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How many years does it take to become an artist? Do I need more skills than drawing?
I'm Ms. Balint at the International Community School. My 2nd graders have a few questions and I'd like to share your advice with them. Thanks in advance!
#artist #art #drawing
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Andy’s Answer
Hi Ms. Balint,
To become a professional artist you need to practice for a lifetime. Art is subjective and can range from fine art painting and sculpting to other things like literary and the performing arts. Every artist I know continues to practice and learn and become better everyday. We don't stop. We learn new tools or new techniques. There are those who use traditional methods and retain those practices but even they will find ways to refine their techniques.
As a professional in the video games industry I can tell you that many artists have earned some kind of college degree in the arts. That being said, I have also known artists who did not go to or complete a college or university degree. Ultimately becoming a professional artist will require talent as well as hard work.
A professional artist might need to know how to paint or how to sculpt or animate or do any number of other things. Having a good understanding about the basic concepts of art are important to allow you to adapt to the changing world around us. I've known sculptors who learned to paint and painters who learn to animate. Creating user interface and designing layouts are important artistic jobs as well. The things we all need to understand are composition, color, aesthetics, etc.
There are very few professional artists whose job is just to draw or sketch. They do exist. One example is a comic book artist, specifically the penciller. Comic book artist are generally broken out into penciller, inker, colorist, and letterer. The penciller lays out the pages along with the writer and then proceed to draw out the action in every panel of the book. The inker will make sure to go over the lines and fill in the dark black areas to create contrast and allow the images to "pop" on the page. The colorist will then paint in the color and bring in more subtle lighting and form. The letterer will add in the text and other possible sound effects like the "BAM!" and "POW!" that you might see. Some comic book artists might do one, two, or even all 4 of the roles themselves. These roles also apply to manga as well (although most manga is black and white so won't have colorists).
I hope that this helps to answer your students' questions.
Explore the different kinds of professional art jobs that exist
Look at famous examples from the various fields: sculpture, fine art painting, writing, performing, animation, video games, writing, etc.
Make lists or what skills might be required for each kind of artist
Look up famous artists in those categories and find out what kind of formal training they had
To become a professional artist you need to practice for a lifetime. Art is subjective and can range from fine art painting and sculpting to other things like literary and the performing arts. Every artist I know continues to practice and learn and become better everyday. We don't stop. We learn new tools or new techniques. There are those who use traditional methods and retain those practices but even they will find ways to refine their techniques.
As a professional in the video games industry I can tell you that many artists have earned some kind of college degree in the arts. That being said, I have also known artists who did not go to or complete a college or university degree. Ultimately becoming a professional artist will require talent as well as hard work.
A professional artist might need to know how to paint or how to sculpt or animate or do any number of other things. Having a good understanding about the basic concepts of art are important to allow you to adapt to the changing world around us. I've known sculptors who learned to paint and painters who learn to animate. Creating user interface and designing layouts are important artistic jobs as well. The things we all need to understand are composition, color, aesthetics, etc.
There are very few professional artists whose job is just to draw or sketch. They do exist. One example is a comic book artist, specifically the penciller. Comic book artist are generally broken out into penciller, inker, colorist, and letterer. The penciller lays out the pages along with the writer and then proceed to draw out the action in every panel of the book. The inker will make sure to go over the lines and fill in the dark black areas to create contrast and allow the images to "pop" on the page. The colorist will then paint in the color and bring in more subtle lighting and form. The letterer will add in the text and other possible sound effects like the "BAM!" and "POW!" that you might see. Some comic book artists might do one, two, or even all 4 of the roles themselves. These roles also apply to manga as well (although most manga is black and white so won't have colorists).
I hope that this helps to answer your students' questions.
Andy recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Katrina’s Answer
Depends what kind of artist you wanna be. Since there are all kinds of form of art. From designing houses to creating a feature film. And each one of them takes time, money(there are cheaper ways but overall your probably gonna spend money), patience, and A LOT of dumb luck. Cause honestly anybody can do art, the hardest part about it is actually finding work (and then keep finding said work from studios or clients). While you do need skills and talent, its really all about being at the right place at the right time, who you know, and again dumb luck. So if you do wanna be an artist just remember, ya don't need a degree for this (it helps but not a whole lot), practice (even 10 min a day is enough), network, network, keep networking,
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Dr. James’s Answer
To become A Fine Artist and Painter, you will usually need 1 to 2 years of training which includes both on-the-job experience and training with experienced workers. Most Fine Artists and Painters have 2 to 4 years work experience and 6 months to 1 year job training.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
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Terry’s Answer
Hello, again, An Awesome Student Q.,
You actually don't need to log in years to become an artist, and you do not need to know how to draw. An artist is something someone decides for themselves.
Now, if you are asking to have a "stamp of approval" from a college in the form of an undergraduate degree or a masters degree so you can participate in the educational system (as a teacher) or the gallery system (as a collected artist) or the commercial marketplace (as a designer, graphic artist, etc.) Then you are looking at 4-6 years of full-time school/training. I would highly suggest if you go that route you also take classes in business, sales, and digital media. Making money as a fine artist is very difficult so you will need other skills for your survival job.
Best of luck!
T.
You actually don't need to log in years to become an artist, and you do not need to know how to draw. An artist is something someone decides for themselves.
Now, if you are asking to have a "stamp of approval" from a college in the form of an undergraduate degree or a masters degree so you can participate in the educational system (as a teacher) or the gallery system (as a collected artist) or the commercial marketplace (as a designer, graphic artist, etc.) Then you are looking at 4-6 years of full-time school/training. I would highly suggest if you go that route you also take classes in business, sales, and digital media. Making money as a fine artist is very difficult so you will need other skills for your survival job.
Best of luck!
T.
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Where's’s Answer
There is not a certain age one must reach to be a artist. Simply splashing paint on a canvas is art and even some babies can.do that!