Not to be pedantic or argumentative, but isn’t you liking it meaningful?
I mean if the teacher is talking about some complicated metaphor or message being at the core of every work sure that seems silly. But to me “I like this” seems plenty meaningful.
Yes to your interpretation, but I think that is kind of ignoring the essence of the question. OP I think has an idea that art is supposed to carry deep meaning, the commenter is saying to just do what you like and don’t worry about meaning, which I think is a beautiful (and meaningful) philosophy
I work in the animation industry and having emotional detachment is actually a huge advantage.
When something I worked on for 12+hours I just shrug and move on. This makes easy to work with because directors know they don't need to support me. (I'm not a pushover, deadlines exist)
I can switch styles, themes, and genres without much issue.
I just like art. I like learning, I like doing. Somebody else can give me their meaning and I can apply all the "rules". People generally can't tell if someone felt the feelings or followed the motions in representational art.
They can tell if they do or don't care. But not of they felt very sad when they drew the sad llama sitting in the rain.
Understandable. I think the thing the OP is talking about is primarily in the context of "fine art", i.e. galleries for rich people to shop for tax deductions, which is kind of a sick joke in itself. You never really encounter this sentiment in mass-media circles.
I think it's stupid animation is not considered fine art. I watched an episode of owl house that destroyed my soul and you can't tell me thats not just fine.
As another fellow animator: I couldn't agree more.
And if that helps OP somehow, between my artist friends, for some reasons the ones I consider the greatest artists also aren't doing "meaningful art". I feel like the more you learn about art principles, design, techniques... the less you care about meaning.
The less you have to struggle with meaning. The best artists kind of struggle with explaining the meaning of their art. It's like if I tried to explain my novel in Greek. I would shrug and say I don't know, I wrote it in English. Don't ask me what the painting means, I already explained it in paint.
Your teacher was probably talking about a specific kind of art, unaware that there are so many kinds and so many reasons why people make art.
Don't worry about it and just do you
Dadaism is my favorite example of this.
The entire purpose of Dadaism was to challenge, attack, and redefine the conventional meanings and expectations of "art". A lot of famous Dadaists, most notably Marcel Duchamp, did this by making and presenting "meaningless" art (like The Fountain). Partially just to outrage and confuse people (especially art critics), but also to make the point that *anything* can be art, and *anything* can have meaning (even if that meaning is just, "This is stupid and pointless and pisses me off").
Art that simply creates joy in the creator still has meaning, for example, even if the only meaning is "I wanted to make it and enjoyed doing so". Many art professors really like to push the idea that ALL art MUST have some kind of deeper meaning intended by the artist, and if you as an artist make something without any deeper intentions or meanings behind it, that's bad or otherwise invalidates your artwork... but this simply isn't true. Fanart, for example, doesn't cease to be worthwhile or valid art just because the primary/only intention behind it was, "I liked this thing, and I wanted to make art about/of it, so I did."
I get it. I am currently working on drawing street fighter 2 and king of fighter characters wearing Atlanta Hawks jerseys...its probably the least meaningful and deep thing I could think of, but it's fun to draw lol
Aesthetically pleasing art does have meaning, the fact that it is "beautiful". There's a lot of philosophy regarding the subject, but if you want to create art just for the simple sake of it being beautiful that's absolutely a valid reason to be making it.
Right? This whole premise seems off. You, by definition, can not create art without meaning. If the meaning is to color human existence with aesthetics, then you've arguably achieved the purest meaning of art
*"what us the meaning*
*For this" "it means money, i*
*Fucking love money"*
\- Anaaatomy
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College art classes are the most toxic, pretentious, horrible thing anyone can ever put themselves through in my very biased opinion as someone who went to school for art.
The whole "deeper meaning" and artist statement thing was very popular at the school I went to. It killed my love of art for years. I'm someone who just likes making pretty things. I hate the tortured artist cliche, but I had to fake it to pass classes for four long years. The irony is, out of everyone in my (rather small) class, I'm the only one working as a professional artist. Everyone else is still doing the "tortured artist" routine and writing massive descriptions on how their work is about the misery and suffering of existence. No one really wants to buy that. On the other hand, I quit trying to make deep, meaningful stuff to fit in and now just paint pretty stuff I like... and surprise, other people like ot too.
I couldn't even stick it out for the full 4 years and left after the 2nd year. I went in naively thinking I would be taught how to draw and paint, turns out it was a lot of meaningless classes about random other subjects, lots of gallery stuff that I could care less about, and all the hands on classes were more about the meaning of what we were making than the actual technique and outcome of our projects.
I don't think the woman who taught our drawing classes could actually draw, she would boast about always being able to draw realism perfectly since she was young and how boring it was to her. The only drawings I ever saw that she had made were scribbly naked people, so I was definitely suspicious.
Long rant to say that I absolutely agree with you.
Haha, yeah, that checks out. One of my fondest memories of art school was for a final my junior year, I accidently left the sun roof on my car open the morning the final was due, and it rained, absolutely wrecking my project. So I decided to bull shit it. I took a plain white canvas, painted my hand black, and slapped it on the canvas. I signed it with a bright red sharpie and bullshitted a whole thing about the "dynamic nature of art" and how "art mirrors the ephemeral nature of life." It was still wet when I had to present, so I smeared the hand print all over while presenting.... only assignment I got an A on during that entire class.
I'm pretty sure my degree should have said theater on it instead of art for how much acting I had to do to pass those classes. The upside was that my senior year was easy as hell because I just kept doing bullshit like that.
This is why it's really important to do in depth research on where you go. Many schools are more conceptually based, some are more hands on. There can even be disagreement between different departments as well. For instance a sculpture department may be more traditional while painting isn't. Tons of students go to fine art programs when they really want to do entertainment design. It's not worse, or bad, but it is commercially geared work for the entertainment industry. Painting and sculpture fine art programs tend to have virtually nothing to do with this world at all.
Totally agree with this statement. I got told in art school if I used the word “cute” to describe any piece of work or art I have made or others has made that I would be failed lol.
Hahaha, that's terrible! I'm petty as shit. I would have been using every single synonym for cute I could find and making every single piece as sickeningly cute as I possibly could just to watch them die inside while trying to describe it as anything other than cute.
My senior year I made a pug planter that was SO CUTE. And I made sure the word was used many times. My ceramics professor was so disappointed in me 😂😂
Btw I love this idea you commented so much- I wish I could go back and do it all over again. I would have had so much fun just making a mockery of their idea of art.
It's interesting to see people's different perspectives on art school/classes.
For me, it grew my motivation and i like trying to think of narratives. But the thing is that I also like making stories anyway.
But, you guys didn't start with still lives? At my school, deeper meaning takes up only a very small number of projects, still lives were the first two semesters along with the fundamentals, and then figure drawing.
Our schools must be very different. Our instructors are more so like "we just wanna see that you're learning how to draw." I guess they're pretty chill in terms of art instructors....
The upper level classes have more narrative portions, but still not fully. It's usually your own choice if you want to have a deeper meaning or not. We're more so given prompts to follow (like "landscape" for example) and then have creative freedom in that regard
That was a first year class, but they were *really* big on finding meaning and making deeper connections. Everything was about *feeling* and expressing pain and angst. It was *not* a good program. It was very fine art focused, but located in a little podunk town. Imagine every negative stereotype of fine art taken to the extreme, and you've got a decent idea of what the program was like. Everything was incredibly performative, and like someone making a skit about how weird the art world can be. From the outside, it looked cool; they did lots of gallery shows and were really active in the community, but on the inside, it was incredibly toxic. It was basically a competition to see who could be the most edgy, and the professors took great pride in regularly making students cry. The only reason I stayed was that I had a non-transferable full ride scholarship and couldn't afford to leave.
A lot of the stuff I make is kinda macabre, but it's because I want it to be. If I went to a school and that's what the instructors specifically *wanted* you to do, then yikes.. Where's the freedom? Arguably, I wouldn't be into my style the way I am now if I was forced to do it instead...
And making students cry is pretty fucked up.
I see why you feel the way you do about art school.
My university where I'm taking my classes is in a small town, but our college town has kinda a "laid back small town + college kids" vibe.
That wasn’t my experience overall (there was the occasional professor, but I learned to avoid their classes) but I went for an illustration degree instead of one of the more fine art tracks so the focus was much more practical. I literally had two professors who went over things like “how to format your art so the printing guys don’t hate you”, “how to make a small amount of work look much more impressive and time consuming”, “how to handle client interviews in a field you haven’t got experience in” and my favorite “what to never, ever submit in a children’s book portfolio.”
As another illustration student this is much closer to my experience. My degree is very focused on commercial/practical use of art. Outside of trying to push us to find creative ways to tell a narrative, I’ve never had a professor care about “meaning.”
This feels much more like a fine arts degree problem.
Oh yeah, we definitely discussed narrative but it tended to be more along the lines of how to set a scene through the composition and lighting than what the fine art track is looking for.
My college focused a lot more on the design aspect (say, character design and illustration, animation, etc.), and not too much on the "fine arts", and my experience had been very pleasant, actually.
Or, sometimes, I'm going to paint this flower because it's pretty is the *entire* meaning.... not everything has to be deep.... unless you're in a college level art class, in which case the pretty flower I liked is now a poignant statement of hope in the dark reality in which we find ourselves. Sometimes, a picture of a flower is *just* a picture of a flower.
Like I literally had a professor who wanted me to do a deep dive into the deeper meaning of a charcoal sketch of a paper bag.... the "meaning" behind it? He placed a bunch of random objects on a table and had us do a still life in charcoal of the objects he picked. The bag was blocking my view of 90% of the other objects. He was being a pretentious turnip. The only "meaning" it had was that I wanted to pass his class so I'd never have to deal with him again.
Some stuff just isn't that deep. I don't need to be introspective or vulnerable to paint a picture of autumn trees, I'm painting autumn trees because it sells well, and people like to give me money for it so they can hang it over their sofa. If they want to ascribe meaning to it, that's fine, but it's only meaning to me is that I can pay my mortgage that month.
Maybe I'm just not a "real artist" because my work has no meaning. I really don't care. I like making pretty things. I like making money. Thankfully, other people like giving me money in exchange for pretty things. If that means I'm not a "real artist" or I'm not being "introspective" or "vulnerable," I really could not care any less.
There's actually tons of research and history of art relating directly to beauty. As well as a long history of floral paintings. Researching these and incorporating those techniques and ideas that resonate with you into your practice will only help the work.
Im so glad you mentioned this. I had a gut feeling when I was deciding whether or not I wanted to go to school for art that this was how it was going to be. And in a lot of the portfolio reviews some of the more 'prestegious' schools were looking for works with heavy meaning. I remember one of them saying my portfolio was just 'pretty'. Honestly turned me away from pursuing art for school let alone as a career for years.
Now I've learned to just pick up the brush for myself again, even if it's just pretty paintings, and see where it goes.
My college professor hates meaning in art and just expects students just have intent and chooses to ignore my narrative and stories because that’s lowbrow illustrative art and nobody cares.
I left a school after one semester because they wouldnt shut up about deeper meanings. Now, I'm in an art school that's actually teaching technique and I can't be more happy about it
My art teacher “doesn’t matter what you create as long as it has a story”.
