I've been investing a lot of thought into the hows and whys of my art lately, and the issue of technical skill has been a recurring issue. More specifically, the way that technical skill and personal vision affect the overall impression of a piece, and whether or not one has to be sacrificed for the other.
After so many years of practice and improvement with my art, I feel I'm coming to a point where the pressure to take my skill to a "professional" level is starting to bear down. It's not that I question my ability to do this; that's only a question of putting in the time. It's just that there is something that I've noticed over the years that makes me stop and consider exactly what it is that I want out of my art.
I'll not give any specific examples here due to the fact that I wouldn't want anyone to mistakenly think I was badmouthing their art, so let me try to explain what I'm talking about here the best I can without using pictures.
In art, I have noticed that there is a certain correlation between the amount of technical skill involved in a piece and how much it moves me, and not in the way you might expect. If I were to make a scale illustrating the various levels of skill and rate the potential for my being emotionally moved, there would be a cutoff point somewhere near the upper skill levels where the chance of my being enamored with a thing becomes relatively slim. In other words, once an artist gets "so good", their art doesn't really do anything for me anymore.
There are many artists whose work is really near and dear to me, who are not the "best of the best". Conversely, there are many exceedingly skilled artists (I find many concept artists who fall into this category) whose work, while technically brilliant, seems to lack a soul.
So, I have a few questions for you. Is this a real thing, or just a personal bias of mine? Does an artist really need to sacrifice that personal spark, the joy of their work, for the sake of "excellence"? What do you value more in art, execution or emotion?
Let me know your thoughts, I'm interested to hear your opinions on the subject.
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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As someone who did lock themselves away and tried perfecting their 'shred technique" on guitar I know that for myself I started to hold myself to higher standards of musical composition but lost some degree of the intuitive/experimental exploration that had previously led to great tunes.
I think if I keep practicing , I will find the right balance. Until then I just enjoy drawing.
i have a painting mists of avalon 2009 who touched many people and got almost 2000 favs, it is from 2009 and my skills are so poor there, yet it touches so many people, then I do highly defined techical stuff, still with a bit of soul i may hope and it gets barely 250 favs, so yes there is more much more involved than technical skill, it is about weaving the magic.
Look at a room of people sometimes, there are perfectly build women with long legs, perfect boobs and a perfect face and people look at her and yet they flock all around the redhead, that is way too short, a bit chubby but has an amazing smile and an interesting light in her eyes and quite a personality.
And there is alas a bit of jealousy involved sometimes, we are all human, we have a difficult time relating to utter perfection, most of us, flawed ourselves, prefer something flawed because we are not treathened by it.
But as you said I noticed the phenomenon too, I like to be moved too and I lost many many watcher getting better in my skills.
I hope my art still has a soul, i know I still make many mistakes lol
i will send you the two examples in a note honey
great journal, fave!