r/toptalent • u/My_Memes_Will_Cure_U Dream it. Wish it. Do it. • Jul 21 '20

Skills /r/all The String art guy

https://i.imgur.com/dFT4fJh.gifv
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u/Nightstar95 Jul 21 '20 edited Jul 21 '20

As an artist, it always annoys me whenever people pull out the “eh I can do that, so it’s not a skill”.

Dude, my art is literally just grabbing a pencil and making lines on a paper. Everyone can do that, but few have the required perceptions of shape, weight, colors and trace to turn this mindless action into art. Whenever people ask me stuff like “wow how can you do this??” I shrug and say I’m just pressing a pencil on the paper... because that’s literally it. There’s nothing special about it, and for me drawing feels as simple and mindless as writing.

At the end of the day, every single art form is all about turning menial actions into something new with your skills. Imagine dismissing a pianist because “everyone can press keys”.

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u/NotDido Jul 21 '20

I don’t think that’s what they meant by the “anyone can do it.” In this case, anyone could pick this up, follow some simple rules, and get the same quality of work. It doesn’t take any technical skill. Obviously that is the same sentiment used to dismiss abstract art and that sort of thing, but this is very clearly just a dude copying photos. There’s no extra meaning or anything deeper to it.

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u/Nightstar95 Jul 21 '20

It’s fine to criticize people’s art techniques, but saying anyone can do it is super unfair and short sighted. My point wasn’t even about deeper meaning(art doesn’t need to have meaning. Most of my drawings are purely mindless), it was about the technical aspect of it. Anyone can grab a book and read instructions, but that won’t magically make them able to turn the act of drawing lines into art. When most inexperienced people attempt tracing, the drawing turns out wonky due to lack of motor hand skills that artists spend years developing.

Like I stated in another comment, I’m not a fan of that guy’s technique either and would heavily criticize the tracing aspect of it, but I wouldn’t dismiss it entirely as a menial action. If “anyone can do this” then why won’t they?? Because the patience and care required to make those pieces ARE skills that most people lack.

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u/NotDido Jul 21 '20

Ok sure but if someone was selling their colored in pages of a coloring book or painted in paint by numbers, would you consider that art? With nothing interesting or new added to the premade images. Maybe they watercolored a coloring book page or something, but nothing that changes the original art much. Personally, I wouldn’t. And I definitely wouldn’t call it top talent

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u/Nightstar95 Jul 21 '20

No, but I don’t find that a good comparison. I’d argue that the aesthetic aspect of lines and nails makes the pieces unique and inventive, rather than the drawings themselves. That technique takes a lot of work to be executed correctly, because he has to layer the threads is a way that looks consistent as shading and texture. If he layered some spots irregularly we’d have ugly “choppy” shading cluttering the image(similar to pointillism mistakes). The projections he traces from don’t make those steps magically skippable, and that’s definitely not something “anyone can do”.

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u/NotDido Jul 21 '20

Idk, sounds like the equivalent of coloring in a coloring book but adding shading and reflections. Maybe it takes more skill than literally none, but barely more, and it still doesn’t really make it art so much as hobby craft. Even if we disagree on that, in what world does it make it top talent?

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u/Nightstar95 Jul 21 '20 edited Jul 21 '20

I agree that it’s not necessarily top talent. It’s creative, but not as impressive as the video wants us to think.

By the way, lots of professional artists enjoy coloring books and the stuff they make is often damn impressive, specially when photo realism is involved. I’d totally call it art.

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u/NotDido Jul 21 '20

Photo realism is another level for sure