[lady_leon]

I'm really stuck. I'm mainly a photographer but I want to progress my artwork, which includes drawing, painting and collaging. Firstly, I feel like anyone could do what I'm doing, it's complete crap and doesn't really mean anything. I'm having a hard time finding an individual style and thinking up new ideas/any ideas. I'd quite like to start out by improving on my portraiture but I'd like to experiment with this. Can anyone help?

[forsaken_earth]

Go to an exhibiton, sketch, evaluate concepts, see if you can do something inspired by the artist.

It's not plagiarism, it's learning.

Don't beat yourself up about the lack of originality, just keep drawing, studying... and eventually when an idea strikes you, get a new sketchbook and dedicate it entirely to that.

[lady_leon]

Originally Posted by forsaken_earth

Go to an exhibiton, sketch, evaluate concepts, see if you can do something inspired by the artist.

It's not plagiarism, it's learning.

Don't beat yourself up about the lack of originality, just keep drawing, studying... and eventually when an idea strikes you, get a new sketchbook and dedicate it entirely to that.

That's what I'm doing. I'm cutting things out of magazines and writing things in different fonts around it and the result just sucks. I'm not sure what else to do at the moment.

[forsaken_earth]

Originally Posted by lady_leon

That's what I'm doing. I'm cutting things out of magazines and writing things in different fonts around it and the result just sucks. I'm not sure what else to do at the moment.

Um, magazines and pretty fonts aren't going to help.

You need to get out of the house and see some real art.

[lady_leon]

Originally Posted by forsaken_earth

Um, magazines and pretty fonts aren't going to help.

You need to get out of the house and see some real art.

There's no such thing as real art. I've gone out to exhibition after exhibition and in my opinion, the majority of it has been utter ********. I'm just doing what I can with whatever I have at the moment. I think it's good to experiment with different mediums and that's what I'm starting with.

[emeleh]

Originally Posted by lady_leon

There's no such thing as real art. I've gone out to exhibition after exhibition and in my opinion, the majority of it has been utter ********.

That right there is surely something you could explore?
Find what is it about the art you saw that you didn't like, then change it.
Or even look into the topic of what is 'real art', you might find new styles, subjects or techniques that you haven't seen before that might trigger you into a way of developing the things you already like to do.

[lady_leon]

Originally Posted by emeleh

That right there is surely something you could explore?
Find what is it about the art you saw that you didn't like, then change it.
Or even look into the topic of what is 'real art', you might find new styles, subjects or techniques that you haven't seen before that might trigger you into a way of developing the things you already like to do.

I quite like that, thanks. I'll do some research.

[emeleh]

No problem (: good luck with it!