Artists: Describe how you produce a beautiful new creation?

my art is like my life; I have a general idea of the colour and shape i want to create, but generally i make mistakes, some big, some small that force me to alter the picture slightly…and it still turns out beautiful…and generally more beautiful than i could have originally envisaged

I start in about a 4“x4” section and let it create itself usually.

For planned pieces I mull it over for a few days to a few months, and in the case of two pieces, it’s been a few years and I’m not ready to start.

With both methods, the art dictates its own end result most of the time. I am not in control.

I’m more of a structured whimsy type. ;)

I usually know what I’m going to draw, then I add colour later.

I usually start with a small circle.. make the torso too long.. the arms of disproportionate length.. and the legs much too short.. then I wish I could be an artist for a while… a stickman looking as if it were exposed to vast quantities of nuclear fallout is indubitably my final product.

I’m an artist in all sorts of things. Here’s a summary of my web design process. I talk with the client and ask them to bring me links of sites they like elements of, as many people can’t draw or sketch out what they have in mind. I use these links as reference, not directly copying them of course. Then I fire up Photoshop and design the website. I start with an empty canvas, which I put a basic shape onto (rectangle or rounded corner rectangle). Then I start designing the site with the text and shape tools and lots of layers. Once I have a basic design ready, I send it off to the client to be approved or modified. I end up doing most of the actual info layout design in Photoshop as it’s just easier to visualize it all and to quickly move an element around, sending mockups of each page to the client as needed. Then it’s just a matter of translating the image into code, which becomes easier with each repeating.

Well, You see billy. When a man loves a woman very much…

My art is photography, so my creation starts with my choices of film and location. If I’m planning out a shoot, I get models and props and what have you, and I do plan out what the images will end up looking like. However, if I just go out to shoot landscape or cityscape/street photos, things like that, then I pay attention to light mostly; beautiful light is the key to a beautiful photograph. The second most important thing is composition, and I, for the most part, follow the rules of composition. I have to carry artistic intention through film processing/developing and printing (I actually avoid shooting digital if I can help it), making specific choices regarding contrast in B&W photos, color balance in color photos, and lightness/darkness (density), cropping, image size, and the choice of what paper to print on are all portions of what creates the final image and makes it the best image it can be.

Though I have dabbled in nearly every medium I am a painter.

I start by making very rough sketches on any handy surface, napkin, tile counter top (with pencil- it wipes off like a dry erase) or if a sketchbook is handy I will use it.

The rough sketch is just to get the composition right. I make sure that the eye travels throughout the painting without being led off. I add in subliminal details that keep interest such as a branch that intercepts or points at a subject head. I make sure that the subjects are in rough proportion.

Then I mull over it in my mind. This process can take weeks but most commonly it is for a day or two. Then I look over the sketch with a fresh eye to see if I missed anything.

Then painting day. I do not sketch onto my canvas or board though I sometimes use thinner with a hint of earth pigment to do a very vague outline if there are multiple subjects to ensure I do not paint off the canvas.

This is where it gets really cool. I lose all track of time and get into a zen high. I just keep pushing the paint around on the canvas and adding dabs here and there. I break for sleep and to be with my family and even then my mind wanders to the painting in studio I often even dream of the painting I am working on. When I come back in I look at it from a distance then close to see if I have gotten the little details right.

When the painting is done it is ready for gallery. If a manufacturer asks me to alter it for product I will stretch plastic wrap over the original and paint over the wrap. I then photoshop in the new additions so that my original vision is still intact.

Depending on the project, I either had a specific design in mind or a general idea of what I wanted. Fortunately, the huge percentage of my work was not contracted. I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do, put it up for sale, if they liked it they bought it. I hated special orders.

I did chainsaw carvings for years. I got very good at that so I could visualize pretty specifically what the finished product would look like. More detailed wood carvings (knife, chisel), such as door panels, small objects I still had a very good idea of what the finished product would be.

Once in a while I got to play, either sketching, painting, or carving. When those opportunities presented, I would start with a general idea, get it going, then, with any luck, my hands would take over.

Some of my best work came whilst I had an out of body experience (not drug induced), I was not concentrating on the work, my hands did it by themselves. Great fun. I have told many people over the years that my mind always knew what I wanted to carve, but it took years to teach my hands.

This is much shorter than everyone else’s answer, and it may provide no help (sorry) but what I do is think of things related to what I’m going to draw, and start squiggling them all around a page, then I chose what I think looks best and define/color/ink, that as the main center of the waddever your making.

Honestly… I sit and think…. and think… and think… and when I’m not thinking… it comes to me. I usually get inspiration while I’m driving or something else not conducive to sketching. For the most part I never truly sketch… and I usually end up using the first drawing I make of something in the final piece that I make. Most of my sketches are not in sketchbooks.. but on old receipts and scrap paper n such. It’s an absolutely horrible way to work. Although, I guess it works for me. So to actually answer your question… when I do think of something… it comes out exactly how I think of it… I never really sit and stew on a design. I think and execute.

It’s a little of both for me. I know what I want to draw in my mind and then I begin it but as I create it usually changes which is totally ok!

I spend a lot of time working on the concept in my mind first. I’ll jot down ideas or do quick pencil sketches in my notebook. Once I sit down to create the piece, I try to work as quickly as possible and don’t deliberate over details. I’ll leave things unfinished on purpose and let myself be open to new ideas as I work. When I think it might be done, I look at it for a minute then commit to it as being complete.

When something is brewing artistically, I freak out. Then have anxiety/angst. Then go to fridge. eat something. go to computer. read something. have anxiety/ag. make tea. more anxiety…then….there….go….move toward workbench….anxious..anxious…jump off. start up tourch. pick up metal. fire, flux. in zone. not hungry. not thirsty. no computer. work in the zone still. work work. stop work. drink tea. check computer. freak out. have anxiety…....(start cycle again)

Tonight, I grabbed my acrylic paints, an old taco bell cup full of water, a few small paintbrushes, and a couple of paper mache pigs and just started in.

I drew funky flowers all over one on a white background, and the other is black, which I was going to make into a piggy Frank N Furter because it would be amazing.But instead he turned into a black and white cow, with reversed colors.

You tell me how my brain did that. I started in and next thing I know I have a cow and no pearls in sight.

And the flowers were gonna be zebra stripes. Wtf.

For watercolor I start with sketches to figure out the shapes and composition and sometimes map out the values. I often draw what is in front of me, sometimes from photos I’ve taken, sometimes from memory or imagery from my head. Lots things inspire me-a luscious color, an elegant line on the edge of a leaf, the way light plays across a surface, the proportions of a doorway. I often do many sketches. Often the first is the best, but one never knows. Then I transfer or draw the image onto stretched 140# watercolor paper and paint. I’m usually am pretty loyal to my original vision of color, but I also use very wet washes which let the color float across the page in not always predictable ways. Some colors rush across the page, others settle into the paper texture and look grainy. I love that organic aspect of watercolor.