Hi! I just thought it'd be nice having a weekly poll =3 So I thought I'd start one.


This weeks poll is about 'How you see art'. It's not anything deep so don't throw a bunch of theoretical faqs at me explaining what art is.

What is art to you?
Addiction: Just like people who smoke or drinks some other people feel an "Itch" to draw. The temptation to draw is inevitable and they must have their sketch book with them where ever they go.

Activity: Just like playing tennis or fotball with your friends, drawing is another activity most people love and is a good way to kill time. Most people find drawing a very entertaining activity either they draw with their friends or alone.

Skill: There are people who wants to draw, and there are people who wants to be good at drawing. Those people who wants to be good at drawing are the kind of people that don't really find drawing as something entertaining, but more of a learning experience. While the people who wants to draw don't really care about how good they are at it and spends most time on doodling, while the ones who wants to be good at drawing cares a lot about how good they are at it and spend their time reading books that will somehow improve their drawing skill.


Hope you enjoy the poll. =3

//Drawer32

Is it an addiction if I sleep with my pencil?

Only if you draw a mustach on yourself in your sleep.

I think it is an attainable skill. I am working hard at attaining this skill, but need to put myself on a schedule to ensure I have time to work on building this skill.

something that was created for the sole purpose to be looked it ,

Among the limited choices I had to pick Activity. I can produce art with out being addicted. I also believe I can produce art with out skill. I believe I have produced art with out the skill to reproduce the same work of art. If i have enough inpiration it will overcome the lack of skill. However, there has to be activity of some kind to produce art.

BRB

lol , l wish it was an addiction then l may improve , l might try sleeping with my pencil to ,

I'm with RJ

Its an addiction - any handbag I buy is not according to label or fashion - its whether I can fit my sketch kit in with the other essentials .

And my stress relief out on the road, as a District Nurse, is to pull over for 10 mins and sketch away the problem!

Art is addiction for me, second skill, third activity

It is an addiction, I am told a fetus can suck its finger from as early as 28 weeks in the womb...
I was finger painting from 10 weeks in the womb! I draw-up everything, your should see my yellow pages next to the phone!
Can't help it! I'm hooked, I need D.A. "Drawers Anonymous" lol

Woah! This place is full of addicts.

- Sup, man. What you've been up to?
- Nothing special, just hanging out with a bunch of addicts.

Always the thinker, hey Bob

Loved your analysis, BRB.

I am addicted to playing the cello (as an amateur) and to writing. I love art, but do not have quite the same level of commitment to it. Yet, the other options, activity and skill, as described above, seem a little negatively phrased. I enjoy the creation process, and the learning process, and I enjoy looking at the final product, even with all its imperfections.

I guess that would put me in the skill category, though, to me, art extends to many endeavors, from graphic design to home decorating to gardening to jewelry, so it isn't really "just another skill."

Marilyn

That wasn't my intention

But thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to reformulate those two to make them more appropriate.

Art to me is. . life.

I don't think in terms of "this is art" or "I am creating art". Art is a part of everything in life and as an artist, everything I look at and everything I do consists of art in some way. The way I cook, the way I dress, the way I decorate my house, the way I talk and sing, the way I create actual fine art, the way my husband spreads adhesive on a floor before putting down linoleum, the way my granddaughter dances, and the list goes on and on. Sorry - you did say not to get too deep, but I don't really consider this as deep - it's just life, and as an artist, I look at everything in life as part of art.

.. I do.


But yeah, you're right. I should have named the thread to something like "How do you look at drawing?" or similar.
But have pity on me folks. I'm not english and translating words can sometimes come out wrong.

Okay - drawing is a wonderful activity for relaxing yet at the same time challenges the artist to further develop technical skill and encourages exploration and learning.

I think of art as an activity for me. I am not addicted (I don't sleep with my pencil ), but I do love it and I do it for both the enjoyment and the chance to improve my skills.

Hi,

when reading the definitions, I would have said half activity, half skill. But since I have to choose, I will opt for the latest since I don't like to sketch or do unfinished work. But it's an activity like playing tennis. In fact, when the weather is nice I play tennis, when it's not I draw. Or something like that.

[quote name='drawer32' post='36261' date='May 7 2008, 04:12 PM']
Hi! I just thought it'd be nice having a weekly poll =3 So I thought I'd start one.
This weeks poll is about 'How you see art'. It's not anything deep so don't throw a bunch of theoretical faqs at me explaining what art is.

