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What can developer learn from taking art classes

Oleh Kuchuk on February 08, 2019

Hello guys 👋, a few months ago I decided to try something new and start attending an academic drawing class. I was always impressed by stunning art...
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Dian Fay

I took almost as many studio arts classes as I did programming classes in school and I think the single most important thing I learned from them had nothing to do with the technical aspects of composition, figuration, or execution. After we'd done all that we'd gather in one big room, and each student would show off in turn what they'd accomplished. The rest of us would discuss what worked and what didn't, think out loud about what could make the piece more effective, and offer suggestions for the presenter to concentrate on next time. Critique is a skill, it doesn't come naturally to most people, and it's vital to be able to do it effectively without being an asshole if you work in any kind of team.

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Oleh Kuchuk

Great point. Thanks for sharing.

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Evan Bowman

It seems like the engineering and the painting communities appreciate similar ideals. Most successful representational visual art is organized into large simple shapes, with just the right amount of detail added in to be convincing (but not more!). One example that stands out to me is John Singer Sargent, who would obsessively simplify his paintings--walking back from the canvas after each brush stroke to see how all the abstractions coalesce into realism from a distance. This isn't so different than some programmers' dedication to economical expression of algorithms (e.g. the functional programming crowd), or engineers' admiration for the conciseness of the Lua interpreter (a compiler, VM, and runtime in 20000 sloc, and ansi C no less!).

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Oleh Kuchuk

Exactly, simplicity is the key.

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Dana Ottaviani

Great post. I'm learning anatomy and digital art now. There are definitely similarities between coding and drawing.

What's more is that where coders have a "Hacktober" event in October, artists get involved in "Inktober" to show off selected art themes.

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Oleh Kuchuk

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed. Did not know about "Inktober" seems like great initiative.