Just the other day, as I was helping a student she said, “I just suck at this.” Believe it or not but this kind of talk is very common for young artists. Maybe you have even said something like it yourself. My response to this was “You don’t suck. You’re just learning!” I don’t know if that got through to her or not but it made me think. And sometimes when I get thinking, it turns into a blog post. So here it is.
Not too long ago I had a frustrated student say “Some people just have a lot of natural…” At this point I thought he was going to finish by saying “Natural talent and, I’m not one of them” (The myth of natural talent coming in a future blog post) But that is not what he said. He said, “Natural suckage, and I am one of them”. I was shocked! Did this student actually believe that there was such a thing as “Natural Suckage”? To my surprise there were some other students in the room who started agreeing with him. Natural Suckage! Really? I knew that there was a problem with negative talk among some of my students but this is when I realized how big the problem really was. These students were not just saying this out of frustration but deep down they really believed it. Because what I do is very skill based I hear these kinds of things a lot. I am sure that it is not just in my art class either. I am sure people are saying these types of things no matter what skill they are learning whether it is Art, Music, Math, Cooking, Soccer, or anything else that requires you to work hard to learn a specific skill. Not being very skilled at something isn’t the problem. The problem comes when you believe that you can’t learn a skill simply because you suck.
This goes beyond just thinking that you aren’t any good at something. It is the belief that you can’t get better. I recently had a student who was taking his turn on the pottery wheel. Because of my class size, the amount of classes in the semester and the limited number of pottery wheels we have in the classroom each student only gets two days on the wheel. Because it is so short of a time and not nearly enough time to really learn how to throw on the wheel I expect my students to make the most of those two days and spend the entire class working. After about 30 minutes into the first day this student stormed off in frustration. He threw his hands in the air and said “I can’t do this, It’s too hard” my immediate response was “Well… you have to try” still frustrated he snaps back “I did try. I tried three times and I couldn’t get the clay centered.” I will admit, I may not have handled the situation the best because all I could do was laugh and say “Three times! Try 300!” he didn’t think it was very funny but the point still stands. Anything worth doing is going to require work and trying something three times is hardly trying at all. Needless to say this student never got back on the wheel.
These students have what I will call “Imagined Natural Suckage” As I explained before, there is no such thing as natural suckage.
So now that we have identified the problem, how do we go about changing a long ingrained belief system in my students, or in myself, or you for that matter? It is something that I have spent many hours pondering and trying to help my students overcome.
Here are a few ways that I have found to overcome the feeling of “Imaginary Natural Suckage”. These point’s don’t only apply to learning art but they can apply to anything you are trying to get better at, whether it is artistic, sports, parenting, music, math, writing, etc. #1 Stop comparing yourself to others
There will always be someone better then you at something. You will never be the best at everything. The point is to be the best that you can be and eventually, if you work really hard, you might get to the point where you actually are the best at something. Of course when you are to that point you most likely won’t even think you are because you will see how much better you want to be. I see students all the time who will take their first art class and immediately start comparing themselves to the students who have been drawing there whole life. If you have ever done this you are being unfair to yourself. Stop now. You be you, and try your hardest, and that will always be good enough. #2 Commit to practicing
Getting good at something takes time. When I told my student “try 300” I wasn’t exaggerating. In fact go further… try 3,000. I can guarantee your 3,000th pot will be better than your 300th. If you are learning a new instrument give yourselves 5 years. Then see how well you can play. Anybody who has dedicated a significant amount of time to an instrument will tell you that the first year of playing is barely scratching the surface of your potential. How many of us quite after the first month? Apathy is a killer. Some people will say they just don’t care about anything enough to commit that much time and effort to it. Well… you need to start somewhere. Find something you enjoy doing and in the process of practicing and years of working at your skill you will become passionate about it. #3 Stop the negative self talk
