
How I became an artist - noahbradley
https://medium.com/@noahbradley/how-i-became-an-artist-4390c6b6656c
======
sktrdie
This is great and you're of great inspiration to young artists or simply
anybody that wants to pursue their dreams.

I think that living a humble life doing simple things that don't necessarily
lead to professional success, is still a very noble lifestyle. The pressure
society has brought upon us to follow our dreams, simply because it's nice to
follow your dreams, is a bit of a pipe dream.

What I'm trying to say is that success isn't objective, it cannot be measured
with the amounts of projects you've built, or with the amounts of professional
artworks you've produced. Success is being happy about the simple things in
life, whether these are output of your work (art, code, music, etc.) or
experiences you've had in life.

~~~
superuser2
I'm not sure this is true. You can be happy with work that anyone skilled in
the art thinks is terrible, i.e. maybe you're really proud of your
$REGISTER_GLOBALS dependent, SQLi-vulnerable, spaghetti PHP app. Maybe you're
really happy with your scientific paper that the peer review community has
ripped to shreds as false. Or you really, really like the novel you wrote,
despite well-articulated and uniformly scathing takedowns from editors,
English professors, literary critics, etc.

Or, conversely, you're a perfectionist and kicking yourself over the single
calculation mistake in an otherwise field-defining paper, masterful
performance, etc.

When you participate in a craft, there are measures and standards of quality
orthogonal to your emotions, and they matter a great deal in determining
whether a work is successful.

~~~
xyzzy123
And on the other hand, there's Wordpress.

~~~
jreimers
Humorous, but relevant. PHP and Wordpress are derided by many, perhaps
rightfully so. Despite many well founded claims against them they remain
ubiquitous.

Which metric do we use to define success here? Can shitty software be
considered successful just because everyone uses it?

~~~
jackvalentine
People don't buy a drill, they buy a hole in the wall.

People don't buy the best most perfect fancy publishing platform, they buy
something that lets them publish their content and move on with their lives.

I think the success is pretty self-evident?

~~~
4ndr3vv
Where can you buy holes for your wall?! "People don't want a drill they want a
hole in the wall."

Sorry for pedantry, but think it helps with the metaphor.

~~~
jackvalentine
You're right - that was pedantry.

------
tjradcliffe
The best thing about this piece is the rationality of his decision-making:
didn't get a scholarship so take a year off to get better. School was getting
too expensive so find a cheaper way to go. Need to pay off student loans so
move back in with parents. These are excellent artistic decisions, because
they allowed him to practice his craft and never take his eyes off his goal,
yet didn't wed him to any particular path forward.

He treated high costs as damage and routed his career around them.

This lesson is as true in business as it is in art: always look for cheaper,
more efficient, yet still effective alternatives. Productivity is
output/input, and when the output (commercial success, in his case) is a very
noisy function of many factors you don't control, figuring out how to minimize
input costs while keeping P(success) as high as possible is the key to making
good choices. He showed creativity and pragmatism as well as dedication.

Also: failure is always an option (I say this as someone who has failed more
often than he has succeeded in his major life goals, although the successes
have been more than worth the effort.) Hard work and talent are necessary but
not sufficient conditions for success. Maybe there is no audience for the kind
of art you love (I'm a formal poet, and have more-or-less made my peace with
this.) So make sure you're doing it for love, not money. If the money is
there, you've won the lottery, but regardless of that aspect of it, making the
art you love, and putting in the hours and deliberate practice to get better
at your craft, is worth it.

~~~
noahbradley
Thanks so much. I'd chock that up to a mix of luck, the influence of watching
my dad run his own successful small business since I was born, and all of the
business books I read on my own throughout college.

------
WestCoastJustin
Awesome post! Very useful to have the inside scoop. There was a recent posting
on "Ask HN" about pressure to quickly succeed. The exact quote was " _I 'm 22
and I feel if I don't hit it big within the next 2 years I probably won't_".
[1, 2] Success is a slow road, as this post so nicely illustrates, you need to
constantly be putting in the hours! It's easy to browse HN/startup eco-system
and only see the career highlight reels and think: "jeez, I will never be
successful", or "Man, how did they get to this point person, must just be a
natural", or "I can never be like that". But, this behind the scenes view
shows you what success looks like on a day-to-day basis (hard work + passion +
education + tons of practice + over many many years). What is funny, is that
we often only see the end result, and just assume it was an overnight success.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9837493](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9837493)

[2] sorry to use this as an example, but looks like new account / throwaway

~~~
noahbradley
Exactly this.

