I Am An Artist - I Do Photography And I Am A Winner

Of course you're an artist. Period, end of discussion... I'm not sure why people even keep bringing this subject up.

I'll just keep doing my "nice tricks" with the pencils... for me, that's easier than photography. I'm Exhibit A in the "can't do photography" department... so I get it that photography takes skill.

I agree 100 %. I can draw, I can paint, and I can make pottery. I feel the most passionate about photography so that is what I choose to do. I will not let someone else's snobbish definition of what art should be define me. As a collector I wouldn't buy art from any artist who feels their medium is superior to anybody else's. My advice to him is this. Get used to it. Because photography, digital art, and the like is here to stay. We live in a world where terrible things happen every day so really who cares about what makes an artist? If it makes the world a better place then so be it. We are all creators, maybe that definition would make people like him happy. We all make contributions to this world so stop worrying about what defines an artist and focus on your own work.

I'm including our local body shop mechanics as artists also. After a woman t-boned my truck two years ago, and did $8500.00 worth of damage, the guys that pulled dents and welded-in new pieces of hand-formed sheetmetal to match what was damaged, and then paint it. That's artistry also.

I was going to ask "What are the requirements of being an artist?" Is it like being an Doctor or CPA? Is there an official guild that bestows the title?

its pretty confusing. if it was that easy- then anyone owning a camera would have the same exact quality work. the good people and the bad, would have the same images. problem is, if the all the pictures you look at look very good, you don't get a gauge as to what is bad. and if you don't have an eye at all, you won't see what makes the image look good.

when i refer to myself i call myself a fine art photographer. a normal photographer shoots weddings or something (that's what people assume when they hear the word). you can call yourself an artist, but it means nothing unless you say your a painter. and in that case, its better to just call yourself that.

an artist is anyone that creates. so a sculptor would be classified as an artist, but he has a proper name. so to think that some how artist is coupled with painting or drawing - that's dumb with a capital B. dumB at one time there may have only been those two things. (no one should ever use it that term to describe one's self, tell them what you are in general because they will ask - an artist of what?)

just because there are many doesn't make it easy. at one point digital didn't exist, and there were far fewer due to film costs.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I mentioned my drywall guy in the other thread. He's a complete artist. There's a busker in my town, a woman who plays the spoons. Just two regular tablespoons. She's an artist.

I think it takes a very fragile worldview to want to restrict the term "artist" to a few based on semantics and ideas. No matter what a person calls themselves, the work will either stand on its own or it won't. That's really all that matters. Not the person, not the method. The result.

Mike,

You are a writer and I am an illiterate.

Good luck with that.

Dave

i think the requirements are:

red and white striped shirt
a beret
a palette
a brush
and for the sake of this discussion, white face paint and an invisible box.

the person that designed your clothes, car, watch, tv, all those things you take for granted -- all artists. architects, creative surgeons, musicians, etc - all artists. its silly to pin it down to one idea. if it makes you feel more special than the others, that's fine, but keep it to yourself. you'll just be looked as a petty person who doesn't really know what art is.

for example, without pointing - fractals are easy. aphophosis - has a randomizer, all you do is hit enter, and it creates a number of variations. you don't need to be an artist at all using that. anyone can make it, and they do, look at all the fractals. i guess i can't call it art because of that. there are also scores of paintings, statues, and other things through time, history and even here, i guess we can declassify those as well.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Some kind of credential, even just a reputation, is helpful to new customers paying upfront on a commission. The artist may not always be a winner. Underneath the thumbnails of Norman Rockwells Post covers over three or four decades in several of his books, Rockwell comments "This one was rejected by the editor three times," or, "This one...five times", before the editor finally got what they wanted.

autobody may be overlooked by people, but having taken that class, i know it needs a certain amount of artist skill to get it to look good. while many simply replace parts, not all of them are replaceable. and having to match bondo curves with the rest of the car, matching and blending and fading in paint. knowing that pearl looks a certain way and has to be painted a certain way. it takes a certain amount of art skill. while i wouldn't call them an artist unless they created a new type of car, they have artists skills. especially the painters with trick painting.

if it was easy to do - everyone would do it. and those that claim its easy - should show us how easy.

poor rockwell, had a time limit, it was just on a news paper (so many i'm betting didn't consider him an artist), and he had to meet a certain guideline. i'm betting most don't see cartoonists as artists either.

it doesn't have to hang in a gallery folks, to be considered art.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I wonder how quantity figures in. How many painting do I need to paint? Do they have to be any good?

