Picasso to Know What You Will Paint

Pablo Picasso was one of the well-nigh prolific, creative, and inspirational artists who has ever lived. Here is a man who created his ain destiny — who constantly re-invented himself (regardless of what his critics said), was always creating fine art, and had fun (similar a child).

I feel that many of us tin can learn from his personal philosophies, and more than importantly, from his piece of work, and how he lived his life.

Below are some lessons I've learned from him, and how I've been able to incorporate them into my life:

1. Create similar a child

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist in one case he grows upward." – Picasso

Do you remember when you were a kid? When you lot had no limits or restrictions on your creativity?

Your parents might have given you a sheet of paper and some pencils. Yous scribbled on that paper, and expressed your child-like curiosity. You had no concept of "good" or "bad" in fine art. You weren't forced to color inside the lines.

Then nosotros get older, and our teachers tell us what not to do. They tell us to color inside the lines. They tell us the "rules" of art.

Our inner-child dies. We become adults. We are no longer as creative as we were initially.

Picasso told usa that every child is an artist. Only how can we remain artists as nosotros go older?

My suggestion: forget the rules that others impose on yous. Rather, effort to merely play and have fun. Express yourself, without an inner-conscience telling you to do otherwise. Don't ask others for their feedback on your art. A child doesn't need approval from others on their art. They create art for the sake of it— considering it is fun.

Another quote from Picasso which illustrates the indicate of remaining like a kid:

"It took me four years to pigment like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child." – Pablo Picasso

When we start off in our apprenticeship in fine art, we are told to copy the work of the masters. We learn composition, form, and light. We work hard to create imitations of the masterpieces.

However when we finish our apprenticeship, nosotros demand to learn how to "kill our masters." To not let their influence restrain usa.

It means learning the fundamental rules, but knowing how to interruption them.

The more experienced you get in fine art, the more than yous need to "unlearn" the "rules".

Think of the artwork of Picasso. He started off being able to create hyper-realistic imitations of the slap-up artists. Furthermore, the mutual misconception is that all of Picasso'south piece of work were these abstract cubist works.

Wrong— Picasso knew how to draw a damn-disarming still-life. Picasso knew how to make hyper-realistic artworks.

Ane of the most fascinating things most Picasso's piece of work is how he was able to distill an paradigm into its essence. And in society to exercise so, Picasso had to dig deep into his child-like mind, and create with spontaneity, fun, and originality.

Consignment:

Find a child for a day. See how every experience is make new to them. Every experience is fun, and a take a chance to abound, and learn.

A child doesn't listen to rules. They do equally they please. Their creativeness is at a maximum.

Now observe united states of america adults— as we are stuck in our cubicles and office jobs. We are told to answer to emails within the hour. We are told to obey rules, laws, and restrictions. Nosotros are constantly beingness judged and criticized.

As nosotros get older, don't seek to become more than mature. Instead, seek to become more kid-like equally y'all become older. Effort to be like Benjamin Push — age in reverse.

Tap into your ain inner-child, and create fine art without restrictions. This is the fashion you tin can truly express yourself creatively.

It might have your entire life to become a kid, every bit Picasso said: "Information technology takes a long time to go young."

2. Steal good ideas

There are two versions of a quote that are credited to Picasso:

• "Good artists re-create, nifty artists steal."
• "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal."

For me, the essence of the quote ways this: accept the best ideas from those who have come before you. Just don't simply imitate the masters line-past-line. Rather, transform your art into something new.

There is no such thing as being "original" without drawing inspiration from others. Nosotros are all a collection of our life experiences, every bit a office of a society.

When we are starting off in photography, we need to learn the fundamental technical aspects, most exposure, lite, shadow, and framing. When we are starting off in painting, we need to acquire how to paint like the masters. When we start off in music, we larn how to play our scales.

Nonetheless if you desire to create truly original piece of work that expresses yourself— depict inspiration from as may resources as possible. Simply then, come across how you can add your own spin on it. See how you tin re-mix a piece of art into the past, and add your own interpretation.

Always inquire yourself, "What is something slightly new I can bring to the table?"

Oftentimes the best writers aren't the ones who make the most original stories. Rather, they volition have old story ideas, and refresh it into something more modern for a contemporary reader.

A lensman volition draw inspiration from master photographers in the past, but use new technological advancements to create a new type of image that will inspire contemporary audiences.

Assignment:

Who tin can yous shamelessly steal ideas from, without feeling whatsoever shame?

Don't feel similar you need to be "original" in your creative life. Steal from whatsoever source or master you tin can.

Yet see how you can put your own unique spin on it — infuse your soul with the inspirational source, and make something new.

And so for an assignment, observe i master photographer whose work you admire, and shamelessly steal their ideas, technique, and way. Try to make your photos look like theirs, but do it in your ain unique mode. Keep doing this until you become bored, and try another two-3 masters.

Remix the one-time, and make it contemporary.

3. You can't succeed without activity

"Activeness is the foundational key to all success." – Picasso

We have lots of great ideas. We share these ideas with our friends, our families, and ourselves.

