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Most of humanity lives in the world of senses, shadows and images of the truly real. The real world is beyond the world of senses and is made up of purely ideas. Ideas and thoughts are more valuable than objects and forces, thus mind over matter is key. Matter is simply a by-product of the mind.

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Idealism and theology fit together easily because idealism assumes that universal truths exist. Some idealists believe there is an Absolute Self who is constantly thinking in the realm of ideas and thoughts.

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Thinkers and philosophers should fill the most important places in society, because only they have the gift of true understanding of the reality of ideas through intellect.
The majority of humans live in the world of senses, not true reality, and therefore have an inferior existence.

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"If a tree falls in the forest, does it even make a sound?" - Dear Evan Hansen (and many philosophers throughout the years).
Something only exists if it is in the mind of some transcendent being or if there is knowledge of it.

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"Waving Through a Window" from the DEAR EVAN HANSEN Original Broadway Cast Recording

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Truth is based in the reality of ideas. What is true is the idea of something that is retained in the mind. Knowing is mentally grasping ideas and concepts. Knowing is based on faith and ideas in the mental world rather than experiencing something.

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Idealists gain knowledge from intuition, revelation, and rationalism.

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Truth must be consistent, coherent and have internal and logical consistency to be valid. Things that fit into the nature of the universe are true.

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Morality is aligning with the Universal Moral law. An ethical life is living in harmony with the universe.

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Value is placed in things that reflect the ideal. Art should show the Absolute as beautiful, and the ultimate and universal parts of the world. The ultimate and universal parts of the world should be shown in their most ideal state, as the Absolute self sees it. True beauty shows reality in its most perfect form.

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Matter exists regardless of whether or not it is known by a mind. Reality can be observed through using our senses.
What people think about the universe does not change its reality. Reality operates according to natural law controlling the physical, moral, psychological, social, political, and economic spheres.

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Humans all respond to environmental stimuli. They are subject to natural law and as such are not free in their choices. In essence, people can be programmed.

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Matter does not exist without form. Reality is the physical.

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Truth is what can be observed through senses. Things are true if they make sense. Through study and observation of matter, we can discover what is true.

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Truth can be learned through the senses. General principles can be gleaned from observation. Nature speaks for itself and it makes sense. Realists use the inductive method to learning about the natural world.

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Realists abide by the correspondence theory. This says that valid truth is truth that is aligned with the actual situation as seen by the observer.

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Nature has a moral law. Values and moral can be discovered through the observation of nature. All humans have the possibility of discovering the natural moral law.

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The laws of the natural order are the basis for what is beautiful. Artists should create what they realistically see. The logic and order of the universe and nature contains the criteria for what is beautiful. Rationality is shown in pattern, balance, line, texture, and form.

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Written by McKella Sawyer Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you( learn more)

Realism is an art style that focuses on making pieces look as realistic and true-to-life as possible.

Think of realistic portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings. These are all forms of realism which aim to capture the subject in a realistic style, and possibly to portray the subject in a way that captures the realities of life.

While the subjects may sometimes appear somewhat stylized, realism seeks to present subjects as they look in real life.

For some great examples of realism check out artists like Gustave Courbet, Winslow Homer, Édouard Manet, and Rembrandt.

It's a popular style and one that's either snubbed(why make something look like it does in real life instead of doing something original?) or lauded as "good" art (wow, that looks so real! You're such a good artist.)

But realism is often the learning ground for artists of any medium since practicing from life is the key to becoming truly skilled.

Why Artists Study Realism

In digital art we spend a lot of time making up fantastical worlds, creatures, and characters. In other words, we're in the practice of creating things that don't exist.

So why is it important for concept artists, digital artists, and ANY artists to study realism?

You've probably heard the old adage that you need to learn the rules so you can break them, and this absolutely applies here.

Image source created by Clark Graves Antiques

Once you've mastered copying things from life you can start to play with them. As you get better you'll learn to work faster and might notice your lines getting tighter and your forms laying down faster.

This all comes from practicing the essentials of art.

But it takes time and practice to know and internalize what those essentials are.

When you start learning to draw or begin courses at an art school, you'll pretty much always start with learning realism or by copying something you see.

This is because it's a lot harder to draw something from your head than something that's right in front of you.

Also learning to draw subjects realistically, like the human body, helps you learn to stylize them later.

Think of an artist you like who draws figures in their own style. Their style might look simple, but it probably shows a high level of understanding of human anatomy.

Even if the shape is greatly reduced or greatly exaggerated, the artist probably isn't adding muscles and bones in places where they don't actually exist-unless they're creating a new creature, but even then it's still on purpose with knowledge of anatomical details.

Realism is all about sticking to the basic, realistic form and making it work first.

