As an undergrad I took a couple classes with J McMerty. One thing he always used to tell us was that we needed to have “favorites”. Want to be a writer? Who’s your favorite writer? Want to be a director? Who’s your favorite director? Want to be a digital artist? Well…you can see a trend here.
If we aspire to be professionals in visual media while implementing digital artistry in some manner, it’s good to have source material to look to for inspiration. It’s important to see what has been done, and to appreciate different elements in creative designs. One of the perks of being a creative type is that you get to borrow and “cheat” a little bit. I see it all the time in film and television. Homage is really just a fancy way of saying “to copy.”
It is especially important for someone like me—who has no background in art whatsoever—to understand “art” in general. Digital art, to my understanding, is a variation, or an extension of traditional art. It’s important, not only to recognize talented digital designers, but the trendsetting artists of the past, who have given our generation many tools to use and styles to emulate.
The great thing about art is that it’s everywhere. And it’s been prevalent essentially all throughout time. You can browse the internet and look at cool websites, look to famous painters, or even go as far back as to mimic a design based on ancient hieroglyphics. There is influence everywhere. You just have to look for it. I’m slowly learning that.
It took me these past couple of weeks to really start thinking like an art student. It took me awhile to understand that these terms, Expressionism, Realism, Formalism, etc., were not categories meant to be used to group artwork together, but rather they are styles and elements that can be interpreted in pieces of art. Those Realism and Expressionism exercises in class were very helpful. I think I’m looking at things through the proper lense now.
And I’m really happy that we didn’t have to read anything by Shelley Jackson this week. Thanks Professor Motley! 😉
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