> 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.
> 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.
These are all the words you've said so far that address whether art takes longer to learn than programming. Your points boil down to
1) People have different strengths and weaknesses
2) Both require practice
But neither of these contradicts the statement "art generally takes longer to learn than programming."
> In the end it's useless mostly for entirely different reasons, though; reasons I have already explained as well.
Here are all the words you've spent explaining why the observation is useless:
Oh... actually nothing. This whole discussion started when you said
> Such overgeneralizations are not helpful
But they've already been helpful to me before, and no fewer than one other person. Even if it's not much, "useless" is untrue. I said "this is what I've found to be true, and observed in others like me," and you said "this is not a useful observation." You never said why, you just jumped straight to "I already adressed that."
> "But neither of these contradicts the statement "art generally takes longer to learn than programming."
Man alive, I've already explained this multiple times, and you misread each and every time. You even postulate programming as something outside of art; a statement I have fundamentally disagreed with. You're fighting strawmen, and we therefore run rings around each other.
> "Oh... actually nothing. This whole discussion started when you said [...]"
The discussion started when I objected to your statement that "it takes a lot longer to become a reasonably good artist than it does to become a reasonably good programmer".
To me it's nothing but an imprecisely articulated, sweeping generalization constructed around the anectodal "evidence" that's your life (with an unknown sample size of people you've met or read about that might agree with you to some extent). In other words it's nothing but tedious fallacies, a thing oft observed in such discussions.
It's also a massive red flag; I at least would never be so presumptious and arrogant to make myself the yardstick and declare cocksure that one discipline will take longer than the other for some to me completely unknown reader. I know many a great artist who paints and/or writes but could not program their way out of a wet paper bag (they're practically computer illiterate and have absolutely no ambitions or time to change that), let alone reach the same heights there as in their chosen medium of expression. And vice versa. So what's useful to you, and what might be useful to me, is not automatically applicable to others and therefore it's useless to generalize, at least without any hard data to back it up (and even then the addressed party might be an outlier).
If one wants to find out which form(s) of expression is/are best suited for oneself, one needs to spread the wings and take to said form(s). How long that will take no one can say for sure; therefore what takes longer if one gravitates to more than one form, no one can can make reasonably accurate predictions about either. Especially not without knowing at least a modicum of relevant information about the individual any advice is supposed to enrich in the first place.
Hence, when addressing a general audience, better concentrate on giving detailed and sound advice on how to get better, or speak to useful mitigation strategies/life hacks, as opposed to shallow and often unapplicable generalizions about the future. In German there's a terminus technicus for such sillyness: Glaskugelei.
> Man alive, I've already explained this multiple times, and you misread each and every time.
Actually, what happened was you explained once, I rebutted, and your reply is now "I already explained."
>You even postulate programming as something outside of art; a statement I have fundamentally disagreed with.
Is this seriously a point of confusion for you? So I need to spell out I meant "drawing and painting" because you aren't able to extrapolate from context?
>To me it's nothing but an imprecisely articulated, sweeping generalization constructed around the anectodal "evidence" that's your life (with an unknown sample size of people you've met or read about that might agree with you to some extent). In other words it's nothing but tedious fallacies, a thing oft observed in such discussions.
Observed experience and testimony from others with similar experience isn't fallacy -- it's valid evidence. You are choosing to ignore it because... actually, I don't know why my thesis is apparently so offensive to you.
> It's also a massive red flag; I at least would never be so presumptious and arrogant to make myself the yardstick and declare cocksure that one discipline will take longer than the other for some to me completely unknown reader.
Not myself -- please show me the place where I said my own experience is my only evidence.
> I know many a great artist who paints and/or writes but could not program their way out of a wet paper bag, let alone reach the same heights there as in their chosen medium of expression.
Sounds like you know artists that didn't have a reason to take the time to learn to program. That doesn't mean that time would be longer than it took to learn to draw and paint.
Up until this sentence I assumed I was talking to another person who does both art and programming. The fact that you have something to say about people you know but nothing to say about your own experiences suggests to me you're probably not an artist. Which means you're just running your mouth about something you have no experience with.
> So what's useful to you, and what might be useful to me
Oh, I realize now you're just new to internet forums, so I should probably explain that not every individual comment needs to have direct relevance to whatever your exact current pursuits happen to be to be a worthwhile contribution to
a discussion.
> If one wants to find out which form(s) of expression is/are best suited for oneself, one needs to spread the wings and take to said form(s). How long that will take no one can say for sure
Sure.
