February 1st, 2021
Sometimes the greatest insights emerge from considering stupid questions. Einstein asked himself, “What would it be like to ride on a photon?” — and from that question, the theory of relativity emerged.
Asking stupid questions is fundamental to learning; if you believe that you already know everything, then you’re not open to new learning, are you? I myself have learned lots of odd things by asking stupid questions. I once learned about a phenomenon I call “mechanical lasers” by asking myself about the odd behavior of a drainpipe. I later went on to build a hydraulic laser based on this observation. Another time, I learned something about heat by wondering about a strange pattern in the snow. I figured out a solution to the Fermi Paradox by noticing something about tree rings. Then there was the time I asked myself, “I wonder if any rocks on my land are ferromagnetic?” and got this amazing result.
Mr. Abdenour Bennani has asked me another good question:
What would you advise a student to do in order to improve their understanding of art and expand their artistic side?
That’s a damn good question, because the fact is that game design MUST learn to express artistic ideas, yet game designers are pathetically ignorant of the nature of art. They garrulate about art, but in truth they are merely wrapping themselves in the robes of the artist to conceal the crassness of their work. Most game designers' experience of storytelling goes little beyond Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the latest superhero movies. Hell, most game designers don’t know art from a fart — with a huge exception for the older designers who defined the industry in the 80s.
In their defense, I must declare that I didn’t know beans about art when I was in my twenties, and only began learning about it in my thirties. I had the great good luck to encounter some genuine artists during these years, and the humility to recognize that they knew a great deal of which I had no inkling.
This brings me to the first requirement for young game designers desiring to learn about art: humility. Art is big. Let me repeat that:
Art is Gigantic!
The universe of art is bigger than any human mind can grasp. Therefore, the very first lesson to learn is humility. Art is big. Art is complicated. Learning art is every bit as difficult and requires just as much energy and intelligence as learning, say, computer programming.
Even then, there remains a huge difference between the intellectual apprehension of art and artistic talent. Some people got it, some people don’t. You cannot become an artist by reading a lot of books or going to a lot of museums. The best you can hope for is this: if there are any artistic currents flowing through your soul, then understanding what art is will help you direct those currents in productive directions. A few rare artists, like Beethoven or Hemingway, have mighty torrents of artistic talent flooding through their souls. Most of us have a a few dribbles here and there.
I am not an artist. Like so many other people, I have some little squirts of artistic talent meandering around inside me. But the more I have learned about art, the more I have been able to direct those squirts effectively. I think that you can do the same.
How to learn art
So, how do you get started? The second step is to develop the habit of thinking about art. WHY does this music move you? WHY does that movie strike a chord within you? Why DOESN’T that music affect you? Scan the images above; what do they mean to you? Here’s a quickie summary:
Odysseus slays the suitors
The first image shows the crescendo of the Odyssey. After wandering for many years, Odysseus is finally able to return home, where he discovers that a group of ambitious suitors have been trying to convince Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, to abandon hope for his return and marry one of them. Meanwhile, they’ve been feasting at his house every day, consuming the wealth he accumulated before he left for Troy. With his son Telemachus he concocts a scheme to destroy the suitors. In one of the greatest moments in Western literature, Odysseus strings his bow, shoots an arrow through a line of axes, and then slays the suitors. It is the culmination of many years of suffering, and a truly magnificent scene.
The Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon
These are housed in the British Museum, and they express what was special about Greek art. Previous statuary, such as that of the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians, was all about power. Mighty pharoahs stare out blankly; their faces are perfectly symmetric, but utterly devoid of emotion. Huge statues of man-lions flank Mesopotamian palaces — but they’re meant to look intimidating, not expressive. But the Greek stuff is wonderfully human. You can see the personalities of the figures in their faces. Someday you must go to the British Museum, look at all the Egyptian and Mesopotamian art, and then look at the Elgin Marbles. The contrast will shock and inform you.
The Dying Gaul
Another magnificent piece of Greek statuary, this work shows the pathos of a warrior who is mortally wounded. You can see the pain on his face, the recognition of impending death. At the same time, the beauty of the human body is expressed powerfully.
The Libyan Sybil
Michelangelo painted this on the side of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It is a masterful representation of the beauty of the human body, even though the body is wrapped in clothing. She is lifting a heavy book while turning; the image powerfully demonstrates the flexibility and beauty of the human body in motion.
The Statue of David
Michelangelo created this piece, widely regarded as one of the greatest works of statuary in history. As you walk around it, your perception changes; from the right angle, he looks terrified.
The Mona Lisa
The other great classic work from the Rennaissance. The reason for its greatness is the smile; it’s so delicately ambiguous.
Don Quixote
A great work of literature by Cervantes. It pokes fun at the romantic notions of chivalry and knighthood. At the same time, it presents one of the greatest characters of Western literature, a man who is simultaneously crazy and noble.