As an artist, I constantly have people stumble across my recent work and
exclaim how much they like it. That's awesome! It makes me feel so good. But
they see that without the context of the years that came before it. They don't
understand the struggles that lead to that piece.

So this article was all about providing some of that context.

~~~
myth_buster
Thanks for the perspective and this incredible article. It's quite motivating
and I love how you use the light (being a photographer I think it's easier for
me to see) and the details/texture.

Going through the article, I felt two transitions: a. Where you did
portraiture with landscape background, b. where you did the imaginative
landscapes

    
    
       would do imaginative sketches of landscapes
    

The place where the article really connected/resonated with me was:

    
    
      But then I started getting annoyed. I got annoyed with how students are taught 
      and with how art schools take advantage of eager young art students. 
      I saw too many of my peers taken advantage of. They charge tens or hundreds 
      of thousands of dollars and give very little in return.
    
      So for one thing, I wrote that angry rant that a few of you might have read.
    
      In 2013, I started Art Camp. 
    

What you are doing is incredible and it's nice to see your passion being
cohesively molded into a purpose which helps you to give back.

Kudos!

------
leafo
I'm also on quest to become an artist, I created a site for keeping up
consistent drawing streak (although I'm struggling at the moment).

The site is for anyone to use and we have quite a few artists using it
already: [https://streak.club/s/8/daily-
art-2015](https://streak.club/s/8/daily-art-2015)

Here's a post I wrote talking a little more about the site:
[http://leafo.net/posts/introducing_streakclub.html](http://leafo.net/posts/introducing_streakclub.html)

~~~
anilgulecha
Big fan of your work leafo. Moonscript/Lapis/streak/etc. An inspiration.. :)

------
archagon
This might be a dumb question, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask anyway!
I'm really interested in learning how to create art, and skill-wise I'm
currently right where you were at the start. If I were to follow your exact
path, it would take me many years to get anywhere near your level, and while
I'm up to the challenge, I don't have four solid years to devote to a new
college run at the moment. However, looking back on my computer science
education (which forms the basis of my professional career), I can definitely
see how I could have acquired the skills to get me where I am today in far
less time had I known exactly which areas to focus on ahead of time. Same with
my music education; in my music courses, we covered what I had been studying
(half-heartedly) for most of my childhood in about a semeseter. Art-wise, do
you have any suggestions for specific areas to focus on that might
substantially accelerate my education?

Anyway, thanks for the great article! This might just be the kick I need to
start taking art seriously. :)

~~~
hawngyeedun
I was in a similar situation about 8 months ago—You just have to pick up a
pencil and go for it.

I had just finished college and found a great job. With all the free time I
didn't have in school, I decided to buckle down and start taking art seriously
(instead of doodling cartoon figures). I knew I need to start out by building
a solid foundation, which meant that I have to really familiarize myself with
the basics and maintain a daily habit of learning+practicing (even if my brain
no longer wants to operate after 7-9 hour of work). That's what I have been
doing in the past 8 months.

It takes quite a bit of self-discipline and sometimes it's just hard to get
yourself to commit to it, but it the end it's all worthwhile. I have made
(small) decent progress... It's a wonderful feeling, to know that you are able
to confidently produce something that you would've not been able to do so
several months ago. Here are some of my recent practice sketches:
[https://i.imgur.com/gtR8T2t.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/gtR8T2t.jpg)

Proko has several tutorial series that I strongly recommend for beginners that
are looking for somewhere to start:
[http://www.proko.com/](http://www.proko.com/)

~~~
nstart
Proko is brilliant. And his videos have gotten better over time. His breakdown
of drawing faces from any angle was a kind of light bulb moment for me.

------
thenomad
REALLY good piece.

The bit that stood out to me in particular was his embrace of deliberate
practice. It's been identified in studies as the most powerful tool for
learning skills like this - good to see it born out in at least one practical
example too.

