Tag: art discussion

The Giving Spirit

Bleu Triptych, I,II, III. Joan Miro’s work always seem to carry a beautiful and generous spirit.

“Art is the giving by each man of his evidence to the world. Those who wish to give, love to give, discover the pleasure of giving. Those who give are tremendously strong.” — Robert Henri, Artist

The generosity of spirit that the artist has to expend is often ummeasurable. He commits significant resources for his education, puts in long years of study, and often accepts very poor renumeration or job security in order to gain experience, meanwhile competing tirelessly with those around him, always weary of the up-and-coming younger, and now cheaper talent, to replace him as he matures. This reality makes it very hard for many to work and stay working in the arts. And this is so even in a booming art/entertainment economy. What happens when such economic fortuity changes?

Chuck Jones genius. From Warner Bros Looney Tunes.

There are those who give and there are those who take.

I’ve never understood how companies (and their representatives) can ask so much of their employees but give back so little in return. To demand of them increasing quality and quota on tighter and tighter deadlines, offer less and less security all the while imposing ever more restrictions on their creativity at the same time. Well, perhaps I do; the answer is likely greed and indifference. Human (i.e. worker) productivity has never been greater in human history and the wealth gap between the investor (owner of capital) and that of the employee (labour) has also never seen such a wide chasm. And this will not stop as long as a society, meaning all people in general, continue to condone, if not endorse its continuance. The price is not just the ruining of the many crafts that lend beauty and meaning to our world, or even our individual mental sanity, but perhaps the survival of our species. No one wins in the long run. Are we happy to make advertising (propaganda) our ultimate artform and guide to living? How much more can we drain from our resources, both human and environmental? Systems and societies that become overly stressed fall and fall hard; gross inequality — large gaps in relative wealth — create immeasurable stress that taxes everything. This when study after study has shown that the obsession with constant and increasing accumulation (after a certain point of comfort) gives none of us any real reprieve from our unhappiness. Honestly, if you’ve got many millions of dollars, will more money really solve your problems, problems which are clearly more likely to be psychological than physical? And what about the spiritual or ethical implications that we so often ignore if they’re not staring us directly in the face?

The most dangerous thing for the artist is to become too tightly concerned with success — money, fame, respectability (conformity) — these things turn one’s energy away from creativity and the joy from making art. Provided he reaches a level of decency in material comforts, it’s best to keep those abstract preoccupations at bay. The reason is that the obsession over those superficial concerns blunts the sensitivity of the creator who needs every ounce of energy to observe, listen and imagine possibilities. Furthermore, conventional success is always intimately tied to the aspect of time. Accumulation alone isn’t ever enough as we must also get it all as fast as we can. We’re always rushing because that’s what we’re told to do. This explains the lure of formulas and shortcuts, the very things that bypass real learning and understanding not to mention real innovation. But an allowance for time is necessary for honest perception. Time and space give our minds clarity and health, and it is only a healthy emptied mind that attains the high level of sensory acuity that enables him to pick out what is new, unique and beautiful, not just in art but in everything in life. The artist studies to appreciate, and then, to germinate ideas from which he can cultivate into fully-bloomed discoveries, discoveries that benefit not just himself, but countless others in perpetuity. Think of the joy people today still get out of great music, architecture, movies and painting created years and years ago.

“Those who express even a little of themselves never become old-fashioned. The only true modern movement is a frank expression of self.” — Robert Henri

Hence, we need a powerful will to do what we do. The artist must keep a generous spirit. For it is the only way to live — with fervor, dedication, and love in all that he does and in each moment that he does them. For only then can the need for expression be satisfied. The closed off and repressed individual suffers unbearable psychological damage. An artist can withstand ridicule, rejection, even poverty, but he can not ignore his creative impulses. Each person needs freedom from conformity. It is his way of staying new, alive and relevant. His art is personal. His life is personal and not “just business.”

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a timeless piece of art that never looks old.

In closing, I wish to leave you with this insightful yet prescient quote from Robert Henri. It serves as a warning, especially given our technological advancements that make our impact as a species so remarkable yet also so dangerous. His hope, and mine, is that we might begin to understand that in examining our relationships — with our craft, with each other, and with the planet — we see the whole and vice versa. For, as cliché as it sounds, we ARE all connected.