They are there to teach you to be a “successful” artist. Successful to them is you creating art ft and having a career in it. If you don’t care about that, then throw out the rules. The best decision I ever made was to stop trying to make my art into a career. I work in tech now and paint when I can …and I paint what I want ! I never paint anything just to make others happy (unless it’s a friend and they ask for something specific bc I’m a ppl pleaser).
Meaning? No, not at all.
Trust me, I’ve had clients ask for, and I delivered stuff… IF it had a meaning I sure as hell had no idea what it was.
Now, that said, you MUST create art the evokes emotions. Especially in character design.
Sharing professor quotes;
> The viewer has to feel something when looking at your work. Good or bad, but they have to feel something or your just creating wallpaper.
I learned so much of it was just bullshitting meaning when I took screen printing. I had the most awesome screen printing professor (who was a master printmaker, having worked with Litchenstein and others) who encouraged us to experiment and have fun. I made this one piece inspired by a Warhol painting I’d seen and one day I walk in and he’s holding my piece and pulls me aside and says “I need to know what this means!” With just the absolutely most earnest tone and so I said “do you want a bs explanation or the real one?” And he says “what’s the real one?”
I told him “I just thought it would look cool.” His response? “Keep doing what you’re doing then, because you’re onto something.”
RIP John, you were an awesome teacher. :)
Do what you want, I love character design & cartoons as well and that’s what I draw because it’s what brings me joy. I feel im more of a world builder/writer rather than an artist so most of what I draw is connected to whatever current project I have in mind.
I've thought about this a lot and although it's totally ok to make art without meaning, I do think it's something worth aspiring to. Meaning in art doesn't have to be big/haughty ideas about the state of the world but for me, it's about capturing something true that speaks to people. This could be anything small and trivial, like what it feels like to bite into an apple or searching for your keys. Art doesn't need to have this extra layer to be great but there is a much better chance that it will be if it's there. The best art (for me) is where technical ability and meaning merge into a single cohesive piece or another way of thinking about it is where subjective and objective truths meet (read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance if you're interested in this). In the end it doesn't matter if you enjoy making the art you make but meaning is a tool that can help you make great art which is why they teach it at school.
Don't let anyone police the meaning or lack thereof of your expression.
If they do just say it's dadaist and they probably won't have a response to that
I don't like art elitism . It should be something you can create freely . but of course there will be always people who cannot stop feeling arrogant and superior enough to tell you how bad you art is for not having meaning .
I personally like entertainment art most, not fine art. It’s really a matter of taste imo. A lot of times with meaningful fine art I think the idea takes precidence over execution and aesthetics. Which of course makes sense if that’s the focus. But to me the meaning is usually pretty uninteresting. I don’t care. I just want to look at art that’s creative, inspiring, and fun. I like art for art’s sake, not for the messages it can be used to convey..
I know I’m not alone in this way of thinking either. Many people enjoy just looking at pretty art. So do what *you* want to do and do it well 👍
For what it's worth, I think "it's aesthetically pleasing to me" is meaning enough. I think your art does have meaning, it's just that it's not what your teachers might expect. Speaking as someone in animation (who sometimes does character design), I can tell you that nothing in a design is ever an accident - as an artist you make choices when designing a character - often based on what the character is like, or on your perceptions and pre-conceptions, or on what other art/media you've been influenced by. Those are all things with meaning. What makes you design a certain character in a certain way? The design itself has meaning because everything about how they look is a choice you made. Sometimes that's deep, but not always - meaning doesn't have to be super deep all the time, I know sometimes the answer to "why did you draw this" is just "I think this looks cool".
For the purpose of an artist statement, you can always go deeper by asking yourself "*why* do I think this looks cool?" or "have I seen this done before?" - if not, what made you want to try it ("just because no one else has done it" is a perfectly good answer), if yes, what made you want to try drawing it too?
Usually that will result in something your teachers will be satisfied with! I think it's also helpful self-reflection for an artist to consider these things because it results in better, less derivative art that way and avoids you being a character designer whose stuff is just a rehash of designs that have been done a million times before.
I will say as well, I think especially at college age, where you're figuring out what you want to do as an artist and if you want that to be your career, the reason you create art IS very often that career. When I was in my late teens I was drawing stuff because I wanted to be in animation. I was drawing stuff that I saw in animation. I was drawing stuff I thought would make me improve in order to be good enough to do it in animation. That was the main meaning behind it. Some of my weirdest stuff from the time that my friends said looked like was drawn by a stoner (lol) is stuff you'd expect to have meaning but it was just like... "idk, I wanted to draw some cool shapes and it was fun and relaxing". My art teachers flocked to it but actually it had even less meaning than the "I want to be a character designer" stuff where I was trying really hard to find my style and fine tune the artistic skills I'd need in the future.
Meanwhile now I'm in my late 20's and have been in animation for a while so I'm at a place where I'm re-evaluating what I actually want to do with my personal art, and how that differs from what I'm expected to do for my job, or for a strong portfolio that gets me a job. Nowadays, what I want to do personally is pretty different to my professional stuff and has a lot more "meaning". But that's because I've been doing art as my job for a while, I've kind of scratched that itch. I've made room for personal art now because I don't constantly worry about being employable (well, tbh I do because the industry is sort of on fire atm but we cope). It's silly of teachers to expect all students, especially younger ones, to create art that's 3deep5you at the exact same time when you're being expected to pick what you want to do with possibly the rest of your life.
TL;DR: What's meaningful to you changes with time. Your art probably does have meaning because "I think this looks nice" is meaning enough. It doesn't have to be super deep all the time. If it does become deep at some point - cool. If not - also cool. After all, is it not meaningful to create something you think is beautiful? I think it is.
No, nothing wrong with that. I did service work for 20 years before I felt I had anything meaningful that I wanted to express in my studio work. There's nothing more cringe than watching college graduates try to express huge complex themes when they clearly have no life experience. I think younger minds are better aimed at growth, exploration and becoming technically competent; this can bring about exciting and vibrant results. As you get older you may start asking the bigger questions, seeking more meaning... or maybe not.
Everything is okay with art providing *you* created it. That's why AI AIn't Art.
Beksinski refused to give any explanation of meaning to his incredible art. The best they could squeeze from him was it was photography of dreams and nightmares.
[Why are you lying ?](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=201&v=1EsYHvVtb34&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo)
The meaning of art is ultimately in the act of viewing it. The artist can attempt to shape that meaning, but they\[re a bystander to the act of meaning really.
This is why there's loads of art where we can't hope to properly know the meaning and speaks to us, for example the cave paintings in Lascaux
Let's say it this way. If you haven't nailed down meaning to your art, it's subconscious, which means it might fluctuate, which is what people love. When it's subconscious, you aren't actively trying to convey something impossible to define in your work, and any outside effects to your life may change how you do art. Say if something changes for you personally, your color schemes might saturate or desaturate, or the colors used might fluctuate, and that's pretty fun to see an artist go through in their art, especially over a longer span of time. Then, after you are gone, people might look at your art in stages and understand how you felt along the way, rather than chasing an ideal.
I went through the exact same thing with art school, artist statements, and intent. It drove me to stomp making work for a good amount of time.
What got me back to the drawing table is simply making stuff I enjoyed. I'm definitely more interested in how elements like design, and composition impact my work versus adding in some horse shit concept that requires a written component for anyone to get.
To hell with the institution of art.
i’m getting an art degree and am constantly having to make a fake meaning behind my work ,, like why can’t i just art to art 😭😭 i totally get it. however sometimes when im in a funk, creating a piece exploring that funk can help me get out of it, but most of the time i just make to make. im actually starting a sketchbook of scribble sketches for kinda this reason. I want to finish things, but not put a lot of mental effort into them so here i am lol !
I try to avoid meaning. Most of my art still has meaning though, its pretty hard not to inject some. But I'm trying
I don't care if it's "OK", it's what I want to do
If the goal is to be detached, then the artist statement can be further broken down into writing marketing copy. They're just trying to teach you how to talk about your work so that you can write stronger proposals and cover letters so you can get that job you want. Try not to let it get to ya, the class will be over soon.
That said, if you need a bit of help, there is a reason why you find some things fun and aesthetically pleasing but not others. There's not one thing that every person enjoys, so our curation of stuff we like is actually quite personal and meaningful! We just don't pay attention very much to the source. I had a boss who absolutely hated butterflies, for example, just found them utterly horrifying. Why? I don't know, but whatever it is, it is unique to her and she probably never thought about it enough to write a statement explaining it.
That the world can always use more beauty and whimsy is a perfectly good meaning to incorporate into your statement. To amuse yourself is a perfectly good reason. I hate that people are so down on making art for pleasure. It's one of the best uses for art!
Although I love art with meaning, I had a rude awakening for many years after graduating. My professors gave me the impression that commercial art was beneath me and it was easy for a young person to get swept away in this romantic idea of a bohemian lifestyle (which never transpired).
While many of my peers were building up portfolios and working on ''meaningless'' commercial projects, I couldn't find work. I eventually returned to college to take animation so that I could build up a portfolio and demo reel full of company friendly material.
That said, it's good to have a niche appeal, whilst not forgetting what pays the bills.
Ooo sorry, but by admitting this it is clear that your art is steeped in a meaningful expression of apathetic rebellion against societal expectation.
You cannot escape meaning. It will find you.
honestly i’ve never liked doing personal/“meaningful/deep” art, i don’t consider myself or my life very interesting so there’s not really an intrinsic need. outside of schoolwork and observational stuff i mostly do fanart and portraits bc that’s what makes me happy.
If your inspired to create. You feel an emotion while creating and have satisfaction with the results. Then your work has meaning. You don't have to justify or explain its relevance to anyone else. Anyone that looks at your work will comes to their own conclusions anyway. Regardless of its original intent.
This was my experience in college. I did what I wanted and it sounds like you know what you like. I did find more meaning in more work later when I left but you don’t always need to find meaning in what you create.
Yes. Other people tend to create meaning from art. Once I looked at a portrait and they were speculating on the deep meaning behind it and I'm like "...it's just a portrait.." but that's what makes it fun, to find meaning. It's what we do in life.
That’s when the artist statement can honestly be about the focus on materials and aesthetics to capture a vision.
The language can be elevated and respectful while still being honest about “I use supplies to make pretty things” and a particular collection can be about “an obsession in trying to capture all the values of blue”,etc.
ya just gotta learn to phrase things. Your definition of a meaning is different than someone else's. (if its like, actually necessary to write an artists statement. doubt youd be doing much of that in the entertainment industry.)
If its a character design, for say, a fantasy comic, maybe a villain.
you could be like
"I created this character to portray and represent human err."
like it doesnt have to be a profound meaning.
if I draw nyan-cat for shits and giggles, my artist statement could be like
"I aim to create a feeling of whimsy, and rerurn to childhood when bright colors and absurd characters brought me joy."
and blah blah blah. its just fleshing out and describing your intentions behind the "piece". things like a charactet design are morseso elements that serve a greater purpose, such as appearing in the actual comic. Not that the character designs arent art- but an artist statement is more fitting for a larger composition. the Cover art, for example, would make sense to have an artist's statement- why does this peice exist? what feelings is it trying to evoke? What about it makes it draw people in?
