How many of us are self-taught?

• Have you tried finding a surrogate for your self-hate? Find something, and use it as a mental/emotional punching bag. It can be something as inane as Twilight.

Heh. Sounds comforting, but venting my spleen doesn't seem any healthier than keeping it all in; I don't want to be full of hate, for myself or anyone. For what it's worth, I have tried (on occasion) to channel that negative energy in my art, to try and purge myself of it; had I been a better artist at the time, I think it might have been more successful.

• See a psychologist about your problem, they may have additional advice.

I am seeing a shrink. The only reason I'm not even more of an annoying dink than I am now is that I'm on medication.

edited 26th Feb '11 8:14:01 PM by JakesBrain

Hey. One thing I've learned is that you are never, never as bad as you think you are. Your mind is a powerful thing and it can twist your perception of things a disturbingly large amount. I strongly encourage you, if you can manage it, to not destroy your old work. If you are truly pushing yourself to get better and practicing every day, it is physically impossible not to improve. It's just that the changes are so small and gradual you can't see them. However, put two drawings from different periods of time next to each other (the longer the stretch, the better) and I'm sure the differences will be striking.
Also, guess what? Just from reading your posts, I know for a fact you aren't a bad artist. Because the truly bad artists don't give a shit about improving. They get comfortable and cocky in their so-called 'styles'. They refuse to change because they're good right where they are.

I was lucky enough to be born into a family of artisans of various levels. I've 15 years of calligraphy, almost 16, was drawing and painting at a young age, then followed through as one of my college degrees.

For those who shun learning more, you are really cheating yourself. Yes, you can do well from making copies. I used to sit for hours making copies of various art pieces I fell in love with, masterworks, anime, comics, graphic novels, whatever I wanted. But the skills I learned in my apprenticeships and classes were what helped me learn how to hone my natural talent into something worth looking at.

Even if it's just some pointers from a friend with more experience or not, it's worth it. But I highly recommend every serious artist take at least one class of drawing from a live nude. It's amazing how much you will improve with figure drawing if you can understand the anatomy of the human being.

gotta second that.

Also, I'd suggest blind drawing. It might look hideous, but it's a surprisingly good way of improving your vision and stop relying on memory.

Self-taught, both on paper and on GIMP. I did get much familiarisation with the tools from online tutorials, but the techniques I use are generally improvised as needed to be improved later on.

Self-taught thus far, and halfway decent, but I am fully aware of the fact that I can and need to improve. I've studied visual art from a variety of sources and genres by myself since a very young age (with encouragement and assistance from my family, which has a fair few artists in it). Now that I have the ability to access a higher level of education when it comes to art, by God I'll take it.

I crave improvement. I need to get better at what I do. Drawing is what I do, and I practice drawing every day. I study and admire artists who are better than me, artists who have made effective statements and masterpieces, in my free time. I want to surpass my own expectations, that's what I'd say. My life is my life's work.

edited 26th Dec '11 3:01:22 AM by ArtilleryOmni

Well, I went to an art magnet in high school, so I got some education there. Additionally, I've been going to a Tier 1 University for art for a year and a half now, so I've gotten some education that way, too. So, I suppose I'm not 100% self-taught. I still don't think I have enough of an academic background to consider myself completely seperated from the self-taught, though. I'll save that distinction for the unlikely occasion I get an MFA...and I'm still an undergrad, so there.

I'll admit that public school teachers (no matter how good the school) and college professors I've met tend to let you flop around for yourself after teaching some basic concepts, so you're just as likely to learn a thing or two by actually buckling down with some discipline and just teaching yourself, even with an academic background. That's why I can't really bring myself to completely separate myself from the self-taught, as I have taught myself a few things, such as how to sculpt and bake polymer clay, some human proportions (from books), and I've recently purchased a book on how to run a freelancing business as an illustrator with my holiday money, so I'm pretty sure the majority of the stuff in that book won't be taught to me unless I teach myself. Not to mention things I've learned in art related extra-curriculars...I'm not sure how those even fit into this. I'll admit that some human proportions, how to sculpt in paper, colour theory, etc were taught to me, but not everything in my repertoire of abilities has been.

Ultimately, I guess that I think discipline is the be-all, end-all, not whether you're self-taught or not. (Employers are another story, though.)

-also, edited for the sake of a typo-

edited 27th Dec '11 8:35:43 PM by LEMadness

I'm mostly self-taught, even if most of my drawings aren't nice to look at. I attended art at high school, but the teacher didn't really help us, and made us do more written essays then actual art....

I'm self-taught. I learned from the books and magazines I've read.

Unless you count high school art class, I've never had any formal training.

edited 20th Feb '12 10:00:34 AM by Talby

I took some art classes, but the way I developed my drawing style has pretty much nothing to do with them; ditto my painting aesthetic, which basically leans on ignoring every imprecation regarding abstraction that I've ever received.

I am still teaching myself, taking pointers here and there. Tried to take a class, shamed to say I gave up on it.

edited 3rd Mar '12 10:59:06 PM by God_of_Awesome

I took a couple painting classes over the summer, but other than that, nothing. It shows.