Greetings to you, traveler!
In this content, I’ll share tips distilled from my personal experience to help you determine where to place your focus and how to use your resources efficiently when creating visual art.
But first, please stop recalling names of software, programs, and AI tools and thinking that learning them is all you need to do.
Learning a single program without actually building a project or working on a piece is like learning how to use a knife exceptionally well but never cooking a meal. And since you aren’t practicing through real applications, you only master your knife skills in theory—meaning you haven’t even held the knife yet, bro!! Damn!
Think of it this way: many classic film scenes that we still adore today were presented to us not merely because some designers could use complex software fluently, but thanks to the creative expression, solutions, and decisions brought by master visual storytellers working with purpose. In fact, many of those scenes relied on physical techniques like handcrafted props and camera angle illusions.
With this logic, you shouldn’t focus on the tool itself, but on the value you can produce with it at the end of the day. In other words, focus on what you’re going to cook in this kitchen. 🍽️
On the other hand, just to achieve theoretical mastery over a single program, there are dozens of different application methods for even a single feature. While all of these are readily available on the web, and now that AI agents have effectively entered our lives (even if they are still a bit expensive), stop trying to learn features you will never actually use…
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO INSTEAD?
1. Create Small, Simple Projects
Life is too short to dedicate ourselves solely to training. Therefore, integrate the learning process into the application process. Aim to produce a working output right from the start. Create tiny—not just small, but tiny—projects that are ready for presentation in their simplest form so you can experience them from start to finish. Discover software and tool features only as you need them while working toward a specific goal.
When you start preparing these works, you need to make a strategic prioritization: using animation as an example, you shouldn’t be busy adding textures, shadows, or fine details to an object before you have even placed the movements and scenes in order.
In these practice projects, you can organize a full priority sequence, decide on the detail, duration, and scope, and prepare a draft that serves as a clear reference for the final piece. Learn project management.
2. Focus on Storytelling and Emotion
What impact will this product have on the person looking at it? What meaning will the audience derive from it? What kind of experience will you or someone else have when exposed to this work, and which artistic movement will you take as a guide to convey the emotion you feel?
Discover productions whose narrative style you find interesting based on your own taste. The example I’ll give here is the movie Dogville—not for its script, but for the undeniable inspiration its storytelling style sparked in me.
My advice in this section relates to your intellectual growth: explore narrative richness, discover creative solutions, and learn the visual language of art.
3. Trust the Process
As long as you stay engaged, you will become a more knowledgeable and experienced person. Every day after being exposed to the field, following a phase of quality rest, you will be able to see the bigger picture and solve many more problems.
The reason I added this point is its potential to easily sabotage the journey. When we expect results beyond our capacity while just stepping into a new field, this pursuit—which ought to progress with discipline and consistency—can trap us in a sudden feeling of burnout.
Embracing failure is the most essential part of both the process and learning itself. As long as your goal is to generate value, you will get closer to your desired outcome with every effort. Learn to identify the psychological cycles of the process and the emotions they evoke in you.
4. Build a Group
Focusing on a single project with a group can make the process easier for everyone. However, this is where issues that are hard for an individual designer to compromise on come into play.
For instance, in teamwork, you may have to push your personal brand and narrative preferences into the background. Staying reasonable when facing an output you don’t personally approve of can sometimes be challenging.
However, as team members’ attitudes become more harmonious with one another, you can produce far bigger projects and make a much greater impact than you ever could individually. Right from the start, this powerful mechanism you bring to life together can turn into a engine that enables everyone to achieve their individual dreams in the future.
On the other hand, building such a group requires effort and emotional dedication. If possible, learn to work with a group by dividing tasks effectively.
5. Define Your Artistic Motivation
What are the core values, passions, and sensibilities that make you who you are?
Most of the time, we focus too much on our technical mastery over the tools we use and fall into the illusion that the “art” we produce consists solely of that.
For example, when we create a simple watercolor painting right at the beginning, we might interpret it merely as being able to make a good watercolor piece. However, this might just be a small outward expression—measured by manual dexterity—of our underlying desire to bring novelty or an aesthetic solution into life using the materials at hand.
Now, what if the art material in your hand wasn’t a small watercolor set, but a whole society envisioned through a grander imagination? What kind of order would you establish? Keep your perspective broad and learn to direct your creative power accurately.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far. In this AI era filled with rapid and shiny content, I shared my imperfect yet sincere ideas with you by dedicating extra time. I hope it brought at least a small amount of value in return for your precious attention…
Semih Akgül