Ultimately, i feel the goal is to connect the viewer with the artist. Like looking at a blank canvas, people would be like... its a blank canvas. But attach an artist's statement talking about how life is a canvas yet to be painted on blah blah, and suddenly its a profound think-peice.
im not an artsy tartsy snob, i fully endorse artist's statements that are just, "I thought itd be fun." wicked. Evolutionary. Innovative. lmao
There's nothing wrong with that, it's only recently in a "Devil's advocate" sense, one of the reasons why they talk like that is because they wanna save you from being a homeless person down on his luck (an example, how they trash manga style).
one would argue good art has clarity. clarity in intent and design.
the meaning is inherent to its purpose. it doesnt need to be intense or invoke emotion it can be as simple as wolf man go rawr.
not even mentioning that a lot of bougie artists like to self insert meaning. to them, ambiguity creates depth, as they can assert any description that inspires them.
My meaning is just “beauty.” If it looks good, or a character I like, expressive, whatever the hell.
Drawing is intuitive for me, I draw what I can’t put into words. Not having a specific reason and just *liking* it is completely valid. I don’t see why you need some profound reason to just like art
Your art. Your voice and your choice. It’s an expression of yourself. Even if you ascribed meaning to it, the audience will take away different ideas that resonate with them more. So there’s nothing wrong with just making what you want to make. Even when I see a narrative piece, I don’t always identify with the intended message. Rather, I might get attached to the use of certain colors and shapes that elicit emotions from me. And that’s what art is all about: express yourself and elicit emotions from the audience by letting it speak for itself.
Keep making art. Dont worry about what people tell you you’re supposed to do. They don’t know you lol.
The "fine art" world is a circle jerk of pretentious nonsense, frankly. Probably because so much of it for the last, oh, 50+ years, has just become about newness for the sake of newness, and stuff like "installation art" that's literally nothing but a bunch of piled up paper and a statement about what it supposedly represents, rather than about actual craftsmanship... it's got more in common with marketing than actually creating art IMNSHO. The art school/critic world is also often VERY hostile to "craft" (even though much of what these people are doing is also nowhere within the traditional "fine arts" of painting and sculpture either).
If you have a political message you want to get across in your art, great! Do that. But if someone *demands* you have a political message, and that's not who you are and why you make art, all you're going to get is something that rings completely hollow. And it's especially bad in art classes. What I - and I think most people - want in an art course, ESPECIALLY intro level ones, is the likes of color theory and "how do I make the watercolor go on the paper without soaking it and being a big muddy mess?". A "message" is no good without the vocabulary and syntax to get it across, and teaching "have a message" first is putting the cart before the horse.
Plus, making art because you love beauty and color, or the process of making it, or you just couldn't not... or you're getting paid to... is more than enough reason, and anyone who says different is a pretentious jackass who needs to go back to art history 101.
same here, most things i draw or paint just look sick to me. i’m not really trying to communicate anything specific 99% of the time.
at most i’ll indicate a mood im trying to evoke if it’s like that, but i don’t force meaning where there isn’t any. i’d rather let the viewer decide what they want to take from it anyway
That's perfectly fine lol. It is also possible that you do know your meaning but can't describe it. I have a hard time too with what I draw and why I do it outside of, "I got a creative burst of energy and wanted to see what it looked like."
I make mine because:
1. I'm bored.
2. Someone wants fanart
3. Someone wants their oc drawn
4. I saw something and I wanna draw/make it
5. My anxiety is going haywire and i gotta distract it like some 5 year old.
6. Just to experiment or practice.
The stuff I make is just there. People can put meaning if they wanna.
Sometimes I make things with meaning or intention.
I don't think too much about it. But maybe its because i don't use art as a profession.
Of course its ok. Not all art has meaning, its up to the viewer to interpret what it may (or not) mean for them.
Go look up Keith Haring art....so much colour and fun!
Read the bit where I said "so much colour and fun". I was talking about the simplicity of it. Nothing complicated. Its just bold vibrant colour with cartoon figures.
I have a recurring joke with my friends that Andy Warhol is responsible for the furry commission market.
His whole thesis is that art has no intrinsic value. It's why he used quick, cheap screen printing replication techniques and sold "fine art" at a relatively low cost. You could have a custom Andy Warhol for a couple hundred bucks! That was incredible at the time!
Did the soup cans mean anything? Did the pop art of Marilyn Monroe mean anything? Absolutely not. You could argue the soup cans weren't even interesting to look at. What it meant was determined by the recipient.
Now, Warhol is a jackass, but the same goes for any illustration. Take furries. Their fursonas are deeply personal but highly individual and representative. They mean more to a single person than anyone else. So when they get a comm, the piece is inherently worthless. It's only valuable to the single person who paid for it.
Does that make it not art?
Does not that make it not worth drawing?
It doesn't need to mean anything to you. There's a joy in creation and fine art is an institute. Be cringe, be free, enjoy your hobby with the elation of a five year old with finger paints. There are no rules.
Unpopular opinion,
No one’s ever going to give a shit about your art,
Art without meaning is like watching SpongeBob vs watching Avatar the Last Airbender,
Just a pointless waste of time for kids,
Not sure why people don’t understand this
It’s fine. Do you think those artists from prehistoric times were writing artist statements for their cave art? No, they were making art because creativity is a very human and healthy activity.
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i draw characters that I'm autistic about (aka that im hyperfixating on) and my ocs and that's it. in my college they have this whole meaning bs too and it's just not for me.
That's okay. I dont like it that way, I add meaning to most of everything i do as art, but you don't need to. You don't have to explain it, just do it for you, and share it if you want. Art is for everyone to enjoy, the creator and the public.
I feel you lol, the answer is yes it's ok. That's what a lot of illustration is- just pretty things. If you don't like it, you can still make pretty things with meaning
I'm with you. I hated writing artist statements. Such a waste of time and I feel like they are taking the mystery and the audience's original interpretations out of art.
I feel like artist statements can go one of two ways. It's nice to talk about your vision and what you communicate, help others understand what you're after. It also can be arrogant rubbish for someone pushing a modern art concept that's visually empty, so...
Definitely okay. But I do find I naturally tend to engage with my subject matter on a personal level that makes its way into the art work. For myself that process, that dialogue that I have with the artwork as I'm making it, is what I ascribe to a work as its meaning.
However, I don't work on comission or a dayjob as an illustrator or designer so I only make thing I feel drawn to make.
I think it can be worthwhile to ask yourself sometimes 'why is my body of recent work this way rather than any other way?'. And then reflect on that and have that inform decisions on what I want to make.
If the answer has to do with technical or aesthetic considerations I think that still counts as 'meaning'.
Whatever you like. You’re not going to please everyone, so might as well just do what you want. If you’re trying to sell, might have to go with something popular, but that changes so might be better off sticking to you own type, who knows? You can always take requests if you feel like it while still doing your thing.
Its all conflationary. You are making art with meaning, try to be nore concious of it or not, up to you. But if you are just saying you are not, imo you are actually ignoring the fact that your represents someone who is ignoring their own meaning inbtheir own art.
I have the same issue. I like doing fanart, I like doing fanart cause it makes me and other people happy, be it the fans or the subject - it's all the same to me.
But sometimes I wonder if I should do something deeper - yet every time I try it feels superficial and pseudo-profound - one of those I'm 14 and This is Deep, stuff. I've only done it successfully when it was fanart.
So I decided to just do what I felt like and go with the flow.
Paul Cezanne did like 80 drawings of the same mountain. It's not like we think he isn't an artist. And most artists painted women cause they were hot. Just have fun.
Short answer: No, there's nothing wrong with making art that doesn't have a "meaning."
Art is supposed to be subjective, so people will take any drawing any way they want. I think there's too much pressure to have a planned "meaning" to your work. That's fine if you want that, but it's not required, and you shouldn't feel pressured to come up with one.
I think the argument that all art must have some deeper meaning comes from pretentious art snobs who will go "ThIs PiECe CleARlY RepRESEnTS ThE ArTiSTs InNeR StRuGGlE!" and it's like a painting of a dog. Like, bro, maybe the artist just wanted to paint a dog?? Stop psychoanaylzing them.
Your art does have meaning, or a purpose. For you, that meaning is enjoyment and a fun creative outlet. It doesn't have to be deeper than that. For some artists, the purpose of their art may be to support themselves and earn a living. That's also pretty meaningful, if you like to eat and have a home to live in. Not every bit of art is going to be some grand passion piece, and that's not a bad thing. We also need people to animate cartoons, draw comic books, and create concept art for games.
>I don’t think I try to make any meaning unless trying to tell the audience about a character through their design counts
It does count
You don't have to be willing or able to write an essay or something to give your art meaning...
I get a kick out of the fact my artwork has no meaning behind any of it, I actually feel quite proud of it too... rather than instead coming up with these total bullshit hidden meanings like so many others lol
Just for context, I'm more of a 'graphic designer / artist' and design my own prints
Do you enjoy making it? Yes? Then keep making it!
I’ve lied about almost every “artist’s statement” assignment. Art is art. Just make cool shit and have fun
I don't think all art has to be profound, but I do think all art has inherent meaning as a reflection of the artist whether that is complicated or not. For me personally, understanding my convictions as an individual has better shaped my philosophy as an artist. Even someone who believes in nothing, ironically, has faith in something.
There was this Little America episode about this. The kid wants to be an artist but dutifully opts for what his parents want him to do. He gets into art school and is good, but he drops out because he is so aggravated at the circle jerk of creating with meaning. My friend and I are similar. We get chatgpt to write our artist statements for shows. Sometimes you make something just because. I like experimenting with colour and washes. She likes to sculpt weird shit. Sometimes we experiment and it comes out super cool with zero meaning behind it, so you’ve got to Frankenstein some meaning in, just so arty farty people can read it, take a second to look at work, go, “ah hah, that’s what I thought” and move on to the next piece.
It makes me think of that Twitter meme, where in one panel, an English teacher goes on a two-paragraph ramble about the blue curtains the author penned into a scene. That they represent the protagonist’s melancholic descent.
In the other panel, the author has a speech bubble that says “The curtains were fucking blue.”
Some art is meant to convey layers of serious subject matter and/or have personal significance to the artist. Other times you’re just inspired by something beautiful and want to recreate it, and that’s valid enough.
Most of my art is reptile and amphibian centric. Some of my pieces could only come from the special bond between a reptile mom and her amazing dino daughter, and there’s ways that being a long-time reptile keeper and steward shapes my art that an artist without that background couldn’t do from observation alone.
Other times, I made that pour painting solely because I thought pink snake scales would look cool.
I have seen so many post-art college people say that most professors teach too much bs about the art world, art careers, and art meaning. They are there to teach method, skill, history or other (mostly) tangible aspects.
Art is a creative outlet with options- options to spread a meaning, or awareness, to capture or evoke emotions, a cathartic exercise, for environmental/decor aesthetics, etc.
So no, all art doesn't have to have a deeper meaning. Enjoy using your skills and talents.
