Advice for today’s amateur artist #1: Relevance in perception

Hey, so today’s post will be slightly different from what I’ve previously posted in that it may actually be of some use to you. I will be sharing with you a bit of advice for an amateur artist who is just starting out.

< Please do note however that this is my opinion alone, so do not take my words as the gospel truth. THERE IS NO GOSPEL TRUTH. I am just sharing my feelings about a particular quality I admire in great artwork >

One thing that I’ve always seen as key the creation/discovery of great art is relevance. It is holding back. If you are painting or drawing a subject the goal of completion in the old fashioned sense can become a distraction when I feel it is much more important to take certain facets to what is seen.

It’s kind of (but in less of a literal manner) like how a characaturist picks out certain distinguished features and emphasises them comically. Whereas, unless you are a characaturist, it would be more like ‘a portrait that depicts the eyes and not necessarily anything else’ possibly because the eyes for example may be reflecting a certain emotion. And that emotion can be demonstrated without any other features picked up. They may detract from the essence of the eyes alone.

There should always be a moment whilst doing a piece of art where you take a step back and can safely say “any more would ruin this” I think a lot of people fall short and they end up overkilling it.

Leave something for the imagination. Maybe even leave a lot for the imagination. Blank canvas?! No that’s too far! I mean obviously there are further complexities to this, such as using specific materials to capture the emotive capacity of an image best, or certain colours and techniques. Maybe that’s for a future post however..

Another quick tip for now: a lot of artists I feel find a bit of a comfort zone and stick to it because it’s what sells or it’s what pleases the public. What I say to this is try new things. Exploration and experimentation are two aspects to creating art that are highly admirable. Obviously if something you try for the first time doesn’t work or “looks ugly” then you can call it a process, just don’t publish it keep it hidden from the public realm. This may even become a stepping stone for something great.

Anyway back to me…

Meet Mel. She gets sad from time to time.

Last night was great, I met up with my girl Melissa. It was definitely an unconventional kind of ‘night out’.

Peace&love

Steph

[p.s. Check out my artwork when you get a chance at http://www.society6.com/instantgaram ]

Space PODs and Societies of Six

Hey!

As promised two days ago when I made my first blog post I will show you the online base for all my work, where you can buy my designs as a straight forward art print or printed onto a variety of selected products, such as mugs, phone cases, tote bags, cushions, clocks and even tapestries?! 

Yeah, that one surprised me too, pretty cool! Then again there are also things like leggings and I think shower curtains as well, neither of which I’ve done yet. 

Instantgaram Art Society6

But yeah that’s society6, essentially the middle person when it comes to selling your designs as prints so you don’t have to put the effort or expense into it. Also I’m sure their quality is much better than I could achieve anyway. They are categorised as a p.o.d. website. This means point of distribution and includes the likes of redbubble, zazzle, printalloverme, artrookie, cafepress etcetera..

It takes forever and a hundred years to get up just one piece of work and upload all the very specifically dimensioned versions of it for the range of products. I’m very impatient though, I’m sure you’ll soon come to see. I can’t hack waiting around. This is one reason why I am sticking to just one p.o.d. For now at least. 

Anyway, it is worth the wait as when you see the previews of your work on these products it’s satisfying and even more satisfying when people purchase something from the store.

So, check my page out in the link above somewhere and feel free to look around the site in general of course. It’s not only a great way to support independent artists but also there are some really great designs out there. 

I think people should drop the whole online shopping from major shops and fashion lines shtick for this kind of thing.

Anyway, work today, time to shift some lines and dimension structural openings. Woe is me! I’m going to need a coffee..
Peace&love

Steph

[listening to: Appels + Oranjes – Smashing Pumpkins]