However how rarely do nosotros actually put into action our ideas?

Picasso said that "Action is the foundational central to all success." It makes sense. If y'all're a painter or an artist, you lot cannot go "successful" without creating art. Similarly, if you're a lensman, you can't make any "successful" photos without clicking the shutter.

Consignment:

How can yous take activity in your photographic life?

If y'all're starting a business, what is the first actionable step you tin make?

For example, does that mean making a postal service for your services? Or common cold-calling a client? Or attending a convention?

Don't write down a list of your photographic dreams, simply put them out as action-item lists.

For example, it is lightheaded to take a goal like "proceeds a million followers on social media." It makes more than sense to have an actionable goal like "upload only my all-time work, once every (or every other) day".

If you want to make meliorate photos, your consignment tin can be: study all the photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson in his portfolio, print out the ones you like on your domicile printer, and trace his compositions with a scarlet pen, and try to deconstruct his images.

Don't accept an "thought" mindset— have an "action" mindset.

4. Use what you got

"If I don't have red, I use blue." – Picasso

Picasso was known for going through sure phases— when he would only paint with a certain color or hue. For instance, during Picasso's "Blue Period" (Período Azul) he simply made monochromatic paintings with common cold blue/blue-greenish colors. These paintings tended to be on the moody and melancholy side.

Then contrasting to this period, Picasso embraced a "Rose Period" (1904 to 1906) in which he merely used orange and pink colors, which were a lot warmer, and lively in spirit.

When asked why he did this— he said that those were the only colors he had.

What I found peachy about this is how it shows how few colors you lot demand in your palette to make keen fine art.

Equally photographers, we complain non having enough gear, lenses, or cameras. If we want to be similar Pablo and be more creative, it ways to limit our palette. Have the few colors that we already have, and made the all-time out of it.

Assignment:

Choose a certain color, hue, or palette and stick with information technology for a month. For a month, only shoot red colors or blue colors. Only shoot circles or triangles.

Only stick with i camera and one lens.

See by limiting your artistic choices, how creative y'all tin get.

5. Paint your own reality

"The world doesn't make sense, and then why should I paint pictures that exercise?" – Picasso

Being an artist means to create the world you want to meet. Information technology ways to also show others what you lot run into in reality.

Picasso is misunderstood for simply existence an abstract creative person. But earlier he embarked on his ballsy cubist images, he mastered realistic painting.

But what I beloved about his piece of work is that they evoke emotions, confusion, and the chaos of reality. They don't show reality as beingness perfect and fitting inside boxes. Rather, Picasso rebelled confronting the boxes that other artists were stuck in, and fabricated his ain version of reality.

Assignment:

Photograph your ain reality. Rather than making your photos in-focus, sharp, and 'real' — endeavour to make them every bit 'unreal' as possible. Make your photos blurry, out of focus, and grainy. Increase the dissimilarity, the colors, and the saturation. Effort to post-process your photos that evoke a certain emotion out of your images.

Attempt to create images which evokes how you feel, rather than how the scene looked in "real life."

half-dozen. Eliminate the unnecessary

"Art is the elimination of the unnecessary." – Picasso

The more I study artists, the more I realize how fine art is more than almost subtraction and elimination of the unnecessary and superfluous — rather than improver.

One good example of Picasso'south working method was to come across his studies on "deconstruction of a bull." You lot meet how he started off with a realistic form of a bull, and kept subtracting, until he was left with what he considered the "essence" of the bull.

Great artists do this. When information technology comes to the design philosophy of Steve Jobs, he was always obsessed with eliminating the unnecessary — eliminating buttons, confusing additions in user-interface, and complexity.

The Zen and Taoist masters said this besides — to get a chief was to eliminate one superfluous matter everyday, rather than calculation ane matter a twenty-four hour period.

Assignment:

Find a scene you discover interesting that yous want to photo. Come across how you lot can deconstruct the scene, field of study-by-subject. Go along slicing away from the frame, until you lot are left with what you consider the "essence" of the frame.

Trim abroad all the unnecessary fat from the edges of the frame, then you will only be left with the meat.

7. Don't repeat yourself

"To copy others is necessary, simply to re-create oneself is pathetic." – Picasso

If you desire to stay fresh as an creative person, you want to avoid copying yourself over and over again. This is what leads to stagnation.

If yous're a bodybuilder, you want to increase the intensity of your workout— whether increasing more repetitions or weight. If you're an artist, you want to stretch your artistic capabilities. You might still be working with the aforementioned materials— but you lot want to add claiming to your working procedure, to create new works that are at least a little different than the work yous did before.

I feel this is what can assist us stay motivated our entire lives. Picasso went through many different evolutions in his artistic life. Whenever he felt like he was condign complacent, he totally switched up his way. He kept his audition guessing— they never knew what his next painting or piece would exist.

Picasso experimented with tons of dissimilar forms throughout his career. Although he was best known for painting, he besides experimented with poetry, photography, sculpture, and other forms of art. He kept pushing his boundaries, to express himself in equally many dissimilar artistic ways as possible.