> How long that will take no one can say for sure; therefore what takes longer if one gravitates to more than one form, no one can can make reasonably accurate predictions about either. Especially not without knowing at least a modicum of relevant information about the individual any advice is supposed to enrich in the first place.
That's where you're wrong. There are a lot of people that are qualified to estimate the general amount of time it may take to learn a skill to a certain degree. You're right that no one can tell the exact amount of time, but once again,
show me where I claimed to know the exact amount of time it takes anyone to learn anything.
There are art educators that have spent decades teaching how to draw and paint. If you've seen literally hundreds or thousands of students over the course of decades, you know how long it takes to learn your craft. And some of these edu
cators have shared their knowledge with us. For instance, Jeff Watts of the Watts Atelier has spoken about how long an artist needs to train before their skills are to a level where they can start to assist in teaching*, which is about
ten years to be a "decent teacher."
Ten years of full time study to learn, according to a master who has been teaching for over 35 years. Are you going to lie and tell me it takes that long to get a job as a programmer? I can name more programmers than I can count on my fingers that got a job straight out of a four-year or two-year program. I've never met or heard of an artist that got a full time professional job with less than ten years of study.
> Hence, when addressing a general audience, better concentrate on giving detailed and sound advice on how to get better as opposed to shallow and often unapplicable generalizions.
Are you seriously suggesting a bunch of unsolicited technique advice would've been an appropriate response in a conversation about why the author of the article suggested programmers don't have a reputation for making good artists? And just in case it causes you further confusion -- the author clearly meant "draftsmen" when they said "artists."
Ach, fuck it, one more, for it got personal. A tad bit out of order:
> "Is this seriously a point of confusion for you?"
Another strawman; it's about art as opposed to programming which I objected to, not about some confabulation of art as "drawing and painting".
> "Up until this sentence I assumed I was talking to another person who does both art and programming. [...] Which means you're just running your mouth about something you have no experience with."
I am interested in and develop my skills in both disciplines; I don't claim to be even close to a master in both. So keep such speculations about my life to yourself.
> "Ten years of full time study to learn, according to a master who has been teaching for over 35 years. Are you going to lie and tell me it takes that long to get a job as a programmer?"
You started out with the imprecise statement "reasonably good". That already begged the question what you fucking mean by that. Only now, after much back-and-forth, you roll-in with James Watts who talks in his vidya, after being prompted to describe what he considers the fucking teaching elite of his field and what it took to get there, with some extrapolations based on experience. Not exactly an optimum comparison to some "reasonably good" Coder Johnny in whatever particular (set of) coding language(s) you were sadly only dreaming about in these moments, but they are all the same anyway, amirite? ;)
And the essence worth taking home from Watts? He doesn't, and I paraphrase, "try to put his students in a box" when gouging the way ahead of 'em. In other words: "It depends". Yeah, it fucking does, lol. Any educator worth their salt knows that.
> "I can name more programmers than I can count on my fingers that got a job straight out of a four-year or two-year program. I've never met or heard of an artist that got a full time professional job with less than ten years of study."
Good for you. I on the other hand met many artists that got pro jobs after a four program at a university. Of course, like the programmers, almost each and everyone of them [1] already honed their skills (depending on talent and life circumstances even long) before they enrolled for art (or compsci) courses. That obviously still leaves one to define if these people are just "reasonably good" or are peers to "the (teaching) elite" at that point, let alone taking in account outliers such as (child) prodigies or late bloomers.
> "Oh, I realize now you're just new to internet forums, [...]"
No. I only realized too late that you clearly never made it beyond reiterating tedious logical fallacies in this discussion. You can do better.
1. Only one notable outlier: I know two cutters/editors (one now a successful TV film director) that got jobs straight out of a two- or three-year film school who never did anything even remotely close to their chosen field before.
> 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.
These are all the words you've said so far that address whether art takes longer to learn than programming. Your points boil down to 1) People have different strengths and weaknesses 2) Both require practice
But neither of these contradicts the statement "art generally takes longer to learn than programming."
> In the end it's useless mostly for entirely different reasons, though; reasons I have already explained as well.
Here are all the words you've spent explaining why the observation is useless:
Oh... actually nothing. This whole discussion started when you said
> Such overgeneralizations are not helpful
But they've already been helpful to me before, and no fewer than one other person. Even if it's not much, "useless" is untrue. I said "this is what I've found to be true, and observed in others like me," and you said "this is not a useful observation." You never said why, you just jumped straight to "I already adressed that."