THERE IS A FORUM FOR QUESTIONS/COMMENTS!!!

Competition: What makes a great artist?

Excellent! The results of this should be interesting to read...

The top essay will be published on the front page, the others (with the author's permission) will be posted in the forum thread.

Your link just takes me back to the home page.

I know it's weird....but the addy is correct.

The link is in the first comment above.

Due to many reasons I am leaving GFX for awhile....

I will come back to announce a winner so please don't stop yourself from entering. The contest will go on as planned.

What Makes a Great Artist?

I have been in the commercial end of the art business for over forty years. As for myself, I would say that I am a competent artist, but not particularly a 'great artist'.

With commercial art, there is always some sort of creative compromise, even if you are the lead designer. The satisfaction comes in knowing that, Possibly, millions of people will see your work, and you may even win some awards. Frankly, I was never really satisfied with that because commercial art is purely transient in nature. A year down the road, an award and bus fare will get you a ride across town.

Whether or not artists admit it, I firmly believe that all of us have visions of being a 'great artists'. However, in saying that, I know people that I consider to be great artists, but only a few people have seen their work. Other artists I know are run-of-the-mill landscape or portrait painters. Ironically, they have large clienteles and four or five gallery showings a year. The people who purchase their paintings firmly believe that they are "great artists", but in reality, they will go down as competent craftsman.

There are also artists, especially in the tourist galleries, who are basically technicians. They produce technically perfect paintings, but in their perfection, there is no soul - no individuality - no lasting greatness.

Art is subjective - judged in the eye of the beholder. So who may be a great artist in your eyes may be so-so in mine. However, if one takes an objective stance and looks at art and the artists based on historical criteria, there are common attributes among artists who are considered to be great.

So, what makes a 'great artist?

1. Most successful (great) artists seek recognition - they are driven to achieve greatness.
2. The 'great artists' develop instantly recognisable, signature styles i.e. Dali/Picasso.
3. Their work is constantly evolving in style and context - no two works are the same even when they revisit the same subject matter.
4. They never fall in love with their own art.
5. They think outside of the box - experiment - step into the unknown; they're innovative and are not afraid of failure.
6. They use other's art for creative inspiration rather than simply copying the style of someone they admire.
7. They strive for individuality - uniqueness.
8. They produce art for the sake of being creative and sharing that creativity with others (and gaining recognition).
9. They know when to quit working on a piece or chuck it out and start over again.
10. Perseverance - they continue even though the odds appear to be against them.

Now, if you have all those attributes, the next and most difficult step is finding an audience for your work. There are probably thousands of people who are 'great artists', but if they don't have a paying clientele or their work is not shown, no one will ever know how great they are. So, lastly, to be 'great artist', it requires 'shameless self-promotion'.

you need to change multimedia, you wrote mulitmedia and jeez... multimedia students? hahaha, i would say that i would enter but i never do cuz there's always a lot of stuff to do.. and right now i'm feeling highly lazy