Today I decided to have a look at some Japanese art, thinking I could get some inspriration from the Zen school (which I only learned it was called that today). You know the stuff, minimal lines yet very evocative of the subject. I thought it was mostly done on scrolls and such, much taller than your average portrait here in the west.
Came across a detail of “reading in a bamboo grove”. Incredible! Little bits almost invisible, but there. Such realism. There is no way I will ever be able to come close to what I was looking at. So humbling.
Of course, a lot of what I see on this forum does the same to my head.
For a while, the only “art” I will be posting is going to be my “thanks for the cool bundle” submissions. Other than that, I don’t know why I bother saving my work. It’s a good thing I enjoy doing things I can’t do, if you know what I mean.
Keep going!
And of course, post everything you can! No matter how “good” or ‘bad’ you think your work is, tag everything with “critique wanted” and pick out the constructive criticism that will help you move forward. But ignore the destructive ones, they won’t do you any good. If someone wants to tear your output apart or spread bad vibes, it won’t help you move forward, it will just put you in a bad mood if you let it get to you.
Okay, I admit, that’s easy to say when you have an ego like mine, but it’s much better to trust your instincts and ignore the grumpy people, because that’s usually what they want: attention for themselves at other people’s expense. If you can see and remember this, you’ll get free tips on what you could improve and have a good chance of growing.
Hold it, like Bob Ross always told us, you don’t make something wrong, you make the happy accidents you’ll learn from. These you can incorporate in your works, and you’ll learn a lot more from them, as if from anything that would always look okay from the outset. Without making errors, you stand still, instead of moving forward.
I’m painting for a long time and it took me longer than I want to admit that it doesn’t really matter how good they are, especially if you aren’t really competing with anyone. It’s good to look around and get inspired, take into account how other artist solved or interpreted something. But ultimately the only person you should compare yourself to is your own past self. Only that way you can see how you improved (if that is important to you because it’s perfectly okay not to when you have fun).
Thanks for the tip. My library has both books in e-book form. I had to put a hold on the first one, but I have the second in hand. Time to get enlightened.