Art is about seeing the world
- A great amount of an artist’s training is about learning how to “see” the world.
- By default, we have a skewed way of seeing the world, believe it or not. Because our brain can’t process everything at once, we give certain features of an object more important than others when creating a first impression.
- This is why beginner artists get the proportions of the face wrong very often – they are drawing based off their perception rather than the true objective sight
- We can combat this by trying to focus instead on the negative space of an object – focusing on the space between the legs of a chair rather than on just trying to make the chair.
- By default, we have a skewed way of seeing the world, believe it or not. Because our brain can’t process everything at once, we give certain features of an object more important than others when creating a first impression.
# Relevant Quotes & Highlights
A trained artist who sees a chair, then, is able to capture what the eye perceives (shape, color) before their “recognizer” function tells them what it is supposed to be. — location: 3164 ^ref-29138
(This is why it is so frustrating that funding for arts programs in schools has been decimated. And those cuts stem from a fundamental misconception that art classes are about learning to draw. In fact, they are about learning to see.) — location: 3172 ^ref-52965
it is possible, with practice, to teach your brain to observe something clearly without letting your preconceptions kick in. — location: 3174 ^ref-26538
- All above from Creativity, Inc - Ed Catmull