How should I Practice Art as a 15 year old?
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Hello! For some background: I'm a student (recently turned 15 years old) in Ontario who just joined high school grade 9 nearly 6 months ago. After just becoming really fascinated by Artstation work, I decided, about 8 months ago, that I wanted to work to become a professional artist (currently interested in both 2D and 3D) and get that dream job. Why? I just love analyzing creative work, and hope that when I pursue the same path, I could make the amazing work myself.
But to get the point, I am asking: how exactly should I be practicing all day at my age?
(And when I ask how, I really emphasize: how?)
I know this might be a really general, dumb question, but it is a question I ask myself daily when I feel lost. I look at other professionals, and wonder how their daily practice as a 15-year-old compares to mine. How they managed all the assignments, how they knew what art resources to look at, and how exactly they would go about their days when just arriving from school.
In my life, the routine for me is coming home from school every day to return to my same old desk, occasionally taking out my sketchbook to draw or view a Maya tutorial for 5-10 minutes. This cycle repeats every day, and I began to feel lost as to what I should do every day to become someone as skilled as one of the professionals I see. (Like Finnian Macmanus, someone I read about who was incredibly skillful at the age of 16.) So I ponder:
But to get the point, I am asking: how exactly should I be practicing all day at my age?
(And when I ask how, I really emphasize: how?)
I know this might be a really general, dumb question, but it is a question I ask myself daily when I feel lost. I look at other professionals, and wonder how their daily practice as a 15-year-old compares to mine. How they managed all the assignments, how they knew what art resources to look at, and how exactly they would go about their days when just arriving from school.
In my life, the routine for me is coming home from school every day to return to my same old desk, occasionally taking out my sketchbook to draw or view a Maya tutorial for 5-10 minutes. This cycle repeats every day, and I began to feel lost as to what I should do every day to become someone as skilled as one of the professionals I see. (Like Finnian Macmanus, someone I read about who was incredibly skillful at the age of 16.) So I ponder:
Did all the other professional artists, at my age, just occasionally pull out their sketchbooks after coming home from school?
"What exactly would they do when returning home to teach themselves art? After accomplishing something, how did they know what to do next? (like build a gun, for example?) Exactly how much effort did they put in every day?"
Maybe I'm just expecting an easy answer like: On my average day, I drew Pinterest-nature photos from Google for 3 hours, or Google-searched and watched a YouTube tutorial about 4D Cinema for 4 hours.
In that answer, I'm just hoping that I would be able to apply this to my own everyday routine.
So to end: what are your thoughts or guidance?
_________
If you also would like to see what I make when practicing: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/325656-Zalonio-s-Sketchbook
Maybe I'm just expecting an easy answer like: On my average day, I drew Pinterest-nature photos from Google for 3 hours, or Google-searched and watched a YouTube tutorial about 4D Cinema for 4 hours.
In that answer, I'm just hoping that I would be able to apply this to my own everyday routine.
So to end: what are your thoughts or guidance?
_________
If you also would like to see what I make when practicing: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/325656-Zalonio-s-Sketchbook
Replies
My recommendation:
Basic painting (color theory, value, composition): Acrylics, Oils, doesn't matter, as long ass you're doing observational painting, you're learning to see the world.
Figure Drawing: this is SUPER important. It's gonna set you up to see the body like a professional.
Software is easy to learn. Foundational skill are not.
On the more practical side, it seems you like drawing people so really study anatomy. There are some great resources on pinterest and deviantart and a bunch of other website for drawing people. Maybe find out if there are any life drawing classes in your area, because that will be infinitely useful. And that point about basic colour theory/value/composition is also really important. No matter what area in art you focus on, 2d or 3d, character or environment, those basic art fundamentals will come into play. I've not actually tried it, but I've been meaning to use Ctrl Paint to build up my own 2d skills, so that might be worth a try?
Also I really like your second landscape the one with all the wires. It looks really nice, and is definitely on the right track skill wise.