/loomis/ - Art Gains

I'm a student art The Florence Academy of Art.

My experience with the atelier so far has been very positive. Learning a ton, a lot of challenges, greta instructors and so on. A lot comes down to how much you choose to learn and I find that those that really give it their all, tend to do very well.

(this is where I vent)

When it comes to the other students there are basically two categories: Good students and those that will drop out before finishing the education. It breaks down that in the first year there are like 70% shitty students, second year it tends to be something like 30% shitty students and then they tend not to make it to the third year. It can get a little annoying dealing with the less "good" students and I have to admit that I do somewhat resent them for being lazy or (even if it makes me sound mean) stupid. It's weird that people would give a shot at an art career without being clever and hard working. From having talked to a lot of the students at the end of the program and at other ateliers, it appears necessary to have shittier students to allow these places to remain open and accessible to those that would be able to make a career from it.

Kinda sucks but as long as the instructions are good and you have space to work, you can survive ;)

>>2423

>it appears necessary to have shittier students to allow these places to remain open and accessible to those that would be able to make a career from it.

That's pretty sad and one of the reasons I like the atelier-style pay as you go courses better when it comes to art education. It just seems more ethical to me. Generally many people that go to formal art colleges are not successful in the end which is bad enough and then they have to accrue massive debt to these institutions just to find that out.

With an Atelier it's like you go and you figure out after 3 months or a year or so that "well maybe this isn't for me" and you spend maybe a couple thousand dollars before you realize you've reached your breaking point. With a 2 or 4 year college though it's like you're locked into spending least $15,000, enough to basically ruin someone's decade.

Sight-size is brutal. Drew way slower and way worse than usual. I actually think measuring things with strings and so on is holding me back because I can't hold them still enough. I'm going to try relying on imaginary plumb lines a little bit more next session.

>>2501

The core idea of sight size is to just comparing your drawing/painting 1:1 with the subject. Any use of plumb lines, knitting needles, mirrors or whatever are just an extension of that ability.

Using the plumb line to measure is a little more difficult than just using a knitting needle/charcoal/pencil to check the distances between points. With the plumb line, the shakiness comes from both of your hands trying to stay still while if you use your charcoal/pencil, you can hold one hand out, reducing the shakiness by half and you can even use your other hand to steady the hand holding the tool.

There is a tendency for new students to overmeasure and not rely on what their eye tells them. This often stiffens a drawing and turns it into a mechanical copying process rather than a drawing. On an average 3 hour life drawing I tend to just measure the greatest width and a few vertical landmarks. The rest of my accuracy comes from comparing the drawing with the subject by eye, focusing on negative shapes, comparing angles and the triangulation method. So the way I work is a hybrid of sight size and tools derived from the comparative method. Pushing the envelope shape before getting too far into the drawing is really worthwhile if you're struggling with sight size.

The great thing about sight size is that it is so brutal. You can compare your drawing/painting to the subject 1:1 and by doing so, you can force yourself to be even more accurate and even harder on your drawing. The comparative method doesn't really do this and that extreme accuracy that is so hard to train becomes even more difficult. The good side of the comparative method is that it is so versatile, so it's worth also training with it, or at least some of the tools derived from it.

Imaginary plumb lines are great. Just make sure you connect the top and bottom of the drawing so it doesn't skew off in some weird direction. It has happened to me a few times when not having a clear plumb line. Just connect the clavicle or some landmark of the head to the standing foot and you should be good :)

Anyway, keep working at it and post your results!

>>2551

>What do when suffering this bad about your abilities and Art? Did you guys felt something like this someday?

I think everybody feels like that at some point, and I feel that today definitely. In this video Jeff Watts talks about the phenomenon of how your perception of what makes art good improves very rapidly but your ability to actually create good art improves far slower. Kind of a long video but it's worth watching.

>>2551

>"You will never make it" is always on my mind.

I get that every now and again. Especially when I see some really mind blowing piece of art and wonder if I will ever be able to replicate that. I overcome this feeling by reminding myself of how far I came and how much I improved compared to how I was before, I would remind myself of the times when I told myself I would never be able to draw something but proved myself wrong.

>My dream is going to a good Art School, but I'm a third world poorfag

Try save up for those professional courses in your country or if you can afford it, come here to Russia, college is quite cheap here and I'm sure the lessons they give are of very high quality.

Personally I think everything that you need to know can be learned alone without any art school. Maybe a few art friends can help or if you find a mentor then it's good, but generally I think everything that is necessary can be learned through free resources and practice, and besides, people will only teach you how to draw art which is just as shitty as theirs, they won't teach you how to be better than them, they won't teach you your own style either.

>>2419

>art school

>expected old people

The fuck? Art school is like cat-nip to retarded liberal kids.

>>2676

You do tend to get the "retarded liberal kids" at ateliers too but they tend to drop out because it's not what they were expecting (They tend not to have the discipline or work ethic to spend every day for 5 weeks drawing a cast of an ear and stuff like that). There is a resurgence of "real" art schools like The Florence Academy, Angel Academy, Repin Academy, Grand Central Atelier and so on. These are small art schools based on classical 1800 realist practices and philosophies. It's really worth looking into if you have an interest in traditional representational art.