Many people with artistic desires wonder how they can realize those artistic interests. If you’ve ever loved the way that a certain type of art looks, it’s natural to consider turning that enjoyment into a hobby, or even a job.
Becoming an artist can seem like a complex process, but in reality, you just need the blueprint so that you can do it. In 5 steps, you can turn your love of art into an artistic talent.
1. Choosing a Medium
Your first step needs to be choosing a medium for the art that you’re interested in. Remember, you’re not tied down to a specific medium. The skills you learn in any medium can transfer into other mediums, but you want to build a strong base in one specific medium before you move into another one. There are two main categories here:
Physical Mediums
A physical medium includes any process where you take a physical material and turn it into art. Some common forms of art using physical mediums include oil or acrylic painting, sculpting, whittling, knitting and crocheting, or even fashion design.
These physical mediums require that you have physical items that you then turn into a piece of art. People who love to work with their hands may find themselves drawn to physical mediums.
Digital Mediums
A digital medium includes any process where you create art using a computer or other digital tool. That means art using digital mediums includes general digital art, 3D modeling, CG modeling for film and TV, digital photography, digital collage, and algorithmic art.
If you already love using computers and digital tools, digital mediums may be a great option for you. It may also be a good idea to pursue digital art if you have little space for lots of tools, as your tool list will be much smaller with digital mediums.
2. Determining Your End Goal
Next, you need to decide what you want to do with your artistic endeavors. People will typically pursue either a hobbyist goal or a professional goal.
Hobbyist
Being a hobbyist is a great way to exercise your artistic desires without feeling the pressure to turn it into a career. If you want to work as a secretary by day, then come home and paint or sculpt for fun, that’s a completely justified desire.
Plus, some hobbyists can make a little bit of money from their artwork if they want to sell finished pieces or take commissions. Hobbyists can often learn on their own from a variety of resources.
Professional
If you want to make your specific art medium your full-time job, you’re looking to become a professional. If you’re starting to get into 3D modeling, for example, and you decide that you would love to design characters for video games and animated TV shows, you’re hoping to become a professional. Professionals will typically want to pursue more professional learning opportunities to add to their resume.
3. Deciding on the Most Important Supplies
When you’re a complete beginner, you only need the most important supplies to start practicing. For example, if you’re a beginner acrylic painter, you’ll likely invest in a few brushes, canvases, and basic blue, red, yellow, white, and black acrylic paints. You may see experts using dozens of different colors and brushes, but as a complete beginner, you don’t need to invest that much money.
The list of necessary supplies for a beginner will vary depending on the precise medium that you’re using. Your best bet will be to search online for “beginner supplies for [medium]” or “essential supplies for [medium].” A search for “Beginner supplies for painting” will bring up a great list, for example.
You’re not the first person to try out a new artistic medium, and these lists will direct you to the best tools for a beginner.
4. Practicing Regularly
This is one of the most important things to do when you’re trying to learn a new artistic medium. Practice is how you’ll improve your skills. Even if you don’t like the end result, you will have learned some new skills while you were going through the practicing process, and that’s important to remember.
Many people set aside a small amount of time every day to practice their new artistic medium. You may, for example, be able to set aside 30 minutes every day after you get home from work. Even just 15 minutes can make a big difference – over a year, 15 minutes a day ends up being over 91 hours! Opt for small amounts of practice over a long period of time rather than many hours of practice every so often.
5. Upgrading Your Tools Over Time
As you continue practicing and become better at your craft, you’re going to want to upgrade your tools over time. Create a list of priority upgrades – if you’re currently doing digital modeling with a mouse, for example, a budget tablet may be first on your list of upgrades, then a more expensive, high-end tablet. There are often three things that keep people from upgrading their tools.
Budget Restrictions
Of course, budget tends to come up first when it comes to issues regarding improving your artistry. Better tools are often more expensive. The best way to mitigate this problem is to space your improvements over time, purchasing just a single piece every few months or so. Again, a list can be massively helpful here – mapping out which purchases you want to make next will help you budget for them.
Knowledge Restrictions
This is another possible problem that artists can encounter when they want to upgrade. It can seem daunting moving from a simpler tool that you nonetheless understand well to a more complex tool that will be more beneficial for your artwork. Your best option will be to do research on the tool before you buy it, then make sure you keep your old tools around while you’re getting used to the new ones.
Space Restrictions
If you’re working in a physical medium, you may find that you run into some space restrictions when you try to move to better tools. These tools can end up requiring a significant amount of space, and especially if you live in an already-small area, restrictions may be pretty extreme. In this situation, the best option is typically to look for tools that you can put away when you’re not using them. That way, you don’t have to worry about running out of space.
6. Understanding When to Take Things to the Next Level
What is the “next level” for you? If you’re a CG modeler looking to become a professional, the “next level” may be a CG training program like the one from Think Tank Online. If you’re a hobbyist painter wanting to receive some recognition, the “next level” may be submitting your work to a local showcase. If you’re an aspiring fashion designer hoping to take commissions one day, the “next level” may be to take some fashion classes at a local community college.
No matter what the next level is for you, you should take the step when you feel like there’s something bigger waiting for you once you take it. A CG modeling program may not require much preexisting experience with CG modeling, whereas submitting your artwork to a local showcase will require significant talent. If you look at the next step and you think, “I want to do that!”, you should take the next step. You never know what’s waiting for you down the line.