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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oni" data-source="post: 636496" data-attributes="member: 380">I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that artists are different from the "average joe".  Much in the same way a computer programmer is different from the "average joe", the same way plumper is, the same way an executive is, and so on and so forth.  Artists are a small group of people, non-artists a large group.  Programmers = small group, non-programmers = large group.  The list goes on and on. It is not derogatory, or elitist, simply it is a short hand way of saying that most people don't have the indepth experience with a particular field that someone that practises it does.  The example given of artists seeing differently is a good example of this.  Artist do see differently from most people, that is a simple fact.  All people have a vast mental catalog of objects, and when they see something they don't have to study it to know what it is, which is a good thing it allows people to react and think quickly.  Most people when they look at something see the sum of the parts and not the individual pieces.  Part of an artist's training is to combat this natural instinct.  If you just hand most people a pencil and tell them to draw a picture of something in the room, chances are it will look little like the object, and that is because most people without practise doing otherwise, draw what they think something should look like and do not draw what they actually see.  This is the reason very young children tend to draw better than older children, they don't have the object recognition skills and so have fewer preconceived ideas (also the reason that it's a good idea to turn a picture upside down when checking your progress, because it detaches you from the object being drawn).  Artist tend to look at the world around them with an intensity and studiousness that most people don't (because they don't need to, and so have not acquired the skill).  I know that since I've started studying art full time I see much more in terms of colour and shape (and negative shape) and all the other pieces that make up an object rather than in terms of object recognition.  So I would say in this regard I am different from the average person, but when it comes to something like computers, or baking pastries, or fixing cars I am the average person.  Well I've managed to go on longer and been less clear than I intended, but does what I am saying make sense?  Saying your different doesn't make you an elitist, and average is a relative term.</blockquote>

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