4 ms·

Gotta agree, I used to draw portraits before I started programming a few years ago... For reference, my last ever portrait: https://imgur.com/a/sEQiLu4 https://

by zwnow 11mo ago

Gotta agree, I used to draw portraits before I started programming a few years ago... For reference, my last ever portrait: https://imgur.com/a/sEQiLu4 https://imgur.com/a/sEQiLu4 I also know plenty of programmers who are great musicians. Programming itself is creative work... Completely lost interest in art due to AI though.

engeljohnb 11mo ago
I would wager that's how it goes for most people that are both good artists and good programmers -- they were artists first, then learned to program. It takes a lot longer to become a reasonably good artist than it does to become a reasonably good programmer. I suspect that might be why the article opens the way it does.
- spankibalt 11mo ago
  > "It takes a lot longer to become a reasonably good artist than it does to become a reasonably good programmer." Such overgeneralizations are not helpful. People gravitate stronger towards certain creative disciplines, or a selection of them; how long it exactly takes to develop-out "reasonable" skills is dependent on a litany of factors, some of which cannot be controlled (e. g. force majeure). Both programming and pixel art requires unwavering commitment and exercise´; there is no way to "wing it" if you are intellectually honest and take your craft seriously.
  - engeljohnb 11mo ago
    I think it is helpful for certain purposes, and I think you'll be hard pressed to find exceptions to the general rule. Art is all about repetition. Even if you've done it successfully many times, you still need to keep doing it until it's second nature. Programming is more like solving puzzles. Once you've solved it once, you can pull the solution out of your head as many times as you need, as long as you still remember it. With art, it doesn't matter if you remember how to do it, it still takes practice to get reproducible results. Of course it takes longer.
    - spankibalt 11mo ago
      > "Art is all about repetition. [...] Programming is more like solving puzzles. Once you've solved it once, you can pull the solution out of your head as many times as you need, as long as you still remember it. With art, it doesn't matter if you remember how to do it, it still takes practice to get reproducible results. Of course it takes longer." First and foremost, contrary to you it seems, I see art as a measure of quality, not as a simple descriptor of manifestations of human personal, and therefore cultural, expression (albeit using a, naturally technically imprecise, colloquialism such as "pixel art" to describe a school of aesthetics, or style). See also: The Art of Programming. Et cetera. And furthermore, I see both disciplines as fields which humans engage in to solve specific identified problems, rationally or intuitively; in both it takes practice to get reproducible results, in both you need to keep doing it until it becomes "second nature". This refers to the process itself, the process to hone one's craft.
      - engeljohnb 11mo ago
        >I see art as a measure of quality. I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean to say the worth of an artwork for you is tied to how well it executes technque? "Art" is a word so nebulous that it's hard to pin down a definition, but I think the millions of people that prefer a punk rock song over an academic figure drawing study would disagree with this. >And furthermore, I see both disciplines as fields which humans engage in to solve specific identified problems Well, I'm both an artist and a programmer, and I can tell you I engage in neither to solve problems. I do both because the process of doing them is enjoyable. If they stop being fun, I'll stop doing them, and there wouldn't be any lingering problem in my life to go unsolved. If you say you picked up art faster than programming I'll believe you, because I only meant it as a general observation. Art is like playing Dark Souls -- maybe you beat the hardest boss once, but that doesn't mean you won't die ten more times before beating them again. Programming is like Zelda. Once you know the solutions to the puzzles, you're basically going through the motions. This isn't me guessing based on philosophy -- this is my lived experience as both an artist and a programmer.
        spankibalt 11mo ago

by zwnow 11mo ago

engeljohnb 11mo ago

I would wager that's how it goes for most people that are both good artists and good programmers -- they were artists first, then learned to program. It takes a lot longer to become a reasonably good artist than it does to become a reasonably good programmer. I suspect that might be why the article opens the way it does.

spankibalt 11mo ago
> "It takes a lot longer to become a reasonably good artist than it does to become a reasonably good programmer." Such overgeneralizations are not helpful. People gravitate stronger towards certain creative disciplines, or a selection of them; how long it exactly takes to develop-out "reasonable" skills is dependent on a litany of factors, some of which cannot be controlled (e. g. force majeure). Both programming and pixel art requires unwavering commitment and exercise´; there is no way to "wing it" if you are intellectually honest and take your craft seriously.
- engeljohnb 11mo ago
  I think it is helpful for certain purposes, and I think you'll be hard pressed to find exceptions to the general rule. Art is all about repetition. Even if you've done it successfully many times, you still need to keep doing it until it's second nature. Programming is more like solving puzzles. Once you've solved it once, you can pull the solution out of your head as many times as you need, as long as you still remember it. With art, it doesn't matter if you remember how to do it, it still takes practice to get reproducible results. Of course it takes longer.
  - spankibalt 11mo ago
    > "Art is all about repetition. [...] Programming is more like solving puzzles. Once you've solved it once, you can pull the solution out of your head as many times as you need, as long as you still remember it. With art, it doesn't matter if you remember how to do it, it still takes practice to get reproducible results. Of course it takes longer." First and foremost, contrary to you it seems, I see art as a measure of quality, not as a simple descriptor of manifestations of human personal, and therefore cultural, expression (albeit using a, naturally technically imprecise, colloquialism such as "pixel art" to describe a school of aesthetics, or style). See also: The Art of Programming. Et cetera. And furthermore, I see both disciplines as fields which humans engage in to solve specific identified problems, rationally or intuitively; in both it takes practice to get reproducible results, in both you need to keep doing it until it becomes "second nature". This refers to the process itself, the process to hone one's craft.
    - engeljohnb 11mo ago
      >I see art as a measure of quality. I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean to say the worth of an artwork for you is tied to how well it executes technque? "Art" is a word so nebulous that it's hard to pin down a definition, but I think the millions of people that prefer a punk rock song over an academic figure drawing study would disagree with this. >And furthermore, I see both disciplines as fields which humans engage in to solve specific identified problems Well, I'm both an artist and a programmer, and I can tell you I engage in neither to solve problems. I do both because the process of doing them is enjoyable. If they stop being fun, I'll stop doing them, and there wouldn't be any lingering problem in my life to go unsolved. If you say you picked up art faster than programming I'll believe you, because I only meant it as a general observation. Art is like playing Dark Souls -- maybe you beat the hardest boss once, but that doesn't mean you won't die ten more times before beating them again. Programming is like Zelda. Once you know the solutions to the puzzles, you're basically going through the motions. This isn't me guessing based on philosophy -- this is my lived experience as both an artist and a programmer.
      - spankibalt 11mo ago