15 Must Have Skills Every Art Student Should Master
“The most difficult step ever is the first step. It comes with doubts, uncertainties, and all sort of fears.
If you defy all odds and do it, your confidence will replicate very fast and you'll become a master!”
If you defy all odds and do it, your confidence will replicate very fast and you'll become a master!”
Martina Pook, 5th April 2018
There are as many opinions about “must have” skills for art students, as there are art instructors. My personal perspective arrives as a long-time art instructor and judge of art shows and competitions. If you concentrate on the essential skills I will point out, you’ll be much better off in your art career in the long run.
The Making of a Great Artist
I believe there are certain core skills that set the great artists apart from the average or mediocre. Here are the skills you should master to become one of the great ones:
Line Weight or Line Contour Variation
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If you study the work of any good drawer vs a beginners drawing, you will always find the beginner will use the same line weight in almost all contour or outlines. This is what creates the stiffness in amateur drawings. Professionals will vary the thickness of line in their drawings depending on the light source and other factors. We have the greatest success with our students both adults and children when this one rule to drawing is applied efficiently.
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Drawing and Painting from Real Life
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It is OK as a student to imitate the work and styles from other artists in the beginning. But eventually one has to work from real life. Students face challenges when drawing from real life, in particular if it is a skill they haven't mastered fully and will find that it requires a completely different way of seeing. Schools that encourage real-life drawing skills help re-wire their student’s brains to think and draw in 3-D. And that’s a skill that only great artists possess!
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Knowledge of Materials
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Successfully mastering the art of producing great sketches, drawings and paintings, is mainly about knowing which materials to use, and why. For instance, if the objective is to have a drawing that should last for a long time, you have to avoid acid-rich paper. If you use normal drawing paper to paint with watercolour, you won’t succeed; you need to use special watercolour paper instead. These subtle skills can make the difference between being a successful artist, and one who struggles to produce high-quality work.
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Draw and Paint Proportionally Correct
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Some types of artwork, like drawing portraits, require far more attention to proportional correctness than others. Most newcomers to the field of art are challenged to understand and represent factual proportions, yet someone trained in these skills can quickly spot a disproportional work of art. Art teachers should explain very early to students how to find proportions and why beginners don't see it at first and then demonstrate how an artist is searching for the varied connection points, angles and lines to scan an image thoroughly to find every single proportional problem.
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Drawing and Painting Realistically
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Learning how to draw and paint realistically is an indispensable skill for aspiring artists. When all is said and done, in almost all cases, the level of skills highlighted by realistic academic ateliers outshines those learned practices by other types of art schools and colleges. I think the motto "You can take out learned skills, but you can't add what you don't know" says it all. So many students want to paint abstract because they are afraid of realism, but secretly wished they could incorporate realistic skills at occasionally to their work. It is always worth spending time on fundamental ground knowledge and is never wasted.
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Understanding Linear Perspective
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Just as a great Chemist must master the rules of Chemistry, so too do young daring artists need to master the rules of perspective to become believable artist. Nothing can reveal lack in skill quicker than a realistic artwork with flaws in linear perspective.
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Atmospheric Perspective
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To draw and paint perfectly, you need to have firm grasp on the rules of background versus foreground perspective; aerial perspective, also called atmospheric perspective or multi-dimensional perspective. Sadly, some art schools don’t reinforce these skills among their students. The extra dimension an artwork receives by applying those rules is amazing and worth to be invested in. Get a teacher who has a really good grasp on those issues.
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Composition Awareness
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The literal meaning of the word “composition” means “to create” or “to arrange”. Mastering the golden rules of composition will result in viewers become gently fixated on your drawings and paintings (…and of course, admiring them!) much longer than those who create boring and unassuming aspects of subject placement. Composition has much to do with mastering the rules of proportions, symmetry, of guiding and locking a viewer’s gaze. These are ‘must learn’ rules for any student of art, but is a widely overlooked skill and few workshops and colleges focus on them today. Composition is an artists control over their audience. One can lead people out of an artwork or nicely lead someone into it. An artist should know what it is that makes people tick.
