Art/Painting
What do you think?
How so we learn how to draw and paint.
First learn perspective, composition, etc. This can be achieved through a teacher or “how to” books. The key here is to practice. This works for a lot of people.
It is important to know yourself. In knowing yourself one can determine what medium they will enjoy using and what medium will be a discouragement and even a “deal breaker.” I think that is why some people quit painting and drawing.
Painting is like making a figure out of modeling clay, but the paint becomes the “clay”. Lay it down layer by layer and make your expectations become reality. Shaping and reshaping, forming and reforming till you get tired of it and at that point a piece of work is probably done.
I like to be able to control my medium. Pastels are great as are acrylic paints. Graphite is good too.
In my opinion oil turns out some of the most beautiful realistic looking work , I can’t tolerate the medium because it is temperamental and hard to control. Oil paints may take days to dry. Each layer may have to be dried between application of paint layers. (There are techniques that lay on paint wet to wet, but that moves the subject away from a realistic look and still hard to control) Oil paints need chemicals like paint thinner to thin the paint and to clean the brushes. Linseed oil needs to be added to further thin the paint and make it flow. All in all oil develops the best most realistic results, but it is as I’ve already stated, hard to control. And I’d rather buzz on Merlot while I paint, not get high from fumes!
Acrylics are more controllable because they are quick drying, water soluble . They are easy to control.
Pastel, if you can stand the dust is wonderful but easy to exhaust. Exhaust, because if overworked gets muddy looking. So the control is there, but it’s temporary. Oil pastels do not blend well making them hard to control.
Are water color paints hard to control? I put them on the same par with pastels, they are controllable up to a point.
Patience is a key in learning to draw pictures and paint pictures. It can take many, many layers or glazes to produce an adequate acrylic painting. Patience is another personality characteristic indicative of an innate need to control. The workable ability of acrylic paints in contrast to stubborn oil paints