What is art to you?

if ı right understand your idea, here ismy opinoin

if you haven't addiction for art (but not bad addiction, I mention it like love or like this. ) you can't draw . when is To draw your life styl we can mention addiction..and not bad for us. can I explain..anyway ; we can't say art is only activity or skill without addiction...

have a nice day

It's an activity, because i love to do so many things that it's not my favorite at all.

To me art is mix of all three together...It really depends on mood and other circumstances..Sometimes i`m addicted and need to do what obsesses me and sometimes i just sketch whatever comes to my mind and sometimes i train to gain or improve some skill..It`s really a question of which one of the three dominates at the moment

Is it an addiction when you go to the store and the first department you hit is the art supplies for paper and pencils? I picked addiction because its all I think about doing weither I am working on something or not.

I've recently taken the decision I should have taken a long time ago to pull my pictures from a forum where my work has even been insulted and is compared unfavourably with what seems to me to be purile rubbish. The community of that forum means a lot to be and it was difficult not present myself as I am, someone who NEEDS to communicate with art. Friends have been urging me to pull out, but it was hard all the same. I guess I must be addicted.

Addiction.
I draw on anything, anywhere. I just cant stop

This is a tricky one for me.....I think I'd have to say that to me it's an addiction, closely followed by a skill. I don't think that I'm ultra talented or anything, but every time I draw something new, I'm not satisfied unless I did my very best. That's why I don't sketch very much, but I ALWAYS have a drawing going.

I get inspired very easily....I may be watching the wind blow the trees, or a mother lift her baby into a highchair, or anything, but my biggest inspiration is Jesus, and he is with me wherever I go, whatever I'm doing, so I am ALWAYS inspired to do my best, and I can never wait to get my hands on a pencil and channel my inspiration into a work of art.

My mind is constantly on drawing, and I spend a lot of my time thinking up composition ideas that I'd like to try someday. So, in many ways, I am absolutely addicted! But, at the same time, I don't think I'd love art half as much if I didn't feel like I could create quality drawings.

Hope that makes sense. I'm kind of hard to decifer (even to myself. heehee. )

For me Art is not only an addiction it is therapy. I suffer from severe depression and it is the spark that keeps me going. In fact I keep a small travel sketch kit with me at all times. I have now past the tourch on in my family and have my 9 year old neice starting to draw. Her school offers no type of art cirriculum which is a crying shame and one issue I am trying to fix. I believe if art can be made more assecesable to the public you would see alot less depression,violence and crime. I dont care what medium you chose the expression from your soul needs to be set free. Art is like breathing, seeing, loving and being human.

I am kinda the addict. I really have to take my sketchblock, even sometimes at parties! But I am kinda the skill too, since I am curious about different drawing/painting skills.

Art to me is definitely all three.

Addiction - anyone who has an artistic bone in their body finds that art is something they have to keep coming back to. There is an urge to draw/paint/sculpt/whatever, which reasserts itself either constantly or at intervals.

Activity - doing art is a practical thing. One may use theoretical knowledge, or one may talk about it with others, teaching them or learning from them. However, it is fundamentally something you have to physically do yourself.

Skill - drawing (painting, sculpting) is a teachable, learnable skill. There are straightforward, simple, logical ways of approaching the basics, so that you can control the appearance of your drawings - get reasonable placement, proportions, shading, and colour (Brenda's tutorials here exemplify the clear teaching of these approaches). Skill is not an end in its own right, but is a means to the end of expressing your creativity in the fullest and most powerful way.

On learning sites such as this, there is always likely to be considerable emphasis on discussion of skills. This is not because skills are the be-all-and-end-all, but because they are the foundations of artistic expression - and they are (providing you have the correct, receptive mental attitude) easy to communicate.

I'd like to address the use of the word "talent" - which is a word often used about artists. When people use the word "talent", it is often with three implications:
"I don't think I'll ever get that good"
"I don't know how he/she does that"
"I don't think its learnable"

Now do you see why, as soon as you give in to the idea of "talent", you are shooting yourself in the foot, sabotaging your own chances of progress?

There is a teachable/learnable skill-set for drawing. In the 19thC, a pretty good level of drawing was a standard expectation for any reasonably well-educated person. What happened? The teaching of the basic skill-set was abandoned - the visual-art equivalent of giving up on teaching people how to read and write.

Dave