Art Opinion: Articles and Insight for the 21st Century Artist

little over a month ago I started noticing changes at Artist Rising. First, my main contact at AR simply vanished. Fired, I was told by another Art.com rep. Next, I saw that the Artist Rising blog wasn’t being updated. I began to wonder - is Artist Rising dead?. . . read more

I’ve talked before about how to judge art, but today I’m going to explain why I think it’s important that all of us DO judge the art we come across, and speak up with our opinions about it. Personally, I believe there are some works of art that are better than others. You probably feel. . . read more

Why are you an artist? What drives you to create? Maybe if you’re a new artist, you’re not sure yet. Or perhaps you’ve been an artist for so long you can’t imagine anything else. I think it’s important to know WHY, though, so I’d encourage you to think about. . . read more

Many of you probably heard that Imagekind is partnering with Flickr. This partnership gives Flickr members the ability to upload photos directly from their Flickr account to Imagekind. Great news, right? Well maybe not for artists. . . . . . read more

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again—technology has changed the art world forever. But while most of the time I’m firmly in favor of what technology has done for the individual artist, now I’m beginning to wonder. . . Could it all be leading to an over-saturated art. . . read more

As artists, most of us want to be different and break the rules, right? Artistically, of course. So today I’ve written down my thoughts on how to successfully break the rules in regards to art. Obviously there can’t be hard and fast rules for breaking rules. . . That would be a little. . . read more

Last month I noticed a brand new Arts and Crafts category on Craigslist, and at first I thought it might be a good opportunity for artists to sell their art. Now that I've seen it in use (and tried it out) I've changed my mind. Here are some reasons why Craigslist ISN'T a great place to sell. . . read more

You can't stop being an artist, can you? Leave your creativity behind. . . For example, have you ever noticed a fantastic color combination somewhere and had to drop everything to go get your camera? That's the personality of artists, I think - or maybe it's just me.. . . read more

Ever have one of those really long, drab winters? As I write this, here in the Northern hemisphere, it seems like winter's just beginning to fade away. And what is it about winter that makes people depressed? Most say the lack of sunlight - but I think it's more a lack of COLOR. . . . . . read more

This weekend I had a crazy idea - since Google owns the internet already, why not enter the art world? Artists would upload an image of their work onto Google’s servers, and then Google would simply rank and display each artwork based on an algorithm that judges artistic merit. Read more. .. . . read more

In various art forums online, I've noticed a lot of younger artists looking for tips, or special tricks, to improve their manga or anime artwork. But I don't think there are any shortcuts. The best way to improve at anime or manga is by thinking like a figurative artist. Continue reading. . . . . read more

In most art circles Bob Ross is a legend. But there are several problems with learning to paint from Bob Ross, or by using the Bob Ross Method of painting. . . . read more

Paintings are all about color. After all, that’s the most significant thing that distinguishes paintings from drawings – and yet many new artists struggle with color and end up with gray, neutral paintings. Here are a few tips I've come up with to avoid the three "b's" in painting: beige,. . . read more