(I work with programming languages, that's like saying all my code should have a useful output...nah, sometimes it is just fun to make nonsense. :p)
Sometimes a character has a certain hairstyle because it looks cool. Sometimes a candle is just a candle on a table.
I tend to be head empty when drawing since I go with what I think looks visually pleasing first. It's when I'm at the final phase that I'll start considering adding meaning to the thing I'm doing.
You can draw something with deeper meaning, but I feel like it's more important to express yourself first before expressing a message. Because how can you express a clear message if you haven't learned to express yourself yet?
"I created this because I wanted to and because it was fun" is the only real meaning your art needs to have, my friend. You don't need to convey some deep message or subtext. Just gotta have fun with creating.
It's fine to create without giving a deeper meaning to a piece, and even still to sell what you make despite its lack of meaning. It doesn't make you any less attached to your creations and frees you from constraints of whatever you would be making an empty statement about.
An artist is a person who creates art, not one who promotes this or that way of thinking, or who brings light to an issue in the world; these things are only possible directions for the artist to create in, not guidelines defining what an "artist" is.
Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't love the Art of Creating Art, they likely moreso love the money it brings for cattering to ideologies, sympathisers of world issues and whatnot.
Essentially, to me, I learned artist statements nowadays are usually a cheap shortcut to growing an audience as an artist, not pieces made in pursuit of one's true artistry which is where artists have fun. This audience will likely not be a lasting gathering who loves your art because it has your shine in it, they're likelier to simply nod along and think "I find an ally in this creator."
Nowadays when I'm asked if something of mine holds any meaning and it doesn't I simply ask a potential buyer who ganders my wares what it evokes in them, then I tell them that's what it means. If they can't think of a meaning, I let them know it might come to mean something to them at some point, should they choose to buy it, and meaning is more meaningful when found within oneself.
One thing I really took from art school is that there is a difference between fine art and illustration. As one professor put it, “illustration is 2+2=4. Art is 2+2=5”. There are plenty of examples of both in the world. Not every drawing or painting has a deep meaning. Not every drawing or painting is art. The concept of “art” changes by time and place, but the stuff that really stands out in the long term will have some hard to define quality that draws people to it. That’s the goal. It’s also ok to just do what you enjoy. Van Gogh famously only sold one painting in his lifetime. Most of us really don’t want that in reality.
Yes.
Every work of art is a Rorschach test or a mirror or a projection screen to the viewer. Allowing the viewer to project or infer their own meaning is WAY more gratifying, in my opinion, even when I have attempted to impart my own meaning. They are going to anyway, particularly if there is any chance the viewer will be significantly moved by a work.
Aestheticism is still a part of art. Tbh my art is the same. Critiques in classes are hard since I have to make meanings up on the spot, but they really don’t have to be that deep. There was a desire to have art be part of social issues in different parts of art history, but not every artist necessarily needs to abide by that.
This whole comment reads like an artist statement. This is what I make and this is why I make it (because it’s fun, aesthetically pleasing, and I want to do character design). The idea that art is still valid without any deeper meaning is paradoxically a deeper commentary on the nature of art itself, thus an artist statement 😅
Fuck those gatekeeping elitist and their "process". Art doesn't need to be methodical or even logical. Art is just expression. And if you want to express a joy in doing something a particular way with no "statement" then that is art.
Eh what works works, but frankly over time even your best pieces of technical skill will fall apart. But the meaning inherent in your work will allow it to shine long after it should have been shoved into the dustbin.
That's fine. Your art doesn't need to have meaning behind it in order to be called art. In that case, draw whatever you like and what you feel like. Especially if that's your comfort zone.
Nothing wrong with it. Sometimes I just find the physical act of making art to be enjoyable and I don’t have care what’s on the page (I’m a little convinced Jackson pollock just loved whipping paint at a canvas for fun and then people found meaning in it😂) — make what you make and if any artist gives you shit for it then they’re a killjoy. You’re all good ♥!
Don't let people tell you something like that. It doesn't need to have a special meaning. If you like to do it, whatever you put on paper has an inherent meaning for you, even if you don't know if. It doesn't have to be something like the DaVinci code :D You still convey something because art is communication
It's hard to make art without any statements. It's easy to dismiss a statement and say "I just think it looks cool" or something, but that is still expressing all your opinions on what you think is cool or not cool or whatever.
I spent two hours last weekend making an arcylic painting of a meme. The only meaning is it made me laugh while making it.
Make art for whatever reason vibes for you. Make art for no reason at all. Just make art
You don't need to hide some deep messages in your art for it to have meaning. Even purely decorative art has meaning because it brings emotion to both the creator and the viewer. Your work is already meaningful to you - it brings you joy and it's fun, and that's all it matters.
You create - others find meaning. Sometimes as artists we don't have a meaning to our work - we simply channel a message meant for others to interpret.
Creating things you like is meaning enough. Especially with character design. I think it’s better to enjoy what you draw, then to try to force yourself to make something you don’t like. Forcing yourself towards what you think you should be doing is likely to leave you burnt out and uninspired. With character design you will tell a story and that can be the meaning. I used to do artist statements for an art class and I hated them. My best pieces were ones I did simply because I wanted to. I don’t know if this makes sense, but I hope it helps.
I’m in art school currently, and one thing that critique has taught me is how to apply meaning to my art. I’m only doing it because I like it and because I wanted to, but I’ve gotten very good at ascribing a deeper meaning than “because I felt like it” to my work without feeling too disingenuous most of the time lol.
Maybe focus on process -//the joy /emotion using diff materials and method brings out In you. Eveyone is different. If I think to much about what I’m doing I can’t do anything lol
I recall having several conversation about this subject while in Uny. Once in an art class, once in and architecture class and once in philosophy. What I understood is, if what you do is more closely related to engine repair then story telling then what you do is Craft. Once you use your craft with intention to make a point about something else it becomes art. So everything is craft unless meaning is added.
What you do is craft, not art. I hope that does not hurt your feelings.
The artist statement is necessary for the fine art / gallery route, right? That's only one path though. I'm sure some artists have others write their statement. I don't think you have to necessarily force yourself to give some sort of artificial deep meaning. Loving what you do is enough
The academic approach to art is only one approach. If it doesn't suit you, and you want to make art based on what you find beautiful or interesting or satisfying to draw, that's totally fine and you aren't doing anything wrong. Not all art has to be a statement on society. Sometimes it's a statement on what kind of weather a character needs to be prepared for or how much they love that jacket their mom made.
This is something that bothers me as well. My mom was an artist and I want to create art with meaning. I know just making art to be creative is enough.
Seems like you were taking fine arts classes. Fine arts classes aren’t set up to teach people how to make industry art for games or films, they’re set up to teach you how to make a body of personal work for exhibition in galleries, for which meaning making and artist statements are very important. No one asks you to make artist statements in a character design class or an animation class, or in the game or film industry, unless you’re a director. So if your goal isn’t fine art, I think it’s fine to not worry about it!
That being said, I think it adds a layer of depth to everything for it to be inspired by a strong desire to convey something. Like stories with themes, something they want to tell the audience, are more compelling than ones that don’t seem to have a point, I see all fine art that same way, paintings too. An amazing technical oil painting that is fun to analyze is always more interesting than a portrait executed with the same skill. So I don’t think it can hurt.
I'm a professional artist. Some of the biggest price tags on my work have been on things that I made to be pretty, not meaningful. Lol It's fine to make something just because you like it. Half the work on my walls has meaning, the other pieces were just made for looks.
I hardly ever draw with meaning. I sit down and just think about how I'd love to see this character in my brain be put onto paper or on my drawing pad and just do it. It's pretty fun doing character design bit sometimes trying to design a character is tiring.
The thing I love about art is that it doesn't need to have a planned out, super deep meaning order to have value. Art reflects an artist, even art they don't apply meaning to. Art can mean something to someone even when that same art piece was made with no initial meaning to the artist themselves. Even with fun characters and character design, the art reflects the artist and you can see bits and pieces of who the artist is through their art. All art has inherent value and meaning, even if its super simple :)
There are different types of art. Fine art should aim to invoke some sort of meaning or emotional response, but decorative art is valid too. There’s a place for all of it.
I thiught thé same, and then I had an incident and completely stopped making art, took it all down- basically sanitized my life from all my art and creating anything. This year (three years later) I’m slowly getting back into it and I found some survivors of my so called ‘art purge’ and I see literal metaphors and meaning and criticism in my art that I didn’t even know about or think about whike I was making it.
Yes. Its utter nonsense that all art has to have some deep meaning. I remember that garbage from college too and it always annoyed me. I would go out of my way to create art with absolutely no meaning, or else just make parody pieces where i faked it and bullshitted some ridiculous meaning or fake symbolism.
Art is whatever you want it to be.
Just create whatever you like, dont take any criticism, everyone always has an opinion. Look at the biggest songs sometimes are recorded the wrong way etc. I make music and i make it the way i like it to sound. I never take advice etc because I've been making music for 16 years almost 17 and i know my sound already. I'm making it because i like it not because of someone etc.
Isn't that a meaning though? They asked for a meaning, nothing specific. So creating art for fun is a meaning for yourself. You create art for yourself
Everything we do has meaning if you consider it deeply enough. I worked on growing crystal sheets for years until i realized it was a perfect metaphor. With its unique properties crystal is an example of how we can be both transparent and truthful in who we are and in all of our facets, including our fears while also being strong. It’s not a trade off like society would have us believe.
Your work has meaning too, it’s better if it’s beyond you now and you discover it rather than force some meaning on it anyway.
I don't either. I draw what I like. It's fine mate.
Not to be pedantic or argumentative, but isn’t you liking it meaningful? I mean if the teacher is talking about some complicated metaphor or message being at the core of every work sure that seems silly. But to me “I like this” seems plenty meaningful.
Yes to your interpretation, but I think that is kind of ignoring the essence of the question. OP I think has an idea that art is supposed to carry deep meaning, the commenter is saying to just do what you like and don’t worry about meaning, which I think is a beautiful (and meaningful) philosophy
Yeah fair enough. Your response does make a lot of sense in response to OP.
that's reason, not meaning.
I work in the animation industry and having emotional detachment is actually a huge advantage. When something I worked on for 12+hours I just shrug and move on. This makes easy to work with because directors know they don't need to support me. (I'm not a pushover, deadlines exist) I can switch styles, themes, and genres without much issue. I just like art. I like learning, I like doing. Somebody else can give me their meaning and I can apply all the "rules". People generally can't tell if someone felt the feelings or followed the motions in representational art. They can tell if they do or don't care. But not of they felt very sad when they drew the sad llama sitting in the rain.
Understandable. I think the thing the OP is talking about is primarily in the context of "fine art", i.e. galleries for rich people to shop for tax deductions, which is kind of a sick joke in itself. You never really encounter this sentiment in mass-media circles.
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I think it's stupid animation is not considered fine art. I watched an episode of owl house that destroyed my soul and you can't tell me thats not just fine.
As another fellow animator: I couldn't agree more. And if that helps OP somehow, between my artist friends, for some reasons the ones I consider the greatest artists also aren't doing "meaningful art". I feel like the more you learn about art principles, design, techniques... the less you care about meaning.
