Friday Thoughts | The Benefit of Doing a Favorites Roundup

Just a quick thought exercise / challenge for you to do today! 

On Wednesday, I did an Animation Art Favorites Round Up, and was greatly surprised at what I learned: upon viewing my favorite art together, I found out the works as a whole reflected my own artistic goals and desires!! Above is my collection, you can view the Pinboard and read what I learned about myself here. In addition to learning about myself as an artist and my own artistic goals, I learned what draws me into an art piece and what I like in art as well! Not to mention...it was so nice to see 10-15 of my absolute favorite artworks in one spot all together. It really is a fun exercise, I thought some of you might like to try it too! 

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In completing this exercise, you will find out: 

Your artistic tastes!

What you like reflects you!

Your own artistic style.

What you'd like to be/do/accomplish as an artist (or patron).

Your artistic goals!

(If you are an art patron/appreciator, you can try this exercise too! Find out more about the art you like, and get a better understanding of just why you're drawn to in particular artworks. This exercise can help you hone in on what types / styles / genres of art you would like to collect or give you clues to what kinds of artists you might like to follow in the future.) 

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CHALLENGE:

STEP 1: Gather 10-15 images of your favorite artworks.

If you are looking for specific goals for a certain medium/genre you are interested in it may help to pick art from only 1 category. ie. animation, landscape, seascape, people, abstract...etc. If you want a broader picture, or to learn more you can try your all time favorites from every genre, and get a different perspective. This exercise is something that can be done multiple times! (If you are reading my blog and are not a Fine Artist or Patron of the Fine Arts, you can try it too! This exercise is not limited to Fine Art. Any profession could apply this exercise to their craft - writers looking to hone their story ideas, engineers looking for their favorite projects, scientists, sculptors, graphic designers, interior designers...etc.)

STEP 2: Once you pick your favorites, put them together!

Use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, a word document, a PDF 

OR bring them all into one Pinterest Pinboard like this (I recommend viewing it at 75% zoom so you can see everything at once).

STEP 3: Analyze them! 

Answer questions like these: 

1. What is the overall visual theme? 

2. Are the colors similar in all the pictures? Or perhaps there is a lot of variety!

3. What do you think this says about your artistic tastes?

4. Are there overall style queues?

5. What do you think these works say about your personal goals or desires as an artist (or your goals / desires as an art patron)?

Here are my answers (based on the images shown above):

This collection of work I like reflects who I am as an artist! I found out: I am a color & light junkie!! I love definite shadow shapes and highlights. I am drawn to cool colors predominantly with warm accents! I love detail (paintings, pencil, pen & ink)! A mastery of perspective is present. Also, I seem to like bears... :) These works helped me to see my artistic goals: 1. Master color and light!!!! 2. Master perspective!

STEP 4 (optional): Share! 

Show us your images and tell us what you learned about yourself! Comment below AND attach an image / screen cap of your images OR link to your Pinboard OR blog about it link to your blog post! 

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I'd love to see what art you admire and hear what it says about you as an artist (or patron)! 

tags: friday thoughts, fridaythoughts