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Comment by Zolomon | Hacker News Reader

If you aren't good at something, then you can only improve.

Is it worth it, though? Some people just don't have eye for it.

I've tried to train a musician for almost a year. He had the best of intentions, as did I, all with ample practice. In the end we gave up, he just couldn't hear when he's wrong. It's easier with programming - something just doesn't work as expected. Art does not work like that.

You have a point that some people don't have the talent to decompose objects from their mind'e eye into basic shapes. I would argue that some forms of drawing are based more on practical skill sets, which can be learned, as opposed to the ability to detect the pitch released from a musical instrument. (I make that claim as a guitarist myself)

Trying to improve your drawing ability is worth the time and effort spent. I have been working on improving my artistic lens for the past month. Am I yet at the skill level I want to be? No. Have I sacrificed a lot of time? No.

I sit down once a day whenever I can find 10 minutes, set a timer, and sketch whatever comes to mind. On busy days I skip this practice, but always make it up in the following days.

You can see the progress in this imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/GTF6w#0 . These are by no means exact representations of the image in my mind at the time. On the other hand, they are quickly getting closer to my imagination everyday.

For a practical book on the topic of drawing, I recommend http://www.amazon.com/The-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/087477... .Reading that book helped me gain a lot more confidence and understand a lot of the science behind drawing ability.

I also have a large amount of bookmarks on improving your pixel art skill set. If those would be of interest then I am happy to share those links.

I applaud your persistence but I'd argue that you might be better off refining your work, than just making new sketch each time.

But it's art - I can imagine you developing your own style this way, and I'd absolutely have no problem with it.

And I guess it is easier to keep one-sketch-a-day as a habit than feverishly improving single piece to no end.

You should consider working with just paper instead of a some crappier digital painting program. You need to learn your fundamentals first & use a much better program.

Don't give me crap for recommending Photoshop because I use it and think it's bloody amazing with the things it can do.

I seriously recommend you pickup a trial of Photoshop and go through these,

- Learn some fundamentals anyway you can (huge number of tutorials for nearly anything online)

- http://www.wacom.asia/au :: If you're doing digital, get a tablet from these guys. Go bamboo if you're not rich.

- http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ :: This site teaches you a fair bit about Photoshop and drawing in general.

- http://theroundtablet.com/ :: Awesome for tablet owners and if you want to tutorials from professionals. Also has some nice brushes from well known artists.

- http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/ :: These folks are legendary. They're all over the industry & have some of the best teachers on the web. They cost a bit but it's worth it. Seriously recommended.

- http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?870-Journey-of-a... :: A real beginner to pro journey where some guy with little experience shares everything as he practices relentlessly. Possibly for the inspiration category...

INSPIRATION : These are great for games but also good for just coming up with a starting point for say, concept art. - http://chaoticshiny.com/ - http://donjon.bin.sh/

> Some people just don't have eye for it.

True. Though, some people may seem hopeless, I've seen wonders by having people critique each others' work.

Developing a critical vocabulary is probably one of the most important things an aspiring artist (or even someone who wants to contribute) can develop.

As mainstream art and design in particular goes, I'd agree completely. Loads of feedback from beholders is what has made me much better designer, probably by orders of magnitutde, if such numerical property could be applied.

It seems that you're talking about two different things. On the one hand drawing a technically competent picture and on the other producing interesting and 'good' art. While I agree that everybody can probably find mediums in which they feel comfortable and can grow within those mediums into competent artists, I'm still not convinced everybody can master the largely technical skill of drawing. Many good artists aren't very good at drawing.

I refuse to believe in such an argument that some people just can't do something. Some people just need _more_ time to get around the art way of thinking. In the case of music it maybe has to do with lack of early (as a child) exposure to more intricate music forms.

More complex programming also involves the grasp of a not evident way of thinking, so carrying on with your argument some people just can't understand why it doesn't work as expected.

Actually, I see your point at my faulty analogy with programming - conceded - but it's just what illustrates even more so my argument - some people just don't have mental capacity to do complex programming, and no matter how many hours they throw on it, it will still elude them.

They can. Some people just need to put more effort on it than others.

So how do you explain people like me who can differentiate "OMG the design is so 1995" vs "This pastel-colored theme looks rad!" but sucks when tasked to design it himself (end up with 1995 design).

This is actually a very common stumbling block. See the Ira Glass video.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbC4gqZGPSY

You learn how to differentiate between good and bad much faster than you learn how to create good. Which can be super discouraging because it means that at first all it feels like is that you just keep realizing how bad you are and how much further you have to go.

Just keep practicing.

Perhaps you were an incompatible teacher? It happens all the time. One size does not fit all when it comes to teaching which is why we're so hit an' miss these days.

When I first got into programming it took me months to truly understand the purposes of methods/functions. I picked up on pointers quicker than I picked up on functions. This was a little over 15 years ago. I could write them out but I could not understand why they were needed. I can admit it now but it was embarrassing then. I know the problem now was because I was teaching myself and really had no exposure to the concept until that point. I was really bad at math in high school.

That is the same thing with learning an artistic endeavor. There are going to be even seemingly simple parts that some people struggle with. It takes time to break through that wall but it will be broken at some point. Sometimes you just have to advance past that lesson and come back to it. Maybe then the person will be able to understand why they were having problems.

I once took an IQ test (complicated reasons) that contained a visual acuity/processing test. My visual processing skills came in at the third percentile. 97% of the population has more brain ability to draw/"see" than me.

Strangely enough, I'm not blind or anything, I just tend to miss a few subtle facial cues or miss the paper I left on the desk, things like that. And I can't really draw worth a damn without employing a whole lot of technical practice.

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