Beginner Artist's Guide

I want to start creating! What to do, what to buy?

I would like to explain in this column a couple of issues that people may have trouble getting into the world of artistic creativity - these are issues that I myself struggled with a few years ago. I hope to clarify some of the intricacies of the topic.

First of all, let's start with the fact that the talent for drawing / painting / handicraft is really a small percentage of your journey as a creator. Talent makes certain things come to you a little easier, but even a bucket of talent is not enough if you do not add to it all the hard work cistern. The most important thing that will push you forward is continuous practice and not forgiveness in any way. Therefore, at this point you have to ask yourself whether you want to deal with a more "professional" drawing (I use that word conventionally, because it's not about drawing money and it's just a matter of approach) or is it just a pleasure for you. If you choose the second option, you do not have to worry about self-improvement, because it's just that drawing or painting is left for you to enjoy and relax. If you want to achieve perfection, unfortunately you have to struggle first of all with what is difficult for you; So if you can not draw your noses, then draw them to boredom until they are all right. If you are more comfortable drawing characters from the front, then draw a profile even if and a thousand times, because running away from things that make you difficult will lead you to never leave your comfort zone. For me, such as men's faces and more complicated anatomical positions, I'm trying to improve now.)

Second thing is materials. By looking at deviantart, you can often see the work done with super-fine and super-expensive products such as Copic markers or Leningrad watercolors, or brushes made from the hair of a one-legged squirrel hunted at full moon by a white-haired Asian. Perhaps you have been wondering or wondering if you need such products to create something good? Can the problems in the drawing arise not due to lack of skills and lack of appropriate artistic materials? At the same time, after starting drawing at the age of 11 or 12 years, you will not ask parents to spend $1000 per pack of markers, because simply neither you nor your family can afford it. (I'm almost 20 and I can not afford it!)

No. You do not need anything more complicated than the handful of pencils and a good drawing block at the beginning. Because you first have to implement it to draw regularly and work hard; Besides, mastering the pencil will make it easier for you to use crayons. Generally speaking, the more advanced your artisan technique is, the easier it is for you to learn the next kind of medium. This does not mean, however, that you should use the HB pencil and paper from the printer, because work so embarrassing and ungrateful will discourage you from drawing forever. So at the beginning of the steps we head to the nearest plastic shop or supermarket and buy a few pencils of different hardness - preferably with Koh-i-noora, either from Cretacolor or Faber Castell, just some good company (their price and probably will not exceed 2zł per piece And for example, a drawing block from Canson, which costs about $3. For that, a good eraser, such as Facts, which will not take the paper but decomposes it well. This way, at $20 you get with everything that you need in the beginning. After sketching five or even ten blocks, you probably want to reach for crayons to add color to your work, and you should do it! Because color work is super satisfactory. And again, you come up with something from the average shelf, not the cheapest crayons for $5, but you also do not break that you can not afford a set of Dervents for $500. It is important to get as large a color set as mixing colors is so much fun when you choose more crayons than 5 colors and black. A set of about 50 colored pencils gives you a chance to have fun with drawing and when you use it to finish, you will be much more advanced than the beginning, I guarantee!

It is very important to choose quality articles from the beginning. Not necessarily the most expensive, not necessarily the "artistic" level, but please do not let yourself be told that a good artist will create a work even with hopeless tools, because that is largely untrue. Yes, technology is more important than materials, but materials are almost half of your work! It can not be created using something that leads you to frustration and does not produce the effects you want.

It is important to gradually buy more and better things, because after a month of work in crayons it may turn out that it is totally not for you - and then what to do with it
But it is important to gradually buy more and better things, because after a month of work in crayons, it may turn out that it is not for you - and what then to do with this super expensive, which you bought with money from selling your own kidney on black market? It is better to give yourself time to get used to the medium. For example, 3 years ago I got into watercolors and I said that it was for me and that I would love to paint them. But I have always bought only a set of 12 colors from Karmanski (about $36), which serves me now because it is good quality and efficient, but ... I paint mostly on the background for my marker work, because it turned out that the virtuoso of watercolors, And yet in the shop I was one step away from buying the biggest, most expensive set they had! (Luckily, I did not have enough money, and I did not get the life savings in paint, so I would live under a bridge, sleeping with a box of watercolors instead of a pillow).

And now, my dear readers, pencils in hand and to do!