Welcome to The Pencil Effect Blog

Welcome to The Pencil Effect. This blog is intended to be a place for people who are learning to draw or paint to find help, inspiration and resources to see them on their way to becoming the artist they want to be. I will post articles, thoughts, art, and reviews that I have come across that have helped me and will hopefully help you.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Quote: Cennino Cennini

Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and it will do you a world of good.
- Cennino Cennini

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Quote: James Bailey

Art is Man's nature.  Nature is God's art.
-James Bailey

Monday, June 21, 2010

On the topic of Talent

If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke.  
  -Brendan Francis


Talent seems to be a pretty divisive topic.  People either seem to fervently believe there is no such thing as talent and that people who do believe in talent are just making excuses, or they believe that there is such a thing as being naturally talented and that can give a person a leg up in their endeavors.  I am a little unsure what people are making excuses for by believing in talent, it seems to cover both ends of the spectrum from making excuses as to why they will never be good, or making excuses as to why they are great.  I think that at the end of the day it may, as many things do, boil down to fear.  I think that some people are afraid that since they don't consider themselves to have talent in the thing that really interests them, that means that no matter how hard they work they can never be 'great' at it.  That is just silly.  There are many paths to the same destination and many starting points, no two people will have the same journey.  So one person's 'talent' may mean they start a little closer to the finishing line than you do that by no means invalidates your journey or prevents you from reaching the same finishing line.  Talent is really only a head start, everyone still has to put in the hard work to be great.  So some people have a natural inclination for a task and some people don't, at the end of the day it doesn't matter, what matters is what you do with what you've got.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Friday, June 11, 2010

Quote: Rabindranath Tagore

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
- Rabindranath Tagore.