Your words influence your beliefs and your beliefs influence your words. If you are not careful it is a never ending spiral downward till you are drowning in negativity. You need to make a conscious effort to stop negative self talk. And if you ever find yourself saying that you stink at something you need to counteract it with saying something positive. Turn what you said negative around and say something positive. This might seem silly but it is important. Some people who aren’t experienced with positive affirmations will think it is silly because they don’t do it right. They will turn the negative “I suck at drawing” into “I am the best drawer ever!” Do they believe this? Of course not! And as they are saying it they know they are lying to themselves. The goal is not to lie to yourself but to positively build yourself up with something that you can actually believe. Turn “I suck at drawing” into “I can work hard to get better at drawing.” See… much more believable. Don’t turn “This is hard” into “this is easy” because it’s not. Instead turn “This is hard” into “I can do hard things”
My wife likes to ask herself questions instead of statements. If she ever finds herself being negative about something like getting our kids to help around the house, she won’t say “I’m so frustrated! These kids never help with anything!” Instead she asks “How do I get these kids to clean up so well?” When you ask yourself questions your mind will work overtime, even subconsciously to help you come up with a solution. This can be a very powerful kind of positive affirmation. #4 Meditate
A big part of the problem is anxiety. I see people get anxious about all sorts of things. In my classroom I see students get nervous and frustrated after they have made one line on a piece of paper. That line might have taken them 10 minutes to finally build up the courage to draw and now they feel like their line doesn’t look good enough and when I walk around near them they immediately cover up their paper so I can’t see their “Imaginary Suckage”. These students have Anxiety.
If we think in terms of energy, Anxiety is when our energy is dispersed and we have many problems going on in our minds and hearts that our energy is trying to fix and worry about. Often times those problems are also imaginary but to an anxious person imagined or not, the problems still feel the same. When we are anxious we are worried about multiple things while trying to concentrate on another and then wondering what might happen when, or if, something else happens, none of which you seem to have any control over which makes you more anxious. Our energy is not being productive because it is trying to do too many things at once. And, in the end whatever you were trying to do ends up failing. Then our “Imaginary Natural Suckage” has been confirmed and our belief becomes even more ingrained.
Meditation is a great way to overcome anxiety. There are many purposes and benefits to meditation but in this case what we are trying to do is focus our energy and apply it to the task at hand. This is not a blog post about various methods of mediation, so I will not go into detail on ways to meditate but I encourage you to research methods yourself. Maybe that would be a good topic for another blog post. I will often teach my students a few meditation techniques to help with anxiety. There are always some who think it’s silly but a good amount of my students love it. Every once in a while I will catch one of my students sitting there in the position I taught them with their eyes closed and breathing slowly. These students are tuning everything out around them and focusing their energy to their artwork. Once they are finished they get to work. And guess what. When they aren’t anxious they do great work that they are proud of.
So I repeat… You don’t suck. You are just learning!
I hope these point’s are able to help you in some aspect of your life. Do you have any other things that have helped you overcome the feelings of “Natural Suckage”? If you do, let me know in the comments below. If you think this post could help someone else please share it with them.
This week I went to the Shelley High School Graduation. I have been teaching some of these students every year for the past 4 years. Some of them I have become very close too and despite what I usually tell them, I will miss them a little.
There are many things that I have learned over the years working with teenagers. Usually by their example are these lessons taught. Sometimes I learn things by their good example and sometimes their not-so-good example. I’m happy to say that the lesson I am going to talk about today is from a good example.
This year Shelley High School picked two valedictorians and asked both to give a speech. The picture above is me with these students. Apparently this is the first time this has happened in the history of Shelley High School. It is interesting to note that these two valedictorians were also best friends. I have had the privilege of having both of these young ladies in my classes a number of times over the years. Needless to say they were both very hard workers and as such excelled in my classes. In fact they excelled in just about everything they did. Of course they both had different strengths they were also very much alike.
Is it any wonder that they chose to give their speech together? And the topic of their speech was the importance of friendship? They stood on the stand together and alternated who was speaking. The speech was smart, thoughtful, funny, and inspiring. My favorite quote was:
“There is beauty in imperfections.”
Not taking credit for anything but that does sound and awful lot like something I often say to my perfectionist students.
