Everyone’s a Critic

July 13th, 2007

I just read a blog post over at [ hold :: this space ] entitled skiving. It is a good short post (2 paragraphs) and worth a read. I want to call attention to the 2nd paragraph which is actually a quotation from their local paper. The person speaking is a representative from Pixar, the people behind the “Toy Story” movies and more recently “Cars”. I’ve pasted it here.

“People ask us all the time: ‘My child’s interested, so what computer programs should they study?’ What we always say is: ‘Study drawing, study your observations about the world — and study how to tell stories!’ Because storytelling is what it’s really about. Then it’s a matter of how to tell those stories visually, so those traditional skills that have been around forever are the foundation of what we do. That’s in spite of the fact that, yes, we’re innovators. But if you don’t have the foundations, it doesn’t matter. A computer is just another tool.”

When people ask me what about my job I tell them I’m a graphic designer. I should learn to not. This inevitably leads to them telling me or showing me something they or a family member has designed and is usually not very good. Then they ask me for my opinion and I give it to them. You may say that could be harsh or mean but remember they did ask. It’s not my fault.

After I have critiqued the work they always seem to ask what software I use. I would like to tell them that the software used is not the issue but I just answer the questions asked. (For those of you curious, I use industry standard software, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and some mac only programs like CSS Edit and Rapidweaver.) Sure, having the right tools makes any job easier. Have you ever tried to hammer a nail with a pair of pliers? But with out a solid understanding of form, color, space, line, texture, and typography your work will always be mediocre at best.

I have a 4 year degree in Art and that’s how I got my foundation in these things but that isn’t necessary. Some people have an innate sense of what looks good and how to use different elements and some people need to read some books and spend some time learning to draw. I am a designer but I also can draw, paint and sculpt. Almost every project I work on starts with a pencil and my sketch book.

I don’t write this to discourage any artists but to enlighten those that don’t understand what is involved in creating a good design, and perhaps expose the fact that under all the fancy computers and software there is a solid skill set of fine art.

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