# I had 7 years of art classes in my primary school



## Toru Okada (May 10, 2011)

There are plenty of tutorials, tips, and guidance online for free, as well as from real life. And since skill in visual art is empirical, a degree or certification is worthless, merely a sign of how you spent your time and money. Drawing is an autodidactic skill. The resources to learn are plenty, and they are free of cost, other than time.


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## Notus Asphodelus (Jan 20, 2015)

I learned everything online and also due to my passion for fan-fiction illustration. I love to visualize what I read.


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

That's pretty funny man. It's not really the years that count, neither where you learn. It's all about feelings and talent.


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## Grandmaster Yoda (Jan 18, 2014)

All I remember were some things about technique. How to shade or stipple in a way that doesn't create a messy image. Other than that I don't recall much else. But it was better than taking music which is why I chose to take it. There were some serious contenders in my high school art class. They were working with art schools and other things, no other department that I was aware of had that kind of special attention. I learned more from watching Bob Ross.


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## 481450 (Aug 13, 2017)

I did art classes throughout all of elementary/middle school and even some in high school and I can barely even write sentences on a notebook paper, let alone draw a four sided shape. I can't even draw a parallelogram correctly for my geometry notes.


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## Arzazar Szubrasznikarazar (Apr 9, 2015)

angelfish said:


> My first reaction is I think your drawing demonstrates a better skill level than most people will ever accomplish. It's quite good. As a visual artist, I understand why you're not satisfied - I'm not sure I'm ever fully satisfied with my skill level - but you're clearly of an advanced level already and you're pursuing more information to improve yourself and your skills. There's not really any point in blaming your art instructors... I think it's lucky you had as much instruction as you did. Not all schools are even offering art class regularly anymore.


I didn't have almost any instruction. Most of what I learned is from books, not from instructors. That's why I had such slow progress.

Here is history of my art - separated by periods in my life - starting with high school (high school lasted 6 years September 1999 to December 2005). I only got semi-decent in the advertisement junior college because I had a lot of life drawing practice and could practice more of stuff from _Fundamentals of Drawing_ by Barrington Barber. Just before that, I got one valuable tip in comic book club - about contrast.
The works on low right are the oldest and the ones in upper right are the newest:

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808369/High-School

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808409/Emmigration-Looming-in-the-Future

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808658/Journalism-College

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808782/IT-Junior-College-I

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808891/First-Job

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59808903/Summer-Holidays-2008

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59043006/Advertisement-Junior-College

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59043121/Summer-Holidays-2010

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/59043170/CS-College

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/65418833/2013-A-Drifting-Year

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/65420380/IT-Junior-College-II

https://forgottendemigod.deviantart.com/gallery/65440994/2017-Catching-A-Breath



angelfish said:


> You're kidding, right? I wanted to cry every time a teacher decided to instruct an art class I was taking in values and shading with spheres or fruit for the 47 millionth time. I mean, maybe we went to schools and art classes in very different places, but I definitely did not experience a lack of education in the fundamentals. I felt like I got _too much_ instruction in the fundamentals.


But that's literally, like 4 pages of a 208 page art fundamentals book. What about the rest?



angelfish said:


> I'm glad you've appreciated the strategies you've learned with measuring, grids, composition - but to be honest I hate that kind of stuff - it looks like your style would be conducive to that, though. I think part of the challenge of art is that you really can't be taught what you like, and that's a huge part of artistry. If you like grids and measurement and formulized composition - awesome, keep at it. I don't like that at all...


I guess likes of Durer, Da Vinci and Van Gogh (and probably any artist who drawn/painted things somewhat similar to real ones) didn't have your special talent for drawing without them.



angelfish said:


> actually I dropped out of multimedia design in college after my professor told me I wasn't allowed to draw curves in his class. I didn't have any interest in a man who created computer-generated mists for a living judging how well I arranged little black squares next to each other on a sheet of paper.


Wasn't allowed to draw curves in his class? It all sounds very weird.



angelfish said:


> I guess my point is art is deeply, deeply individual. That's what sets it apart from other subjects. What you feel like was lacking in your classes, I felt like I got too much of. Everyone has such different skills and different tastes. That's why it can't be taught like math or science. Art arises from your own subjective reinterpretation of the universe. It's incredible for that, but also arcane. They say a good teacher just leads you to the threshold of your mind... it sounds like you're already there. You're pursuing the theory and skills that you want to learn. Just keep reading and practicing. You're already successful.


I doubt I'll learn much. I'm 92% disabled (though maybe a somewhat less when it comes to learning drawing). In 2004 I was capable of spending 7 hours a day, day after day sculpting and painting miniatures. Nowadays? Impossible.


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