These two girls make me wonder how things would have been different if they weren’t friends. Would they have excelled the way they did if they didn’t have each other? I like to think that we become what we surround ourselves with. These girls chose to be around each other and as such they both benefited and became better people. In my years teaching I have also seen the reverse. Students who always complain about all the drama in their lives while simultaneously spending time with dramatic people. I could go on and on giving good and bad examples of different groups of students and people who have turned into the people they surround themselves with.
I know it isn’t always that easy. But I believe that we need to not only surround ourselves with people but also things that will help us become the person we want to be. There are many ways we can do this but I am going to talk about some of the ways more specific to artists. Art
This should be a given for artists and art lovers but we need to surround ourselves with great art, as well as strive to make great art! People are affected by they art they view. Find artwork that is well done and beautiful and display it in places where you will see it regularly. Let this great art, work its magic in your life. If you want to be more relaxed find art that is relaxing and it will wear off on you. I was once contacted by someone who wanted to commission me to make a sculpture for him. He was wanting me to recreate The Thinker sculpture by Rodin but instead of the sculpture resting his head on his fist he wanted the man to be holding a gun to his head. I rejected the commission for many reasons. One major reason was because I strive to make my artwork have inspirational and positive messages. This was the opposite. Another reason came from my communications with this man. I got the feeling that he may in fact be suicidal. I was not willing to create something that could influence anyone to have those types of thoughts. It surprises me that anyone would want to surround themselves with Art that gives them negative feelings. Other Artists
It is important as an artist to make friends with and spend time around other artists. Hopefully you can find artists who will inspire you and help you in your skills. You also need to make sure you are spending time with artists who are encouraging and not discouraging. The starving artist myth is strong and even artists will try to discourage you from following your dreams. I have met these types of artists and that is not a relationship I perused. I know a number of artists who are wonderful and encouraging who I know want me to succeed. These are the relationships I try to cultivate. The question now might be “where do I find these kinds of artists”. The answer is simple. You go where those kinds of artists are. In general the artists that are involved in your local art organizations will be a good fit. In Eastern Idaho where I live there are four great organizations to be involved in. In no particular order we have the Idaho Art Lab, The Idaho Falls Arts Council, The Eagle Rock Art Guild, and the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. I have yet to become fully involved with all of these organizations but have been very involved with the Idaho Art Lab and the Idaho Falls Arts Council. I have never regretted my relationship with any of these organizations and I have met many great artists through my participation.
Another great way to become friends with other artists is simply to ask. This past year I have become friends with a few artists who I have looked up to for some time just because I asked to meet them. On a business trip to Utah I contacted a few artists who I love and said that I would like to meet them and see their studio. All of them said yes and I have kept in touch with some of them since. One of my best friends locally is an artist who came to my classroom and invited me and my family over for dinner. We have been friends and helped encourage each other ever since.
It is easy to stay in touch with people through means of social media. I have also met a few artists who I now consider friends through social media. Although I have never met these artists in person they still encourage me to be a better artist and inspire me with their work. Teachers
If you have ever been to school you know as well as I do, not all teachers are equal. I know very few teachers who are intentionally horrible. But I know there are some teachers out there that are above par. As often as possible choose the best teachers. It is getting easier and easier to do this with the internet. There are tons of online resources to help you with your artwork. In my experience the best resources are rarely free. If you really want to learn a new skill, find a teacher who can teach that skill very well. Look up reviews or read testimonials. Make sure their work reflects the skill level you desire. Make sure they are good at teaching also. Not every great artist is a great teacher. I myself will be releasing online sculpture classes in the near future. If you are interested in taking an online sculpture course from me or an in person workshop please sign up for my newsletter. The sign up form can be found in the right sidebar on this page. Music and Movies
While I sculpt I often listen to beautiful instrumental music, sometimes classical, sometimes contemporary acoustic guitar. Listening to beautiful music helps me sculpture more beautifully. When I am not sculpting I will often listen to music that is thought provoking with lyrics that utilize strong metaphors. I am naturally drawn to movies that deal more with character development and story line than special effects. Is it any wonder that my artwork themes often deal with personal growth, strength and the human spirit? If my goal was to be a comic book artist or a whimsical artist my choice in music and movies might be different.
