All Things Painter No Pain, No Gain by John Derry

Over the years, I've had the good fortune to act as a judge of both traditional and digital art competitions. Recently, I had the honor of participating on the selection panel for Ballistic Publishing's recent publication, PAINTER - The World's Finest Painter Art, a showcase of the world's best Corel® Painter™ art. Whenever it's possible for me to attend a show's opening, I use the opportunity to chat with the juried artists. A topic of conversation that invariably comes up is "What do you look for in a winning piece?"

I can answer this question only from my own experience, but I've often discussed this topic with the other members of the judging committees, and my response is pretty similar to theirs. Understanding the mind of the judge, and regularly exposing your efforts to competition, can be a constructive tool for sharpening your artistic skills.

Although it can be difficult, the first thing you need to do to weather the competitive process is to avoid taking judgments personally and, instead, use the judging process as a learning tool. Judges are selected for their expertise with the medium in competition. As members of a panel, they are focusing their combined years of experience and critically applying it to your efforts. If a piece doesn't make it into a show, you can think about the possible reason for the judges' decision. You can use the experience to evaluate your work and discover what could be improved.

Expressive mastery of the medium is present in virtually all accepted work. Rising to the level in which an artist seamlessly combines both tools and emotions as a singular expressive voice takes a great deal of learning and dedication. When technique gets in the way of expression, either the artist is still striving for mastery or the piece does not represent a best effort.

Try out different expressive voices with your images. When you hit on a winning expressive technique, you almost always know it. Competition is one way of determining which pieces are your best efforts. Each judging panel has a unique critical point of view, so consider entering the same piece in multiple shows. When you enter a competition, remember that being accepted involves a measure of luck. A piece that is rejected at one show could be a winner at the next. As a judge, I have ranked a piece highly only to see other judges rank it lower (I've seen the opposite, as well.)

Striking an emotional chord within the viewer, which comes with expressive mastery, is almost universally present in accepted work. The emotion felt can be positive or negative. In its most successful form, the emotion touching the viewer is the same emotion experienced by the artist during the creation of the piece. This is human communication in its most basic sense, and it is present in all great art.

A key ingredient I consistently find in successful images is a sense of story. Obviously, most illustrative work conveys a pictorial representation of a story line. However, a sense of story can be subtly incorporated into many other image genres as well.

For example, imagine an environmental image of an early-morning city street scene. The image has good compositional arrangement, dramatic lighting, and color. The scene is devoid of human presence. Where is the story?

Add an internally lit second-floor window, its curtain rustling in the morning breeze. Now there is a hint of story that is making its way into the image. Who is in the apartment? What is he or she doing? Add a person to the scene, walking below the window. More questions arise: Where is he going? To work? Is he aware of the open window? Is this possibly the person who lives in the apartment?

These additional elements imply a sense of story, leading viewers into both the implied and visible worlds of people depicted in the image. Viewers begin to fill in potential storytelling elements, enriching the experience of the image. Without the storytelling elements, the same image is mostly a formal presentation of shape, color, and light.

It's not unusual to pick up a few bruises while you are winding your way through the world of artistic competition. Consider it a natural part of the creative learning process. Learn to channel both positive and negative competitive experiences into honing and elevating your craft.

Competition encourages you to build up your creative muscles. Occasionally, you may get sore, but here's the good news: the more you compete, the better equipped you'll be to judge - and improve - your own expressive efforts.

No pain, no gain.

John Derry
Somewhere in Kansas

John Derry is a pioneer of digital painting and one of the original authors of Corel® Painter™. Since 1985, he has leveraged his background in drawing and painting to advance the look and experience of traditional art-making tools on the computer. John has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Fine Art and is a practicing artist and photographer. He teaches Corel Painter workshops around the country and is currently serving as Corel's Painter Ambassador-at-Large. John's Web site is at www.pixlart.com.