Remixing current skillset for creativity...

Beltaine

So, when I was in school, life was all about academics and getting good grades and learning skills to land a good job.

15 years after college, I've done all that, but my creativity has suffered for it. For the last couple of years I've spun my wheels trying to pick up and learn something I can use as a creative outlet.

I've tried:

Art: Drawing, Painting, Photography
Music: Guitar, Piano, Bagpipes (yeah, THOSE kind of bagpipes)
Other: Working on cars, which was too expensive, led to building model cars, which led to R/C cars.

With everything above, I either stopped doing it because it was a) too expensive, b) frustrating, c) led to mass drama with the other local hobbyists, or d) I just got bored with it.

So, I'm kind of on a reboot here, looking for a way to combine something creative with things that interest me and hope that by narrowing down what I want to do to a niche, I'll be able to stick with it.

I'd still like to go with the artistic route, and have been thinking of focusing on cars and pinups.

I mean, seriously. Cars and girls go together naturally.

I really like the art deco type stuff:

As far as pinups go, I like everything from vintage to modern to even the porn/hentai type stuff. Although I tend to lean more towards the more realistic looking type of manga/anime.

I'm trying to get started in the right direction, but not sure what media I should work with.

My first love is computers and made I my career out of that. I've actually done some (paid) work on the side doing some graphic design. Mostly text, logos, and layout type stuff, but I enjoy getting to use my computer for something other than work and playing games.

I was considering picking up a tablet and learning and practicing towards my goal using my computer. However, anything done with the computer is only ever going to be seen on a screen or a flat printout. (Not that that's a bad thing)

If I work with an actual medium other than digital, then I'm looking at learning not only drawing skills, but learning inks, paints, airbrushing, possibly even sculpting. Once all those possibilities open up, I get overwhelmed and don't know where or how to start, even though I think I would prefer creating something tangible as opposed to something digital.

So, I thought I'd post a massive wall of text here and see if I could get some insight and opinions from the rest of you and maybe narrow down further the direction I should continue on.

Hooves

I'd recommend sculpture. just get some clay(it's cheap) and just mess around. It's relatively easy to make something that looks cool(or accurate if you're trying to depict something) even if you aren't naturally talented so its not quite as frustrating. That and its just a whole lotta fun.

Iruka

Drawing, while I love it, is always going to be a bit frustrating. If you have a constant struggle with boredom/frustration, it may just not be for you. If you don't want to be super overwhelmed, I'd caution against going out and buying everything you think an artists studio may have. Pencil and paper is probably the lowest commitment you can make, and you can make amazing progress with just that.

If you need a starting point, I'd recommend some life drawing classes, as working on your ability to draw what you see is crucial.

If you love your computers and building, you may actually like 3D modeling. Its technical and will require you to jump in through tutorials and trouble shooting, but this is something you'll be used to as a computer user. And, not everything digital stays digital. For instance, 3D printing can make this into these. A program like solid works can turn extreme technical power into real life prototypes. 3D has expensive overhead, but you can always try free programs and demos.

Angel_of_Bacon

Well, any one of those things you've listed is going to mean a lot of dedicated time and frustration, there's just no way around it.

I hate to be an armchair psychologist, but by your intro sentence I'd have to wonder if the case is that while you want to do these things, being raised to believe 'grades/good job' is the only thing worth your dedication is sabotaging your efforts- that if it's something just for you, it's not worth pouring the amount of effort required into it, so you end up giving up, rather than pushing on. It's also some measure of perfectionism is at work as well- being so accustomed to (or being expected to) getting things 'right' straight off the bat is going to work against you when you're trying something completely new, especially with anything that requires some sort of unusual physical dexterity like music or art, which requires both mastery of knowledge, as well as mastery of physical skills you've likely never needed or encountered before.

This sort of thing isn't unusual- a lot of art schools with decent programs have massive rates of student drop-out after the first year, when students get wind of the idea that "creative work" is maybe 2% creative and 98% work. One of my current teachers likes to relate that in the first 2 years of going to my current school, he broke 5 drawing boards by punching through them in frustration- but he pushed on regardless, so nowadays he's pretty damn good. A lot of people think that things 'come naturally' to 'creative people'- hogwash. It's all about problem solving and putting the work in, the same as any other academic pursuit; think how long it took you to get somewhat decent at math- 12 years just to get to high-school level. A lot of people don't like going back to the kind of frustration of learning the equivalent of basic addition that they got in first grade, especially when they aren't being forced to pursue it by parents, teachers etc.

This isn't meant to scare you off, only to tell you what comes with the territory, so you don't end up beating your brains against a wall because of the frustration factor, or end up doing yourself a disservice by saying, "I just don't have the talent" or whatever. If you accept that frustration comes with the territory, you'll get a lot further, and be a lot more positive in your pursuit of it. Whether or not it's "for you" isn't up for me or anyone else to say- if you want to do it, do it.



Maybe all that was obvious/you already knew, but it was worth pointing out regardless.

That said, (back to the original point) dedicating yourself to "girls and cars" may be an ok career/interest goal, but as far as learning how to draw is concerned, it doesn't do you all that much good. Learning how to draw a girl means learning how to draw a figure, and learning how to draw a figure successfully means learning the skills that are required to draw anything successfully- light, shade, perspective, construction, etc.

As a result, you don't see many truly skilled artists that can draw one or two things well, but are completely flummoxed by anything else. A big part of drawing the figure is reducing it to basic forms- cylinders, spheres, boxes- a box for the ribcage, cylinders for the limbs, etc., getting them in proper perspective. What, then, is a car, if not a series of box-like forms, what are wheels if not cylinders? You get the idea. The same principles to draw one allows you to draw the other, or anything you wish to draw, so when you learn the skills to draw what you want, you'll have no need to pigeon-hole yourself. That's where the creative part of art comes in, in having the skills to do whatever you choose at the moment.

I already went over some 'where to start with art' wall o' text stuff in a previous thread, so I'll post it again here. Goes over some books and art education bits:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=12465372&postcount=4

I'd also back up Iruka on not going out and buying a bunch of shit right off the bat, esp. as concerns painting. Painting is expensive, and if you can't draw, you can't paint. It takes longer, grappling with the media is confusing, and you can easily get distracted from your real goals by screwing around buying/fiddling with new brushes/paints/mediums, etc. It's easy to spend a lot of time and money with painting and never get anything worth looking at. Much harder to do that with drawing. This is the reason that in the old French atelier studio system (which pumped out some of the finest painters that ever lived), the program was set up that you'd (IIRC) have to spend three years drawing and then have to pass a drawing test before you were ever allowed to touch a paintbrush. Worked for them, should work for you.

Beltaine

Thanks guys, all good advice, and I think you're right on with the psychology. I tend to be a perfectionist to a fault.


I also have never considered the 3D modeling aspect of digital. Definitely something I'll try.

I think I may go back and start with simple pencil drawing, though. In the past I've just picked up a couple books on whatever style I was interested in and got frustrated and blamed the authors for not being concise enough.

Seems the problem may have been that I've never really worked on all the basics.