The intense effort taught the patience needed to hyperfocus on details to refine the right fine motor skills required to produce this kind of art. Anyone supremely dedicated would gladly spend the effort.
This essay reminds me of something one of my college professors once taught: “The only way you’ll be world class in anything is if you truly enjoy what you doing.”
Talent takes you so far, but passion gets you to the mountain top. Thanks for writing this!
You bring up some excellent points about mastery of our craft. It got me thinking that in today's world with the rise of AI, it seems likely that there will be a big shake out of practitioners from art and illustration , and maybe that's a good thing in a weird way. It might push those of lesser talent to fall to the wayside, while those who do have the skills can rise and be recognized for their dedication and quality of work.
As it stands, AI art's ubiquity and overall homogenized look might cause itself to collapse from its own slick blandness as people finally wise up and turn away from it. Let's hope this gets them back into appreciating art made with the human hand.
Well said as usual! I am always amazed when people say, “I could make that.” Most people have such a limited scope outside their own experience. A lot of people feel it’s easy until they try it themselves. Thank you again!!
It's wonderful to have history put forward this way, especially history about any of the arts. It's a needed reminder that although talent can light a creative fire, it's the discipline of knowing the craft that keeps the fire from burning out. Okay, so I've been watching/rewatching a lot of Survivor episodes lately: but the metaphor holds. Tinder first, then kindling, then regular fuel... one learns the purpose of each step.
I have artistic talent, that I have nurtured to a certain degree. But I fortunately learned at an early enough age that I didn't have the patience to do the hard work to polish that talent to a professional level. But when it came to writing and storytelling, that I loved and still love working on, learning the craft.
That said, I still love reading and learning about the progress of visual artists. And I'm glad you have looked into so many artists and their careers, because I love reading how you write about them.
Colleen, you are a national treasure.
Well, heck. Thank you.
The intense effort taught the patience needed to hyperfocus on details to refine the right fine motor skills required to produce this kind of art. Anyone supremely dedicated would gladly spend the effort.
This essay reminds me of something one of my college professors once taught: “The only way you’ll be world class in anything is if you truly enjoy what you doing.”
Talent takes you so far, but passion gets you to the mountain top. Thanks for writing this!
It's the dedication that really holds the key to getting to the world class rank, that's for sure.
Many people confuse Crowley with Satan. Satan is frequently credited as the Serpent of Eden, when some of us know who it really was. 🍷
You bring up some excellent points about mastery of our craft. It got me thinking that in today's world with the rise of AI, it seems likely that there will be a big shake out of practitioners from art and illustration , and maybe that's a good thing in a weird way. It might push those of lesser talent to fall to the wayside, while those who do have the skills can rise and be recognized for their dedication and quality of work.
As it stands, AI art's ubiquity and overall homogenized look might cause itself to collapse from its own slick blandness as people finally wise up and turn away from it. Let's hope this gets them back into appreciating art made with the human hand.
Well said as usual! I am always amazed when people say, “I could make that.” Most people have such a limited scope outside their own experience. A lot of people feel it’s easy until they try it themselves. Thank you again!!
Thanks so much for this fascinating art history lesson! I love that slice of the angel's expression ... he is plotting terrible things.
He’s a redhead. That goes without saying.
It's wonderful to have history put forward this way, especially history about any of the arts. It's a needed reminder that although talent can light a creative fire, it's the discipline of knowing the craft that keeps the fire from burning out. Okay, so I've been watching/rewatching a lot of Survivor episodes lately: but the metaphor holds. Tinder first, then kindling, then regular fuel... one learns the purpose of each step.
I have artistic talent, that I have nurtured to a certain degree. But I fortunately learned at an early enough age that I didn't have the patience to do the hard work to polish that talent to a professional level. But when it came to writing and storytelling, that I loved and still love working on, learning the craft.
That said, I still love reading and learning about the progress of visual artists. And I'm glad you have looked into so many artists and their careers, because I love reading how you write about them.
Informative
I had never seen this gorgeous work. Thanks so much for the inspire and background. It is a wonder.
Great post, thanks!