If my medium of choice has a lot of bad examples - does that diminish my work?

Does Francis Ford Coppola worry that his life's work is being diminished by all of the super hero movies or b-movies?

Mike,

On Linkedin the great employment vacuum of life, Gallarie Sparta just added a new skill to my
skill set group. They decided I was a great oil painter. I wrote back stating I only do digital work.

I think the Gallarie Sparta is stalking me. I have gotten emails etc. Perhaps I need to go into hiding?
Change my name? Wash my underwear? Anything that would help.

Dave

Mike, I agree !Thus my reply is short.I had a Kodak Brownie once,circa 1950s,now I have a few brushes and a point n shoot.

To use a martial arts metaphor.... All art is kung fu, and all kung fu is art. Kung fu simply means effort over time.

As you make efforts as an artist over time, you build a history. A history of creation, a history of display, a history of review. Most of us call that history our resume. I think resume = reputation. Your history is your story as an artist. Hopefully one we'll all get to keep adding to for a long time to come!

Ed,

My favorite quote, I do not know who said it, but "Rembrandt painted 301 original finished pieces. There
are some 600 of them in the US."

Dave

Good thread

I love the photograph of the humming bird a inch or less from the guys eye. Even if it was photoshopped I like it !

Art!

Hiya guys,

It always amazes me that photographers want to be labeled as an "artist" but I have never heard of an "artist" wanting to be labeled as a "photographer." I, for one believe there is room for both just as FAA does. When you sign in it says Artists/photographers, Also just because I don't agree with some of your "opinions" doesn't mean that I'm jealous, stupid or ignorant. It just means that I am an "artist."

even a child is an artist.

thing is - artist has no skill level, its just a word. as you get better in karate you get belts have a certain dan level (or however its spelled), and there is some kind of proof to go with it. longer you stay in the army, the more pins you collect. but artist has no level to go with it. you can call yourself an artist and still be a really lousy artist. but you create so you can still call yourself that.

others may say your not an artist unless your in a gallery. and if your a photographer in a gallery - i'm certain something would short circuit in their minds and they would say something like that last thread did as they storm off thinking they are some how better than you.


still i wonder, all those painters of nature - do they stand around in a field painting the bear eating a fish? or do they use someone's photograph of that same scene?


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

i never like calling myself a photographer because no one knows what that means. they think reporter, or wedding or event.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Naturally I agree with Mike's original post. Many creative people are able to work in more than one media. Photography is not the only media I am skilled at or feel comfortable with, it's just the media I happen to be using for my creative expression at this point in my life.

One thing I have always wondered about...what is the real difference between an artist and an artisan?

Lol Harold!
What do you call Someone who opens a thread about narcissism, says what they want to say that then closes it before anyone else can offer an alternative opinion?

Mabe a hypocritical narcissist.

Hi Valerie:
I'm sure there will be lots of people who don't see it the way I do... but I see artist as an extreme case of artisan.

Harold,

Do you know the difference between a Raven and a Crow?

A Raven has six pinions in its tail.

A Crow has five pinions in its tail.

So it is a matter of o'pinion.

Mike,

Good to great art v. rather inept attempts at art.......the true measure......

But there is always refrigerator art.

DAve

I for one don't mind the average person saying someone is or isn't an artist based on the medium they work in, but for a fellow "artist" to say such things is pure blasphemy in my eyes.

