Art Tips

As an art teacher I’m always trying to examine the cliches of art education. Here’s one everyone’s heard: ‘Simplify! simplify! simplify!’ On the face of it, it’s good advice: it asks us to think initially about the bigger structure of something, enabling us to capture a subject quickly, and get started on the right foot. But what I don’t love about cliches is there is often more to extract about the idea - things that go ignored otherwise. So … what are we simplifying for? Is simplification the end goal? Or does it pave the way for something else? And if so, what?

Consider the idea that ‘simplicity’ and ‘complexity’ are two ends of the same timeline in a painting. We (likely) want our finished art to have subtlety, intricacy, personality, style, detail, etc. But those are all complex things. Things that will read best over a simple structure. I personally like to have a lot of wild and unpredictable brushstrokes in my work. But if I started there, my painting would fall into chaos and fail due to a lack of simple shapes, and my fun brushstrokes would become meaningless.

So I make sure to focus my early efforts on well-designed shapes, limiting values, pleasing big/medium/small shape distribution, etc. Then, with the table set, the real banquet starts. I may spend 10+ more hours adding all kinds of things. But it’s the initial effort that allows for your ultimate expression. 

In the Studio: What I’m Creating

Last year I started to expand the scope of my classes, bringing more drawing stuff into the mix. I’m in the early stages of developing another drawing-related class, tossing around a few ideas and seeing what sticks.

As I write this, I think it will be a ‘guided figure drawing session,’ where I show the type of information that you can capture in 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. The viewer can basically ‘shadow’ me through a figure drawing session, while I talk my way through each drawing, the information I’m looking for, and the information I’m ignoring. (And of course, teaching how to capture that information.) Anyway, I plan to have the class done sometime in March, so stay tuned!

The Art Industry’s Ups & Downs—And What’s Next

The entertainment industry has always been volatile. I’ve seen at least one boom/bust cycle during my time in it (I had my first job in 2005.) I remember when Disney closed its doors in Toronto. I’ve worked at two animation studios that have since gone bankrupt (one owed me some money, too - which I never got.) I’ve seen friends have seemingly stable jobs one day, and yet find themselves unemployed the next. I’ve also been through years where I had more work thrown at me than I could handle.

For now, it brings me no pleasure to say that the industry is the ‘bust’ phase of the boom/bust cycle - and has been for probably going on about two years now. But, if past is prologue, it will bounce back! The need for quality art and entertainment will never end. People will always want new things to watch, play, and read, and artists are the only ones out there who can do it. So keep going.

Worth Checking Out: My Latest Picks

Have you ever seen the movie PRIMER? It’s a low-budget film from 2004. The story is about two engineers/inventors who stumble into inventing a box whose contents can move back and forth between two set moments in time. PRIMER boasts the most believable portrayal of time-travel I’ve ever seen. It also seems to be a puzzle, disguised as a movie. It is maddeningly impenetrable, where the writer/director intentionally lets key scenes and plot points happen off-screen, leaving you with only partial information.

You will absolutely not understand PRIMER the first time you see it. But, cleverly, it drops just enough breadcrumbs that you know it’s doing something interesting. That’s when, if you’re like me, you immediately scour the internet for YouTube and Reddit explainers, then you go back and watch the film another time … and another time … and another time, slowly piecing together its clues. PRIMER is certainly not for everyone. But it is unique among time travel stories, and movies in general.

P.S. Want to take your painting skills even further? Watch this NEW video about The Simple Color Lesson I Use In All My Paintings: