Programming and Art
Years ago I learned programming in c++. at that time it was mostly c++ 98 and c++ 11 was still pretty new. This year I started learning art and most of my c++ knowledge had dimished from not using it. I still remembered pointers and basic facilitys but most of the important stuff was forgotten. While I was learning art this year I started messing around with programming again and upodating what I know to at least version 17. I noticed while doing this the little art skills I had began to diminish. It seems like doing both of these things at the same time doesnt work very well. I enjoy programming for the fun of it only. I also enjoy art. Is it possible to focus on both these things or ultimately am I going to have to choose one or the other? Has anyone successfuly done both and been able to maintain them both? How did you do it?
Hmm. that has not been my experience. I am a professional developer, but creating games as a hobby has noticably improved both my coding skills and my art skills. You say you started programming again. What sorts of things are you programming? If they are things that involve both code and art (like video games), I would expect your skills to increase in both, not diminish in one or the other.
--Medicine StormThat doesn't happen for everyone. You would be unlucky if it happened for you :-( It could be that for some people, the two skills compete for the use of the same part of the brain. There is a lot of individual variation in how people learn skills! It's possible that could be happening to you, but it doesn't seem very likely.
Generally the limit for the things you can be good at is just the limit on the amount of stuff that you can do regularly. There are only 24 hours in a day and most of those are already taken up with the basics of just being alive, so there's only so much stuff that you can regularly practice. If you don't do something for a while then you will get "rusty" on it and lose some skill. However, for most people, with something which they have once really gotten into and gotten good at, if they come back to it after years of not doing it, they will start "rusty" but then they will fairly quickly get back to the skill level that they were at previously. I've gone years without doing art sometimes.
maybe my problem is consistentacy. I havent been doin both consistently long enough it seems. I will try and keep working at it.