“We have a very little idea and sight of big things, but a splendid idea of little ones. This is the reason that war could occur. Such evil growths as its cause would otherwise be foreseen. People have not looked largely at life, mainly because our education drowns us in detail. We don’t see the why of it all. Even the superficial thing is important if you can see way beyond it. This is true of painting. Much can be said with a few elements if you can see each in its place.” — Robert Henri

Student Showcase 3

“… to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.” — Kahlil Gibran, Philosopher/Artist

In the next few of weeks, I’ll be showcasing some more work from my current students/clientele. What will be unique is that it will FEATURE THE STUDENTS WORK BEFORE ATTENDING MY CLASSES VERSUS AFTER. This before and after comparison is not meant to showcase so much my own ability as an art teacher/consultant/mentor but rather to demonstrate what can be achieved in relatively short time when an artist comes to understanding and learning the craft in the right way. The exercise is also meant to demonstrate the individual artists’ hard work, passion and devotion to the art they love — so much that they are willing to humbly put in the time and attention to improve their skillset. It has been a great joy to work with them and see their continuing growth.

BEFORE:

It is clear from this shot above that the animator here needed a lot of help. Despite various forms of schooling and much time devoted to studying the craft, Robert struggled to understand the most essential basics of animation; clarity of story, simplicity of design and functional body mechanics are all missing. The shot above demonstrates what happens when students are not learning or working in the right order, with no proper work flow from concept to execution. The near complete absence of all the things that make good animation such as weight, good posing, solid timing, fluidity and appeal make the scene hard to watch. What dominates is confusion, busyness and noise. The body mechanics are a disaster and the creative challenges the student faced was far too much both artistically and mechanically for him to handle. A student at his level should never be attempting shots with that level of complexity. It’s unfortunate, but the work above is emblematic of the many students (and not just this student) who attend various classes but fail to grasp the concepts discussed, merely doing the exercise without the proper feedback or direction that would address the artist’s needs. Effort misguided can lead to further frustration and actually create greater impediments to real growth.

AFTER:

As Robert’s teacher I’ve had to rebuild him from the ground up; re-instilling in him the right way to conceive, plan and approach his work. Much work was placed in strengthening the basics such as weight, timing and design in movement. By the time we got him working on this aviation shot — a bird was chosen for its simplicity in design — the goal was to train the him, at this stage, to further clean up the way he thought and thus the way he worked, first by working in layers of action, and then by teaching him to work straight-ahead to get him over the mental struggle of working in spline mode. Sometimes artists may block a shot okay in stepped mode (pose to pose) but struggle in transition to spline (full-inbetweening); their work gets choppy and ugly. By choosing an animal in flight, the challenges presented by arms are simplified as are all the other complexities associated with human anatomy. The focus becomes movement and movement alone. It’s a very simple shot, but what’s achieved here is clarity of action, smooth-flowing movement, and a believable presentation of weight. The two shots, when compared, look to be done by two completely different artists. Robert, so far, has come a long way from where he started. It’s not easy to make this kind of jump, but the animator has shown that with hard work and dedication, that it can be done.

BEFORE:

In Jayson’s work prior to our classes, it is clear he struggled with giving his work weight. There is also no depth or sharpness to the animation presented above; things are floaty, flat and lacking any kind of snap or punch, ironically ill-demonstrated in a combat shot. Again, we see an artist who is tackling something he’s not quite ready to do — in this case, a shot involving two characters. It takes great skill and care to animate multi-character interaction shots; not only do we have to worry about constraints and penetration issues, but the application of forces is both varied and complex. We can also see — despite the camaflouging effect of the robotic costume designs — that the anatomy (or body construction) of the characters is not being respected; the joints don’t move right so there is not torque, and the elbows/knees (the pole vectors) are all animated incorrectly. Furthermore, the foot placement is poor and lacks perspective or interest and actions of the limbs are wobbly. The result is work that has neither appeal in design nor believable application of forces. Hence, despite all the kicking and punching, there is no power or feeling in the movements.

AFTER:

In this newer shot, we can already see that in a very short time — Jayson has only just started with me — we’ve been able to remedy a lot of the problems seen in his older work. Sticking with a similar “profile” camera view for the action, we nonetheless witness a much better presentation of the body in motion. Not only is the story simple and clear, the movements have appeal, weight and sharpness in timing. It’s a cartoony shot but one that respects the proportions of the model while demonstrating good squash and stretch, drag, follow-thru and overlapping action. Each key in the blocking phase has been carefully placed and solidified before the artist moved into the breakdown work and splining. There is texture and timing to the whole choreography and a personality (charm) comes across because of the care and attention paid to the design and mechanics. The final result is a shot that looks simple and clear yet also fun. I know he had a lot of fun doing it and we both look forward to how far his skills will continue to jump.

To see more from the Student Showcase Series, go here.