The Art
What is Art? Art is a creative form of expression, emotion, and communication. It can be a form of communication for a business, for example, a poster, or a personal expression or emotion. There are many ways in which you can achieve this, and of course, when you first start something, you will not find it easy.

Starting Out
As just previously said, when you start out in something new, you won't find it easy, whether it's a new style, or a new application you're using to create your Art.

If you are starting a new application, then make sure you read all you can about the application, make sure it can do what you want it to do, there is no point in getting any application when can't do anything that you wish to do, so read the features of the application, read the help files, etc. If it's the right application for you, but it's still your first time. Make sure you get to know the basics of the program, such as Photoshop, make sure you know what all the toolbars are, the tools, and the palettes. There are is a lot available in photoshop in terms of tools and palettes, and all can be very helpful.

A lot of programs come with ready-made tutorials that can guide you around the program and using various tools and palettes, make sure you take a look at them so you know what they do and how to use them. Even if you think "Well, I won't be needing that tool, so why learn it?" You may want to use the tool in the future, I've had times when I wasn't using some certain tools, but even so, I learned how to use them straight away and I've used them a lot after a while of using the program.

Make sure to read tutorials that is on the basics of the tools, any palettes, and any functions that is available, an example would be the Scripts that you can use in Photoshop, you may not need them, but they can be a very helpful feature to have in the future and can really save your time.

So you've made your first piece? Does it look really good? Probably not, a lot of first times don't, but hey, you're new right? I'll let in on something, when I first started 3D Abstract Art, I didn't know what I was doing and here is the type of art I came out with.



yea, they don't look at all nice do they?

What's your aim?
Before you can even start making Art, you need to think to yourself, or write down, "What do I want?", "What do I want this piece of Art to convey/show or tell the viewers?" - Make sure you know what you want, otherwise you're going to go no where at all, or it might just be a big jumble at the end, again, Know what you want!

Practice and Experiment
This is a way to improve your Art, you need to practice with the tools available for you to use, try all sorts of different methods, incorporate them together, experiment with them.

Do you think I could make pieces like below without experimenting and practising in the programs I use?



Take your time
This is one very important thing. Take... Your... Time. A rush piece of art is most likely going to look crap, a piece of art that was taken time on is going to look a lot better. I spend about 2-3 or more on my pieces.

Try, and try again
Simple thing to do, specially in programs such as Photoshop with the layers, etc. Try something, hide the layer, try something else, hide the layer, try another thing. What looks best? Go with it. Always try different things to get the best result.

No Whoring
Oh yes, no whoring! If you want your art to improve and get noticed, then don't do something which 100 other people have done, try to make something different to them. If you saw 100 pieces of art that looks similar, you would give up after number 10 right?

Comments and Criticism
You need to be able to take criticism. If you think you can handle it, ask for it! How else will you be able to improve if you don't let others tell you what they think is wrong with it?

The steps
So what do we do?

1. Read the features, tutorials, and learn the program
2. Learn the basics, then the more advanced stuff
3. Practise
4. Experiment
5. Take your time
6. Take in the comments and criticism
7. Don't whore! Inspiration is not whoring art, that is getting idea's.