Every year, thousands of people enroll in art programs with the hope of becoming artists.
They look to their instructors to guide them in everything from the right way to hold a brush (there is no right way) and what style of drawing is best (no one style is better than any other),
to what colors to include on their palettes (a personal choice).

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THE BEST ART LESSON EVER

Copyright Frederic C. Kaplan



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No person can teach another how to be an artist; we each teach ourselves.

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The main things an art instructor can teach are technical skills. These includes things like perspective, color theory, chiaroscuro, anatomy, compositional structures, and the like. At best, an instructor can familiarize you with possible strategies for creating a painting, print, drawing, or sculpture. What cannot be taught is how to actually paint, print, draw, or sculpt. The way to learn to do those things is to actually do them…a lot. Practice your craft constantly, especially drawing. Keep your mind open to every possibility, including those that seem strange, alien, and even repugnant. Try every material and technique, both the conventional and unconventional. Teach yourself not only about art, but about as many other things as you possibly can: philosophy, literature, science, music, history, and the nature of human beings and the universe in which we live. Be curious; ask and read about everything. It is true that artists live, breathe, and eat art, but art alone can’t sustain us or give us things to make images of and about. The world around us gives us that.

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Study art that others have made thousands of years ago, in recent centuries, and last week. Watch other artists at work and see what they do; ask questions. Steal ideas, styles, and techniques from other artists when it is useful to do so. Anything not worthy of immediate theft, keep reserved in your mind for tomorrow, when it may merit stealing.

Find your own solutions to creative problems. Don’t clutch at your teacher’s hand like a toddler and expect the teacher to make your pictures for you. Make them yourself, and don’t be afraid to make them badly. You will make tons of bad pictures before you make a single good one. And, the good one you make today will look bad tomorrow. If it doesn’t, it means you haven’t progressed.

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In the end, it is you who will transform yourself into an artist through hard work; perseverance; exercising your mind, eyes, and hands; and by having it in you to become an artist. When you become one, you will know it with quiet certainty. If you have not yet become an artist, you will puff yourself up and boast that you are a great artist.

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When you reach that pinnacle of being an Artist, it will be your profession and you will treat it as one in the same way that an electrician, doctor, teacher, or store manager does. Like them, you will not wait for inspiration or for the “mood to strike” before you go to work. You will go to work when it is time to do so each day because it is your job. And, when need be, you will work overtime even when exhausted. You will recognize that being an artist is not some exalted position and you are not a V.I.P., a celebrity, or superior to other human beings in any way merely by virtue of being an artist. You will learn that being an artist is a dignified and demanding pursuit on a level with any career, and you will wear the mantle of Artist with humility.



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