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Understanding The Many And Typical Beginners Mistakes
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Sometimes, as you watch online art videos teaching some of the core skills, even you (as a relatively newcomer into the field) may be left aghast at the amateurism at times. You may see “trainers” use blunt pencils, or even create works full of smudges and smears. Of course there are rough and smeared images that are suppose to be loose and gestural, but that is not what I am talking about. A good art school should not only point out your shortcomings, but help turn those occurrences into learning opportunities. The advantage of a teacher doing his or her job for years is that they get to understand very well the most common mistakes that are made by beginners. To point those out early creates an environment of good habits instead of bad ones. The earlier you will be taught those errors the faster you will improve.
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The Holy Grail of Drawing & Painting: Tonal Value
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The understanding and appreciation of tonal values, both in colour and greyscale renditions, is arguably a skill that’s even more critical than colour. Sadly, many art academies and online tutorials do not appreciate that fact, and often omit tonal value skills or glance over them at the end of a session. Mastering the skillful use of tone can make all the difference between producing an amateurish work or impressively producing a 3-dimensional piece of art! Arts academies and ateliers of highest standard agree that tonal value is the hardest of all skills to learn and it is crucial for your art teacher to create tonal value awareness over and over to point to its importance.
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Strong Colour Practice & Theory
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A strong foundation of colour theory, and a firm understanding of colour mixing, tints, shades and hues, is indispensable to your future as an artist. The number of art students I personally encountered that lack such skills, and have learned their basic skills online or at other art schools is staggering! The ability to produce a very specific colour with only the (double) primary colours plus white, to naturally dull or darken colours or to create bright and clean colours, or the usage of creating shadows with colours, is all part of the core skills that budding artists must master.
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Laws of Light & Shadows
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Different materials react differently to light and shade. The proper use of light and shadows can bring about the precise effect that an artist wishes to achieve. For example, the use of clear core shadows within a portrait can produce a further dimension into stunning 3D effects, which can't be achieved without this knowledge. Or to know that a shadow contains a different colour depending on the incoming light is crucial. Knowing that a vertical cast shadows reacts differently to a horizontal one can produce a greater ambiance in your drawings. Without the knowledge or understanding of these laws, students are unable to produce high-quality, real-life-like drawings and paintings.
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Mastering Pencil & Brush Strokes
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Contrary to what many new art students might think, the results of similar strokes from brushes and pencils aren’t alike! Just as a master carpenter knows which type of saws and files to use on what types of wood, so too must art students learn and understand which types of strokes, from pencils or brushes, create what types of results.
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Seeing Lost and Found Edges
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Most art students are unaware that, in order to create high-quality drawings or paintings, the edges between two shapes or colours need special attention. The skill to accentuate or de-emphasize soft and hard edges oftentimes spells the difference between works that look childlike and those that are picture-perfect! This skill will make or break a master piece.
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Knowledge of Anatomy
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If you want to master drawing and painting faces and human figures, then you need to master anatomy and understand what the human body comprises of, and what lays under the skin. Your knowledge of the proportions and characteristics of the head, facial expressions and other aspects of the human body, are vital for you to be able to draw, sketch and paint realistic human portraits and figures.
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Putting It All Together
Make no mistake: To become a great artist, you must understand and master all of these skills. And to do that, you have two options, you draw, draw and draw on your own until you master everything or you get some guidance and instruction from professionals which makes the process much faster but also more encouraging.
Many will give up along the way, as we are naturally avoid problems. Through professional direction and reassurance you’ll be able to put all of these skills together into your repertoire of artistry skills.
I understand that every student learns differently and you will make mistakes, so get the best help you can get in order to learn fast.
If you live in our area, contact us to see how we can help you to achieve your artistic dreams, be it only as a hobby or making a career from your passion.
Martina Pook
Many will give up along the way, as we are naturally avoid problems. Through professional direction and reassurance you’ll be able to put all of these skills together into your repertoire of artistry skills.
I understand that every student learns differently and you will make mistakes, so get the best help you can get in order to learn fast.
If you live in our area, contact us to see how we can help you to achieve your artistic dreams, be it only as a hobby or making a career from your passion.
Martina Pook
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