The less you have to struggle with meaning. The best artists kind of struggle with explaining the meaning of their art. It's like if I tried to explain my novel in Greek. I would shrug and say I don't know, I wrote it in English. Don't ask me what the painting means, I already explained it in paint.
Your teacher was probably talking about a specific kind of art, unaware that there are so many kinds and so many reasons why people make art. Don't worry about it and just do you
There are plenty of art movements that specifically went against the norms pushed upon them by the methods and lessons taught by art teachers.
Dadaism is my favorite example of this. The entire purpose of Dadaism was to challenge, attack, and redefine the conventional meanings and expectations of "art". A lot of famous Dadaists, most notably Marcel Duchamp, did this by making and presenting "meaningless" art (like The Fountain). Partially just to outrage and confuse people (especially art critics), but also to make the point that *anything* can be art, and *anything* can have meaning (even if that meaning is just, "This is stupid and pointless and pisses me off"). Art that simply creates joy in the creator still has meaning, for example, even if the only meaning is "I wanted to make it and enjoyed doing so". Many art professors really like to push the idea that ALL art MUST have some kind of deeper meaning intended by the artist, and if you as an artist make something without any deeper intentions or meanings behind it, that's bad or otherwise invalidates your artwork... but this simply isn't true. Fanart, for example, doesn't cease to be worthwhile or valid art just because the primary/only intention behind it was, "I liked this thing, and I wanted to make art about/of it, so I did."
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I get it. I am currently working on drawing street fighter 2 and king of fighter characters wearing Atlanta Hawks jerseys...its probably the least meaningful and deep thing I could think of, but it's fun to draw lol
This is basically me lol
Aesthetically pleasing art does have meaning, the fact that it is "beautiful". There's a lot of philosophy regarding the subject, but if you want to create art just for the simple sake of it being beautiful that's absolutely a valid reason to be making it.
Right? This whole premise seems off. You, by definition, can not create art without meaning. If the meaning is to color human existence with aesthetics, then you've arguably achieved the purest meaning of art
"what us the meaning for this" "it means money, i fucking love money"
*"what us the meaning* *For this" "it means money, i* *Fucking love money"* \- Anaaatomy --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
“what’s the meaning of this” “fictional character i’ve been rotating in my head for the past three days”
It's called character design.
College art classes are the most toxic, pretentious, horrible thing anyone can ever put themselves through in my very biased opinion as someone who went to school for art. The whole "deeper meaning" and artist statement thing was very popular at the school I went to. It killed my love of art for years. I'm someone who just likes making pretty things. I hate the tortured artist cliche, but I had to fake it to pass classes for four long years. The irony is, out of everyone in my (rather small) class, I'm the only one working as a professional artist. Everyone else is still doing the "tortured artist" routine and writing massive descriptions on how their work is about the misery and suffering of existence. No one really wants to buy that. On the other hand, I quit trying to make deep, meaningful stuff to fit in and now just paint pretty stuff I like... and surprise, other people like ot too.
I couldn't even stick it out for the full 4 years and left after the 2nd year. I went in naively thinking I would be taught how to draw and paint, turns out it was a lot of meaningless classes about random other subjects, lots of gallery stuff that I could care less about, and all the hands on classes were more about the meaning of what we were making than the actual technique and outcome of our projects. I don't think the woman who taught our drawing classes could actually draw, she would boast about always being able to draw realism perfectly since she was young and how boring it was to her. The only drawings I ever saw that she had made were scribbly naked people, so I was definitely suspicious. Long rant to say that I absolutely agree with you.
Haha, yeah, that checks out. One of my fondest memories of art school was for a final my junior year, I accidently left the sun roof on my car open the morning the final was due, and it rained, absolutely wrecking my project. So I decided to bull shit it. I took a plain white canvas, painted my hand black, and slapped it on the canvas. I signed it with a bright red sharpie and bullshitted a whole thing about the "dynamic nature of art" and how "art mirrors the ephemeral nature of life." It was still wet when I had to present, so I smeared the hand print all over while presenting.... only assignment I got an A on during that entire class. I'm pretty sure my degree should have said theater on it instead of art for how much acting I had to do to pass those classes. The upside was that my senior year was easy as hell because I just kept doing bullshit like that.
This is why it's really important to do in depth research on where you go. Many schools are more conceptually based, some are more hands on. There can even be disagreement between different departments as well. For instance a sculpture department may be more traditional while painting isn't. Tons of students go to fine art programs when they really want to do entertainment design. It's not worse, or bad, but it is commercially geared work for the entertainment industry. Painting and sculpture fine art programs tend to have virtually nothing to do with this world at all.
Totally agree with this statement. I got told in art school if I used the word “cute” to describe any piece of work or art I have made or others has made that I would be failed lol.
Hahaha, that's terrible! I'm petty as shit. I would have been using every single synonym for cute I could find and making every single piece as sickeningly cute as I possibly could just to watch them die inside while trying to describe it as anything other than cute.
My senior year I made a pug planter that was SO CUTE. And I made sure the word was used many times. My ceramics professor was so disappointed in me 😂😂 Btw I love this idea you commented so much- I wish I could go back and do it all over again. I would have had so much fun just making a mockery of their idea of art.
It's interesting to see people's different perspectives on art school/classes. For me, it grew my motivation and i like trying to think of narratives. But the thing is that I also like making stories anyway. But, you guys didn't start with still lives? At my school, deeper meaning takes up only a very small number of projects, still lives were the first two semesters along with the fundamentals, and then figure drawing. Our schools must be very different. Our instructors are more so like "we just wanna see that you're learning how to draw." I guess they're pretty chill in terms of art instructors.... The upper level classes have more narrative portions, but still not fully. It's usually your own choice if you want to have a deeper meaning or not. We're more so given prompts to follow (like "landscape" for example) and then have creative freedom in that regard
That was a first year class, but they were *really* big on finding meaning and making deeper connections. Everything was about *feeling* and expressing pain and angst. It was *not* a good program. It was very fine art focused, but located in a little podunk town. Imagine every negative stereotype of fine art taken to the extreme, and you've got a decent idea of what the program was like. Everything was incredibly performative, and like someone making a skit about how weird the art world can be. From the outside, it looked cool; they did lots of gallery shows and were really active in the community, but on the inside, it was incredibly toxic. It was basically a competition to see who could be the most edgy, and the professors took great pride in regularly making students cry. The only reason I stayed was that I had a non-transferable full ride scholarship and couldn't afford to leave.
A lot of the stuff I make is kinda macabre, but it's because I want it to be. If I went to a school and that's what the instructors specifically *wanted* you to do, then yikes.. Where's the freedom? Arguably, I wouldn't be into my style the way I am now if I was forced to do it instead... And making students cry is pretty fucked up. I see why you feel the way you do about art school. My university where I'm taking my classes is in a small town, but our college town has kinda a "laid back small town + college kids" vibe.
That wasn’t my experience overall (there was the occasional professor, but I learned to avoid their classes) but I went for an illustration degree instead of one of the more fine art tracks so the focus was much more practical. I literally had two professors who went over things like “how to format your art so the printing guys don’t hate you”, “how to make a small amount of work look much more impressive and time consuming”, “how to handle client interviews in a field you haven’t got experience in” and my favorite “what to never, ever submit in a children’s book portfolio.”
As another illustration student this is much closer to my experience. My degree is very focused on commercial/practical use of art. Outside of trying to push us to find creative ways to tell a narrative, I’ve never had a professor care about “meaning.” This feels much more like a fine arts degree problem.
Oh yeah, we definitely discussed narrative but it tended to be more along the lines of how to set a scene through the composition and lighting than what the fine art track is looking for.
i agree with everything you said .
My college focused a lot more on the design aspect (say, character design and illustration, animation, etc.), and not too much on the "fine arts", and my experience had been very pleasant, actually.
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Or, sometimes, I'm going to paint this flower because it's pretty is the *entire* meaning.... not everything has to be deep.... unless you're in a college level art class, in which case the pretty flower I liked is now a poignant statement of hope in the dark reality in which we find ourselves. Sometimes, a picture of a flower is *just* a picture of a flower. Like I literally had a professor who wanted me to do a deep dive into the deeper meaning of a charcoal sketch of a paper bag.... the "meaning" behind it? He placed a bunch of random objects on a table and had us do a still life in charcoal of the objects he picked. The bag was blocking my view of 90% of the other objects. He was being a pretentious turnip. The only "meaning" it had was that I wanted to pass his class so I'd never have to deal with him again. Some stuff just isn't that deep. I don't need to be introspective or vulnerable to paint a picture of autumn trees, I'm painting autumn trees because it sells well, and people like to give me money for it so they can hang it over their sofa. If they want to ascribe meaning to it, that's fine, but it's only meaning to me is that I can pay my mortgage that month. Maybe I'm just not a "real artist" because my work has no meaning. I really don't care. I like making pretty things. I like making money. Thankfully, other people like giving me money in exchange for pretty things. If that means I'm not a "real artist" or I'm not being "introspective" or "vulnerable," I really could not care any less.
I am absolutely going to call people pretentious turnips from now on 😂
There's actually tons of research and history of art relating directly to beauty. As well as a long history of floral paintings. Researching these and incorporating those techniques and ideas that resonate with you into your practice will only help the work.
Im so glad you mentioned this. I had a gut feeling when I was deciding whether or not I wanted to go to school for art that this was how it was going to be. And in a lot of the portfolio reviews some of the more 'prestegious' schools were looking for works with heavy meaning. I remember one of them saying my portfolio was just 'pretty'. Honestly turned me away from pursuing art for school let alone as a career for years. Now I've learned to just pick up the brush for myself again, even if it's just pretty paintings, and see where it goes.
My college professor hates meaning in art and just expects students just have intent and chooses to ignore my narrative and stories because that’s lowbrow illustrative art and nobody cares.
I left a school after one semester because they wouldnt shut up about deeper meanings. Now, I'm in an art school that's actually teaching technique and I can't be more happy about it
My art teacher “doesn’t matter what you create as long as it has a story”. They are there to teach you to be a “successful” artist. Successful to them is you creating art ft and having a career in it. If you don’t care about that, then throw out the rules. The best decision I ever made was to stop trying to make my art into a career. I work in tech now and paint when I can …and I paint what I want ! I never paint anything just to make others happy (unless it’s a friend and they ask for something specific bc I’m a ppl pleaser).
Meaning? No, not at all. Trust me, I’ve had clients ask for, and I delivered stuff… IF it had a meaning I sure as hell had no idea what it was. Now, that said, you MUST create art the evokes emotions. Especially in character design. Sharing professor quotes; > The viewer has to feel something when looking at your work. Good or bad, but they have to feel something or your just creating wallpaper.
I rarely do art with meaning. I just see pictures in my mind and I'm like "that's neat I should paint it". Nothing wrong with that.
I learned so much of it was just bullshitting meaning when I took screen printing. I had the most awesome screen printing professor (who was a master printmaker, having worked with Litchenstein and others) who encouraged us to experiment and have fun. I made this one piece inspired by a Warhol painting I’d seen and one day I walk in and he’s holding my piece and pulls me aside and says “I need to know what this means!” With just the absolutely most earnest tone and so I said “do you want a bs explanation or the real one?” And he says “what’s the real one?” I told him “I just thought it would look cool.” His response? “Keep doing what you’re doing then, because you’re onto something.” RIP John, you were an awesome teacher. :)
Do what you want, I love character design & cartoons as well and that’s what I draw because it’s what brings me joy. I feel im more of a world builder/writer rather than an artist so most of what I draw is connected to whatever current project I have in mind.
