Art is a form of human expression that is as old as humanity itself. In formal art education, the fundamentals play a significant role in what type of artist you become. These fundamentals are, what all artists consider, the building blocks of any artwork.
Whether you intend to be an animator, cartoonist, visual artist, or even a painter, learning the fundamentals is necessary.
Many people often confuse the ‘seven elements of art with the art fundamentals. However, they are entirely different. The fundamentals should not be confused with the elements, even though the two lists overlap in many ways.
The fundamentals are generally universal in different mediums and styles. Learning them will benefit an artist to become even more versatile and skillful.
Why Study the Art Fundamentals
Art fundamentals, as mentioned above, are the building blocks. They are the ABCs of all art forms that will form your art style. They are something beginners learn even before picking up a brush to fill in their canvas.
Art is one of those things that people judge very quickly. However, identifying what goes right and wrong in an illustration is what separates amateurs from professionals.
The crucial part after identifying this problem is how you improve them. A good grasp of the art fundamentals will help you hone your skills and improve your art.
Tips to Improving Your Fundamentals
While learning the fundamentals should be very easy, you could follow some tips.
- Practice drawing and designing. After all, practice is what makes everything perfect.
- Don’t rest your hand on the paper; use your whole arm from the shoulder to draw your lines.
- Time yourself properly when drawing.
- Draw scenes and items from everyday life
- Try to understand what you are drawing and its composition before filling in your sketch.
- Get involved in your local artist’s and craftsman’s community.
- Ask others to criticize your artwork so that you can improve yourself.
Fundamentals of Art
The fundamentals are important for every artist. The fundamentals of art are:
- Perspective
- Form
- Technique
- Composition
- Value
Perspective
Perspective is the art of expressing a particular scene from a different point of view. An example would be the change in the size of objects in our vision as we move closer or away from it. You cannot avoid perspectives. The faster you try to understand perspectives, the better your art style will become.
A good way of understanding perspectives is by studying them more practically. A good intuition is required to apply perspective drawings into your art. More practice is a surefire way of getting good at identifying perspectives. There are dozens of videos on YouTube which you can use to learn about perspective drawings.
The types of perspective that are usually incorporated into art are:
- One-point Perspective
- Two-point Perspective
- Three-point perspective
- Foreshortening
- Equal plains in between the perspective
Form
The form is the ideas that view on your flat screen. It’s the 3-dimensional visual expressions that are conveyed on a 2D plane. It could be done by many methods such as contour drawing, contrast, or shading.
The form can define anything that has a volume. There are more than 7 billion humans on earth with different body and face shapes. The ability to understand these shapes and incorporate them into an artwork is what makes a talented artist. It is a crucial skill for an excellent reason.
You can paint more convincing and detailed depictions if you have a firm grasp of the fundamental forms and structures that make up your subject. That’s why so many portrait artists spend so much time learning about the anatomy of their subjects.
Technique
When it comes to drawing and designing, everything depends on the artist’s talent and craftsmanship. A master knows best where to add small and subtle details, whereas a novice artist will only overwork an artwork.
Every artist needs to know how to work with his tools before he can start drawing. Drawing includes tools like pencils and pens and digital ones like graphic tablets and supporting software.
Each artist has different processes by which they draw. A professional artist follows through with a single technique rather than applying various techniques to his artwork.
Overworking on any artwork will make things messier. Having a process that supports your technical execution and your style is essential. This technique is what makes you and your art unique.
Composition
Composition is hard to teach to both newcomers and artists who skipped the fundamentals. Composition is the final product you get after adding together all the forms and scenes in your artwork.
Your choice of composition depends on the style and techniques which you use to draw. It is defined by the size, angle, perspective, and attention on your background objects.
It presents the setting on which your scenario is being carried out. It is a fundamental skill that you will only develop after slowly developing more artistic experiences.
Value
Value refers to a lot of things. It could be used to mean the amount of light or darkness that a painting should have. It could also mean the number of details in your art. Your ability to present forms will immensely be upgraded if you have an excellent knowledge of value.
Painting with accurate values can help your art go the extra mile in the improvement section. It helps in expressing the realism in your craft even if your techniques are not top-notched.
Conclusion
Improving your drawing skills isn’t something that can be achieved in a single day. There is no alternative to working hard and practicing.
Break up your time into various parts to concentrate on a single fundamental during that time. It could help you improve your fundamentals while showing the consistent result. So, make sure to spend some time to for improving it.