This by no means is an extensive list of everything you can do to surround yourself with worth while people and things. I’d like to know what you think. What are some things you do to surround yourself with things that help you become the person you want to become?
The other day one of my students asked me what I do when I get “Artist Block”. I quickly responded “Artist Block? It doesn’t exist!”. This student disagreed as well as other students in the area who were listening to the conversation. “Yes it does.” One would say “I never know what to draw!” said another. I listened to their arguments and though about it for a little. I realized that what my students were thinking was that you need to have some grand idea before you can get to work making art. And in my experience it is quite the opposite. Ideas rarely come from sitting there trying to think of ideas. Ideas come while you are hard at work. I responded to my students “I never experience artist block because I am willing to get to work without any ideas.” Some my respond to this with “But what if what we draw looks stupid?” To that I say who cares? As an artist you need to be willing to create and it is possible you will make stupid looking drawings. You won’t learn otherwise. Everyone needs to start somewhere. And I will let you in on a little secret. The better you get the more you realize how much you have to learn. Something I love about art is I feel like I can sculpt my whole life and still have more to learn. The conversation when on, but the gist of it was that if you are waiting for something brilliant to draw before you start drawing you will always have artist block. If you are willing to draw anything at anytime no matter what it is going to look like you will feel that artist block doesn’t exist. And it won’t! Not for you anyway. This seems like common knowledge to me but the more I teach the more I realize this is a foreign concept to many people including may artists. However I know that I am right on this topic and I have a few very well know artists backing me up so I am also in good company. Pablo Picasso said “Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” Doesn’t that sound a lot like what I was just telling my students? Artist Chuck Close put it another way, he said, “Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it’s not liable to ever happen. More often than not, work is salvation.” He also said, “I don’t work with inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.” There is a story one of my artist friends likes to tell me. He was once in Jackson Hole Wyoming visiting an art show. At this particular show Artists were participating in an event called a quick draw. Basically artists are given 3 hours to draw or paint whatever they want. People walk around and see the artwork being made and in the end they auction off all the artwork. Toward the end my friend was walking around seeing a bunch of wonderful artwork being made. He came across an artist who had painted a canvas with a few dots and was now sitting on the ground cross legged and meditating to get inspiration on what she should do next on her painting. That’s it! After three hours all she had was a few dots! Now who do you think were the artists receiving inspiration that day? The artists who got to work, or the ones who sat on the ground waiting for inspiration? Now I’m not saying that meditation is a bad thing. On the contrary it can be a great way to clear your mind and get you ready to work. But that is just it. It has to be followed by work. I try to teach my students that when they are working on one project they should be coming up with Ideas for their next project. This is the way I work and I have more ideas than I know what to do with. In fact, I get so excited about my ideas that often start another project before I am done with one. I currently have six sculptures that I have started but aren’t finished, and that doesn’t include a few paintings I have also started. Will I finish them? Sure I will! I enjoy having multiple things to work on so I can switch back and forth whenever I choose. Some of my students catch on to this and end up doing the same. One of my students who will be graduating on Tuesday once said to me “it’s funny but all of my best ideas come to me when I am working on another project.” and likewise she has so many ideas she barely has time to finish them.
So now the question is, what do I mean when I say to draw anything? I mean anything. I often will pull up figure drawing videos and draw from those. You can read a post about this here. I also show my students creativity building activities like doing a squiggle drawing or a back and forth drawing. Draw your hand, draw your shoe, draw the items in your pocket. Too many people shoot their ideas down before they have had time to develop them. Here is a quote from me that I often tell my students: “There are no bad ideas in art. Just ideas that you have not spent time developing” -Daniel Borup I like this quote and I think it is true. All to often when a student says “I have no ideas” what they are really saying is “none of my ideas are very good.” Good ideas rarely come in an instant. They start small and you build upon them. Overtime if you develop it in the right way it might become something that will affect the emotions and lives of many. If not that is okay because there are an infinite amount of ideas to come and take its place. The point is the time and effort you put into your ideas. In one blog post I detailed some of my creative process of a sculpture I am still working on, which you can find here. I will leave you with one more quote from Andy Warhol. “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol What do you think? Have you ever had “Artist Block”? What are some ways you have overcome a creative block? Let me know. I appreciate your comments.
