Redlining and “Aesthetics” in art and the personal journey
http://dsp2003.tumblr.com/post/166561051244/explaining-mistakes-in-someones-drawing-or-a
@dsp2003 This is in response to the link above. I’m not reblogging the entire thing because it’s quite a lot to scroll down to.
Also I want to preface this by saying that I’m not a huge fan of making one of these pretentious rants about drawing on my blog but this is probably a first so maybe you can all forgive me.
TL;DR - It’s a personal journey for the student and it’s going to take thousands of bad drawings to “git gud” - also draw a lot
Great breakdown, DSP. The trouble is that a individual’s definition of “aesthetic” usually changes as they progress in their art journey. Its a combination of personal skill, visual library, and their current taste in art. Explaining to someone why something doesn’t look “aesthetic” is very difficult because its like explaining to someone why you have a particular taste in music and they “just dont get it.” Even if they say they “get it,” they still don’t get it. This is normal. It’s going to take them 100s or thousands of more drawings to begin fixing their issues and to “get it” because they’re having to combat so many personal factors, tendencies, and biases.
Artistic dogmas are always going to get in the way of this, too. “Your way” may look wrong to another artist. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to offer advice to beginners because I know how it is. I’ve only been drawing for a few years so those trails and tribulations are fresh in my mind (and of course i’m still a student). You can tell someone something “looks wrong” all day. You can probably even SHOW them (as you just did). But they’re not going to “get it” - possibly for a very long time. That is just that’s how it goes. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, or a bad student - that’s just how growing works. It’s all going to break down to their own personal journey and how they choose to go about studying and how deliberate they are about it. It’s going to take hundreds of “bad” drawings before they get to the good ones. You can’t sit here and critique each one; that’s a waste of your time - that’s a waste of anybody’s time. And to be honest it (sometimes) robs the student’s experience of figuring it out for themselves.
So what can we do? Tediously redlining, correcting, and badgering does nothing. Sometimes that even discourages a student, even when they ask for it. There are hundreds of “how to draw pony” tutorials and videos out there that a person can use and cater to their own use. Personally I found it better to gently guide a person. Recommend artists (pony or not) that you feel they may like or gravitate towards. It takes a lot of personal ups and downs for the artist to figure out “who am I? What do I like?”- Most of all I recommend to EVERYONE that they should be studying from life. Yeah it’s boring and tedious - but life is the best teacher.
Knowledge and understanding of anatomy of all kinds of animals are going to play a heavy factor in getting better at art. Becoming a student of life will help make the most art gains out of everything. Draw from life, draw animals, draw people, draw everything. Read books - fiction, non-fiction, anatomy books; everything. Look at art, all kinds of art. Your “visual library” will grow and your tastes will change over time. Most of all you learn about YOU - your personality will show in your drawings. Your art will improve the more you take from life and apply it to your drawings. That is the best way to learn what’s “aesthetic.” And its solely left up to the student to figure out what’s best for their journey.
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