Image source

It's like building a house. You're going to want to lay a foundation and build sturdy walls before you think about carpeting, paint colors, and door knob styles.

A lot of being a good artist is developing technical skills and there's no better way to do that than by studying and practicing realism.

This might not be what you want to hear, especially if you're just getting into concept art. You likely want to start creating amazing pieces of art, developing your style, learning the best painting programs, and making the art you want to make.

But to do that well you've got to know what you're doing. To be good at anything you have to master the basics first.

That's why dancers start with classical ballet, why great musicians learn classical music, why pianists start with scales, and why artists start by learning to draw realistically.

Many artists choose to stick with realism and all of their work follows a realistic style. That's perfectly fine and you'll see these pieces in museums around the world.

But every artist should spend time working with realist pieces. This will help you learn to see properly and eventually help you develop a style based off the real world.

Realism in Concept Art & Illustration

All stylized art is at least somewhat based on reality. Fantasy landscapes and buildings have a lot in common with real landscapes and buildings, while stylized humanoid characters are usually based on the human figure.

Most fantasy creatures share some similarities with real life creatures.

And no matter what kind of made-up characters or settings you create, you're going to need to know how some basic stuff. How perspective works, how to render light and textures like wood and water, how clothing folds over somebody's arm.

These can all be studied from life and realism practice helps a lot with nailing believable work.

The good news is that if you really love art, learning the basics can be fun! It's fun to get better and watch your progress over time. Yes, learning is hard work and practicing the same stuff can get boring.

But hard work is right at the edge of "comfort" and "discomfort". Push yourself a little past that point and that's where you learn. All the best stuff happens when you get just outside your comfort zone and really try to improve.

And you might be surprised how quickly you improve once you make realism part of your regular practice.

Image source created by Clark Graves Antiques

You'll get better at drawing poses and objects you've never seen before because you'll have a ton of realism experience to draw from.

You'll understand how the body and objects work so you can arrange them in different positions with different lighting.

It's fun to experiment and play around and fill sketchbooks with practice drawings. This all part of the process of becoming a master illustrator.

And true masters love the process as much as they love the end result.

It's worth noting that animators may not see as much value in realism, however they will find value in practicing from life.

Animation needs to be quick so you'll get more value from quick drawings and gestures. Animators want to capture weight, form, movement, posture, stuff that makes the cartooning process remain true to life. This does not require excessive detail but it never hurts to practice!

Should You Be Practicing Realism?

Maybe!

Here are some signs to look for. If you aren't happy with your work or if you find any of these signs commonly showing up then you might want to spend more time practicing realism:

Your figures don't look "right" or the proportions feel off and you don't know why

Your forms and figures look like they have no weight, or they appear to be "floating" or not grounded in the scene

Perspective is never quite right for certain objects

You can't seem to render details properly and get a genuinely believable mix of light & shadow

These don't all require practicing from life and you could always fix problems individually through exercises.

But every wonky drawing can be fixed by addressing the underlying cause, and that cause might just be a lack of fundamental knowledge. Guess how to improve that!

Whether you're an accomplished artist or just getting started with a pencil, studying realism can help build your skills and develop your style faster than anything else you can do.

If you're a little uncomfortable starting from scratch then definitely check out the Proko video series. All of his courses focus on realism and they aim to teach beginner artists how to see properly, how to practice figure work, and how to strategically improve their life drawings kills.

For life drawing practice I specifically recommend the figure course and the anatomy course.

Both courses work from live models and both only teach realism so these are like boot camp training courses to improve your skills fast.

We've written detailed reviews on both the figure series and the anatomy series so check out those articles if you have no idea how to start with realism and might want some video courses for guidance.

Author: McKella Sawyer

McKella is an artist and freelance writer from Salt Lake City, Utah. When she isn't painting or writing for clients she loves to write fiction, travel, and explore the mountains near her home either on foot, horseback, or a mountain bike. You can view her art on Etsy and her writing services at TheCafeWordsmith.com.

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Realism In Art: What It Means & Why It's Valuable For Practicing Artists

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Written by McKella Sawyer Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you( learn more) Realism is an art style that focuses on making pieces look as realistic and true-to-life as possible.

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The universe is permanent, unchanging, logical, reasonable, and understandable. Reality is what is reasonable and logical. For anything that is beyond human understanding, faith may be applied.

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Nature has design, order, and cause-effect relationships that point to a First Cause or an Unmoved Mover. This being is made up of pure reason. The universe was created with reason and reasonable people.

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Humans are rational animals. The highest purpose of humanity is think. Because humans are rational, they are capable of understanding the world because it is also rational.

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The natural world is governed by reason. The supernatural world is understood through intuition, revelation, and faith.

