Why You Need
To See Like An Artist To Paint
Like One
So often people
that aspire to be artistic painters give up after
their first awkward attempts. A lack of perceived
talent is one of the commonly stated reasons for
quitting. However, the real problem is that they have
just never been trained to see like an
artist.
Most of us non-artistic types, (or those that have yet
to be trained), have a natural tendency to look at the
subject of a drawing without paying attention to what is
literally there. One reason for this is that a typically
dominant part of the brain translates visual images in an
effort to give meaning to what we see. For example, while
looking at a person’s head, that part of the artist’s brain
wants to identify the face as a collection of icons; the
nose, mouth, eyes, chin, hair, etc.
The problem with this translation process is that when
it comes time to draw that person’s face on paper we begin
pulling from memory a generic eye or nose instead of what
is actually there. While the finished picture may look like
a face, it will bare little resemblance to the original
person.
An artist needs to be almost oblivious to what is being
painted. Instead there should be a much greater focus on
the raw visual data. What is literally being seen?
Irregular lines and shapes? Are they dark, light or some
shade in between? Where, exactly, do they intersect? When
precise attention to these elements takes place an amazing
likeness will begin to form.
So how do you shut off the dominant part of the brain
and turn on the normally less dominant part that contains
the artistic eye? Here is a simple trick that works
amazingly well. Rip a large face photograph from a magazine
then sketch it as best you can. If you are new to art there
is a good chance it will look amateurish or even goofy.
Don’t worry about the results, just draw.
Now flip the photograph upside-down and try again. This
time just concentrate the relationships of the intersecting
lines and shapes. In most cases, the upside-down drawing,
when righted, will often surprise even the most untalented
beginner artist with a likeness that is far superior to the
right-side-up version.
So what happened? Did you suddenly acquire artistic
talent by drawing the subject upside-down? No, not at all.
You simply shut down the usually dominant side of the brain
by presenting a confusing and therefore unrecognizable
image. It is as if that side of the brain couldn’t make
sense of the photo so it turned the job over to the less
dominant but artistic side. Amazing stuff.
If this crucial visual skill is not learned first then
all of the other artist skills, like brush technique or
color theory will be rendered useless. The best
craftsmanship in the world will not help produce a great
painting if you haven’t learned to see. You might as well
put on a blindfold when painting.
The great news is that artistic visual skills are
learnable even by students with limited talent. Any
competent painting instructor, whether live or from one of
the top video courses, will be able to demonstrate this
concept. As a student progresses with a painting or drawing
course they will learn to automatically see like an artist
with out depending as heavily on a set of tricks.
First Place Rating
of 9.8 out of 10
According to the publisher
of the
Learn And Master Painting course, it is designed to be
the most thorough, logical and easy to understand way to
learn oil, acrylic and water mixable oil painting no matter
your present 
level of skills or talent. During this course,
the student will create several complete paintings from
start to finish.
Who Will Benefit Most From This Painting
Course?
This dvd lesson set is
geared for rank beginners with no experience or formal
training through accomplished painters that wish to round
out their knowledge base and benefit from the advanced
lessons.
Also, children starting at an age of 8 to 10 years old,
with a little set-up help from an adult, should be able to
learn from the dvd set on their own.
About The Instructor Gayle
Levee (Pronounced Le Vay)
Gayle was born into a family of artists and knew from
the young age of five years old that she wanted to draw.
This award winning artist was formally educated
at....more
For For the rest of this review that covers the
positives, negatives, lesson topics, painting styles and
price please click here Learn & Master
Painting full review
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details, testimonials, a sample video lesson or
to purchase please click on this link:
Learn And Master
Painting
A1