------
m12k
One of the takeaways I got from this was that instead of the usual "Follow
your dreams no matter what" it should be "Follow your dreams, but be smart
about". I think many who take the first advice tend to just hammer their heads
at whatever obstacle is blocking whatever seems like the direct to their
dreams - and as a result often get smacked over the head with such a dose of
cold hard reality that they end up having to abandon their dreams instead.
Some of Noah's decisions, e.g. waiting with RISD until he could get a
scholarship so he wouldn't bankrupt his family, are great examples of how to
do this the right way. Achieving your dreams takes tenacity, sure, but it also
takes patience and pragmatism. Learning to fly takes more than just the guts
to throw yourself off a cliff.

~~~
thenomad
Definitely.

I've been a working artist for 20 years now (filmmaker). One of the biggest
advantages I've had in sustaining that career is that I'm pretty damn good
with a spreadsheet.

As others have said, it's a long game, and skills that will sustain you
through that long game are critically important.

------
ak39
And this, dear friends, is how Noah Bradley actually became a writer!

What an excellent piece. I am reading this to my kids.

~~~
noahbradley
I do my best. :)

Hope they're inspired! Give 'em plenty of art supplies!

~~~
ak39
I will, I will!

I want to read your story to my eldest, 16 years old, who says he is
struggling to find what he really wants to do with his life (career choices
etc). He is a good kid. The truth is, I am going to read that story again
mostly for me too.

I didn't know at 16 what I wanted from my life either ... but I spent a good
decade in my 20s "going with the flow", rudderless. I wish I had been more
awake to my possibilities then. I don't regret those years completely, I
became a father when I had him in those years. But ... it would have been nice
to be told that your brain's plasticity is more forgiving earlier than later.
:-)

You keep painting. And loving it.

------
bryang
One of the things I'm pretty jealous of is that in my career path (as
admittedly vague it is... I'm 25 and my education & experience is in
marketing, but being a CMO certainly isn't my life's ambition) is that I
couldn't really start young and produce a tangible good that's worth anything
to jump start a career since Marketing is really all about numbers. Anything
without results is just speculation. (Nice job cross posting across the
internet, btw)

I'm not a programmer, so I can't build an app... I'm certainly not an artist
and can't paint or sing... Although I like carpentry and ok at it, I don't
want to be a carpenter... So for me, being successful and earning a decent
wage is either from climbing the corporate ladder or building my own company.
Both are possible, but talent is really not much of a factor.

Anyways, the point I'm getting at is that it's impressive and inspiring to see
talented people (like yourself) with artistic skill-sets and ambitions put the
hard work in to get their inherent skillsets noticed and make a career for
themselves.

Talent doesn't get you everywhere - and neither will hard work - but together
they can do great things.

~~~
nedwin
I'm not so sure about that.

As a product manager I wish I had spent more time on either learning to
program or preferably designing interfaces for product ideas that I had. I did
some of this stuff but not as much as I now realise I could have.

As a CMO the best evidence of your skills is in marketing a product of any
kind. It could be a blog or product that you've created yourself, or pro bono
work for someone else.

None of this is to downplay the chops of this artist - it really is amazing.

~~~
bryang
I guess I could clarify that what I'm talking about is the time it takes for
skills to become apparent and credible. I'm not saying Noah's first works were
Old Master level[1] or that they even are now, but clearly you can look at
them and say "Kids got talent and has made tangible improvements."

Sure, I can start a blog talking about social media marketing, but basically
it's starting from absolute zero - whereas Noah even early at his earliest
started from a place a bit higher. For me to start a blog and say unique
things about marketing that haven't been said before and then get that
noticed... I consider myself to be smart, but I don't know if I'm on that
level.

And sure, like you and I both said, I can build a product (I'm trying as we
speak like everyone else is on HN) to develop my marketing skills, but then
lets face it... if it's actually worth doing, my job isn't going to be
primarily about marketing; it will be about leading a team, building a great
product, and yes a bit of marketing.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Master](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Master)

~~~
marcusgarvey
>For me to start a blog and say unique things about marketing that haven't
been said before and then get that noticed... I consider myself to be smart,
but I don't know if I'm on that level.

As you know, marketing is all about the packaging, and how you sell the
sizzle, not the steak. So even if you think it's all been said before, it
doesn't have to stop you from saying it in your own way, with your own unique
insights, distribution methods, etc.

