Where da ARTISTS at?

[tBBP]

Greetings, fellow board members.

We all know we have many talented individuals amongst us, whether or not they (we?) consider ourselves to be quote-en quote "graphic" designers or not. We see the evidence of such daily over in the "Concepts" forum--and, in some instances, in the "Sports Logos" forum.

But...how many among us consider ourselves to be actual "artists"???

Now, to be sure, "artist" can be a broad term; I'm referring more specifically to the realm of fine art; however, as digital art is also still an art form, we can include that in here as well.

So...you say you're an artist? Share with the community! I'm sure many amongst us are interested in what type of artists we have in here. What's your favorite type or style of art (or, for the more "scholarly" among us, periods or "eras" of art)? What's your favorite medium(s)? Do you create solely for the love of doing so? Have you managed to sell any of your pieces? Oh...and feel free to post examples of your past work if you wish! (I highly recommend watermarking your images should you choose to do that, though, for obvious reasons.)

So let's see what we got up in here...calling all artists to the virtual round table here!

(I'd start this off here, but I wanna see if anyone else might bite this hook first... )

[JayJaxon]

You got me my friend.

I have always been an artist. I am new to graphic art, but I have been putting pen to paper for years and creating anything from t-shirts to tattoos. When I was in boot camp I actually used art as a way to get away from all the craziness going on in my life at the time. I have sold several pieces for tattoos, and I actually designed an engagement ring for one of my friends.

I won a contest in Middle School to design a school logo. I have done pastel, Indian ink, and water color paintings in the past. But give me a pencil/pen and paper and I feel right at home. When I was in the Marines, I designed t-shirts for my unit on 5 occasions.

Da Vinci has always been my favorite because he was so great at everything he did. I want to be good at several different styles as he was. I have always loved logos and baseball, so I use this website as a learning tool to get to the next level in my art.

As far as digital art, I still consider myself a novice, but when I get home from Iraq, I am going to start scanning my drawings and turning them into digital concepts. I'll feel much more confident in my digital art when I am able to do that.

So yea, I consider myself an artist. With digital art, I'm just broadening my horizons.

[Maz]

Id call myself an artist.

Im best at, and pretty much always do, pencil drawings. Ive drawn stuff for as long as I can remember. I would draw any and everything I could. Im a very creative person, and like to create alot of stuff (hence why some of my favorite games are ones like Sim City or Roller Coaster Tycoon), and I see drawing as a way to, not only depict the real world, but to make up my own little world.

I always see the beauty in the littlest things. Like how ivy would grow on a wall, how different kinds of light reflect of certain things at different angles, different effects of the weather, how buildings look. Ill probably thing something looks "awesome" while anyone else would just see what that object or scene is and think its boring. Its this attention to the details and tiny things that make drawing and other similar arts such an interest for me.

Ive always loved art class. Ive found art teachers always pick me as one of their favorites, not only because of the quality of my work, but because of the excitement id have for the class compared to the lack of enthusiasm from the other students. People always compliment me, but im my greatest critic and always think I can do better. In 8th and 9th grade I had my favorite art teacher. He was the coolest and nicest guy Ive ever met, was really talented, and always encouraged me to do what i wanted.

Ive only ever drawn one thing for a cause (other than art class or just to draw). It was a pencil drawing of the Rechstag in Berlin for a german-themed art contest in March. I came in third place.

I also really like photography and film making.

[oddball]

Well, since I graduated with a graphic design major, and am looking for work, I guess that would be me too.

[eRay]

I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and I have always been an artist. I used to draw and paint all the time when I was younger, and in high school I got heavier into painting and mixed-media pieces. I have always dug the idea of installation pieces but I have never gotten a chance to get into that. Throughout college I dabbled in photo, drawing, painting, animation, metal work, and of course graphic design. Today I don't do anything other then sketch and design, but I have been hankering to do something else lately. I do things only that come from my head and my heart, I hate having an assignment when it comes to other forms of art. I can't be told to make a mixed-media piece about something, it has to emanate from within me. I don't have any digital files of anything I have done outside of design and photo, so I have nothing to post. Maybe I will try to document some since I have saved everything I have ever made.

