Injecting "life" and "meaning" into pieces.
This is most likely the wrong place to ask this. But how do you give meaning, movement or a "point" if you will, to a piece?
It seems like most good art has some kind of meaning/relevance/"point" to someone somewhere for whatever reason which is immediately recognised by viewers in general. This is why technically poor pieces get the attention that they may or may not "deserve". Either that, or the piece is sufficiently dynamic to look at or has that little "spark". After looking back through what I draw I have concluded virtually nothing I draw has any of this, it is either too stiff and static or portrays nothing at all of relevance to anyone.
So, how do I add this? It's not as easy as "well make sure it isn't static/etc.", how do I do *that*?
10 Comments • Newest first
A lot of people are giving you good feedback in a lot of words, simply put the answer your looking for is "passion"
A person who is passionate about their art portrays it as so.
That being said.. I am far to lazy to pull that off.
[quote=Phylar]I'm usually really impulsive when I draw, but I'm going to be honest here. People will interpret whatever they want from your art, so the feelings you put into a piece as you draw it probably aren't going to come out as strongly as you hope they will.
In my opinion, what really gives a piece of art its power is how well rendered and drawn it really is - pieces drawn with great technical skill (including proportion, contrast, positioning, and all that) tend to be the ones with the most power. It's not like artists really feel with stronger or different emotions than anybody else. An artist wanting to portray some smiling lady goes about his work with relatively the same drive as a young child scribbling that same lady with crayons. It's the power of the rendering and the technical skill of the drawing that really makes it pop. If Da Vinci went into painting the Mona Lisa with the same original intent and goal, but it came out looking like this http://www.redbubble.com/people/scarletmoon/art/843148-pencil-drawing-of-the-mona-lisa
then the piece sure as heck wouldn't be as famous and renowned as it is today. I'm not saying the pencil drawing is bad, but it just doesn't have the same technical quality as the original.
Don't get me wrong; I don't think art is all about logic and technical ability. I'm the silly type who will paint over an almost-completed piece that took me over a month with a layer of black and work on something totally new if I'm not satisfied with it. I just feel that...well, yeah. People are simply drawn to masterfully-done things.[/quote]
Dude I was going to post a similar response LOL.
I do not feel the emotion I'm trying to convey when I draw my pieces, and I honestly think I'm pretty good at getting gut reactions from viewers if it's the right theme. When I draw I think in sentences, not images. I do this because 1) I can't visualize for my life 2) thinking in words is easier for me to take into consideration if what I'm drawing/rendering will be seen from a similar perspective by the viewer.
I'm extremely detached from emotion [aside from frustration I guess? haha] so honestly I do not think blindly diving in to your picture will do you much good unless you are aiming for abstract expressionism. You don't have to be happy to draw a convincingly happy person.
Well most of the time you have to feel the emotion when drawing it, and it'll show in the pictures.
It's mostly the colours, the shades of the colours(light colours being a light mood like happy, darker colours could be a deeper emotion like love or sadness).
The expression/pose of a person also helps, if there's a person of course.
Edit : The shape of things as well. The easiest way to do it really is to feel the emotion you're trying to portray.
It's kind of harder to inject 'meaning' in fanart, tbh. It's hard to get people to take you seriously if you wish to portray a profound message through maplestory art haha.
But addressing the stagnant issue, I suggest using more dynamic lines, even for the preliminary sketch foundation. Also think about the emotion you're trying to portray and incorporate into the body language, background, colour choice...etc. A happy person will not slouch and trod his/her feet, and a grey background will not do any favors for a joyful theme. The body is extremely pliable and made up of many shapes that change depending on the pose. I think a lot people have a hard time finding those shapes. o.o
I find that people who aren't good at drawing organic subjects tend to use too many straight lines. At the same time, perhaps you're actually better at in-organic rendering, such as backgrounds and lineart perspective? You can always use that to your advantage and produce more work that focus on your inorganic expertise.
^ Great comment
It depends on what the artist wanted to represent or make the audience <viewers> feel.
Particularly on a case by case scenario.
Do some abstract then BS a meaning or find a deeper meaning. I did some random marker abstract yesterday and when I was done, I saw two woman merged together and called it "1.5"
lol
just let it flow mang
i......dont know.....
Mind you, this is only for Basil screens, but I give a point if it's:
1.) Aesthetically pleasing, aka really good art.
2.) Funny, speaks for itself.
3.) Nostalgic, meaning screens from the past that conjure up images of old Maple times.