Saturday, March 19, 2011

Modern PRACTICAL Art


Excuse the over-sized image. It's cool though, right?

Ever wonder exactly how artists create images like that?

Well I had never really before, but it seems that my 4.76 year old Princess is turning out to be quite the little artist. And with no real expertise in that department between her parents (or family) I'm researching how best to nurture this interest.

She takes an art class one day per week which is VERY GOOD - except that it's $35 per class!

For that rate I may as well look to hire a private instructor or figure out out to co-op a class with a few other budding, serious artists.

But I'm also trying be a little farsighted here.

What do you think will be more important in the future - painting with acrylics or computer graphic design? What do you think will open more doors from a career standpoint - a deft touch with pastels or aptitude for digital photography, photoshopping, and Adobe Creative software?

Yeah, the latter is freakin' expensive ($400+) so I'm not about to buy that for my daughter anytime soon.

So in the meantime I'm Googling, researching, and keeping my eyes open for low cost, high-tech approaches to further her artistry. If you have any ideas, feel free to help me out!

That pic atop....you can see a rough snapshot of its development here.

However it was done, that's the type of skill I'd like my daughter to be working toward.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I strongly recommend going hi-tech...no manual stuff. If start using computers/paint software at young age, i am sure it will become second nature (be able to express anything you would with hands).

Though i recommend using the best of tools, it is not necessary for now. The concepts, and terminology are going to be similar. So the learning should be portable/future-proof.

There is free open source software called GIMP with similar capabilities as adbobe (but not all features). Read that entire wiki article to learn about free derivatives and alternatives.

I remember being impressed by a kid who had lot of youtube tutorials on gimp - his username is GimpKnowHow

You can do lot of stuff with GIMP...youtube is your friend.

Unknown said...

i strongly recommend going hitech/computers...learning that software at this young age is going to make become second nature.

GIMP is a free open source alternative to adobe. I was impressed by a kid GimpKnowHow at youtubbe

www.youtube.com/user/GimpKnowHow

GIMP has lot of other capabilities, youtube is your friend.

CaptiousNut said...

THANKS!

Am checking it out now.

I think Google put your first comment in spam because it had 3 links in it.

CaptiousNut said...

Wow. That kid is amazing.

My kids watched one of his tutorials and have been asking me all day to download GIMP.

Thanks again.

Anne Galivan said...

This sounds interesting. I will be having my 17-year old check it out and teach my 9-year old to use it. Ah...I love designating!