If I thought I could post an image without making it a link to a piece for sale, I'd do it, but the overwhelming compulsion is too great to ignore regardless (especially considering I have intentionally and effectively avoided partaking in any board activity since returning to FAA and plan to continue to do so). That being said:



Anyone who says "I made art," made art. Whether or not it's good art is the only valid argument anyone other than the artist can make, which in itself is subjective.

Also Mike, I disagree with your generalization regarding fractal work. While I agree to great extent regarding Apophysis (and the large majority of fractal programs for that matter), the software I use allows for a tremendous amount of granular customization, much like the most sophisticated of graphic programs. Could I make gorgeous pictures using Frax Pro with little to no input from me should I choose to? Yes, I could. Is my fractal art made this way? Never. The majority of my designs take hours of work, I control everything from my custom color palettes, to lighting intensity and direction, to surface texture, to 3-D effects, all of which dramatically affect my image... and that's before I do the Photoshop work. Unlike with most fractal generators, I can approach my piece with a vision in mind from the start, and can produce images with easily recognizable forms should I choose to. Not all fractal work is equal, or nothing more than the result of throwing numbers into a mathematical processor. If it were, I'd limit my mediums to painting, drawing, digital art and photography as means of creating my art, as I find nothing creative nor challenging about running a processor to create art (and didn't during my days as a professional tech geek, either). I guess in the end I do agree with your point, just not the over-generalization of fractal work.

Yours in the "won't be posting unless passionately motivated to great extent again" devolution,

sms

i was kidding about fractals, making a point to shawn who does fractals. when he was a photograph he became angry when they had the gall to call themselves an artist. but when confronted with the same thing, i wanted to make it a point. that's all.

not calling something art, when it was art, usually insults the other person, which was the point of this thread to correct his thread, which he failed to understand why it was insulting in the first place.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

No, you're not
Yes, I am
No you're not
Yes, I am
You're not
I am.
You are NOT
YES I am.
Prove it.
I did.
You did not.
Yes I did.
Show me the proof.
Here
Show me the proof.
I did.
You did not.
YES I did.
No you are not.
I am.
I beg to differ.
You live under a bridge.
I do not.
You must.
I don't.
Why not?
Because I don't.
What makes you so special?

Mike, This is a great thread.
Susan, Your information about Fractal art is so helpful. I look at it differently now.
As you mentioned, not all fractal work is equal.
I come to discussion for this reason most of the time.

Ed. You have a firm grip on this!

Thanks Ron. I'm moving on to poetry. Opps I forgot a verse:

But this is the same as that...
No, its not.
Its not equal.
Equal to what?
Equal to this.
How much of this equals that?
Not a million of that will ever equal this.
Why not?
Because I say so.
But I worked hard on this, it took me a long time.
Doesn't matter.
Why not?
Because.
Because why?
Because because because of all the wonderful things he does!
You mean that man behind the curtain pulling all the levers and running the smoke machine?
Exactly. Now you understand.
I'm beginning to....

Beautiful man!

I just looked at fractal art, it's very interesting. I had no idea about this. Thanks!

Is fractual art a creative way of gas extraction?

Marvelous poetry, Ed!
You have grabbed the essence!

It is!
Nice poem,
Marlene! I always liked your beautiful smile.

Geez Mike, Can't you just sum all this up in two sentences? My eyes are tired......JGP

JBP Here are two natural treaatments for tired eyes :-

1. Dip cotton balls in tea water. Place the cotton on the eyelids and leave it there for sometime.

2. Take a cucumber and cut it into slices. Place the sliced cucumber on your eyelids, to get relief from the puffiness.

face salad?

staring at a screen for hours, combined with pollen - eyes get tired.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Anyone can take a photograph just like anyone can paint. I can throw paint on a piece of canvas, just the same as one can pick up a camera and fire a snapshot. Doesn't mean either is going to be any good. Too many artists like to think they are special, when in fact, they are not at all. It's a personal problem.

