[seabasstin]

not to be mean, but if it was that easy and just a month was enough to go from 0 to 100, wouldn’t everyone be amazing artists?

As a designer, artist and art technologist that has been making computer graphics since the 80s, reading a post like this is somewhat triggering , but I do also understand why today in the age of AI, it would seem that making great art should come easily to you, once you have learned the basics of the tools.

But it is called art, BECAUSE it is difficult, it does require one to build systematically through experience. Practicing and playing with the medium constantly, doing a plethora of varied exercises and trying do very different types of projects will increase your skillset and teach you the necessary grammar of visual problem solving.

You will also always benefit and become even more proficient by looking at and reading about tons and tons of design, graphics, and art books, websites, shows, works, etc… This is especially true of learning about and studying art that is unrelated to computer graphics —like fine arts, painting/printmaking/sculpture/conceptual art, as well as experimental film/video/animation and architecture/industrial design/historical graphic design, all of which will help you build up your visual vocabulary and problem solving skills. you dont have to do everything at once just add a steady diet of new visual material to your media consumption. Specifically not the CG/Gaming stuff you already look at. broaden your horizons.

A great artist is the combination of technical skills, a deep knowledge base of visual references, a good understanding and continuous study of art history and a solid grasp of art & craft theory and concepts—-craft here being CGI. This is will give you the solid foundation to build a successful and sustainable artistic career/hobby/vocation.

The limits of creativity is always a lack of foundational knowledge (visual/conceptual references) and curiosity (playing and exploring even when you hit a wall until you find solutions for your artistic problems).

Visual arts are very very vast, but systematically learning to see, examine and understand how others before you have, played, struggled with, confronted and resolved its conundrums are the only way to get better at it. (Find a copy of and read Rilke’s letters).

[codingdave]

OP was just asking for help to learn the skills, dude. They weren't saying they expected to start having solo shows in prestigious galleries or anything.

[seabasstin]

That is what I mean, If you think learning “skills” to make visual art for CG, is just learning software or a particular “tech” or “technique”, you cannot make it work in the world of AI… If you just want to make random stuff, just use AI. What I was saying is that the skill of visual art including good pixel art, comes from exposure and learning visual vocab and grammar. Sorry for the previous long winded post (habit from teaching design and CG in Ivy)

[codingdave]

Nah, I gotta disagree. When I was studying art, getting my degree, etc., there was absolutely a line drawn between the academic pursuit of art, which did include the academic context, history, and all that rot of which you speak vs. the daily practice of art, which could literally be flinging paint around a studio and seeing what sticks. Our coursework and discussions explored that full spectrum. There were times to be academic snobs about art, and times to just let the work fly. And while you are correct that some great art comes from the middle ground where you bring context into your whimsy... trying to push that as the only place from which art can originate is simply gatekeeping.

Now, if you wanted to share your experience, and offer it as a potential path to add additional skills into OPs practice, then it could come off as helpful: "Hey, I teach design, and have found that studying x, y, z can bring you some additional knowledge that will help..." is a far more open way to express the same idea.