I know you don't need to be a painter or an artist to be a graphic designer, but I also know it does help.

 

Thing is, I can't paint. And as I ponder the option of whether to focus more on web development or graphic design, I'm not entirely sure whether not being able to paint would hinder my graphic design abilities and learning.

 

What say you?

I can't paint for sh*t and I'm doing alright. So long as you have an eye for detail, colour and typography, you'll be alright.

Man, you should see some of the stuff I come up with when I attempt to give drawing/painting a go.

 

It surprises me how I can find digital art and front-end dev so interesting. On paper I'm as bad as it comes.

 

If you're stuck on what path to take, why not do what I do? Just slowly do both at a time then you'll start to discover which one you find more interesting - for me it was front-end dev, but since I started both I have knowledge in both of them.

Hi Stephen,

 

Graphic Design ability has nothing to do with painting. As Cosmos pointed out, it's more about an eye for detail and the effective balance between objects, colour and typography. Then communicating all that to yours or your client vision of what is being said... if that makes sense.

 

In another sense, anyone can do a "painting" - and you can argue anything you like about it's meaning - but is it art?

 

As an example, this is one of my 'artistic ideas' for an abstract painting:

 

[step 1] Lay out a large piece of canvas (let's say around 4 x 5 mtrs) on my lounge room floor.

 

[step 2] Throw a few litres of random coloured paint on it - sometimes over my head, so I can't determine where it lands.

 

[step 3] Glass of red wine, flailing hands in the air, stamp up and down on it - in a fit of rage combined with joy - (an occasional pirouette would certainly help) all the while screaming "bastards, bastards, bastards".

 

[step 4] After a rather deserved restful nights sleep.... . . . in the morning, saunter over to my masterpiece and casually vomit on it (although I'm not sure yet, as that seems a touch uncouth) My plan 'B' is to just spray it with the leftover froth from my espresso machine.

 

[step 5] Take it outside to 'rest' for a few months and let the local cockatoo's and other wildlife make their mark.

 

[step 6] Dry it out then frame it.

 

I think I will call it "the devaluation of human creative thought vs the system, tyranny, weather fluctuations and native animals"... - dunno, I may well shorten it.

 

The thing is, what I'm really trying to get at is that . . . hang on a bit . . . sorry . . . hang on... hang on... Sorry, I have to stop typing for a bit . . . ... ... ... ... Whoa!... I think I just won the bid on ebay for a rather large piece of unused canvass!!... hang on... yep.. nup... yep... nup... yeeeiooo.... nahhhhhh....... bastards.

 

Looks like another dream... and wasted talent gone to dust. Oh well, I'll keep you guys informed.

 

----

 

But seriously Stephen, what say me is that I don't know. I'm in a similar situation, as in, 'to focus on the coding or the design'??? - I'm a "mid-weight" designer that works for a print media company that enjoys programming. I'm starting to learn html/css but have been distracted in the last few months by thinking that perhaps 'design' is the way to go...

 

In my view 'coding' is design - a craft... all the little pieces that fit into place for a reason, but it 'has' to work. Whereas artistic design? who cares - the whole thing is not going to break if the 'visual integrity' is broken? I like to think that visual design makes a big difference to selling your product.

 

I'm a bit jaded myself at the moment about a direction to take - hence my hopefully amusing little story.

 

Anyway, log on to 99designs.com (or similar 'crowd sourcing' solutions) to witness the awful truth - if you dare. It will be the subject of my next rant!... oh dear!

 

Cheers, Steve.

 

[EDIT] I love classic painters such as Turner, and Van Gough's starry starry night. simply beautiful.

Edited May 1, 201412 yr by stixstudios

Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

Steve, I liked your funny story - made me laugh! I agree with everything you've said. Much appreciated.

Edited May 1, 201412 yr by stephen88eu

I am webdesigner and I can`t paint . I focus on graphic design of website - that`s all . In my oppinion If you want to be good at something you should focus on one thing and keep learning it .

Edited May 5, 201412 yr by gagarindes

I cannot paint nor draw or whatsoever and to be honest, you do not need those qualities to be a graphic designer. I have never had any complications because I am not an artist.

Design is mostly based on theory, the underpinning of things like colour, typography and the history of such things as well as things like the rule of thirds and figure ground etc etc would all arm you with enough knowledge to create things that look pleasing.

 

Learning how to use software is not the challenge though, the challenge is to create and whatever you create make it have meaning, always question why did you do that and evolve design like this,then you won't go far wrong.

 

Although art and graphic design seem very alike, they are two different things, an artist conveys a message that he or she wants to send the audience, a graphic designer has the harder job of conveying other peoples ideas and messages, an artist draws what they want to express and a graphic designer has to interpret what the audience needs to see in order so pass a clients message

I can't sketch either - when I did my access to art, the lecturer went on and on and on about drawing/sketching blah blah blah - yes it helps, but I can't - graphic design, is all about in my mind - precision, eye for detail thinking outside the box sometimes.