------
methodover
I'm totally blown away by your art, Noah. It's wonderful.

I have a question for you, if you'd be willing to entertain it: As your own
art has improved, would you say that your own imagination has improved as
well?

For me, I'm interested in a few things that aren't [strictly] visual art --
creating video games and writing stories -- but I often find myself having
trouble fully visualizing the ideas that bubble up from my imagination. For
example, I might have a story that involves a futuristic space ship, but I can
only retain a shadow of its image in my mind's eye. The general shapes might
be there, and a few details, but it's a far cry from the rich detail that I
can conjure up of, say, my home growing up.

One idea I've considered, as a means of sharpening my imagination, is getting
into sketching or painting. Perhaps learning the techniques of putting
imagination to paper will make my imagination all that much sharper, more
vibrant, more real. Would you say that there's any merit to that line of
thinking?

~~~
noahbradley
Absolutely.

One of my greatest fears around the time I was beginning to take this
seriously was that I simply wasn't creative enough. I didn't know what to
paint. But I found that as both my technical abilities expanded, I was also
expanding the person I was and the things I was exposed to. Forming the person
you are also forms the way your mind can come up with ideas.

------
melling
My goal is to simply to become a good designer so I can design more inspired
apps. This Quora answer by Karen on how to become a designer without going to
design school contains a lot of useful information, if that's also your goal.

[http://www.quora.com/How-do-you-get-a-job-as-a-designer-
with...](http://www.quora.com/How-do-you-get-a-job-as-a-designer-without-
going-to-design-school)

------
kendallpark
I love this. I'm a hobby artist myself (though I've never wanted to make a
career out of it). It's great to know that people can still succeed in a
career that is common prefixed with "starving." I also love to see the
artistic progression of a youth to a professional. It's a fascinating visual
journey.

A great takeaway is how he offered free prints during his Illuxcon convention.
I rarely see artists (even amateurs) doing this at conventions. I imagine this
accelerated his success as his free prints were probably hanging on the wall
in various art directors' offices.

~~~
pault
If you haven't already seen this thread on conceptart, it follows an artist's
progress over ten years from crude sketches to masterful portraits. Very
inspiring!
[http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/870-Journey-...](http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/870-Journey-
of-an-Absolute-Rookie-Paintings-and-Sketches)

------
jlees
As an engineer recently rediscovering the pure, tactile, offline experience of
creating art (not that I would go so far as to call what I have created so far
'art'), this piece couldn't have come at a better time. I really appreciated
how Noah shared his journey, it definitely inspires me to keep going. I also
recommend giving sketching/drawing a go for anyone looking to spend a bit less
of their 'relaxing' time on a computer screen (though of course I am eyeing up
digital art as a someday!).

~~~
noahbradley
Congrats! Making the leap into art is always a good one, no matter your
profession. It can give you an entirely new appreciation for the world around
you. Quite literally a new way of looking at things.

And you can call it art--I'm not snooty about the word.

------
contingencies
Great story. I particularly liked the move to the other side of the world
part. If you guys want some time off from Australia come visit southwest
China. Great community with lots of artists from around the world, recently
described by one of the interviewees in the social documentary I am shooting
as "like Paris in the 1920s".

------
stefanix
Love seeing the progression in skill.

On a different note, most artists I know are successful because they excel in
making insightful commentary on contemporary culture. They look at human
agency and make sens of it. They crate a playground of imagination for
possible futures.

Skills in traditional art practice are often secondary to the latter.

------
irl_zebra
I really enjoyed this piece. I don't connect with the artsy side of my brain
too often and didn't think I would enjoy your piece, but definitely the best
and most interesting thing I've read all day! (currently now reading your
"Don't Go to Art School" piece).

------
kelukelugames
I'm curious what the flaws in this piece are.

[https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1600/1*nLdIY0f1MIa...](https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1600/1*nLdIY0f1MIaZ31ohGKkN7Q.jpeg)

~~~
noahbradley
Shrubs are super flat and boring, rocks get mushy and formless, perspective is
a bit off on the path, darks are too black, etc.

------
jacquesm
What an incredible journey, and what a tremendous amount of hard work.