Picasso continues by sharing the dangers of "success" in art. One time nosotros feel we are "successful" — nosotros stop innovating:

"Success is unsafe. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more unsafe than to copy others. It leads to sterility." – Picasso

Assignment:

Forget your old work. Delete your old photos off your social media networks, or at least mark them to private.

Pretend similar today you're starting your photography again from scratch. What former shooting methods from the past would you lot not do? How would you approach your image-making from a different perspective or angle?

Does that hateful for you to photograph unlike discipline matter? Does it hateful for you to capture different emotions and gestures in your images?

Whatever it means for you, never stop innovating.

8. Sell yourself, not your art

"Creative person is a person who paints what you tin can sell. A proficient creative person is a person who sells what he paints." – Picasso

Another big problem artists make is that they try to create art that will delight an audition, and so they can sell their art.

Picasso teaches us the reverse: the great artist is the ane who sells himself, and what he paints.

Equally humans, we want to be loved, appreciated, and supported past others. As photographers, we want to make images that are admired past others.

Just the difference betwixt being average and bang-up is this — the peachy artists stick to their atypical vision. They don't compromise. They go against the grain, and create things that might scuffle feathers. Their piece of work might not be appreciated as widely, but they find a modest group of people to intensely like their piece of work. And that is what makes them successful — they stay true to themselves.

Assignment:

Cease uploading photos to social media for a week or a month. Make photos that you experience are truly artistic, innovative, and unique. Don't ask others for their stance of your work. Follow your heart and gut.

And then make a serial of images, print them out, and see if yous can sell them to people you know, or online.

Don't measure your success past how many you tin sell, but apply this consignment to give yourself confidence in the work yous create.

ix. Don't procrastinate on what is of import

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to dice having left undone." – Picasso

Picasso was ane of the most prolific artists in history. How did he do information technology? Elementary — he procrastinated on unimportant things, and focused relentlessly on what was important to him (his art).

Although Picasso was famous for being a party-animal and social butterfly, when it was time for him to get down to painting and work — he close himself out from the globe. He knew to create his keen masterpieces, he needed silence to think, meditate, and create his work.

It is easy for united states to procrastinate our lives away. I exercise believe procrastination is good—if used the right way. Only procrastinate on what you would be okay being left undone if you were to die tomorrow. Merely don't procrastinate on your life's job — your creative piece of work.

Assignment:

Write down a list of things you lot are okay if they were left undone if y'all died. And then write downwardly a list of things you would feel frustrated if you left undone if y'all were dead.

Focus on what is the about important to you, and procrastinate on the rest.

x. Give your gift away

"The meaning of life is to discover your gift. The purpose of life is to give it abroad." – Picasso

We all take a gift that we can aid others with. Nosotros have a gift to give others— a gift that can empower others become the all-time version of themselves.

Your gift tin can exist your ability to make beautiful images, to make moving words, to show dearest and compassion, or to be a adept friend or family member.

Any your life's gift is— spend your entire life giving it away to others. That is when you will feel the most gratitude, empowerment, and happiness in life.

What if you lot don't know what your life's souvenir is? That is okay — near of life is trying to notice out what our gift is. Many don't find their gift until erstwhile historic period— then in one case they've discovered it, they spend their unabridged life giving their gift away.

At that place are many musicians, artists, and moving-picture show directors who simply got started in old historic period. And that was the right fourth dimension for them — they had enough life experience, resource, and finances to embark on the creative work they were destined to do.

Don't force information technology. If you know what your life'due south gift is, focus on contributing it equally much to others every bit possible. If y'all don't know what your life'south souvenir is, don't stop searching. Don't settle for anything less.

See what of your activities creates the almost value for others— not yourself. Run across how you best empower, excite, or motivate others. Is that through your counsel, your voice, your actions, your fine art, or something else?

For me, I think my gift is blogging. Blogging is very enjoyable to me, and the words flow from my fingertips. It is never boring, and I never take to force myself to practice information technology. And information technology reaches the largest number of people through the internet, and I hope that it likewise empowers others in their photography, life, and creative process.

Assignment:

Write downwards a list of talents, passions, and values you have in life. Think of how you lot create the most value for others. Think of how you tin can help fifty-fifty more people. What are some distractions y'all cut out of your life, so you can add more than time, energy, and focus into your life's gift?

Conclusion

Picasso was a rare man who lived according to his own standards, and was artistic until he died. He left goose egg undone. He stretched and pushed his creative boundaries, and was prolific as hell. He played like a child, experimented, and always questioned authority and the "rules."

We tin all alive a creative life like Picasso. It just ways re-connecting with our inner-child, and seeing our creative work like play. Information technology means not compromising with our artistic standards, and making the best art regardless of our state of affairs in life.

So re-find the inner-child in you, and have fun.

Always,
Eric

graylikerseld.blogspot.com

Source: https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2016/10/11/10-lessons-pablo-picasso-can-teach-you/