Here is an interview I did for Anguiad, and among the questions this one i found very hard to answer, maybe you guys would like to read my feeble attempt to explain art LOL!
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Anguiad asked the following:
I just want to ask you one last question: do you consider yourself an artist? Why? What should someone do to become one? Or is it something you do not "become" by yourself?
Omar answered thus:
Hmm, tough question. I might be...
My criteria for saying that I am an artist, is that I see art in everything. By that extension, any person can be artistic. However the application of that artistic view into mediums be it paint, pencil, and sand painting whatever, shows more the technique sometimes than the art.
Like children can be very artistic and creative though thier paintings and drawings are crap most of the time. It doesn't diminish their art though. Some people can draw incredible and paint as well, but their art sometimes is void of life and feeling. Even if they had tried hard to put it in, they failed to convey the life and feeling the child did in his painting.
Of course as you get older, feelings become more complex and harder to render, but that pure creative spirit, i feel, is best found in a child. That ability to find this world to be fascinating in all aspects, and that everything is worthy of being drawn and seen is the spring of ideas and creativity. An endless supply of subject matter.
When you get older you get more concerned with technique and once in a while you get a really golden piece that has that same energy you found in your drawings when you were small. But not often, thats what makes it special when you nail it!
So I suppose, while you might be able to see art in things, it might not compel you to draw paint or whatever. I guess you might be able to say the artist is the one who strives to collect , capture and show his feelings through images, music, etc of what he saw that he was moved by. There might be people who can do this better than others, and you can judge them on their technique or feeling in the picture. By those measuring devices, which are mostly subjective, you can ascertain who is a good artist, I suppose.
However that doesn't mean there arent any concrete rules, and you are not perfect. Sometimes the leg is too long or the eyes are crooked, thats why you have an eraser, to fix it. But how far you want to apply those rules is up to you.
If you are talking about becoming a commercial artist however, that is a different story. There are a lot of rules, and it is very tough to get in somewhere. Styles come and go, but it is the theories you learn in school, mostly , that people are looking for. Theories meaning, light , value, composition, etc. You may learn the Manga style on your own, or american style, or whatever style you name, but when it comes to the industry I am in, you had better back it up with some sort of quality and timeliness.
We aren't perfect, but we have to try to compete and become better. At the end of the day, if we don't compete, someone else will be eating while we go hungry, and it is hard to maintain your art when you are struggling to keep up. If you want to become a an artist for a living, be prepared for a rough ride and a lot of pressure at times. Sometimes you are forced to emmulate styles you aren't used to, and draw things you don't like, or never would have though to draw. You have to work when they say, unless you are rich, and many times art doesn't work that way. You get 'art block' etc, or just plain dont feel like it. Art isn't like a faucet you turn on or off when you please.
If you cant handle this, just leave art as a hobby, you will enjoy it much more. You are no less an artist if you don't get paid mega bucks or don't have 3 000 000 hits on DA.
Well, thats my opinion anyway, you can agree or disagree. I have 27 years of art experience behind me, and I can say, that I have drawn since I can remember. It has been an outlet for me, and still is. If my art is poor, it affects me personally, and vice versa. It is an intergral to my character and personality, you will get to know me by looking in my sketchbook. I never get bored of it, I never hate it, I get frustrated, but I would never want to stop. Maybe thats an artist? Tough question, I am not sure I answered it!
OMAR
Asalaamalaikum = Peace be upon you!
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