How to Become a Great Artist?

When we think about art, the first that comes to our mind are some of the greatest artists and their works, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, Michelangelo’s “David”, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and many more. But in this day and age, it seems to be very hard to achieve greatness and produce a masterpiece. And if you don’t create your own masterpiece, how can you claim that you are good?  How do we rise above mediocrity and become someone who will be admired and honored by generations to come?

Technique?
Well, first we need to think about what made old masters great. Was it their technique? If so, all we need to do is practice and hone our technique. We should find a role model and start learning the techniques and methods they used to create their masterpieces. If it is a painter, we should investigate and learn how the painter mixed colors, used brushes, what kind of canvas the master painted on. Eventually, we may be able to emulate the painter completely, but will that make us a great artist? Probably not.

Art form?
If the technique doesn’t make an artist great, then what does? Maybe the art form that the artist chose? Well, nowadays there are various art forms, from traditional ones such as painting to more recent ones that use digital technology. Some art forms are obviously more popular than others, so we may want to consider devoting ourselves to creating something that will appeal to masses. However, our technique and the popularity of our preferred art form may not be enough to make us great. We should look more deeply at what kind of people old masters were.

Genius?
All great artists are considered to be geniuses. Therefore, if we aspire to be great, then we should be a genius as well. But that might be a problem, as some scientists state that a genius is not made – a genius is born. But is that the whole story? We may say that a genius is a person who perceives reality differently than other people, who looks at everything from a unique perspective, who tries to understand things. If we cannot be geniuses all the time, we can emulate them even for a brief moment, just enough to create our own masterpiece. Will that make us good? It might.

Finally, we have to admit that there is no easy answer to the question of how to become a great artist. What we can do to get closer to this goal is to develop and perfect our technique and skills and do our best to turn our visions into reality. We might want to pick an art form that is popular, if we want to increase our chances of turning a profit. And most importantly, we should try to look at the world through the eyes of a genius. Only then we can become a good artist, maybe even a great one.