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Truth is self-evident and can be discovered through intuition.  Truth is determined by what can be observed and proven. The rest can be intuited by faith. Both observation and ideas can be true.

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Knowledge is gained through reason. For things beyond understanding, faith in divine revelation must be trusted.
There are three kinds of truth. Intuitive truth is a statement that finds its predicate in the subject. Synthetic truth depends on experience and must be tested. Finally, Analytic statements are logically and intrinsically true.
Sources of truth are reason, intuition, deductive thinking, and supernatural revelation.

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Lower level truth relies on reason, while higher truth relies on first principles and faith. The highest truths are logical, permanent, and unchanging. Existing truth can be proved through rational processes.

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The moral life is in harmony with reason. Humans are rational beings and what is good is controlled by rationality. Good people are those whose desire and will is controlled by their intellect. It is reasonable to do what is good. What is good is what is rational, even if the rational outcome is bad.

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Art is self-evident to artists. Humans have creative intuition and an inborn tendency toward creativity. Even though art is seeking to escape meaning, it still has meaning innately.

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Reality has no order. If reality had any order, people would have no way of knowing it. We live in a reality experiences and have no way knowing if anything beyond human experience is real or true. Reality is constantly changing as the human experience changes and broadens. As humanity's perspective changes, what is real changes.

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Belief is private.

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Humans are experiencers. As we go throughout life we gain experience. Teachers guide experiences with their broadened perspective of the world. Experiencing is important in the learning process.

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Humans know matter as they experience it. Reality and the knower cannot be separated.

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Knowledge is rooted in experience. Knowledge is created as perspective broadens through interacting with the environment.

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Truth can be discovered through experience and interaction with the environment. Knowledge can also be found in observation of a problem.

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There are no absolutes. Values are all relative and change as cultures change. Ultimately, what is moral is what works for the social good. The best action is what leads to the best results.

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Valid truth is what works. Truth must fit in with the public empirical experience. Truth is relative to the situational context.

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Beauty is found in human experience. Beauty must fit the social test and what is beautiful depends on the feelings of people when they have an aesthetic experience. Art offers humans a new dimension of feeling and emotional contact with others.

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The primary reality is the existence of a person. Reality is what the individual chooses it to be. There is no meaning in the world apart from individual existence.

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Reality is created through language. The nature of reality is determined by whoever has the power to shape language.

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Individuals have whatever purpose they have created, but there is universal purpose in the universe. The individual, personal choice, and commitment are central to the theology of existentialists.

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Humans determine who they are with the choices they make. There is no nature of man. Individuals are what they create themselves to be, or the result of their choices. Individuals must make responsible choices. Making choices is inescapable, and the purpose of human life.

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People try to control each other with language. People should try to deconstruct language in order  to escape being held captive by the dominant language. Diversity should be celebrated and is a key in in deconstructing languages of power.

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Existence precedes essence.

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The individual gives truth and meaning to the things around them since there is no meaning or truth built into the universe. Individuals choose what to believe is true.

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Postmodernists believe in epistemological subjectivity. People construct their their own knowledge and truth. There are only opinions, but not truth. As metanarratives are broken down, individual narratives of the oppressed can be used to create social constructions of truth.

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All knowledge comes from the individuals. Humans must personally makes decisions about what is true or not. The individual has the authority to create truth through existential choice.

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All presumed sources of truth are untrustworthy. There is no real truth because language shapes thought before we even think. Everything is under the influence of presuppositions and metanarratives which are found in language and used to control people. We cannot know anything. There are no universal truths, reality, or one source of truth because these are all based on interpretation which is influenced by unconscious presuppositions and metanarratives.

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Each individual personally discovers and creates their own truth. Truth is anything that has been determined by an individual. Valid truth is the personal choice of truth for a particular person. Any truth could be true for any individual.

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There is no valid truth. There is no way to truly understand reality because all human thought is distorted by language and metanarratives. The only thing people can know is that their constructions of knowledge are compatible with other constructions they have created. All knowledge is conjectured and fallible.

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Individuals are all free to make their own choices. There are no absolutes. Individuals must live with the results of their personal choices. Individuals who are responsible act on their decisions to be authentic to self. Every individual has the potential to better, worsen, or destroy the human existence.

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There are no stated moral absolutes, however there is a concern about dominance and oppression. Wrong is anything that oppresses or silences the oppressed and minorities. Terms like democracy, tolerance, and justice are at the base of value judgements. Social ethics are prioritized, where groups and individuals have responsibility for the social whole.

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The individual determines what is beautiful to them. Each individual decides what they personally believe is beautiful. Art is a revolt against the public standard.

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Beauty is found in things that amplify oppressed voices and represent diversity.