Romeo and Juliet
If you don’t know what this is, shame on you! Shakespeare is important because of the beauty of his English. It’s a bit archaic and sometimes impossible to follow (how many people nowadays know that “Charles’ Wain” refers to the Big Dipper?) Movies and plays can’t deliver the experience properly: nowadays, you need an annotated version that explains some of the obsolete vocabulary. But you damn well better read this play!
Hamlet
Same here.
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
Another great painting. What IS she thinking?
Don Giovanni
A Mozart opera. His music is endlessly charming. This particular opera is famous for its absolutely smashing ending.
Beethoven
The giant of music. The list of his works that transcend everything else is long: The Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, Symphonies 5, 6, and 9, the Violin Concerto…
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
One of the greatest movies of all time, a powerful condemnation of war.
Citizen Kane
Generally considered to be the greatest American movie.
Guernica
Picasso’s statement on the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
The Seventh Seal
A classic movie by the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.
2001, a Space Odyssey
Another classic movie
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The most salient album by the greatest band of the Rock & Roll era.
There are other art forms that I do not list here, largely because I just don’t get them: poetry, ballet, and opera. Don’t expect every art form to appeal to you. We all have different tastes and some things speak to us and some things don’t. You should sample something from every one of the major forms of art, and then follow up on those that work for you. If none of it works for you, then perhaps you just don’t have strong artistic tendencies.
My suspicion is that most people don’t appreciate art because they don’t know about it. You should take the time to sample the many different forms of art. Don’t be passive about it: dive in! Don’t just listen to music while you’re working on something else; sit quietly and pay attention to the music. This is especially valuable with classical music, which establishes musical relationships over long periods of time. For example, in a classical symphony or concerto, the music of each movement is designed in relationship to the other movements — but you can only appreciate that relationship if you’re paying attention.
Perhaps this YouTube video will help you appreciate some of the intricacies of the Moonlight Sonata.
There are lots of books about appreciating art; I haven’t gotten much out of them.
Some Specifics
Here are some suggestions for how to get started with various artistic media:
Literature
Mark Twain is easy, fun reading. Tom Sawyer is good, but Huckleberry Finn is better. Also good are Life on the Mississippi, Roughing It, and A Tramp Abroad. He also wrote a great number of short stories, some of which are quite good.
The Iliad and The Odyssey are both excellent, but ONLY in prose versions. The originals are in Greek verse, and there have been many translations of these into English verse, and I urge you NOT to struggle through these.
O. Henry wrote a great many clever short stories, but most of them have catch-endings. Guy Maupassant did the same thing in French; English translations might interest you.
Hemingway is, of course, one of the greatest American writers, and I recommend both Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Folktales are another field of literature that are easy to get into. There is, of course, the collection assembled by Hans Christian Anderson, but there are also lots of other collections, including those of Native Americans, Africans, Russians, and Indigenous Australians — although some of this last set might strike you as weird.
There is a mountain of other great literature, but I am hesitant to recommend some of the less simple works. The preceding are good works to start with; later on, you can graduate to Shakespeare. If you want to better understand why women don’t play games as avidly as men, try reading some of Jane Austen’s work, such as Pride and Prejudice. That’ll learn you some.
Cinema
There are tons of great classic works that just aren’t appreciated by people these days. Watch everything by Charlie Chaplin. For a real shock, watch Birth of a Nation. This was a groundbreaking film that invented many new techniques, but it is shockingly, grossly racist. Also sample some of the very early stuff, such as A Trip to the Moon by Melies. This is science fiction from 1902, and its clumsiness will embarrass you. Learn from it!
Battleship Potemkin, a Russian film from the 1920s, is also important for new ideas it introduced into moviemaking. Some other movies to watch, in rough temporal order: the previously mentioned All Quiet on the Western Front, City Lights, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Fantasia, High Noon, The African Queen, The Bridge on the River Kwai, North By Northwest, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Space Odyssey, Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Pulp Fiction… If you want to sample something truly stratospheric, try Koyaanisqatsi. There are many, many more great movies, but my point here is that you should watch the entire range of movies from 1900 to 2000 to get an idea of just how the medium evolved.
Music
Good starters are the Strauss waltzes, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Dvorak. From there you can grow into Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelsohn, Brahms, and Liszt. Again, there’s lots of other great stuff, but this is a good starting list. From there, branch out to, say, Scott Joplin, American folk music, jazz (which never worked for me), rock and roll, and a variety of regional music. There’s good music from Latin America and Africa. If you want to go way out on a limb, try a Bach Partita (which I don’t understand) or the music to Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass (which I do understand).
As for other media (painting, sculpture, poetry, etc), I don’t know much about these media, so I cannot recommend a course for you.
Good luck. It’s a big, big world out there.