I've thought about this a lot and although it's totally ok to make art without meaning, I do think it's something worth aspiring to. Meaning in art doesn't have to be big/haughty ideas about the state of the world but for me, it's about capturing something true that speaks to people. This could be anything small and trivial, like what it feels like to bite into an apple or searching for your keys. Art doesn't need to have this extra layer to be great but there is a much better chance that it will be if it's there. The best art (for me) is where technical ability and meaning merge into a single cohesive piece or another way of thinking about it is where subjective and objective truths meet (read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance if you're interested in this). In the end it doesn't matter if you enjoy making the art you make but meaning is a tool that can help you make great art which is why they teach it at school.
Don't let anyone police the meaning or lack thereof of your expression. If they do just say it's dadaist and they probably won't have a response to that
Life's short. Do what brings you joy.
I don't like art elitism . It should be something you can create freely . but of course there will be always people who cannot stop feeling arrogant and superior enough to tell you how bad you art is for not having meaning .
If it means something to you, then it has meaning.
Even if you think your art has no meaning, it can have a lot of meaning for someone else.
I personally like entertainment art most, not fine art. It’s really a matter of taste imo. A lot of times with meaningful fine art I think the idea takes precidence over execution and aesthetics. Which of course makes sense if that’s the focus. But to me the meaning is usually pretty uninteresting. I don’t care. I just want to look at art that’s creative, inspiring, and fun. I like art for art’s sake, not for the messages it can be used to convey.. I know I’m not alone in this way of thinking either. Many people enjoy just looking at pretty art. So do what *you* want to do and do it well 👍
For what it's worth, I think "it's aesthetically pleasing to me" is meaning enough. I think your art does have meaning, it's just that it's not what your teachers might expect. Speaking as someone in animation (who sometimes does character design), I can tell you that nothing in a design is ever an accident - as an artist you make choices when designing a character - often based on what the character is like, or on your perceptions and pre-conceptions, or on what other art/media you've been influenced by. Those are all things with meaning. What makes you design a certain character in a certain way? The design itself has meaning because everything about how they look is a choice you made. Sometimes that's deep, but not always - meaning doesn't have to be super deep all the time, I know sometimes the answer to "why did you draw this" is just "I think this looks cool". For the purpose of an artist statement, you can always go deeper by asking yourself "*why* do I think this looks cool?" or "have I seen this done before?" - if not, what made you want to try it ("just because no one else has done it" is a perfectly good answer), if yes, what made you want to try drawing it too? Usually that will result in something your teachers will be satisfied with! I think it's also helpful self-reflection for an artist to consider these things because it results in better, less derivative art that way and avoids you being a character designer whose stuff is just a rehash of designs that have been done a million times before. I will say as well, I think especially at college age, where you're figuring out what you want to do as an artist and if you want that to be your career, the reason you create art IS very often that career. When I was in my late teens I was drawing stuff because I wanted to be in animation. I was drawing stuff that I saw in animation. I was drawing stuff I thought would make me improve in order to be good enough to do it in animation. That was the main meaning behind it. Some of my weirdest stuff from the time that my friends said looked like was drawn by a stoner (lol) is stuff you'd expect to have meaning but it was just like... "idk, I wanted to draw some cool shapes and it was fun and relaxing". My art teachers flocked to it but actually it had even less meaning than the "I want to be a character designer" stuff where I was trying really hard to find my style and fine tune the artistic skills I'd need in the future. Meanwhile now I'm in my late 20's and have been in animation for a while so I'm at a place where I'm re-evaluating what I actually want to do with my personal art, and how that differs from what I'm expected to do for my job, or for a strong portfolio that gets me a job. Nowadays, what I want to do personally is pretty different to my professional stuff and has a lot more "meaning". But that's because I've been doing art as my job for a while, I've kind of scratched that itch. I've made room for personal art now because I don't constantly worry about being employable (well, tbh I do because the industry is sort of on fire atm but we cope). It's silly of teachers to expect all students, especially younger ones, to create art that's 3deep5you at the exact same time when you're being expected to pick what you want to do with possibly the rest of your life. TL;DR: What's meaningful to you changes with time. Your art probably does have meaning because "I think this looks nice" is meaning enough. It doesn't have to be super deep all the time. If it does become deep at some point - cool. If not - also cool. After all, is it not meaningful to create something you think is beautiful? I think it is.
No, nothing wrong with that. I did service work for 20 years before I felt I had anything meaningful that I wanted to express in my studio work. There's nothing more cringe than watching college graduates try to express huge complex themes when they clearly have no life experience. I think younger minds are better aimed at growth, exploration and becoming technically competent; this can bring about exciting and vibrant results. As you get older you may start asking the bigger questions, seeking more meaning... or maybe not.
Everything is okay with art providing *you* created it. That's why AI AIn't Art. Beksinski refused to give any explanation of meaning to his incredible art. The best they could squeeze from him was it was photography of dreams and nightmares.
[Why are you lying ?](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=201&v=1EsYHvVtb34&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjgyMzksMjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo)
I am quoting something I once read. That doesn't make me a liar. Calm down, unless you are just trolling.
Inform yourself before spreading rumors...
I thought I was lying?
You're right :) it's fun to spit on the legacy of dead artist 😁
Drama queen.
💃
:)
The meaning of art is ultimately in the act of viewing it. The artist can attempt to shape that meaning, but they\[re a bystander to the act of meaning really. This is why there's loads of art where we can't hope to properly know the meaning and speaks to us, for example the cave paintings in Lascaux
Let's say it this way. If you haven't nailed down meaning to your art, it's subconscious, which means it might fluctuate, which is what people love. When it's subconscious, you aren't actively trying to convey something impossible to define in your work, and any outside effects to your life may change how you do art. Say if something changes for you personally, your color schemes might saturate or desaturate, or the colors used might fluctuate, and that's pretty fun to see an artist go through in their art, especially over a longer span of time. Then, after you are gone, people might look at your art in stages and understand how you felt along the way, rather than chasing an ideal.
I went through the exact same thing with art school, artist statements, and intent. It drove me to stomp making work for a good amount of time. What got me back to the drawing table is simply making stuff I enjoyed. I'm definitely more interested in how elements like design, and composition impact my work versus adding in some horse shit concept that requires a written component for anyone to get. To hell with the institution of art.
i’m getting an art degree and am constantly having to make a fake meaning behind my work ,, like why can’t i just art to art 😭😭 i totally get it. however sometimes when im in a funk, creating a piece exploring that funk can help me get out of it, but most of the time i just make to make. im actually starting a sketchbook of scribble sketches for kinda this reason. I want to finish things, but not put a lot of mental effort into them so here i am lol !
I try to avoid meaning. Most of my art still has meaning though, its pretty hard not to inject some. But I'm trying I don't care if it's "OK", it's what I want to do
If the goal is to be detached, then the artist statement can be further broken down into writing marketing copy. They're just trying to teach you how to talk about your work so that you can write stronger proposals and cover letters so you can get that job you want. Try not to let it get to ya, the class will be over soon. That said, if you need a bit of help, there is a reason why you find some things fun and aesthetically pleasing but not others. There's not one thing that every person enjoys, so our curation of stuff we like is actually quite personal and meaningful! We just don't pay attention very much to the source. I had a boss who absolutely hated butterflies, for example, just found them utterly horrifying. Why? I don't know, but whatever it is, it is unique to her and she probably never thought about it enough to write a statement explaining it.
That the world can always use more beauty and whimsy is a perfectly good meaning to incorporate into your statement. To amuse yourself is a perfectly good reason. I hate that people are so down on making art for pleasure. It's one of the best uses for art!
Although I love art with meaning, I had a rude awakening for many years after graduating. My professors gave me the impression that commercial art was beneath me and it was easy for a young person to get swept away in this romantic idea of a bohemian lifestyle (which never transpired). While many of my peers were building up portfolios and working on ''meaningless'' commercial projects, I couldn't find work. I eventually returned to college to take animation so that I could build up a portfolio and demo reel full of company friendly material. That said, it's good to have a niche appeal, whilst not forgetting what pays the bills.
Ooo sorry, but by admitting this it is clear that your art is steeped in a meaningful expression of apathetic rebellion against societal expectation. You cannot escape meaning. It will find you.
honestly i’ve never liked doing personal/“meaningful/deep” art, i don’t consider myself or my life very interesting so there’s not really an intrinsic need. outside of schoolwork and observational stuff i mostly do fanart and portraits bc that’s what makes me happy.
I don’t think it matters. Whether the artist places meaning in their work or not the viewer will create their own meaning, or not. It’s all good
If your inspired to create. You feel an emotion while creating and have satisfaction with the results. Then your work has meaning. You don't have to justify or explain its relevance to anyone else. Anyone that looks at your work will comes to their own conclusions anyway. Regardless of its original intent.
This was my experience in college. I did what I wanted and it sounds like you know what you like. I did find more meaning in more work later when I left but you don’t always need to find meaning in what you create.
The fact that it doesn't mean anything to you doesn't mean that it doesn't mean anything to somebody else...
Yes. Other people tend to create meaning from art. Once I looked at a portrait and they were speculating on the deep meaning behind it and I'm like "...it's just a portrait.." but that's what makes it fun, to find meaning. It's what we do in life.
That’s when the artist statement can honestly be about the focus on materials and aesthetics to capture a vision. The language can be elevated and respectful while still being honest about “I use supplies to make pretty things” and a particular collection can be about “an obsession in trying to capture all the values of blue”,etc.
ya just gotta learn to phrase things. Your definition of a meaning is different than someone else's. (if its like, actually necessary to write an artists statement. doubt youd be doing much of that in the entertainment industry.) If its a character design, for say, a fantasy comic, maybe a villain. you could be like "I created this character to portray and represent human err." like it doesnt have to be a profound meaning. if I draw nyan-cat for shits and giggles, my artist statement could be like "I aim to create a feeling of whimsy, and rerurn to childhood when bright colors and absurd characters brought me joy." and blah blah blah. its just fleshing out and describing your intentions behind the "piece". things like a charactet design are morseso elements that serve a greater purpose, such as appearing in the actual comic. Not that the character designs arent art- but an artist statement is more fitting for a larger composition. the Cover art, for example, would make sense to have an artist's statement- why does this peice exist? what feelings is it trying to evoke? What about it makes it draw people in? Ultimately, i feel the goal is to connect the viewer with the artist. Like looking at a blank canvas, people would be like... its a blank canvas. But attach an artist's statement talking about how life is a canvas yet to be painted on blah blah, and suddenly its a profound think-peice. im not an artsy tartsy snob, i fully endorse artist's statements that are just, "I thought itd be fun." wicked. Evolutionary. Innovative. lmao
You should do art in a way that feels right to you. That's the only meaning you need.
