I'm interest in learning taxidermy and was wondering if someone who doesn't have artistic skill can do a good job of it.
Thanks..Chris
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Can someone without athletic ability become a professional baseball or basketball player?
you can compensate. I firmly believe everyone has some artistic skill -- it's just that some have more than others.If you've got the right attitude there is enough help out there now to spoonfeed and show you everything step by step. One on one instruction, videos, seminars etc.
I overheard a judge tell someone at one of our shows how people that were not artistic would never place high in competitions. He was so full of himself I wanted to throw up. Never mind he came in late to judge due to a hangover after being out at the local strip bar all night. I was not impressed.
Hope so, some things can be learned. If you are still in highschool, get into some art classes. Primary colors etc.
It takes a certain amount of hand-eye coordination to do taxidermy work. That is, to do it well. The basics are simple and anyone can learn them. To put a skin and mannikin together to look like the real thing takes the talent.
Years ago, when I taught on a regular basis, the students that could draw had very little difficulty. Those that couldn't struggled with everything they touched. Without some artistic ability you are looking at an uphill battle.
I also have absolutely no artistic ability,but I enjoyed taxidermy so much that I worked very had at it.Art classes would have definately helped,but I am proof that if you want it bad enough,anything is possible.Jump right in and have fun!
I also have absolutely no artistic ability,but I enjoyed taxidermy so much that I worked very had at it.Art classes would have definately helped,but I am proof that if you want it bad enough,anything is possible.Jump right in and have fun!
stick with the birds because threre is many trades built into fish to complicate the matter
You don't have to be able to sit down at the drawing table and produce a sketch drawing of a deer in perfect detail to be able to reproduce a deer as a taxidermist. But, you have to be able to see - and I mean REALLY SEE - the minutia of detail that goes into making up your subject. For example - eyes. Deer eyes have a very distinctive shape, and in some ways, our own eyes bear the same general curves and lines. How many of you guys have been leaning in close to the mirror shaving one morning and you see that distinctive curve in the lower, outside curve of your own eyelids that you painstakingly place in each deer eye you sculpt? Learn to clearly see the relative positioning of curves, lines, basic shapes, and colors that, in combination, make up everything in the world around you. Without that ability, reference material will serve you no purpose. With it, you'll easily find volumes of information from every picture. Real artistic skill comes at every level. First, there's the skill and vision that goes into reproducing the animal itself. Next, reproducing an appropriate habitat for the subject and doing so with balance and accuracy in detail. The very best taxi's are the ones whose work you view and think to yourself, "I could see that very scene in the real world." If you're interested in taxidermy, give it an honest effort. Put your best foot forward and understand that you seek progress, not perfection. Your talent may be several years in the making, if it exists at all. But you won't know for certain unless you try.