How To Improve Your Art
Improving fine art skills takes desire, motivation, and commitment.
Whether you want to sell your art online, at local craft fairs, make a career out of your art skills or learn a new hobby, it is possible to create beautiful works of art with daily practice.
How are artistic skills developed?
- Improving drawing skills is accomplished by practicing different art techniques and strengthening old techniques daily.
- Learning how to see the world as an artist will allow you to create realistic paintings and drawings.
- Understanding how light reacts to objects, the elements of shading, depth, form, and composition will also enhance your art skills.
Art is a form of communication and a way to express yourself, so have fun and be afraid to break the rules.
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What Are Some Artistic Skills?
There are different artistic skills like drawing, painting, singing, dancing, and playing an instrument. In this post, we are going to focus on fine art skills like drawing and painting.
Visual Art Skills:
- Knowledge of the elements of light
- Knowledge of perspective
- Knowledge of composition
- Knowledge of shapes and forms
- Knowledge of negative space
- Knowledge of art materials and how to use them
- Knowledge of color
Why Should You Enhance Your Artistic Skills
Why is it essential to enhance fine art skills for emerging artists?
Improving art skills allows artists to express their thoughts more clearly.
Like an author discovers more words to enhance their vocabulary, an artist learns skills to improve their artwork.
As you continue to practice different techniques, you will see the subjects you are drawing differently. You will start to notice:
- How light reflects off of various surfaces differently
- Perspective
- Proportions
- Value changes
The creative process will become more natural and more proficient.
By dedicating time to practice will allow you to:
- Sell more art online and locally
- Charge more for works of art
- Create different income streams
- Have fun creating a work of art
Even if you are not interested in building a visual arts career, drawing and painting can be a relaxing hobby. The better you become at painting a composition, the more enjoyable it will be to create art to sell or hang on your walls.
What Are The 5 Basic Skills Of Drawing
Understanding the different skills to work on will help you to improve your art faster.
Drawing and identifying edges – Edges separate areas of a drawing and can be accomplished with different tones, values, and lines.
Seeing basic shapes – Everything in the world we live in is composed of different geometric shapes including spheres, cones, cubes, cylinders, or nongeometric shapes. Being able to see the different shapes will help you to draw more accurately.
Values and colors – Understanding color theory and values will allow you to create realistic drawings and paintings
Elements of light – Knowing how light reacts to different surfaces and where to use shadows will take your drawings to the next level
Perspective – Understanding perspective will allow you to create a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface.
How To Improve Your Art Skills
The only way an artist can enhance their creative skills is by practicing different art techniques.
Practicing does not mean painting a composition. Practicing is focusing on a specific technique until you can perform it consistently every time you are painting or drawing a composition.
Artists practice techniques so they can create art that is more accurate to what they envision.
Practicing a technique like mixing paint, painting straight lines, blending colors on a canvas, and painting soft value changes will help you to take your art to the next level.
How To Develop Art Skills
Anyone can learn how to paint and draw. The key to developing art skills is to perform a specific technique over and over. You can improve your skills quicker by developing a practice routine.
Write down all of the struggles you have with painting or drawing.
For example, let’s say that you struggle with soft value changes. You will want to spend time every day working on shading. Or maybe you have a difficult time painting consistent lines. In this case, you will want to practice painting lines until every time you paint a line it is perfect.
How To Improve Art Skills Quickly
The quickest way to improve your art is to focus on one or two techniques a week.
Dedicate time daily to practice the same technique over and over until you have perfected the skill. Creativity is achieved with an artist’s ability to effectively present and articulate their ideas and concepts. Learning one skill a week will allow you to effectively create anything you can imagine in a short amount of time.
If you are self-motivated and interested in becoming a professional artist you might want to consider investing in some online art tutorials, books, or magazines that show you different artistic styles or attend a school for continued education.
Even if you just enjoy painting as a hobby, you can develop new skills by learning from other professional artists. Tutorials like the ones listed below will show you what you need to know about the medium of your choice.
Popular Video Tutorials:
- Art Essentials: Learn Watercolor Painting Basics
- Acrylic Painting: Learn the Basics For Beginners
- Learn to Draw: Daily Practices to Improve Your Drawing Skills
Magazines:
- Complete Guide to Drawing Mega Collection
- Watercolor Mega Magazine Collection
- Pastel Journal 2019 Annual Digital Collection
Books:
Helpful Tips To Enhance Your Painting Skills
The artists you watch on Youtube make it look so easy to paint a beautiful landscape. Those artists have spent many years enhancing their craft.
Here are some tips to help you learn how to paint like your favorite artists:
- Practice sketching and drawing
- Learn how to mix colors
- Learn color theory
- Practice painting different shades of colors
- Practice painting different lines
- Studie how light reacts to subjects
Be Your Worst Critic
If you are building a career in visual arts, your income will be based on the quality of your artwork and how well you can promote your art business. When your artwork sparks an emotion of a viewer, the viewer will make a purchase and become a loyal art collector.
To improve your art skills, you will have to learn how to be your worst critic.
Look at every piece of art you have finished and identify areas you would like to improve on, like shading, light, proportions, etc.
Never settle. Don’t say, “Well, that is good enough.” Instead, make your weaknesses your strengths.
Identifying your weaknesses is the first step.
The second phase is to take action. Study and learn how to make your weaknesses your strengths.
Schedule time every day to work on areas that need improvement. Do not rush this step. It takes time and dedication for you to enhance your skills.
If it were easy, there would be no such thing as practice.
Keep a diary of your work and your goals.
Every week and month, visit your goals and assess the outcome.
Have you accomplished your goals?
Do you feel that you made your weaknesses your strengths, or do you think you need more time working on them?
Looking at your art will provide you the answers you need.
When you are happy with the outcome and your efforts are consistent, it is time to start working on your next weakness.
Stay Motivated
Everyone gets motivated in different ways. There is no right or wrong way to keep yourself motivated. Your goal is to find ways to keep your fire burning strong.
Artistic skills are significantly increased by motivation.
How can motivation enhance your artistic skills?
- You will always want to practice techniques to better yourself.
- You will enjoy the progress that you have made and strive for more.
- You will feel a sense of pride when you step back and look at your finished creation.
There will be times that you might lose motivation and become frustrated or impatient.
Identify when this emotion is starting to brew and fix it immediately. There is no time to waste.
Use Quality Art Supplies
The cost of materials will be determined by what medium you use for your artwork. Using high-quality art supplies like drawing paper, oil paints, acrylic paints, pastels, and watercolor paints will allow you to learn how to use the tools you will be using for your final pieces.
Art supplies can become costly while you are learning your craft. Shopping for the best deals will save you a lot of money over time.
Popular Online Art Supply Stores:
Final Thoughts On Enhancing Your Artistic Skills
Daily practice and setting goals are how you can increase your skill level quickly. The ability to draw lines accurately will improve your drawings. Learning how to mix paints and paint clean lines will improve your creativity.
Work on areas that are difficult and continue to challenge yourself.
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