I will have to agree as a girl who "does tricks" with pencils AND takes her own reference photos in order to do so. Photography takes skill. That being said, being able to do tricks with pencils also takes years and years of personal training and a good drawing is based on the skills of the artist, not just the reference material used. In the end, it is all art. I don't know why so many scoff at photography, my guess is they have never tried to do it seriously as an art form, other wise they would know better than to say that it's not art.

Tee hee.. lol...you go guys

Dear Mike @Savad, Since recently you posted in a discussion I had that you had tired eyes and could I just sum it all up in two sentences..I said I did but really would rather you read the entire post much like many have of yours here..since one of the members kindly gave a recipe to help your eyes perhaps you can do the following and then relax and read my rather lengthy post in its entirety .. much like when we do the same for you..Your humble co-member JGP





Andy PYRAH

2 Hours Ago

JBP Here are two natural treaatments for tired eyes :-

1. Dip cotton balls in tea water. Place the cotton on the eyelids and leave it there for sometime.

2. Take a cucumber and cut it into slices. Place the sliced cucumber on your eyelids, to get relief from the puffiness.

Susan Maxwell S I very much disagree with you on apophysis, and I use all the programs at times. To do beautiful fractals in apophysis you cannot just hit a randomiser. I challenge anyone to randomise this in apophysis.

Georgiana ,wow.. my mothers name was georgia.. think she would have loved to add the rest of those letters to her name but not sure she would have...excellent ...I have a question for you..now the software that you speak of here used to create this incredible piece.. was it purchased ?or is it a free software? I have looked around.. over the years I used to go to sites and play using random generators .. they were fun.. but then I see here on FAA there are a bazillion and one people that make these images.. Are.. they fact getting free software or buying it or what? What is the best software to use that is for the 'simple minded" me...to use to create something like this and does it cost anything? If not or if so please share this marvelous piece of technologies name here? As I am up for a good challenge to create a fractal like yours.. are you game? Level the playing field and share the true name of the software used here..thanks in advance.. JGP

Jean, it is completely free as a program but to produce images like the one above there is no such thing as 'random'; it's a very careful use of mathematics. It takes me around 2 days to simply do the math, and the render is the final product which can tie up a computer for over a day.


http://sourceforge.net/projects/apophysis7x/

There are also 'plugins' to add extra math to, but no - nothing beautiful really comes out of randomizations, and certainly not from apophysis. Ultra Fractal I've found easier but don't like. I think the Chaos program is the easiest - at least for me.

There is no easy way - it's a lot of study :)

Thank You so much Georgiana, I have been researching here and there and everywhere on the internet for some programs free or otherwise..Thank goodness I am a whiz at math so maybe it won't be an issues. I studied advance mathematics in my university in my third year at age 17 also applied physics and calculus so hopefully it wont be too difficult for me..Once again all is appreciated ,I will check into it.. JGP

"An artist is someone who intentionally creates art. Art is any statement (which could be an object, action, performance etc.) created to deliver a message, or evoke an emotion."

By that definition, this post is art.

That's the problem with so many definitions of art - it's so broad that anything becomes art.

Or, anything becomes art if the person creating it says it is, hence piles of candy dumped in the corner of a museum, bras across the Grand Canyon (which never came to pass), etc.

I paint, draw and photograph and only put a tiny portion on FAA.
Come see a broader representation of my work over on Intagram!
https://instagram.com/marqueeofstars/

Thank you Mike Savad !!!! I simply love all your postings! If you ever string all your posts together and, for example, write a book with them...I would be one of first in line to buy that book! Your experience, insight and clarity is very helpful & appreciated by folks like me.

What's art? Is the same be commercial than artistic? Can you be a great commercial photographer or painter and do not to be an artist? The main is not the tool, the main is the soul, technical skills can be acquired but talent flows from inside to outside naturally, then you add the philosophal stone to the mixture and here it is! But, in anycase artistic quality means sales, that's marketing and client's minds manipulation (in most of cases) Enjoy monday!

...one of the best and most prolific artists on faa
and an all too infrequent poster in The Artful Photograph!