So you wanna be a pro?

Cynthia Daniel · 03-18-2002, 11:51 AM

Nathan,

I prefer that any write-up of this nature be posted in the forum so all can benefit from it.

Thanks

Cynthia Daniel · 03-18-2002, 06:38 PM

My question re the suggestion of a new section...where does it leave off and the Paints, Mediums, Techniques & Composition section begin. How would one clearly define this new section so posters knew with certainy the correct place to post...comments?

Cynthia Daniel · 03-19-2002, 08:50 AM

As most of you know, I'm not a painter. However, when I managed a portrait painter, there were many times when I had to make an aesthetic decisions. It might have been the color balance between different photos of a finished painting. Or, it could have been the choice between two or more photos for the basic reference material for a painting.

I found I often could make decisions to a point, but when I got down to the last two or three choices, it became more difficult. So, I used the following technique. I would prop the photos up somewhere in my work area and then decide to forget they were there and just go about my business. At some point, usually during that day, the view of the photos would catch me by surprise and I would get a spontaneous attraction to one or the other that would break the tie. It was the "being caught off guard" aspect and the immediate spontaneous impression that worked for me. In my case, if I had turned them over and not looked and then consciously turned them over and looked, I would have been using the same evaluation mechanism as before. Sometimes that would work, but when all else failed, the being caught by surprise technique always saved the day.

I do the same thing when choosing paint colors for my walls...I'll paint a few patches of different colors and then let myself be caught off guard by the colors over a period of days.

Though I realize evaluating a painting isn't a matter of viewing and choosing between two things side by side, but perhaps there's something worthwhile here for painters. What do you think?

Karin Wells · 01-06-2002, 07:21 PM

People often ask me what they can do to turn "pro" and make a decent living doing portraits...and here's what I usually answer...

BEGIN with a minimum of 1000 hours of solid painting/portrait practice (40 hrs per week x 6 months = aprox. 1000 hours). Take longer if you need to, but log in at least this many hours of focused work.

Just for perspective on this subject, the woman who cuts my hair is a Beauty School graduate. In New Hampshire, a beautician is required to log in 1000 hours of practice time just to get a basic licence to give a shampoo! Why should we do less?

I see so many "wannabe artists" who are unwilling to spend the necessary hours at the easel but somehow "magically" expect to get "good at painting."

C'mon guys, this is hard work...rewarding (and fun) for sure...but hard work.

Karin Wells · 01-10-2002, 07:23 PM

Good for you Debra! Sounds like some BIG and wonderful changes are coming up in your life soon.

Until recently, most of my time and energy was spent as a single mom trying to keep my "kids in cookies" (so to speak) and serious "art" wasn't a possibility until 1995. At this time I had an opportunity to focus my time and attention elsewhere...and I began to follow my passionate life-long dream to paint...and never looked back.

Because my path in life abruptly shifted I lost some "friends" along the way. And it hurt. Looking back, I realize that my "real" friends were those who wished me well and cared enough about me to be emotionally supportive (even if they could not understand what I was doing and why).

As far as anybody taking me "seriously", probably nobody did (even my family) until I got good enough to get their attention. It's kind of sad, but I really think that we women artists (most especially older women - "housewife and mommy" types) are not taken seriously.

With women artists in general, I think that our relationships - children and family - tend to be our main focus. Only after these things are taken care of, we can begin to plan other things for ourselves...

Good luck Debra - I guarantee that you're going to meet some wonderful people in this profession and I trust that it will more than make up for your losses! Please stay in touch...

Karin Wells · 03-12-2002, 10:29 PM

Dear ReNae,

Since I spent most of my life not painting, I was also in a real rush to catch up...and here's what I did when I got the chance:

I copied the Old Masters (please, NOT anyone living today!)- day in and day out for about 2 years.

If you hang out with the likes of Titian, Ingres, Rubens, Veronese, Frans Hals, Vermeer, etc. it sort of soaks in and you're bound to learn some very important lessons. They are, after all, the very BEST painters (and their being dead didn't disqualify them as my greatest teachers either).

Not only did I copy their paintings, I began by copying their drawings. I have posted info. at length about these things elsewhere on this forum.

If I can learn to paint, anybody can. Good luck!