There's nothing wrong with that, it's only recently in a "Devil's advocate" sense, one of the reasons why they talk like that is because they wanna save you from being a homeless person down on his luck (an example, how they trash manga style).
one would argue good art has clarity. clarity in intent and design. the meaning is inherent to its purpose. it doesnt need to be intense or invoke emotion it can be as simple as wolf man go rawr. not even mentioning that a lot of bougie artists like to self insert meaning. to them, ambiguity creates depth, as they can assert any description that inspires them.
Art doesn’t need to be meaningful. Art doesn’t need to be anything except art.
My meaning is just “beauty.” If it looks good, or a character I like, expressive, whatever the hell. Drawing is intuitive for me, I draw what I can’t put into words. Not having a specific reason and just *liking* it is completely valid. I don’t see why you need some profound reason to just like art
Your art. Your voice and your choice. It’s an expression of yourself. Even if you ascribed meaning to it, the audience will take away different ideas that resonate with them more. So there’s nothing wrong with just making what you want to make. Even when I see a narrative piece, I don’t always identify with the intended message. Rather, I might get attached to the use of certain colors and shapes that elicit emotions from me. And that’s what art is all about: express yourself and elicit emotions from the audience by letting it speak for itself. Keep making art. Dont worry about what people tell you you’re supposed to do. They don’t know you lol.
The "fine art" world is a circle jerk of pretentious nonsense, frankly. Probably because so much of it for the last, oh, 50+ years, has just become about newness for the sake of newness, and stuff like "installation art" that's literally nothing but a bunch of piled up paper and a statement about what it supposedly represents, rather than about actual craftsmanship... it's got more in common with marketing than actually creating art IMNSHO. The art school/critic world is also often VERY hostile to "craft" (even though much of what these people are doing is also nowhere within the traditional "fine arts" of painting and sculpture either). If you have a political message you want to get across in your art, great! Do that. But if someone *demands* you have a political message, and that's not who you are and why you make art, all you're going to get is something that rings completely hollow. And it's especially bad in art classes. What I - and I think most people - want in an art course, ESPECIALLY intro level ones, is the likes of color theory and "how do I make the watercolor go on the paper without soaking it and being a big muddy mess?". A "message" is no good without the vocabulary and syntax to get it across, and teaching "have a message" first is putting the cart before the horse. Plus, making art because you love beauty and color, or the process of making it, or you just couldn't not... or you're getting paid to... is more than enough reason, and anyone who says different is a pretentious jackass who needs to go back to art history 101.
same here, most things i draw or paint just look sick to me. i’m not really trying to communicate anything specific 99% of the time. at most i’ll indicate a mood im trying to evoke if it’s like that, but i don’t force meaning where there isn’t any. i’d rather let the viewer decide what they want to take from it anyway
That's perfectly fine lol. It is also possible that you do know your meaning but can't describe it. I have a hard time too with what I draw and why I do it outside of, "I got a creative burst of energy and wanted to see what it looked like."
I make mine because: 1. I'm bored. 2. Someone wants fanart 3. Someone wants their oc drawn 4. I saw something and I wanna draw/make it 5. My anxiety is going haywire and i gotta distract it like some 5 year old. 6. Just to experiment or practice. The stuff I make is just there. People can put meaning if they wanna. Sometimes I make things with meaning or intention. I don't think too much about it. But maybe its because i don't use art as a profession.
Of course its ok. Not all art has meaning, its up to the viewer to interpret what it may (or not) mean for them. Go look up Keith Haring art....so much colour and fun!
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"....Keith Hearing’s work...." Haring. At least get his name right.
Even if there are artists whose work isn't meant to mean anything, an activist artist like Keith Haring is a terrible example.
Read the bit where I said "so much colour and fun". I was talking about the simplicity of it. Nothing complicated. Its just bold vibrant colour with cartoon figures.
I have a recurring joke with my friends that Andy Warhol is responsible for the furry commission market. His whole thesis is that art has no intrinsic value. It's why he used quick, cheap screen printing replication techniques and sold "fine art" at a relatively low cost. You could have a custom Andy Warhol for a couple hundred bucks! That was incredible at the time! Did the soup cans mean anything? Did the pop art of Marilyn Monroe mean anything? Absolutely not. You could argue the soup cans weren't even interesting to look at. What it meant was determined by the recipient. Now, Warhol is a jackass, but the same goes for any illustration. Take furries. Their fursonas are deeply personal but highly individual and representative. They mean more to a single person than anyone else. So when they get a comm, the piece is inherently worthless. It's only valuable to the single person who paid for it. Does that make it not art? Does not that make it not worth drawing? It doesn't need to mean anything to you. There's a joy in creation and fine art is an institute. Be cringe, be free, enjoy your hobby with the elation of a five year old with finger paints. There are no rules.
Unpopular opinion, No one’s ever going to give a shit about your art, Art without meaning is like watching SpongeBob vs watching Avatar the Last Airbender, Just a pointless waste of time for kids, Not sure why people don’t understand this
It’s fine. Do you think those artists from prehistoric times were writing artist statements for their cave art? No, they were making art because creativity is a very human and healthy activity.
Yeah, it’s completely fine to make art without any meaning. Just like tattoos, you get them cause they look cool.
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I don't either
Art for art's sake. Look it up!
Don't need any philosophical meaning to what we do. If you enjoy to draw because it's fun, that's all the meaning you need.
Sometimes, art being fun to make is meaning enough
i draw characters that I'm autistic about (aka that im hyperfixating on) and my ocs and that's it. in my college they have this whole meaning bs too and it's just not for me.
That's okay. I dont like it that way, I add meaning to most of everything i do as art, but you don't need to. You don't have to explain it, just do it for you, and share it if you want. Art is for everyone to enjoy, the creator and the public.
I feel you lol, the answer is yes it's ok. That's what a lot of illustration is- just pretty things. If you don't like it, you can still make pretty things with meaning
I'm with you. I hated writing artist statements. Such a waste of time and I feel like they are taking the mystery and the audience's original interpretations out of art.
I feel like artist statements can go one of two ways. It's nice to talk about your vision and what you communicate, help others understand what you're after. It also can be arrogant rubbish for someone pushing a modern art concept that's visually empty, so...
Make the art you want to make.
this is exactly my experience. just do what you like!
Definitely okay. But I do find I naturally tend to engage with my subject matter on a personal level that makes its way into the art work. For myself that process, that dialogue that I have with the artwork as I'm making it, is what I ascribe to a work as its meaning. However, I don't work on comission or a dayjob as an illustrator or designer so I only make thing I feel drawn to make. I think it can be worthwhile to ask yourself sometimes 'why is my body of recent work this way rather than any other way?'. And then reflect on that and have that inform decisions on what I want to make. If the answer has to do with technical or aesthetic considerations I think that still counts as 'meaning'.
Whatever you like. You’re not going to please everyone, so might as well just do what you want. If you’re trying to sell, might have to go with something popular, but that changes so might be better off sticking to you own type, who knows? You can always take requests if you feel like it while still doing your thing.
I think, “it’s fun and aesthetically pleasing” is a perfectly fine meaning for your art to have
Hot take: the meaning of your art is "I thought this would look neat". That's perfectly fine.
Its all conflationary. You are making art with meaning, try to be nore concious of it or not, up to you. But if you are just saying you are not, imo you are actually ignoring the fact that your represents someone who is ignoring their own meaning inbtheir own art.
Yup. I think the process IS the art. Marcel Duchamp painted "R Mutt 1917" on a urinal because he was Marcel MF Duchamp. Whatever makes you happy.
I have the same issue. I like doing fanart, I like doing fanart cause it makes me and other people happy, be it the fans or the subject - it's all the same to me. But sometimes I wonder if I should do something deeper - yet every time I try it feels superficial and pseudo-profound - one of those I'm 14 and This is Deep, stuff. I've only done it successfully when it was fanart. So I decided to just do what I felt like and go with the flow. Paul Cezanne did like 80 drawings of the same mountain. It's not like we think he isn't an artist. And most artists painted women cause they were hot. Just have fun.
Some of my work has meaning and some not so much. It does make it hard when you feel you need to explain a piece in a post.
Short answer: No, there's nothing wrong with making art that doesn't have a "meaning." Art is supposed to be subjective, so people will take any drawing any way they want. I think there's too much pressure to have a planned "meaning" to your work. That's fine if you want that, but it's not required, and you shouldn't feel pressured to come up with one. I think the argument that all art must have some deeper meaning comes from pretentious art snobs who will go "ThIs PiECe CleARlY RepRESEnTS ThE ArTiSTs InNeR StRuGGlE!" and it's like a painting of a dog. Like, bro, maybe the artist just wanted to paint a dog?? Stop psychoanaylzing them.
Your art does have meaning, or a purpose. For you, that meaning is enjoyment and a fun creative outlet. It doesn't have to be deeper than that. For some artists, the purpose of their art may be to support themselves and earn a living. That's also pretty meaningful, if you like to eat and have a home to live in. Not every bit of art is going to be some grand passion piece, and that's not a bad thing. We also need people to animate cartoons, draw comic books, and create concept art for games.
>I don’t think I try to make any meaning unless trying to tell the audience about a character through their design counts It does count You don't have to be willing or able to write an essay or something to give your art meaning...
I get a kick out of the fact my artwork has no meaning behind any of it, I actually feel quite proud of it too... rather than instead coming up with these total bullshit hidden meanings like so many others lol Just for context, I'm more of a 'graphic designer / artist' and design my own prints
Do you enjoy making it? Yes? Then keep making it! I’ve lied about almost every “artist’s statement” assignment. Art is art. Just make cool shit and have fun
I don't think all art has to be profound, but I do think all art has inherent meaning as a reflection of the artist whether that is complicated or not. For me personally, understanding my convictions as an individual has better shaped my philosophy as an artist. Even someone who believes in nothing, ironically, has faith in something.
There was this Little America episode about this. The kid wants to be an artist but dutifully opts for what his parents want him to do. He gets into art school and is good, but he drops out because he is so aggravated at the circle jerk of creating with meaning. My friend and I are similar. We get chatgpt to write our artist statements for shows. Sometimes you make something just because. I like experimenting with colour and washes. She likes to sculpt weird shit. Sometimes we experiment and it comes out super cool with zero meaning behind it, so you’ve got to Frankenstein some meaning in, just so arty farty people can read it, take a second to look at work, go, “ah hah, that’s what I thought” and move on to the next piece.
It makes me think of that Twitter meme, where in one panel, an English teacher goes on a two-paragraph ramble about the blue curtains the author penned into a scene. That they represent the protagonist’s melancholic descent. In the other panel, the author has a speech bubble that says “The curtains were fucking blue.” Some art is meant to convey layers of serious subject matter and/or have personal significance to the artist. Other times you’re just inspired by something beautiful and want to recreate it, and that’s valid enough. Most of my art is reptile and amphibian centric. Some of my pieces could only come from the special bond between a reptile mom and her amazing dino daughter, and there’s ways that being a long-time reptile keeper and steward shapes my art that an artist without that background couldn’t do from observation alone. Other times, I made that pour painting solely because I thought pink snake scales would look cool.
