Get Busy

The issue that’s becoming highlighted and underlined is that drawing itself is a craft, an activity that can be shown and taught from person to person. The talent is variable, but generally, students can be put in a funnel and pushed through by a teacher to achieve similar consistencies. The student is focused on learning the principles of their craft and their practiced applications. A independent student can do much the same by inadvertent adherence to adapting personal taste tilting towards the presented norms of their peers and masters. Both sets of students learn the skill of drawing… ie, drawing is a craft.

Creativity applied to the craft of drawing, that can arguably be a starting point for a discussion about art. Creativity can be encouraged. Creativity can be fed, but it can’t be taught. While I believe we all have potential for some form of creativity, we can develope our sense of creativity , yet it’s not something that can’t be given to a student. 

I’ve been working on developing my craft by drawing from photos, I’m more confident with using the materials at hand to create an image. What I’m not doing still, is taking creative responsibility for my own voice. I can look at the images that I’ve selected, I can see what my visual tastes are being drawn towards. I have strong opinions about composition, about visual storytelling. The art isn’t in the craft of drawing. Drawing is the medium and the tool for a creative voice. The creative voice coupled with craft is the Art. Do what you know you are supposed to do and get busy.