Karin Wells · 03-13-2002, 10:13 AM

I began to seriously draw with the Old Masters in 1994. I never painted a portrait or worked in oils before 1995. But by 1997, I had won first prize at an ASOPA competition for (my first) original oil portrait. So many people ask me "how I learned to paint" so quickly....I tell 'em, but they don't really hear me. So I keep repeating it...

If you SERIOUSLY wish to become a pro, I urge you to set yourself a course of study....copy (exactly) the Old Masters in all literalness, leaving nothing out and putting nothing in.

Primarily, drawing (and painting) is a CRAFT that must be mastered. Drawing (and painting) is all about light and its manipulation. Copying the "big boys" will help you build a vast store of well-organized and useful information at a much deeper level than "reading" or "talking" about it.

"Making things up" is a natural step that comes only AFTER you have mastered the tools of expression.

Luckily, Angels were the subject matter of much beautiful artwork during the Italian Renaissance. Please do not limit yourself to one paltry book...ever. AT THE VERY LEAST go to the public library and brouse through many books...or go online to a place that sells posters and purchase one by an Old Master that appeals to you. (I'll look up the URL for you if you need me to...let me know).

Do not expect that making a "serious copy" of an old masterwork to be a breeze. It could take many weeks (or months) of hard work to do one and thus learn what that particular work has to teach you.

I know that it is difficult to muster the self-discipline to study in isolation. The results always come more slowly than you wish...but they do come in direct proportion to the time and effort you are willing to put in.

It would be wonderful to be able to find a living teacher, but don't hold your breath...there is a shortage.

Karin Wells · 03-13-2002, 12:36 PM

Susan, please be careful with toxic materials around your baby. Many oils and mediums can be lethal. Right now I am experimenting with the non-toxic Genesis paints (see other posts on this subject).

Meanwhile, good old charcoal, chalks, and pencils of all varities are cheap and available. Basically painting is just drawing with a brush. You will never waste your time by drawing...

Good luck and enjoy yourself!

Karin Wells · 03-16-2002, 09:40 PM

I'd delay on the Oil Painting for now. If you are new at painting, it will eat a lot of your time and attention just to learn to handle the paint. If you eventually attend an atelier, I suggest that you wait on painting and simply learn whatever the method is that they teach you... It is much easier to learn something if you don't have to unlearn all of your bad habits first.

Considering your busy schedule, drawing sounds like your best bet for now.

I don't know how long it takes for you to do an Old Master copy, but it sounds like you are breaking the speed limit.

May I suggest that you trace the drawing....and transfer it onto a quality drawing paper. Then in careful freehand do whatever is necessary to make your copy look exactly like the original (duplicate the proportion of the image to the paper size, match the colors, duplicate shading, etc.)

This isn't THAT easy and you may find that once is enough.

Please post a copy of an original that you are working from along with your completed copy and ask for a critique.
When you draw from life, be sure to illuiminate the model with a single source of light.
What anatomy/figure drawing books are you using? Some are certainly better than others....
Meanwhile, carry a sketchbook with you and draw, draw, draw...anything and everything when you can take a breather.

Good luck!

Karin Wells · 03-17-2002, 10:38 PM

As far as O.M. drawings go, I'm suggesting that you choose any drawing that you like. But also choose according to that which you wish to learn (i.e., Ingres sensitivity of line, Michelangelo's anatomical renderings, Veronese's composition, Leonardo's halftones....whatever....).

Good composition is certainly an important component of great art and repeated exposure to it will help the principles sink into every fiber of your being. Being around great art (OM's) is sort of like having the good fortune to grow up listening to good classical music...you're bound to recognize and have a greater appreciation than one who has just been introduced....

Frankly, I never heard of the sight-size method until recently...I trained my eye and hand by copying. I doubt if you can develop a bad habit drawing anything and everything without learning the sight-size method first.

When I suggest that you copy, I do want you to reproduce the tones and shapes and not be a slave to re-creating the drawing line-for-line. I am suggesting that you trace for proper proportion, anatomy, etc.

If you post, I think that it should be in the Critique section, but be sure to say that it is meant to be a copy and also post the original. I don't know Harold Speed's book, but loved G. B. Bridgman's "Complete Guide to Drawing from Life".

Good luck!