There are artists, and then there are the people who can draw, color, or paint. Which category do you want to be in?
The purpose of art is to communicate a message. It can be obvious or subtle, but without a message, without the emotion that creates the message, there is no impetus to shape the way the art is created.
I’m not talking about practice or exploratory work. I’m talking about the artwork that you’d consider your best. The stuff you’d put in your portfolio or want to be remembered by.
The artwork that inspires, motivates, makes us laugh or cry—the artwork that provokes a response in the viewer—is the artwork that has been shaped by the message driving the artist to create it. It might not be a coherent thought. Maybe it’s simply a feeling that the artist is trying to convey. Whatever the driving force is, the artist, once started, can’t let it go. The artwork has to be created. The thought or feeling has to get out.
How do you let your message shape your art? One way, especially if you aren’t sure what your message is, is to choose subject matter that means something to you.
Art students are encouraged to think hard about things that they care about and choose subject matter that is individual to them. It not only keeps the student motivated to complete the work, but adds a quality of certitude to the student’s claim of being an artist. It says “I’m an artist because I believe in this form in communication. I believe that I can convey my message through my work.”
The opposite of this is to choose subject matter that is trendy, or something created with the intention of pleasing the recipient of the art. The work may be technically accurate or very beautiful to look at, but it lacks impact. Often times the artist views it more as “work” than “art”.
The art that moves us might be described as expressive. The art that was work might be described as conventional.
How do you move from conventional to expressive? If you find that you’re in a rut, that you can’t seem to find inspiration and you feel like you’re spending all your time following someone else’s direction, you might be feeling the need to reach your expressive self.
You could go find an advice book, or maybe a workshop, or join a club that focuses on exploring creativity. But you don’t have to. Before you dive into the next trendy ten week program for finding your muse, try this simple approach.
- Make a list of the things you really care about. Think about some of the issues that make you angry as well as things that make you glad to be alive. Get specific. For example, it’s not enough to say that you’re upset about climate change, you need to figure out what it is about climate change that stirs you. Is it the government’s action (or inaction)? Consumerism? The results of changes in weather patterns? Impacts to critters living where the arctic ice is melting? List all of the things that produce a personal reaction. Try to make it as large a list as possible by listing even the smallest of issues. Who knows? Calling attention to what you might think of as a minor irritant could result in major life improvements for someone else.
- Review your list and cross out the ideas that you aren’t going to personally explore. For example, if the idea involves something that occurs only once a year, and you can’t get to it, you aren’t going to understand it enough to convey a message. Cross out anything you can’t get at least some first-hand knowledge of. If saving feral cats is an important issue, then finding out with certainty how they grew into a large population in the center of your city should be equally important.
- Review the list again and cross out the ideas that are common or constantly in the news. Unless you can think of a unique way to convey the message, it’s going to get lost amongst all the similar messages being sent. If it’s an issue that everyone has been hearing about over and over, people are probably tired of hearing it. Throw it out unless you can point out something new to say.
- Try to stay away from the superficial. If your issue is, for example, that major television networks rarely have quality programming, it will be a difficult to provoke an emotional response in the viewer. That’s because most people know that television programs change over time depending on the audience that the network is trying to appeal to. Instead of being artistically expressive, the superficial message may appear to be naive, petulant, or worse yet, whining.
- When you have narrowed your list to three to five issues, start thinking about which topics will provide you with an opportunity to develop a novel approach. Which of the remaining topics do you care about passionately? Does it drive you to create art? If not, keep going through ideas until you hit on one that does.
- Once you’ve found the issue that resonates with you MAKE ART THAT MATTERS. Draw realistically or use symbolism. Show the world what the issue is and why it’s important. You don’t have to provide a solution, but if you’ve got one don’t hold back! The goal is to let your message get through, show others why you care about an issue.
You might find that they care about it, too. - Finally, whether you’re a beginner or an expert in your medium, use the knowledge you have now to make your art. Don’t wait until you’ve learned all you need to know, or you’ve practiced until your skills are perfect. Your skills will develop over time and you’ll learn new things to apply to your art. What makes your art memorable won’t be the way you applied the media, but how you used the media to express your message.
You can do that TODAY.
So what are you waiting for?
originally posted at annettezimmerman.com
