Intrinsic artistic ability and knife making?

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PaMtnBkr

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Dec 31, 2009
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I am partaking on the journey to someday create beautiful functional tools but I have a concern. All the amazing talent I have seen on these forums makes me wonder if my lack of intrinsic artistic ability, will prevent me from eventually producing what I consider to be functional works of art? Seems like I am reading that a lot of accomplished knife makers are artistic to start with? Me, I can barely draw a stick figure, or paint a flower with finger paints. I have the desire to be artistic and "see" things in an artistic way, but just lack that gene I guess? I understand how lines should flow but don't "see" them necessarily? Or I should say, I can see them but can';t get my hands to translate it into reality? When I am doing a drawing for a new blade design, I have one heck of a time coming up w/something that does not look "wrong"? I have had better luck using French Curves and the like, but I am concerned that I may be limited in what I can eventually make? I have the desire, but wonder if I have the talent? I see a knife by Tai Goo (for example) and just look at it in awe and wonder how he "sees" in his head, before the knife is even made, what it will look like? Sorry for the long ramble? Just curious? Thanks everyone!
 
Some folks just have "it", while others have to work at it. There are many ways to make knives. You can attack it from a mechanical/engineering angle to where your calculated precision becomes an artistic expression. If you have the deep desire to make knives, you WILL find your way. I don't believe you are "handicapped" in any way. I have a friend who can't draw worth a bean and is the kind of guy who only appreciates art if it's nude chicks or on the side of a NASCAR vehicle... but give him a chainsaw and a big ol stump and he'll carve a 8 ft bear in half a day... all from in his head! Maybe knives are your inner "bear"? If you really feel the need to cultivate an artistic ability, start researching the subject.... but it is more important to just be YOU.
 
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Some people are naturally talented, and simply have an inate artistic ability that others do not.

However, I'm convinced that everyone has a basic artistic ability that can be cultivated and improved upon.

I think it's just like everything else; it simply takes practice.

About the only thing I can draw is a knife, because it's the only thing that I've ever practiced drawing.

Most people forget that people we see as being especially "artistic" or "talented" probably produced less than steller work for years before really getting good.
 
Also remember that there are people with the ability to draw very well but what they draw isn't all that good. It is a very clear expression of bad design.

Practice different exercises to develop your drawing. Trace a knife and look at it as a line drawing; ie, change the ways you look at an object.

I look at some of my old drawings of knives which I thought had good lines at the time and I can't believe I thought that but I know that in the future I will likely look at my present work in the same way.

The real thing is to "do". You might be someone who doesn't work best with a drawn out plan anyway.
 
Just a comment to add - I think most of the top tier knife makers would excel in any medium they pursued, they just happened to be interested in knives. A good example from the forum- look at some of Phillip Pattons knives, and then check out the guitars he makes.

This doesn't really address your point, because we don't always know how many years and how many countless blades were thrown away before some of the masterpieces started appearing from most makers.
 
We all have our own unique set of talents. However, it often takes a lot of hard work just to discover them, and the desire to develop them and put them to practice.
 
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You just need to train your eye, and let your sense of shapes and proportions develop. If you recognize beauty when you see it then you have the potential, artistic talent is just the capacity to see beauty in places where it hasn't appeared yet.
Being able to define elements that appeal to you is a big part. Curves, tapers, flares, textures, etc. are all used to achieve visual effect, drama for the eyes. What's tricky is that your sense of what is beautiful can change even as you are learning how to create it. If a maker looks at a knife they made 5 years ago and can't find anything they would like to change, then I would say they have been missing something the last 5 years.
 
Thanks everyone! A funny thing happened today. I mentioned my lack of "artistry" and he said "BS, those mountain bike trails you built at Roaring Run are beautiful!" I guess I wasn't looking hard enough! Funny, I guess "artistic" ability is there, just not recognized! time to make some knives!!!!
 
PaMtnBkr said:
Thanks everyone! A funny thing happened today. I mentioned my lack of "artistry" and he said "BS, those mountain bike trails you built at Roaring Run are beautiful!" I guess I wasn't looking hard enough! Funny, I guess "artistic" ability is there, just not recognized! time to make some knives!!!!
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There you go! ;)

Drawing has never come easy for me, but with practice it gets better. Also, some things look good on paper but don’t translate into reality very well. On the other hand some things don’t look that good on paper, but look great in real life. It’s also always easy to get carried away on paper, but often best to try and keep it simple. I find it a lot easier to visualize and/or turn 3D objects in my mind, than to draw them out. It does help if you fist have a good mental image before you try and draw it... or just get a good solid mental image and skip the drawing, if you feel drawing is holding you back.
 
