As a beginner artist, what should you be honing first? Should it be your artistic style? Your subject selection? Your purpose for creating art? To be honest, you cannot begin to master any of those until you develop the bedrock by which all talent is gained: discipline.
Beginner artists need to develop a system that urges them to be artists, regardless of the amount of inspiration they possess.
It’s said that it usually takes 10,000 hours to truly master anything you put your mind to. So how do you get from 0 to 10,000 hours as an artist? We have some tips:
1. Strive to create art every day.
It doesn’t have to be great, and you don’t have to create a finished piece every day. But never let a day go by without touching a brush or a pencil! Maybe you can set a particular time of day that is exclusively for artistic work. The point is to make creating art a part of your everyday life.
2. Set realistic goals.
Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve in a week? A month? A year? How many art pieces do you want to finish monthly, for example? Outline goals that you can realistically achieve and set your mind to accomplish them.
3. Don’t complicate things.
If you’re having a hard time beginning, start with simple forms and colors. Also, don’t strive for sophistication or complexity everytime. Sometimes, going back to the basics can be refreshing and enlightening!
4. Get inspired by the real world!
Move from reference photos to using real-life scenes as reference, so that you can paint or draw anytime without much preparation. I like to keep a small sketchbook and pen in my purse, so if I’m waiting in the car or at a coffee shop I can squeeze in a bit of drawing.
Finally, art takes practise. People who have taken my classes before have heard me say a million times, that to become a better painter, drawer, or potter, you just have to do it and keep doing it. Art is like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. So get out there and start arting!
