What Made You Want to Become an Artist?

[Kyoe]

Undoubtedly, each of us had some particular inspiration for it.
So, what made you want to start drawing, painting, sculpting, or whatever type of art that you do? Tell us the story of your origin as an artist, and what inspires you to continue making art.

 

[Ice1]

For me, it al started with pokemon. literally all my work is pokemon related. I've always seen myself as creative, or atleast I'm trying to be, making up boardgames, and adding to the fantasies that I got on tv. I was really into drawing my own pokemon on paper, but it never really got good. I was only like 8 at the time, so that probably has something to do with it. I then found out that fakemon was a thing, and that you could find the pokemon game sprite on the internet. I started in 2008 with recolors, and was active on a dutch forum with a lot of great spriters, such as Morris and Zorin. I really looked up to those guys and the sprites they made. I still only do pokémon sprites, and I think I the biggest influences were WaterTrainer, Morris, Zorin and ofcourse the real deal Gamefreak.

 

[Amaruuk]

This sounds a bit like the Artist's Journey thread I started, if anyone wants to elaborate on what came after that initial inspiration, it'd be cool to see it there! :3

As for my response to this topic, art is something I've always done and it's in my genes (half of them, anyway) so I can't really pinpoint anything that sparked me, unless you mean when I started wanting it to be more than a hobby, in which case about halfway through college was when that happened. My drive is rather a combination of things I like and the way I'm just wired to outlet stuff via drawing and painting. Growing up I liked drawing animals, watching Bob Ross and trying to do happy little trees with the elementary school tempera paints (lol), and experimenting with every media I could get my little hands on (mom was always so encouraging and got me all kinds of stuff). I also had obsession after obsession as a kid/teen so there were metric ****-tons of fanart (mostly Pokemon, Zelda, DragonBall Z, and Rurouni Kenshin). Then I started liking IRL boys so I would come up with symbolic creatures rather than draw them literally. Then I decided originality and having my own visual voice were more important than anything else, and so here I am.

 

[Lance32497]

I am Comic artist, Painter, and Digital Artist, The reason why I keep on drawing is, I was inspired by Pokémon, When I was 7 or 8 years old, I started to draw Gen.1 Pokemons(I always draw Charizard, I really like it). 12 years old(yah, I know I was 12 years old that time because my birthday was the first time I use water color as color for my drawings and my arts are Pokemon xD, I am a big fan of pokemon xD
Until now, Im drawing pokemons(Ideamons and Mega Evolutions)
and one reason why I keep on drawing, POKÉMON

 

[Fairy]

I didn't really have a choice!

I never decided to become an artist, it always just came out of me. Of course deliberate practice is a part of what helps me improve, but I always find myself just doodling whether I mean to or not. None of my family is artistic, none of them play music or sing, none of them write, and none of the dance (not while sober, anyway); so I was literally the only one who had any kind of creative gene and thus nurtured that skill. There was no real inspiration in my life at the time I was discovering my talent, so I can't say for sure that there was a driving force that motivated me to become an artist. But I can say that art just makes me happy. That's why I wanted, and still want, to be an artist. :)

 

[The ???]

Never actually "decided" to be an artist, I just had it in me since the beginning.
As a child (4-5 years old), I used to draw the cartoons I watched on TV, and felt a weird happiness when I make them almost alike.. I kept drawing and still do (i'm 18 now)
Though I got a bit serious when I used to watch DBZ, I used to draw a LOT back then :D :P

 

[Saki]

I grew up with an interest in drawing as I had a big imagination. I spent a LOT of time drawing and creating as a child. When I got to middle school and high school I stopped being as involved with art because I spent most of my time with my friends doing other things, the time I spent alone was reading at night before bed to fall asleep. For most of my time in university I also didn't make time for drawing... but nowadays I make time! I have friends I still like to spend time with but most of my time is dedicated to work, school and my SO/Family. Digital art is now something I do for myself, and I enjoy it once again. I've been back at it for about a year and a half and I hope to continue to practice and create images for a long long time.

I don't necessarily want to be an individual whose career is an artist, but I do want it to be a consistent hobby for me and who knows - maybe someday I will be good enough to do commissions in my spare time. :) If not then I can at least create art for my house or apartment!

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Nothing ever made me want to do it. I just kind of was always doing it. We all have been drawing since we were very young. Basic drawings are what children express themselves through. The picture of the house, their parents, their dogs, all that preschool stuff.

But whilst most child outgrow it and do not cultivate that skill, I continued. Why, I can't really say. I see something pretty, I want to remake it with my own hand. It is my desire to create that which pleases my eyes. A strange desire that is like hunger. It is a need. I need to do it, because it is strangely satisfying and relieves stress for the most part. I don't consider it to be something as trivial as a career. It's as much a part of my body as eating and sleeping are.