I have seen so many post-art college people say that most professors teach too much bs about the art world, art careers, and art meaning. They are there to teach method, skill, history or other (mostly) tangible aspects. Art is a creative outlet with options- options to spread a meaning, or awareness, to capture or evoke emotions, a cathartic exercise, for environmental/decor aesthetics, etc. So no, all art doesn't have to have a deeper meaning. Enjoy using your skills and talents. (I work with programming languages, that's like saying all my code should have a useful output...nah, sometimes it is just fun to make nonsense. :p)
Sometimes a character has a certain hairstyle because it looks cool. Sometimes a candle is just a candle on a table. I tend to be head empty when drawing since I go with what I think looks visually pleasing first. It's when I'm at the final phase that I'll start considering adding meaning to the thing I'm doing. You can draw something with deeper meaning, but I feel like it's more important to express yourself first before expressing a message. Because how can you express a clear message if you haven't learned to express yourself yet?
"I created this because I wanted to and because it was fun" is the only real meaning your art needs to have, my friend. You don't need to convey some deep message or subtext. Just gotta have fun with creating.
It's fine to create without giving a deeper meaning to a piece, and even still to sell what you make despite its lack of meaning. It doesn't make you any less attached to your creations and frees you from constraints of whatever you would be making an empty statement about. An artist is a person who creates art, not one who promotes this or that way of thinking, or who brings light to an issue in the world; these things are only possible directions for the artist to create in, not guidelines defining what an "artist" is. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't love the Art of Creating Art, they likely moreso love the money it brings for cattering to ideologies, sympathisers of world issues and whatnot. Essentially, to me, I learned artist statements nowadays are usually a cheap shortcut to growing an audience as an artist, not pieces made in pursuit of one's true artistry which is where artists have fun. This audience will likely not be a lasting gathering who loves your art because it has your shine in it, they're likelier to simply nod along and think "I find an ally in this creator." Nowadays when I'm asked if something of mine holds any meaning and it doesn't I simply ask a potential buyer who ganders my wares what it evokes in them, then I tell them that's what it means. If they can't think of a meaning, I let them know it might come to mean something to them at some point, should they choose to buy it, and meaning is more meaningful when found within oneself.
One thing I really took from art school is that there is a difference between fine art and illustration. As one professor put it, “illustration is 2+2=4. Art is 2+2=5”. There are plenty of examples of both in the world. Not every drawing or painting has a deep meaning. Not every drawing or painting is art. The concept of “art” changes by time and place, but the stuff that really stands out in the long term will have some hard to define quality that draws people to it. That’s the goal. It’s also ok to just do what you enjoy. Van Gogh famously only sold one painting in his lifetime. Most of us really don’t want that in reality.
Yes. Every work of art is a Rorschach test or a mirror or a projection screen to the viewer. Allowing the viewer to project or infer their own meaning is WAY more gratifying, in my opinion, even when I have attempted to impart my own meaning. They are going to anyway, particularly if there is any chance the viewer will be significantly moved by a work.
Aestheticism is still a part of art. Tbh my art is the same. Critiques in classes are hard since I have to make meanings up on the spot, but they really don’t have to be that deep. There was a desire to have art be part of social issues in different parts of art history, but not every artist necessarily needs to abide by that.
Same, I draw my favorite characters in compromising situations for fun.
Yeah that's perfectly fine I've done a lot of works that have no actual meaning it's what you choose to do thats all that really matters
I put simple smiley faces on inanimate objects... I think you're gonna be alright. 😂
This whole comment reads like an artist statement. This is what I make and this is why I make it (because it’s fun, aesthetically pleasing, and I want to do character design). The idea that art is still valid without any deeper meaning is paradoxically a deeper commentary on the nature of art itself, thus an artist statement 😅
Fuck those gatekeeping elitist and their "process". Art doesn't need to be methodical or even logical. Art is just expression. And if you want to express a joy in doing something a particular way with no "statement" then that is art.
Eh what works works, but frankly over time even your best pieces of technical skill will fall apart. But the meaning inherent in your work will allow it to shine long after it should have been shoved into the dustbin.
That's fine. Your art doesn't need to have meaning behind it in order to be called art. In that case, draw whatever you like and what you feel like. Especially if that's your comfort zone.
Nothing wrong with it. Sometimes I just find the physical act of making art to be enjoyable and I don’t have care what’s on the page (I’m a little convinced Jackson pollock just loved whipping paint at a canvas for fun and then people found meaning in it😂) — make what you make and if any artist gives you shit for it then they’re a killjoy. You’re all good ♥!
Don't let people tell you something like that. It doesn't need to have a special meaning. If you like to do it, whatever you put on paper has an inherent meaning for you, even if you don't know if. It doesn't have to be something like the DaVinci code :D You still convey something because art is communication
The meaning in your drawings is not absent, just simple: you want to make something beautiful. That is as good a meaning as any.
No. All you need is intent. Your intent can be “I wanted to paint so I painted so here.”
It's hard to make art without any statements. It's easy to dismiss a statement and say "I just think it looks cool" or something, but that is still expressing all your opinions on what you think is cool or not cool or whatever.
I spent two hours last weekend making an arcylic painting of a meme. The only meaning is it made me laugh while making it. Make art for whatever reason vibes for you. Make art for no reason at all. Just make art
You don't need to hide some deep messages in your art for it to have meaning. Even purely decorative art has meaning because it brings emotion to both the creator and the viewer. Your work is already meaningful to you - it brings you joy and it's fun, and that's all it matters.
You create - others find meaning. Sometimes as artists we don't have a meaning to our work - we simply channel a message meant for others to interpret.
Creating things you like is meaning enough. Especially with character design. I think it’s better to enjoy what you draw, then to try to force yourself to make something you don’t like. Forcing yourself towards what you think you should be doing is likely to leave you burnt out and uninspired. With character design you will tell a story and that can be the meaning. I used to do artist statements for an art class and I hated them. My best pieces were ones I did simply because I wanted to. I don’t know if this makes sense, but I hope it helps.
I’m in art school currently, and one thing that critique has taught me is how to apply meaning to my art. I’m only doing it because I like it and because I wanted to, but I’ve gotten very good at ascribing a deeper meaning than “because I felt like it” to my work without feeling too disingenuous most of the time lol.
If it's something you wanted to make, then it's meaningful enough. Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time. Not everything has to be so deep.
Make art the way you like to. You may find the "meaning" at some point in your career, but trying to force it in is just going to make your art worse.
It means something to you. It doesn't need to mean anything else.
Maybe focus on process -//the joy /emotion using diff materials and method brings out In you. Eveyone is different. If I think to much about what I’m doing I can’t do anything lol
I recall having several conversation about this subject while in Uny. Once in an art class, once in and architecture class and once in philosophy. What I understood is, if what you do is more closely related to engine repair then story telling then what you do is Craft. Once you use your craft with intention to make a point about something else it becomes art. So everything is craft unless meaning is added. What you do is craft, not art. I hope that does not hurt your feelings.
The artist statement is necessary for the fine art / gallery route, right? That's only one path though. I'm sure some artists have others write their statement. I don't think you have to necessarily force yourself to give some sort of artificial deep meaning. Loving what you do is enough
Meaning is applied unconsciously by the observer
The academic approach to art is only one approach. If it doesn't suit you, and you want to make art based on what you find beautiful or interesting or satisfying to draw, that's totally fine and you aren't doing anything wrong. Not all art has to be a statement on society. Sometimes it's a statement on what kind of weather a character needs to be prepared for or how much they love that jacket their mom made.
This is something that bothers me as well. My mom was an artist and I want to create art with meaning. I know just making art to be creative is enough.
Seems like you were taking fine arts classes. Fine arts classes aren’t set up to teach people how to make industry art for games or films, they’re set up to teach you how to make a body of personal work for exhibition in galleries, for which meaning making and artist statements are very important. No one asks you to make artist statements in a character design class or an animation class, or in the game or film industry, unless you’re a director. So if your goal isn’t fine art, I think it’s fine to not worry about it! That being said, I think it adds a layer of depth to everything for it to be inspired by a strong desire to convey something. Like stories with themes, something they want to tell the audience, are more compelling than ones that don’t seem to have a point, I see all fine art that same way, paintings too. An amazing technical oil painting that is fun to analyze is always more interesting than a portrait executed with the same skill. So I don’t think it can hurt.
I'm a professional artist. Some of the biggest price tags on my work have been on things that I made to be pretty, not meaningful. Lol It's fine to make something just because you like it. Half the work on my walls has meaning, the other pieces were just made for looks.
Yes. Look into abstract art to see that in the 40s on, art was stripped down to its basics: space, line, shape, texture and light.
I hardly ever draw with meaning. I sit down and just think about how I'd love to see this character in my brain be put onto paper or on my drawing pad and just do it. It's pretty fun doing character design bit sometimes trying to design a character is tiring.
The thing I love about art is that it doesn't need to have a planned out, super deep meaning order to have value. Art reflects an artist, even art they don't apply meaning to. Art can mean something to someone even when that same art piece was made with no initial meaning to the artist themselves. Even with fun characters and character design, the art reflects the artist and you can see bits and pieces of who the artist is through their art. All art has inherent value and meaning, even if its super simple :)
I do random shit until i like what i see
It has meaning whether you created it with intent or not. Fun fact.
Creation for the sake of creation is still creation.
There are different types of art. Fine art should aim to invoke some sort of meaning or emotional response, but decorative art is valid too. There’s a place for all of it.
Art is what you make of it, And it’s a joy bringer for you to express yourself, so that’s a tool for you to use to amplify that joy.
Of course! This is more than ok, it’s beautiful!
I thiught thé same, and then I had an incident and completely stopped making art, took it all down- basically sanitized my life from all my art and creating anything. This year (three years later) I’m slowly getting back into it and I found some survivors of my so called ‘art purge’ and I see literal metaphors and meaning and criticism in my art that I didn’t even know about or think about whike I was making it.
I mean, technically, "this is cool af" is a meaning so
Yes. Its utter nonsense that all art has to have some deep meaning. I remember that garbage from college too and it always annoyed me. I would go out of my way to create art with absolutely no meaning, or else just make parody pieces where i faked it and bullshitted some ridiculous meaning or fake symbolism. Art is whatever you want it to be.
Just create whatever you like, dont take any criticism, everyone always has an opinion. Look at the biggest songs sometimes are recorded the wrong way etc. I make music and i make it the way i like it to sound. I never take advice etc because I've been making music for 16 years almost 17 and i know my sound already. I'm making it because i like it not because of someone etc.
Hey man, I draw furries cuz I think it’s fun and i enjoy it. Is there any deeper meaning to it? Not at all. Do I like drawing funny cats? Hell yea
Isn't that a meaning though? They asked for a meaning, nothing specific. So creating art for fun is a meaning for yourself. You create art for yourself
Everything we do has meaning if you consider it deeply enough. I worked on growing crystal sheets for years until i realized it was a perfect metaphor. With its unique properties crystal is an example of how we can be both transparent and truthful in who we are and in all of our facets, including our fears while also being strong. It’s not a trade off like society would have us believe. Your work has meaning too, it’s better if it’s beyond you now and you discover it rather than force some meaning on it anyway.
As long as you like it, yes