things I have learned between the last week of last semester and the present that I don’t know how I didn’t figure out a long time ago:
in no particular order
1. Just because your finished piece only took 1 hour/3 hours/30 minutes (in the morning before class) doesn’t mean you only put that much effort into it. All the research, sketches, thinking, brainstorming and false starts that went into it “count”.
2. Stop trying to “just wing it” when it comes to composition/color/value and plan it out. It seems like a pain, but it’s worth it considering the amount of time and trouble it’ll save you down the road.
3. You don’t need to color things the way they look in real life. Skin can be green, grass can be red, and it’ll probably look better that way.
4. It might be easier to work out all that complicated perspective and and sketch work digitally, where you can’t tear through the paper from erasing it over and over. Sketch it in Photoshop, print it out and trace that sucker onto some good paper!
5. Regarding those watercolors you’ve been using for years: The reason your washes don’t look nice are because you’re working wet on dry and never realized that it might help to work wet on wet, the way every art teacher has ever told you to work. Also, why did it take this long to make a color chart?? Who knew ultramarine and raw umber made such a beautiful grey!
6. Just because your classmates all did amazing pieces doesn’t mean yours isn’t good too, only different. There could always be something different that you wish you did but you can’t put every style in every piece.
7. Backgrounds are nice sometimes, yes?
alternative title, “Things that I wish I had figured out sooner but it’s nice to have figured them out now”