A common problem among artists is where to find artist reference photos. The ideal situation is to take your own photos. However not all of us are competent photographers and even those of us who are it is not always convenient or realistic to find and pay a model and schedule the time to take these photos. Or go to the places needed to get the photos.
With the internet it is becoming increasingly easy to find great reference photos but this can be a controversial issue also because of copyright. Over the years I have found many different ways to get reference images for my artwork. In this blog post I will provide you with links to some of my favorite sites to get images as well as tell you a little about each. Royalty free Image Sites.
There are many image sites out there known as Royalty Free Image Sites. Royalty free meaning you will be able to use these photos without paying royalties to anyone. This however does not necessarily mean the photos are free to take. You will still need to buy them for a small one time fee, sometimes as little as 20 cents. This is not much to ask for the perfect picture. However, If you are wanting to browse pictures which are completely free I recommend Morgue File. Morgue File is a site with a large library of high resolution photos which are completely free. (however you should still reed the terms of use for each photo to make sure you are following them.) Sometimes the quality leaves some to be desired but it is definitely worth a look. I always look here before anywhere else. It also Links to some of the more popular royalty free paid sites directly on the Morgue File Site. Figure Images & Life Drawing Videos
Quality figure pictures are some of the hardest ones to get especially if you need a nude model. Lets face it, unless you are married to the person most of us aren’t going to ask our friends, family, or neighbors to model nude for us. There are a few sites I have found that provide an excellent database of figure models. New masters Academy
New masters Academy is an online art school with fantastic professional artist instructors. They have a strong focus on classical art instruction which I love. This is a paid site with membership fees starting at around $20 a month. However they also have a number of free resources as well. With a membership you have access to their full image library of nude and non-nude models as well as animals. They also have many instructional videos in drawing, painting, and sculpture, as well as 3D models so you can view the model from any angle and even change the lighting according to your needs. I cannot find this information on their site now and I am still waiting a reply from them but I once read that these images are free to use in your artwork with no copyright issues as long as you are not using the actual images such as a photo collage. However you should verify this information yourself.
To get a taste of New Masters Academy you can subscribe to their youtube channel for free. Every week they come out with new timed figure drawing videos to practice your drawing skills. They provide both a Nude and Non-Nude series to fit your needs. Because these are photos you also get more active poses than you would in a real life figure drawing session. I use these videos all the time for warm ups. I also use the Non-Nude videos in my High School art classes I teach them figure drawing.
Here is one of their videos:
Croquis Cafe
I also very much enjoy Croquis Cafe. They too provide weekly figure drawing videos. These videos are recorded in real time which makes it feel more like a real figure drawing session. They also provide short drawing tips at the beginning of the videos. Here is an example of one of their videos:
One other thing I love about Croquis Cafe are thier 360 videos. They take a model and provide a 360 view. This is great for sculptors or for 2D artist who want a slightly different angle. Sketch Daily
I also often use the site http://reference.sketchdaily.net/
I like this site because you can customize your drawing session by choosing the length of time it shows each image and if you want male or female, nude or non-nude, action or stationary. They also have many of their figures in costumes so it can be fun if you are in the mood to draw ninjas, pirates, or someone holding a big gun. This website appears to be in the beginning stages but has the potential to be fantastic.
The sites listed above are great for practice and giving you ideas of interesting poses. Sometimes during my figure drawing practice I will find a pose that I like and will then recreate that pose with my own live model to get various angles. Posespace
Another great site is posespace.com. If you are serious about getting great photos you can use in your art and then sell your art you will want to take a look at this site. You will need to purchase each pose but they will provide you with a full 360 view of the figure in high resolution. You will find nude and non-nude poses on this site at high resolution. you can purchase each image for $5.99-$3.50 depending on how many you buy.
By no means is this an extensive list of all of the websites you can find photo references for your art but they are some of my favorites that I have found. Do you know of other websites we should all know about? Please share your comments below. I am always looking for new great places to get quality photo references.