[patsox]

i'm a communication-mass media major. i guess that makes me an artist.

[Captain Poncho]

i'm a communication-mass media major. i guess that makes me an artist.

Much in the same way Vanilla Ice is a rapper.

[Shumway]

I spent the bulk of my middle and high school years working on cartooning. I had planned on making a career out of it until I realized I could use that talent in the graphic design field. I've done painting and sculpture and whatnot in college and high school, but never really enjoyed it. In fact, I skipped my painting class in college for two weeks straight at one point. I did make a kickass Col. Sanders bust in my sculpture class last May. I don't think I have a picture of it, unfortunately.

I also love art history, modern art specifically. I really enjoy things like pop art, expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. I don't know that I have a favorite artist, but I guess if I had to venture a guess, I'd say it's probably Paul Klee.

[hettinger_rl]

I'm an art education major. I work in all mediums. I have done the most with painting, but enjoy sculpture, ceramics, and espescially drawing. I started out in school as a graphic design major and jumped ship to the "finer" arts.

[CreamSoda]

i'm a communication-mass media major. i guess that makes me an artist.

lets be careful with our words

[McCall]

I planning on finally finishing my Associates Degree in Graphic Design, and hopefully, eventually my Bachelor's. But I would definately consider myself an artist. I've posted concepts on here before, but I also have designed shirts we sell in our store (Springfield Cardinals Team Store) and in fact did all the 1st Half, 2nd Half and North Division Champion logos for Springfield back in 2007. I've always been big in drawing, though not as much now that I mostly do computer art. I was asked to enter into the Conference art competition in the area of calligraphy, back in High School, after many teacher's brought to the attention of the art teacher, my many "doodles" (and some on the graphic calculators). I don't do traditional calligraphy, using pens to make fancy lettering by writing at angles, but rather customized lettering and fonts. I've always been fascinated with lettering in that sense. I can sometimes paint decently, but it's really not my strongest area.

[zer0dotcom]

I've posted some of my works on the board before, I guess I'm a 'classic' artist, as in pencil paper / brush and canvas kind of artist. My degree has a minor in Visual Arts (though I have enough credits for a double major)

I would link to some stuff I have done, but I haven't produced anything in over a year. Guess I should get on that.

[Mings]

I would say that I am an artist, however my medium is 2x4s, concrete, steel, and space. It really isn't much different from a regular artist as the way I approach architecture is in the experiential/phenomenological way. The German words baukunst and gesamtkunstwerk sum it up for me....the art of building and the total work of art.

Besides that I also sketch like a mo' fo', so basic pencil and pen on paper type things.

[oddball]

I would say that I am an artist, however my medium is 2x4s, concrete, steel, and space. It really isn't much different from a regular artist as the way I approach architecture is in the experiential/phenomenological way. The German words baukunst and gesamtkunstwerk sum it up for me....the art of building and the total work of art.

Besides that I also sketch like a mo' fo', so basic pencil and pen on paper type things.

Oh no, you are an artist and anyone who says someone who does architecture isn't and artist, I ask you to direct them to the Bauhaus movement which was based off of architecture.

[tBBP]

I would say that I am an artist, however my medium is 2x4s, concrete, steel, and space. It really isn't much different from a regular artist as the way I approach architecture is in the experiential/phenomenological way. The German words baukunst and gesamtkunstwerk sum it up for me....the art of building and the total work of art.

Besides that I also sketch like a mo' fo', so basic pencil and pen on paper type things.

Oh no, you are an artist and anyone who says someone who does architecture isn't and artist, I ask you to direct them to the Bauhaus movement which was based off of architecture.

Quoted for truth.

Architecture is most definitely artistry. I see it everyday around here. Downtown Pittsburgh is jam-packed with old buildings featuring various styles of architecture. I pick it up every time I got down there, from the old Victorian-style windows on some of the buildings to the Corinthian capitals on the columns of some other buildings...oh yes, anyone who calls himself/herself an architect is most definitely an artist--maybe not in the "traditional" sense, but an artist nonetheless.

