How many of us are self-taught?

I'd certainly go to one besides the school's, if I could. Other than that I once in awhile ask my middle school art teacher if I'm doing something wrong.

self taugh here.I would love to have a teacher unfortunately I can't

My art is a combo of Calvin And Hobbes, FoxTrot, early Spongebob Squarepants, and Butch Hartman's work.

edited 8th Nov '10 11:18:50 AM by Roundy210

Took five months of manga-art classes in an institute when I was eight. The rest is experience.

edited 12th Nov '10 4:44:09 AM by Faramir

I've been drawing my entire life, but I've also taken many classes. A few recreational classes as a youngster, some A.P. classes in high school, and a bunch of classes here in collage (considering animation is my major and all). But again, I learn a lot from watching and reading various other works too.

I've taken no classes, mostly due to my art rarely progressing beyond doodles and a severe lack of experience regarding any software better than MS Paint and a scanner. It still manages to get favorable opinions from friends, somehow.

Trying to teach myself. If my school had any art classes, I'd take them gladly.

But for now, working on developing the discipline to doodle more. Mostly up to daily now.

edited 6th Dec '10 12:03:19 AM by Tangent128

Self-taught. The best I have is my old middle-school art classes, which generally didn't teach me much. It was the same topics covered every year, and I knew them like the back of my hand from my own research.

Stupid mandatory art classes...

I hear the ones in this high school are good, though, so if I have an elective free one year I may take it.

Self taught. Took one art course in 7th but it didn't teach me anything I didn' know/could use. On the fence about lessons since there is a crapton of stuff I could/should learn, but I've met a couple of professional self-taught artists that I can't help but admire with a passion, and I just wonder how well I'd do finding a path for myself.

Aside from the obligatory high school art courses and the elective art courses, I guess I'm self taught. I should probably start taking classes outside of school, though.

I have no formal training whatsoever, which is why my hand draw atuff is absolutely hidious and my computer made stuff looks flat. I've taught myself how to paint miniatures pretty well tho.

I went to college for the degree, since you get more jobs with a degree on your resume. Of course, I also needed the know-how to do illustration and animation, so it was by no means a cop-out. I like to think of myself as being half-self-taught. My own style I learned myself, and the rest I went to college for.

edited 6th Jan '11 5:28:56 PM by Shota

I consider myself self-taught. I had art class in elementary and middle school, but not anything beyond that.

I really got my skills from drawing fanart of ATLA and other anime. I usually eyeball a picture for reference though, even if it's just for a pose.

I taught myself to use the GIMP/Photoshop to make art, but I took a few classes over a while for actual drawing. I'd quite like to be in more classes for drawing but I'm not sure if I'd want any for digital art...

All art is self-taught.

Art classes are more like art workshops. You get ideas to do art for, you get people who will critique and guide you in your work, and you get introduced to new media and concepts.

Minimal formal training, in high school and some classes in college.

I suspect, however, that I have zero actual talent. I've been able to get as far as I have solely on the basis of twenty years of practice, and I still fuck up the anatomy.

It's not only frustrating but enraging — so much so that I only just now got back from putting some of my sketchbooks through the shredder.

edited 26th Feb '11 3:05:06 PM by JakesBrain

Don't do that.

I don't know what else to do with them. I sure as fuck can't show them to anyone else. Sketches from life are all distorted and out of proportion and ugly in ways that reality isn't, and everything else I try to draw looks like a cartoon (and not even a good one) even when that isn't what I'm trying to do. All I can see are the mistakes. There are some drawings that I've been erasing and redrawing parts of for years — that can't be healthy...

I never get it right, never, never, never, and I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing wrong, or why my hands, eyes, and mind can't cooperate. All I know is that it looks ugly as fuck, and the only people who have seen my work and actually liked it are people who also can't draw. Everyone with actual talent who's seen my work has either said outright that it's shit, or fobbed me off as politely and noncommittally as possible.

edited 26th Feb '11 3:49:13 PM by JakesBrain

You might not want to share any of it with anyone, but I really encourage you to post some stuff up in the critique thread. It's sometimes hard to figure out what's going wrong on your own, but other people can look at it and know right away. That's part of the reason it's nice to take classes, since you'll have easy access to people that can discuss your art with you.

Plus, it's no use to know your stuff is shit unless you know why it's shit.

Given my mindset, now that I realize how utterly awful my art is, I can't bear to show it to anyone else. Too ashamed and disgusted... I wasn't kidding about shredding that sketchbook; I've been throwing a lot of my old work in the trash lately.

The classes I took, all the constructive criticism I've gotten over the years — all useless. Other than Time and Experience, nothing has helped me to become a better artist: and by 'better' I do not imply 'good'. It'll probably take me another twenty years, if I live that long, just to get up to a level where I can look at my own work without wincing in pain.

It's almost as if I can see what I'm doing wrong, but I can't get my hand to stop doing it. Too many bad habits that I can't break. I want help, but the more obvious it becomes to me that I need serious critiquing, the more terrified I am of actually getting it. I would look for critiques, here or elsewhere, but every time I think of it I get this mental block that prevents me from doing so; even thinking about it is enough to make my eyes water with genuine fear.

Obviously, I have significant problems other than being unable to draw.

edited 26th Feb '11 4:11:51 PM by JakesBrain

Short, blunt answer: All I see in your posts is BAWWWW and self pity.

Long, sweet answer: You need to stop being so hard on yourself and loosen up a bit, and especially not obsess over it, which is exactly what you're doing. If you want to improve, I highly recommend showing your work to artists, because they can tell you exactly what you need to do to improve. Reach out to others. Ask help from them.

Remember, the only thing you can possibly do is get better.

edited 26th Feb '11 4:28:40 PM by annebeeche

You sure about that? I've seen plenty of people get worse...

All I see in your posts is BAWWWW and self pity.

Funny, that's all I see in them. Self-loathing is a vicious circle, especially in my case: I hate my own bad art, and then I hate myself for hating my art, and then I hate myself for hating myself, and it just goes on from there.

It's an infuriating pattern, but there doesn't seem to be any sure way of breaking myself of any of these bad habits, artistic or personal. They seem to be ingrained in me, and I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, since I'm technically a high-functioning autist. But that's neither here nor there.

edited 26th Feb '11 4:37:07 PM by JakesBrain

Cut your hand off. Or kill yourself. Not sure how well the second suggestion would work since i'm not sure if there's an afterlife or not. Bind your hand into something. Traumatize yourself by stabbing pencils into your palm. Quit drawing and shut up about being a failure.

Or try something else like art on the computer which can be much easier for people with bad drawing-on-paper habits. Disregard/avoid criticism and try whatever until you get something you like enough.

Edmania: I would never suggest suicide or self-harm to someone, not even in Sarcasm Mode. If I were a mod I would have thumped your post.

• 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.
• Try, beginning today, to banish every negative thought you feel about yourself. Everytime you think something hateful, counter it with something good. Banish it from your mind.
• Look yourself in the mirror and say something positive about yourself at least once each day.
• Make a change in your daily life. Paint your room a different color. Adopt a pet. Get a new hobby. Meet some new people.
• See a psychologist about your problem, they may have additional advice.

It's possible that you've tried many of these before and concluded that they didn't work, but you can't hit your target if you just put your bow down and never try again. Keep trying until something works.

edited 26th Feb '11 7:46:49 PM by annebeeche