Advice to Young Artists

Link to new web site: The Naked Man Project

It seems young artist are always asking my opinion on their work. Sometimes they are quite talented and sometimes they need to just keep working to get what they want. I tend to not comment on their work but my standard word of advise to young artists is to keep at it. One drawing does not make a graphic artist as one photograph does not make a photographer. It seems that young artists are always so hard on them selves and beat them selves up because they have not yet developed all the skills of their chosen discipline. We have to learn to give our selves some wiggle room in which to grow. Yes there is beginners luck, but don’t be fooled or lulled into thinking this is where your talents lie. Once you begin to master the tools and the techniques becomes secondary to the process is when the real break through happens. Because then it becomes an extension of your expression and your passion flows through it. I remember in the beginning how much I tired to effect the images. Where I wanted to control the images with technique and the tools but really didn’t understand my connection to the subject in the first place. This is becoming one of the pitfalls of the modern digital software, because when we can shoot something poorly and then we can just make it look funky and that becomes art. But in reality the opposite is true. The foundation should be getting at the core of understanding and taking a great image, proper framing, and proper exposure, getting a great image from the start. Understanding the dynamics of how it works then applying the tools to enhance or bring out the qualities that drew you to take the image in the first place. It then becomes a sense of your expression and not just a reworking of an image to make it cool. I studied and learned a great deal from Ansel Adams who spent his life dedicated to understanding and mastering exposure in both the taking of the image and the printing of it. If you are series about becoming an artist learn from the masters who have dedicated their lives to what you are trying learn. My advice is you just have to keep working at it, constantly, until it becomes a part of who you are. In any creative process you never stop growing and you never stop learning. If you show up the table everyday and honestly explore your connection to the your artistry before you know it you will have a body of work that is uniquely about you.

VIEW FULL IMAGE: Russell #151