[LuLu_Fund]

Err... my basic steps towards beginning and improving art...
GENERAL TIPS
* PRACTICE makes perfect. Probably didn't need mentioning now.

* BASIC PRINCIPLES of art is very useful to be aware of, even if you don't conform to it. Be aware that it's there at some point!

* ARTISTS/INFLUENCES are always very important if you're seriously developing your art at a further level. Make sure you are motivated and being inspired, artists via web, museums and books can often give you ideas as well as teach you about how they approached art. It doesn't need to be artists.. even say you were doing something about Oddworld, you can look up similar wildlife creatures, look at industrial -related subjects etc. to influence you when you're working. You'll be surprised how much someone's work and information could affect your thinking and creativity. It's a key thing to consider when you look for your own style.

* ESTABLISHING YOUR STYLE will make you stand out from other people and vice versa; You know you could be doing something right if people respond or recognise your work. Don't forget you can use influences without jeopardizing your own style, if anything they enhance it by inspiring you with new ideas.

* YOU DON'T NEED TO CONFORM: Whatever your art is for, you do what you want to do! (As long as it doesn't harm people unfairly, of course!)

TECHNIQUES

A general idea after you develop your art is to think about your paper space you're working with... and how you're going to compose everything that will go onto the paper.

* NO NEED TO OVERDO! Despite what some art teachers say, if you overdo a piece and you feel like it might be too much... DON'T ruin it! You do as much as you're comfortable to do for the picture to be at its best. If you do like working over things, start lightly, end boldly!

*TEXTURES: You create a lot of character in your pics depending on how you apply your media to your paper.... harsh sharp marks are aggressive or bold, light marks are careful and conservative. Think about it with your art!

DRAWING:
* BEGIN observational drawings without a clue! Don't read up on anything first, just try it out yourself and start practicing a little; just do several observationals... still life, body etc.

*AFTER START READING about colour, proportion, tones etc. and question what you have drawn before. You can now look back on what you've drawn, you've now practised and understand how you observe, and now you have a starting point as to how to go about your art. When you take into consideration things like proportion and tones, you begin to know where you can start working on it and begins your building blocks.

* KEY RULE, make sure when you do observational drawings that you always look at the subject you are drawing, and NOT what you're drawing on paper... can be very distracting.

*MEASURING WITH PENCIL is usually a good sense of ruler when you measure up proportions, use its length to compare proportions of the body to each other, always keep looking and comparing differential length between for example, the chair and a stool.

* POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SPACE: don't just look at the objects, look at the space in between them when drawing, this usually helps when you draw accurately.

*LIGHT AND SHADOWS are useful when looking at positive and negative space, to compose this, use lamps or section out lights that reflect onto your subject... use interesting objects that can create interesting shapes within the shadows in the light.

*PROPORTIONAL DRAWINGS: life drawing is best; those wooden man-models are extremely useful for that kinda stuff as well as animation as you can really learn and experiment with movement and how body movement works.

* USE PENCIL, CHALK AND CHARCOAL as instruments, whether you are good or think you're crap on charcoal or pencil, you become more experienced.

* SMUDGING: It always looks so kewl because the shades all merge to create and impressive 3d perception. However, use it with care if you decide to use this.... I also think you should try drawing WITHOUT attempting to smudge using pure tonal work with the marks you make.

* WHEN YOU DO TONES AND SHADING, it might help exercising or giving yourself a tone guide. Draw 5 (2/4cm X2/4cm) squares next to each other. Shade square 1 black and 5th square remain white. try and attain a middle tone in the 3rd square so it's a perfect gray middle tone between black and white. Then compare sq 1 and sq 3 so you shade sq 2 in between the shades of those squares, and same with 4 in between sq3 and sq5. With this tone guide, you can do pics and refer to your tone guide looking at what tone the area you are observing is most similar to. You can do a similar guide with colours.

* Good tip/idea to have an improved effect on light and shade is to cover your page completely when you shade or tone everything. When beginning to draw, draw lightly, and work darker and darker when you work on your piece and finally working into the dark areas... rubber is also useful to correct or enhance light areas (as mentioned previously). Go as black as you can when you do the darkest tones, it intensifies overall tones in the pic.

* MARK-MAKINGS: you can produce whole pics with lines, or you can scribble... it all works if you practice!

* EXPERIMENT with other media i.e. paint and pastels etc. Find what you're comfortable with (maybe all of them).

PAINTING:
*WHEN BEGINNING TO PAINT, try using just Red(Cadmium red if pos) Yellow (Process Yellow) and Blue(Cobalt or Ultramarine) paint in your pics... start mixing them as well to get your green or orange etc.;you learn to begin with these primary colours so by the end of it you know how to mix your colours. Then start using a wider palette. When you get the grasp of colour and soforth, you can do what you want...

* EXPERIMENT: I think it's always a fun exercise to experiment with brush marks and ways of applying paint to your 'canvas'. I don't think there should be a conformed way of using paint after you are aware of its basic principles.

*NOW YOU ARE EXPERIENCED with initially doing black and white drawings and looking at tone and proportion, you use colour and possibly painting (if you want) to develop your art, so after practicing colour, you can then handle tones and shades with it in your pics.

*ACCURATE/FINELINE GRAPHIC PAINTING: If you paint with precision, NEVER pollute your colours. Make sure they are mixed well and have a fair texture in terms of the paint thickness. It usually helps if you are using solid colours (rather than watercolour) that the texture is solid so if you do a mistake, you can paint over enough to conceal it. When doing fine lines, use a flat brush and take your time as you carefully drag it along lines with your wrist slightly off the 'canvas' (also meaning paper).

* INSPIRE AND CREATE: be influenced by other artists and subjects, and let your imagination or creativity run wild!