An art education for a total newbie?
October 9, 2014 4:51 AM Subscribe
I have finally found a visual art I can do! Now, I want to learn more about art, but I am not sure where to begin. Help me prepare a reading list of Kindle books and Wikipedia articles please!
The book which sparked my current interest was called "The Joy of Zentangle" and explains a style of drawing which relies on carefully repeating small, simple patterns to create your overall piece. I did the exercises in the book and have been experimenting, and I am surprised at how good my work looks so far given that I do not consider myself very crafty and given that the technique is so simple.
I come from a somewhat crafty family but always felt I missed that gene. Now, I am wondering if I sold myself short and maybe there is some potential here. I was on Pinterest last night and found a ton of stuff on 'art journals' which interested me a lot. I also like the idea of making my own greeting cards, and maybe some illustrated books such as collections of poems or quotes which interest me.
But I have almost no art education---I went to a religious school until junior high and we never had time for it. I don't even know enough to know what to look up! I would love to have some sort of uber list of Wikipedia topics I can begin with and then branch out from there. Should I be reading about famous artists? Which ones? Are there different styles of art I should explore? Different materials? I have been using pen and marker so far.
Help me put together the ultimate art Bootcamp list!
The book which sparked my current interest was called "The Joy of Zentangle" and explains a style of drawing which relies on carefully repeating small, simple patterns to create your overall piece. I did the exercises in the book and have been experimenting, and I am surprised at how good my work looks so far given that I do not consider myself very crafty and given that the technique is so simple.
I come from a somewhat crafty family but always felt I missed that gene. Now, I am wondering if I sold myself short and maybe there is some potential here. I was on Pinterest last night and found a ton of stuff on 'art journals' which interested me a lot. I also like the idea of making my own greeting cards, and maybe some illustrated books such as collections of poems or quotes which interest me.
But I have almost no art education---I went to a religious school until junior high and we never had time for it. I don't even know enough to know what to look up! I would love to have some sort of uber list of Wikipedia topics I can begin with and then branch out from there. Should I be reading about famous artists? Which ones? Are there different styles of art I should explore? Different materials? I have been using pen and marker so far.
Help me put together the ultimate art Bootcamp list!
I recommend The Artist's Manual by Angela Gair, Chronicle publisher. The book is loaded with wonderful pictures of different types of effects that can be achieved with different media and styles of artwork. It's a great guide to figuring out what type of work appeals to you, with concrete instructions of achieving similar effects. It's also very affordable, under thirty dollars. It makes artmaking fun, approachable and tangible, as it should be.
posted by effluvia at 5:50 AM on October 9, 2014
posted by effluvia at 5:50 AM on October 9, 2014
Enjoy the journey! SmartHistory is probably your best online source for art history. They have over 600 videos, and in 2011 joined the Khan Academy as their art history curriculum. (Of course, learning about art history is by no means a prerequisite for enjoying art. You could just content yourself with making it.)
I'll let others chime in with recommendations on materials and techniques, etc.
posted by snarfois at 5:50 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'll let others chime in with recommendations on materials and techniques, etc.
posted by snarfois at 5:50 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
I would go with a used high school art history textbook.
Like this one.
A book like this will be easy to read, and it will present a good over-view of everything. It will have homework questions, vocabulary words, and other activities at the end of each chapter. I am not suggesting that you do the homework, but reading through that stuff will also help to focus and re-enforce what you have already ready. High school text books are usually well designed to introduce and teach a subject.
posted by Flood at 5:58 AM on October 9, 2014
Like this one.
A book like this will be easy to read, and it will present a good over-view of everything. It will have homework questions, vocabulary words, and other activities at the end of each chapter. I am not suggesting that you do the homework, but reading through that stuff will also help to focus and re-enforce what you have already ready. High school text books are usually well designed to introduce and teach a subject.
posted by Flood at 5:58 AM on October 9, 2014
The syllabus for Art Humanities at Columbia may be a good starting point/bibliography for the art history part of your question.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:01 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by melissasaurus at 8:01 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like the inexpensive video courses at Craftsy.com for exploring other materials and methods.
posted by xo at 5:20 PM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by xo at 5:20 PM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Have a look at the art lessons on incredibleart.org. You can pick and choose from the high school level ones and work up from there, but there are some surprisingly fun and creative ideas in the lower-grade sections too.
posted by Kabanos at 8:13 AM on October 14, 2014
posted by Kabanos at 8:13 AM on October 14, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jadepearl at 5:34 AM on October 9, 2014