It's not just a hobby, and not just for money. But it is my need to express myself. I need an outlet, and it is one of the two that I have. (The other is writing.) It is something that keeps my immensely neurotic personality stable, by distracting it and giving it something else to focus on. It's not really something I fully understand at this time though, nor something that I want to give a basic or cliche explanation to. That I do it because I'm creative. No, I just do it because my brain says that it is good and it feels good.

I feel very passionate and driven to improve this skill, constantly thinking about it, and desiring to make a living off of it even if I know it's probably unfeasible. (I already have made some cash off of commissions, but nothing serious) I still strive to become professional-level quality though, and to impress others with my work one day. That's probably why I'll never stop. Even if I want to stop, I can't. It's just not something I have in me and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I did.

So I will end this with a quote from chaos of Xenosaga that sums it up pretty well:

"I believe everyone has at least one skill that they excel in over all others. It's something that defines who they are [...] It's just something I can do."

 

[The ???]

^ I really feel almost same as you :) well put into words! Couldn't have said it better!

 

[Skip Class]

Was suppose to chuck something in this year and just remembered when I was scrolling through this section xD

Like a lot of people in this thread I never decided to be an artist or designer or what not. It just sorta happened and I kinda went along with it.
I always one of those doodling kids, the types that never paid attention in class and just doodle daydreaming away. Ever since the age of 5, I was heavily absorbed into pokemon and I'd gotten one of those pokemon handbooks which had all the original Pokemon in it. I'd draw practically anything that looked somewhat easy until I'd master it (as much as an 8 year old could master) - especially Pikachu. Eventually I drew less and less till it was just weird doodles on the back of my tests.

It wasn't till I joined PC when I started to get into graphics and photoshop. Most importantly, I think it was PC in general who inspired me to become the designer I am today. I saw some of the coolest tag designers and photoshop artists do the coolest things I'd ever seen and I decided I wanted to learn it. Of course I was dead horrible, but I continued making tags and graphics (even without full photoshop) and strayed away from here to other forums (because a lot of people here were pretty damn harsh back then and I wanted to get better and come back).

Most of the things I learnt making graphics on forums helped so much with photoshop and being able to use it well in my art and design classes in college. I started drawing again in Year 12 after I got a tablet for my birthday and I began drawing again and I guess I kinda started combining the two together. By the time I needed to apply for university, I ended up choosing to studying Media Design because it was one of my best subjects, and the subject I enjoy the most.

And yeah, that's pretty much the tl:dr post.
If it wasn't for PC and it's graphic designers, I probably would have never become a designer.

 

[Ninja Paladin]

Boredom, I never really bothered to hone my talent outside of class or reading an interesting looking tutorial/article then trying it out. I was the kid who finished the term assigned book and then read the dictionary in the first lesson to fill the time, after the thesaurus I just started bringing books to read or doodling. That said I did try my hand at it in Sixth Form and College when I enjoyed Photoshop, and for a time attended the school art club way back when. These days I hardly bother with it, only just getting over negative associations with all my creative outlets.

 

[starseed galaxy auticorn]

I just really liked drawing. I did it for fun, and I became kind of addicted to it. Later on, I discovered my senpai who is this FRICKEN AMAZING ARTIST BTW who had inspired me to keep going. Every time I see his art too, I just get this surge of inspiration from him. I decided to try and keep at it in hopes that I'd get better and be able to please him someday.

 

[Hannah]

I guess it started out with my being a copycat, heh. Whenever I see someone doing something cool, be it drawing, writing, or anything that interests me, I tend to copy them. I saw a bunch of artworks on deviantArt and I thought, "I could totally do this" and so I started. When I did, I realized how fun it was—and how much I loved it. Soon it became my hobby, and over the years I improved a lot. I saw someone's pixel art shop, and again, I copied him. I became fond of pixel art and practiced continuously, to the point where I made my own sprite shop.

There are a lot of things that inspire me to continue doing art. I want to learn whatever it is I can learn about art, which is mostly what keeps me going. I also have this weird, uncontrollable desire to be just as good as the people around me. There are so many people that inspire me to be better, but as much as possible, I try to develop my own style in drawing.

Looking back, though, I feel like I didn't "force" myself to like these things. I grew to love them, and if I didn't, I wouldn't have done it. When someone asks me to describe myself, I never forget to say the word "artistic". Art has become my life. I feel very passionate about it, like most artists out there. I feel like this is something I would be doing for the rest of my life—very cliche, but true.