(Funny aside: it's interesting this came up, because all up until about a third of the way through my senior year in high school, my total apsiration was to be a successful architect, specifically of residential homes. In fact, if I really wanted to, I could probably still pull out a protractor, compass, ruler, and some mechanical pencils and sketch out a decent floor plan. So what derailed that dream? The same three guys that kept bullying me all through high school finally managed to completely defeat me my senior year. Their names? Al, "G", and this dude named Bruh. Needless to say, that was the end of that.)

As far as I go...I've been creating art with whatever could apply pigment to whatever would take the pigment it since I was at least five if not before then. My very first memory is of drawing a Ford Taurus station wagon straight form memory while I was in like first grade or something like that. Eventually it got to where I could draw any character from Super Mario Bros straight from memory, and it snowballed from there.

That love of art, and the aspirations of a career in graphic design is what eventually led me to IADT-Pittsburgh, from which I received my Associates' Degree in Visual Communciations at the end of '06. During my time in that program, I dabbled in several different types of "art", ranging from traditional fine arts to 3-D animation to video production/editing to web design/programming--and, of course, digital art and design. I have a certain rooted interest in several different types of art, but if I had to pick a favorite, it'd have to be the traditional art of the medieval period, more specifically heraldic art. I can't really put a finger on it, but something about that style really hits home for me. I've actually managed to design a family crest based out of that infatuation (granted, it was also a class project, but, still...), and lately I've been finding more and more ways to incorporate heraldic elements into some of the works I create.

Speaking of which, I've worked in several different mediums, several of which were introduced to me during my college days. Of course, like many here, I love using my pencils, both graphite and colored, but I've also developed a certain interest in charcoal drawing (one of my favorite pieces was done with charcoal), and though I ain't big on acrylic painting, I've discovered when I'm patient enough with it, I'm pretty decent with it. From time to time, I'll also see something I think might look good "reversed out" and pull out my scratchboard and try to recreate it. However, my two favorite mediums to work with are two that I never would have thought I'd like, let alone use. One of those is ink pen on newsprint--and since you can't exactly erase ink, it really teaches you patience as well as "touch"--said another way, being light and gentle with the hand. Most of the works in my newsprint tablet is of women, which really ain't an accident, seeing as how women have an intrinsic beauty to them that can easily be translated to the newsprint through the ink pen if one is patient and detailed enough to do so.

My absolute favorite, however, is marker and pastel. This one took me a while to pick up while in school--in fact, I'd never even heard of this medium prior to my college years at IADT, but since then, I've developed a deep-rooted love for this style. In fact, possibly my favorite piece I created--an eagle mandela meant to symbolize patriotism, valor, and honor--was done in this style. I've got two others in the works as we speak.

As one of my side projects, I'm in the development stages of re-developing my digital portfolio from school, which when completed will showcase my best of the best works as well as some of the concept designs I've posted on these boards (some of which were already in that portfolio to begin with).

[myartsaywhat]

Graphic Designer, painter, sculptor, cartoonist and architecture is an art form. If you think any other way, Franklin Lloyd Wright will come back and stick a pencil in your eye! I love his stuff

Share some links if you have any.

[PSUdraw]

I have been shying away from the term artist but I have a degree in studio arts from large university.... Guess that counts

[DelayedPenalty]

I rarely refer to myself as an artist, because I don't do much with the traditional arts any more. I typically refer to myself as a designer, because that's what I do for a living. I used to be a lot more artsy; pen and ink drawings, charcoal, pastels occasionally, I dabbled in painting (looking to start that up again), I've done some sculpture and 3 dimensional artforms. Now I just spend my 8+ hours a day in front of a computer, designing brochures and posters for a corporation. Nothing really artsy about that.

[VC//]

Well, I've had a few exhibitions at local galleries in Vancouver, Surrey, and the Okanagan from when I was 10-21 (I get asked to contribute a few things here and there for local showings but I am getting a bit senile as a I get older with showing my work). My parents were very good artists in their own right back in India. Art is my life. I still remember when my parents started to realize I was artistic, I think it was when I was in kindergarten and the elementary school I was in had a school wide art competition. I won, I beat out people in grades 1-7, got a certificate and my parents suddenly were like ok this kid might not be so bad at art.