------
dre85
I would love to know what percentage of your professional and current work is
digital and how long it takes you to create one of these beautiful completely
finished pieces.

~~~
noahbradley
95% is digital these days. My work takes anywhere from 10-30 hours to complete
one of the finished pieces, depending on complexity and how efficient I am.
That time is always broken up into many, many smaller pieces.

~~~
dre85
And when you started, did it still take 10-30 hours or longer? Do you use a
Wacom still or a tablet? Any preferred stylus? Did any tutorials help you or
was it all due to your formal education and practice?

~~~
noahbradley
That first finished landscape piece took about 5 hours. And that felt like an
eternity to me. I've actually pushed myself time and time again to be more
patient with my work. And it's paid off in producing better pieces each time.

I travel a lot so I'm on my Surface Pro 3 most of the time. I've used most
everything out there. They all have pros and cons.

There are a ton of great resources. Start with the stuff linked in my
don't-go-to-art-school article.

------
harmonicon
Just curious, How are the pictures, from section III The professional, made?
Are they made by with software or by actual painting?

------
mari_says
It's good. I'd try to avoid a bit more the emotional aesthetization. That
would fit more in painting that lacks technique, but you paint too good for
that. Make it more rough. Don't mean to know more than you of course but a
good trick is to try to paint humans as if they were landscapes. no it's as if
you don't leave anything outside of the painting, for the viewer to fill...
Only my opinion do.

------
dieg0
Awesome work. Would love to see the path that follows. Cheers

~~~
noahbradley
You and me both.

------
astro-
Hugely inspiring! Thanks for sharing your story, Noah.

------
ninjakeyboard
That was super - really - thanks for writing this.

------
mjfl
Wow, these are amazing and beautiful.

------
mvazquez
Incredible Journey, Well done. (y)

------
kumarski
Love this. Well done.

------
throwaway_97
what a waste of time. criminal

------
kbv
OP please add an nsfw tag ..

~~~
zzkt
your workplace isn't safe for art?

~~~
pavlov
Fantasy landscapes are known to cause daydreaming, which irritates middle
managers.

------
gbog
Most comments seems positive here, nice. I'm a bit less enthusiastic. A
twenty-so young boy has no lesson to teach. He can't be an artist because
artists are either over fifty or dead, no matter how many times he'll repeat
the mantra. One does not choose art among other professional activities: a
very few men or women are chosen to become artists and they will be no matter
what else they try to do.

Also being an artist is a curse. In just finished reading the trial by Kafka
for the fourth time: it must have been extremely painful and hard to write
such a deep novel. I wouldn't wish having this curse even on my worst enemy.
Normal people far very much being an "artist" and they are right, as bring one
means having the most miserable life, no sane relationships with other people,
and if success is there you get paranoia.

Even worse is a young guy who knows nothing about that and says "me too! I
want to be an Artist!". Just like those fools willing to become soldiers in
1914...

~~~
ryan-allen
I don't know why this comment is being downvoted, do we downvote on
differences of sentiment now on HN?

~~~
lectrick
No True Scotsman fallacy. Pessimistic bitterness. Is insane enough to read
Kafka _fucking four times._ Appeal to some ominous nameless oppressive
judgmental force in order to discourage (perhaps this was informed by all that
Kafka reading). Is obsessed with nihilism. Spreads negativity unnecessarily,
which does not help anything. Senseless comparison to optimistic soldiers
entering a warfront... Getting rejected by art directors until you're
successful is not the same as killing "enemies" in cold blood, I'm sorry.

All of that and more in a mere 3 short paragraphs.

How did you NOT see why it was downvoted?

~~~
gbog
It's just that I'm old. I didn't read Kafka four time in a row mind you. I'm
not nihilist at all, what made you think that? I have a high opinion on art,
music, movies, literature, and prefer Kafka over Harry potter if you don't
mind. When I see a twenty so claim himself an artist and a bunch of
appraisers, I insert my view which is that artistic genius is a curse, happens
very rarely, and certainly cannot be taught by a twenty so blogger who draws.

~~~
vacri
He said he was an artist, not an artistic genius; on the contrary, he's fairly
humble and critical of his own work. You're putting words in his mouth, then
talking down to him for things he didn't say.

