Art for People Who Can’t Art: Beginner Art Guide

I am currently obsessing over a project. It's a big book of everything I know about art. Well, that's not true. It's all about pre-beginner art.

I have a unique perspective. I know what it's like to just not understand how certain art works. But that doesn't mean I can never know.

Let me tell you a story. One day I was sitting in the car listening to classical music with a music major. I remember the piece sounded spooky and nightmare-ish to me. I commented on how scary it sounded, and the look she gave me was beyond puzzled. Apparently, this piece was about springtime, happiness, and joy. WHAT?! This song??

She went on to describe the flutes and how you should inherently be able to hear the happiness. You should be able to receive this message the artist put out for you. And how did I miss it so completely?

It made me think about my go-to art form—visual art. And it made me think of all the times I was with someone I loved, looking at art, and they said, "I don't like it." When I asked why, they thought very hard and long about it before shrugging and saying, "I'm not sure. I just don't like it."

I remember being puzzled by this. What about it don’t you like?

It made me realize that all the beginner art classes I took, the ones that claimed to start at ground zero, were actually starting quite advanced. Starting at zero would be the equivalent of describing the flutes. Why does the flute doing that mean something? What do the counts mean? Why would a composer put a drum there? How should I be interpreting drum beats?

That is the first step. Forget technique. Forget sending a message through the medium. Let's just focus on the medium itself. How does it convey messages? What should we look for?

And suddenly, we can start to form opinions and gain deeper understanding.

I’m making the ultimate art book for people who can’t do art. And it doesn’t teach you technique or how to draw a ball. It teaches you what a ball means. So if you do want to draw it, you know what message it’s sending. And if you never want to draw it, that’s okay too. But next time you see someone else drawing a ball, you’ll know what they’re trying to say.

It’s the ultimate guide to beginner art.