I worked as a gunsmith for over 10 years; much of that time with individuals who were far above me in specific abilities. One of the reasons I left that field (and there were several) was that I was not competitive at the level I wanted to be. Looking back I see that I too had a set of skills that was valid, it just wasen't the set I felt I should have had. I am very good at repairs, a fair machinest, better with wood than metal, etc. Much of that is/was training and experience, and every job I did added to that ability.

My artisitic ability is limited, I can duplicate items better than design them. Once I realized that it helped to focus both my acceptance of what I could accomplish and my goals for gaining new skills. I'll never be an artist. If I ever make knives they'll be far from the stuff guys like William Lorchner produces, but they'd be better than some of the others I've seen for sale over the past decades.

Skill is not only an innate ability, it's also a product of effort. Find your nitch, and then work to make yourself the master of that.
 
The fact that there's something about really nice knives that makes you happy when you look at them tells us that you have a feel for what's good and what's not.
Build on that. Copy some simple forms that appeal to you.
A while back, I wanted to try a lock-back folder and couldn't find a tutorial, so I copied a knife from one of the top makers- sent him an email asking if he minded, and he said, "Have at it! That's an old design and I'm on to different things." He ended up taking quite a bit of time coaching me, too!
Copying a really good pattern is a great way to begin. ( I doubt if anyone would ever notice that I was copying him- his blades are soooo good, and since the first one I'm changing the design to suit my style, but it was a starting place)
The whole thing with "talent" is overrated: if you're around good art and you practice looking-really seeing- it when you're young, sure you get a head start, but again, the fact that there's "SOMETHING" that pulls you in shows that you really do get it on some level.
Just start simple and have fun!
Andy G.
 
For me, first math then science were my best subjects in high school. It wasn’t until later that I discovered I had any talent for art. I got Cs and Ds in art in high school and As and Bs in math and science.

Through experimentation, I discovered that I had more talent in 3D (sculpture) than 2D (painting and drawing). Through further experimentation I also discovered that I had more talent with hard mediums (wood, metal etc.) that soft ones (leather, clay, fibers etc.).

It took between 5-7 years of knifemaking for me to realize I had a “special talent” for knifemaking.

Looking back, I really think that my raw ability in math and science had a lot to do with it.... oddly enough.
 
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David Stifle said:
I firmly believe a man can rise above his limitations if he has a driving desire.
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Good point, but I do think some things come easier for some people than others. I also think people have a natural desire to do what they do best and to reach their full human potential.
 
Tai, I agree that somethings do come easier for some than others, but if a person really wants it bad enough, they can rise above their limitations. Drive is the key; it will move you to take classes, find a mentor, learn new skills, study related fields such as engraving, silversmithing, etc., and to practice, practice and more practice. There may be people who are born with an artistic gene, but I suspect most artists had to work their butts off:)
 
David, I agree that "desire" is the key... and through it you may well discover talents you never knew you had.

Perhaps "desire" is the subconscious mind trying to tell you that you have an undiscovered and/or un-nurtured “talent“. I think the two may be connected. :)

If I never wanted to make knives,… I never would have discovered that talent.
 
On second thought,... try thinking of it more as athletics. You can have all the desire in the world, but if you just aren’t gifted enough,… you can’t make it,… “professionally“, but you can always have fun with it.

As an art teacher, I think one of the hardest things to do is tell a student they just don’t have what it takes to be a professional and that they need to lower their expectations. It’s something most art teachers would rather let the individual discover on their own. So, we tend to encourage students more than discourage.

Why should art be any different than athletics or anything else?

I loved basketball, but just wasn't tall enough.

Knifemaking, like anything else, requires a certain set of mental, emotional and physical abilities... to really be good at.
 
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I personally believe some people get too hung up on how thing ought to be, and fail to allow for how they could be.

I believe in a bit more freedom of expression. What looks and feels good to you might very well not appeal to the masses, who want things to be the way the OUGHT to be. Does that make your way wrong?

A lot of artists make their mark by defying convention. Go to any art museum... go to several. Look at the variety you see. Consider that each artist is revered by some and reviled by others. Does that make them right or wrong? Toss aside the notion of rightness and wrongness. There is no right or wrong, there is only expression.

Keith Haring isn't wrong because his art appears simpler than Lichtenstein's. Dali isn't wrong because his images are less realistic than Rembrandt's. Each expresses something unique.

Find your own "voice". Define your own style. Defy convention and make your own mark.

Or not, if that isn't your thing. :)
 
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