kryallaorchid:
It’s a shame a lot of people think of black and white as unfinished, I often prefer black and white art more than coloured, especially when the artist concentrates on the tone of a piece. It amazes me when an artist can create an image and then side by side lay down two different types of tone, just by using two colours (or three if you count grey), and have each piece channel a different message. That’s skill.
There’s a world of difference between colour and black and white too. A night sky gives a different feel than a sunset, for example. But there doesn’t have to be colour in a piece for it to be finished.
To equate it with writing, a lot of people don’t understand the merits of having a pure dialogue piece or a piece without any dialogue. I’ve had critique on my original works where I’ve delibereately tried one of these methods and gotten told “It was good, but you need dialogue/description.” Yes, having a mix is good, but sometimes you want to write/draw in a particular way, you want a message portrayed this way.
I think a major artistic difference between drawing and writing is you get to hide little tidbits in your picture (sneaky open condom wrappers and other such details you really have to study to see), the eyes often see what they want to see, where as I would have to spell out everything I want the reader to take away from the piece (and therefore have my reader take away exactly what I want them to have). Interpretation becomes different.
It’s the same here, the lack of colour changes an interpretation of a piece, even if you originally intended the message to be… I dunno… softer, less implicit, more dreamy? the solid black makes it more striking.
You know, I also find it funny, artist will often have people say “That piece is so you” to you, but I’ve never had anyone ever say that about me. (Am I missing out? Nah).
It’s sorta irritating to see people say that in writing, when it’s just as diverse in terms of devices. Surely, if you read a piece that’s all dialogue in capable hands, it’s clear to know that this is deliberate (removal of information evoking heightened emotional response because blahblahblah imagination, it works in visual art too), so when people say that I tend to think they’re beginners. And that’s fine, they’re showing what they know, I think that’s cool, but it’s still irritating when a single element is isolated and people take that as incompleteness. And maybe sometimes it is, and sometimes it’s a crutch or gimmick.
I’m sensitive to color, enough that I actually sort of hate when it’s too loud and for no purpose (of course, I like colorful things in capable hands) and I get my work described as “monochromatic” by instructors because of that. As a strategy I can be found limiting it, because it’s natural to me, but it’s not like I didn’t go through the same training (mixing paints, color wheels, value charts, relationships, etc.) as other painters. It might be why I like accents a lot (because they SHOUT or punctuate), or limit palettes (I use lots of triads and resort to primary color schemes because they make me happy).
But it’s also tiring to have people insinuate that if you don’t demonstrate every skill you have in one work, you don’t have a full skill set. I think it’s why people tend to hate on modern/postmodern work (writing and visual), because what postmodern and modern stuff often does is emphasize and isolate specific elements. To me, when I consume that sort of work, it teaches me how much skill can go into each individual discipline, even though to a layman who isn’t trained to see how well a person is at a specific skill (and I don’t think they have to be, but there’s limits on what input they offer) there’s frustration, questioning why a work is “good.” Hell, sometimes people who are trained that much can’t even see it without having it pointed out to them.
And really, I think the only reason why someone hasn’t said that to you is because it takes more work, but I think it’s there. 8| Even when reading fanfic there’s a feel (with you I can recognize pacing and tone unique to you that matches even how you answer stuff online, but I AM SO LIMITED IN THAT SKILL) for different authors.
(Source: pinkuchama)
