post by m12k »

One of the takeaways I got from this was that instead of the usual "Follow your dreams no matter what" it should be "Follow your dreams, but be smart about". I think many who take the first advice tend to just hammer their heads at whatever obstacle is blocking whatever seems like the direct to their dreams - and as a result often get smacked over the head with such a dose of cold hard reality that they end up having to abandon their dreams instead. Some of Noah's decisions, e.g. waiting with RISD until he could get a scholarship so he wouldn't bankrupt his family, are great examples of how to do this the right way. Achieving your dreams takes tenacity, sure, but it also takes patience and pragmatism. Learning to fly takes more than just the guts to throw yourself off a cliff.

Re: How I became an artist

#87

Post by jackvalentine »

4ndr3vv wrote: post #82
jackvalentine wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't buy a drill, they buy a hole in the wall. People don't buy the best most perfect fancy publishing platform, they buy something that lets them publish their content and move on with their lives. I think the success is pretty self-evident?

Where can you buy holes for your wall?! "People don't want a drill they want a hole in the wall." Sorry for pedantry, but think it helps with the metaphor.

You're right - that was pedantry.

Re: How I became an artist

#89

Post by gbog »

smtddr wrote: post #70
ryan-allen wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why this comment is being downvoted, do we downvote on differences of sentiment now on HN?

>>A twenty-so young boy has no lesson to teach. That indefensible statement alone is enough reason for a downvote, imho.

It seems to me very defensible that "how I became an artist" cannot be taught by someone who has only a few years behind.

"Becoming an artist", for real artists, is a life-long achievement, it takes a lot of struggles, travels (inside and outside), it requires knowing a lot, reading a lot, et cetera.

"How I became an artist" from a 20-so is a absurd, risible, as "how to learn Python in 20 mn"

confer: http://norvig.com/21-days.html

(Also, you truncated my post, "How to write blog posts" would be perfectly ok from a 20-so, for that matter.)

Re: How I became an artist

#90

Post by gbog »

sombremesa wrote: post #58
gbog wrote: post #41

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 arti…

I think your message is steeped in negativity and what little of value there is is lost. Suppose you had the most important message in the world - we would all still downvote you when you put it like that. Now suppose that OP has the least meaningful message in the world - however, it is steeped in positivity. If nothing else, let this be a lesson in how much your attitude matters.

So something useless and positive wins over something useful but negative?

You'd kept slaves in slavery with this powerful reasoning.

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