 

[Lotus the Cat]

I used to draw avidly when I was younger. I used to draw horses with absolutely no understanding of anatomy. I didn't really start drawing properly until about 12 when my brothers and I randomly stumbled across an episode of Evangelion on TV. I had never seen a proper anime before (sorry Pokemon) and was completely drawn in by the style. I think I sat down the same week and drew a head shot of Shinji and went from there. When I was in year 8 I made a good friend who also drew at the time and we spent a lot of time in class drawing weird animal hybrids of classmates. Our favourite was Skunk Rolls Rex, who was a skunk cross tyrannosaurus rex that recited pi until it killed people.

I stopped drawing when I was 17 because I needed to focus on getting a good score to get into the university course I wanted. Then when I was at university there was no time for anything except uni so I fell out of practice and haven't really gotten back into it. I'm trying to get back into it at the moment (2015 resolution). I might post some pictures on forum if I draw anything worthwhile. I'm trying to develop a different style though, I want a more western look as opposed to anime. I find there is more scope in western styles.

 

[Espurr_Kawaii]

Ive started interest in drawing when im in grade school :D !! Im just look around what i can see and i can draw it :) ..(maybe if not difficult) ..Im interest also in design :/ after im draw ive design it XD . Anyway, i tried to draw via paint on computer haha ..and make my own style if it is good :3

 

[Kyoe]

Thank you all for your replies! I've been a bit distracted from art lately, but I'm back, and I read every single one of your posts! <3

Well, like Amaruuk, most of my family are creative people. My mother is the only one that doesn't draw very impressively, and even she can whip up a basic sketch here and there. So, right from the get go, I was probably doomed to be creative, haha... I was always writing these terrible stories, and drawing really bad art. I had even talked my parents into buying me an ocarina after playing Zelda;OoT, but that's a whole other story.
For art in particular, I was mainly inspired by anime (shout out to Lotus!), and my own natural will to improve (What's up, Hannah!). I was always watching anime as a kid, and the art style just seemed so cool to me! One of my sisters had taken a major liking to drawing, too. She was really good, and seeing her art made me want to draw more than just doodles. So, on one particularly bold day, I drew my first full picture of a male anime character. I was told he had a turkey neck and fat legs...

I was twelve at the time, though, and despite being kind of dissuaded from art, I kept on! Art had become an interest to me, and I really wanted to improve! On that day, for me, it became as much of a personal challenge and a promise to get better, as it was an affinity.

But this by far was just the beginning. And a shortened one at that! If you're interested about whether I got any good, or how, then pop on over to the Artist's Journey Thread for my full story, in an unimpressive form because I'm feeling lazy. xD

 

[Sylphiel]

Admittedly my own muse has apparently been taking vacations for the past...few years, darn it, but I can at least say the reason why I started drawing in the first place.

I remember being a kid, and actually getting really frustrated that I had these various ideas in my head, but no matter how I tried they just would not come out on paper like I wanted. I just kind of lived with it until I was about...15? or so? at which point I actually started buckling down and just started drawing more and more, or at least more stuff that wasn't just me copying official drawings of games I liked, trying to find how I could render these ideas just how I wanted.

Probably helped that that was also around the time I started getting more into finding various peoples' art sites, usually fantasy-related stuff.

So pretty much: became an artist because I always wanted some way to render my ideas onto a medium so I could actually see them with my own eyes, got inspired into being a little more serious by seeing others' work online, and even if my muse is being a fugitive little scamp that's still the main reason I do it. Seeing my ideas in my mind is not good enough for me, I must see what they look like physically.

 

[Callows]

What made me an artist was getting into game design.

 

[= GPR =]

I am thoroughly enjoying reading your guy's stories! It's great to see so many different people with two common interests (art and pokemon) come together!

For me, my launch into art started when I was old enough to hold a pen. Being raised by my grandparents, I was brought to many adult functions ranging from cultural committee meetings to galas and pageants. As a young boy, and by young I mean under four years old, I was taught that children are meant to be seen and not heard. So I would be given a paper pad and a pen and would be sat in the back corner of room. This was how it went for many years and during that time, I let my imagination foster and my pen draw! I can attribute much of who I am today to that time long ago! (Though not so long ago)

 

[Circuit]

I guess my first interest in art came from watching other people here on PC make some pretty insane graphic pieces. They looked so cool! (This was back in 2008/2009) As such, I wanted to try and see if I could make something similar. Ultimately, I had absolutely no understanding of how to put a piece together, and made some pretty shocking pieces. They were really really bad. But I kept going with helpful C&C here and there, then stopped. It took me ages to get back into it, but when I did I found I could finally understand the concepts facing me, after a few years of schooling. Now I am working to improve my ability to create the concepts I understand, and have been for about three years now.

Now I really want to be a graphic designer, so am really working on improving not only my graphics but my drawing skills as well (of course, I am not posting anything of the sort here until I feel happy with it, it's horrible right now >>)