Natural Ability VS Practice

[Valen]

I think some of you should read this if you are interested in doing any kind of art but are having some trouble with how so many people are at a skill level way above your own.



http://rorke.deviantart.com/journal/30525000/#comments

This “It’s a God given gift.” theory I think is just a myth.

Some comments I have heard from people lately are “Painting and drawing is a skill you have or you don’t, yes you can improve on your skill from books but you have to have something there to improve.”

I really believe that comments like this are an artistic myth that people who can’t draw well pass around, it sort of makes artists viewed as these mythical creatures and if you don't have this crazy thing called "talent" you can never be an artist. I think talent is a learned skill. I believe anyone can learn to be a skilled artist from no skill level what so ever. Just like I think anyone if they practice long and hard enough can become a great musician. I think the people who have some talent to start with probably have a good grasp of the general foundation of what puts a good piece together and probably a lot of practice when they were kids they just didn't realize it was practice when they were doodling all over the side walk with chalk, but it was. Some people are quick studies and some people are not, I do believe that the person that is not a quick study with enough time could become a skilled artist.

Another comment made...“To me it has to be a good 50% natural, something your born with. If I trained every day would that make me a great chess player?”

UM YES IT WOULD. The same for fixing cars, cooking or being a soldier. If your soul purpose in life were to become great at any of these things and you worked your butt off each day to get better I really think you would become very skilled at what you do. If you look around at some of the artists on this site you can see their progress from practically stick figures to absolutely amazing art. They put the time in and they worked tirelessly to get better at what they do, constantly. Driven and inspired.

To say that they or I where hit with some ferry artistic dust when we were kids that makes us good at art is a little insulting. It is also a limiting belief for those beginners with the thought that because they don't put down a masterpiece on a paper when they were 6 that they must not have any talent. It’s a handicapped and mid-evil concept that is still in our schools today. To think that I have been blessed with some fantastical gift. What makes more sense is at the age of 2 my parents put crayons and papers in front of me thus creating a stage for me to draw every day until I was 6, when one day a teacher walks by and saw my work and said I must have some sort of gift from God. But I think that for 4 years I had been drawing everyday and had gotten better and better over the years. What seems more logical to you? Some sort of genetic blessing or time spent doing something? I was a head of the game that’s all. If my parents put a violin or a golf club in my hands and I liked it and played with it every day starting from when I was 2 or younger, I would probably be pretty flippen awesome at either of one of those things by now.

I think if teachers dropped the whole "You have to have potential first as an artist before you can become one." business we would see a lot more students trying to improve. We should be giving beginners the tools to hone their skills. Instead of snuffing out their hopes with the idea that they should of had skills to begin with. We should be teaching them the foundation so that when they are finally skilled at what they do they can go out into the world and use those skills to come up with great and new inspiring ideas. Since there are skilled artists and then their are the masters, the geniuses, the great thinkers who honed their foundations in the arts over many years and then used those skills to create a masterpiece. You could be the best artist in the room as far as skill level goes but its nothing compared to a great concept made with skilled hands.


Another comment made. >>>If you take 10 children that are 2 years old and that didn't have any formal teaching and let them draw something you'll see something really different from any of them, probably with 10 different levels of skill. This is the natural talent that every one of us has born with. Everyone of us was born with some sort of natural aptitudes. Some run faster than other, some are better doing maths, some draws better than other. Naturally. I can study voicing for an entire life but I'll never have the voice of Freddie Mercury<<<

Yes this is true you can line up 2 year olds and watch them draw and you will probably get a different skill level from all of them. But what you have not looked at was what type of stimuli that infant has been subject to for the first 24 months of its life. Do you know that early childhood experiences are critical to the emotional and intellectual development of a child? During these early years, 75% of those children’s brain growth is completed.

The Beth Lucy Wellman Neuroscience Project

>>>“With their brain scanning devices, neuroscientists discovered that a child's brain grows in power and intelligence when it is stimulated by the environment, particularly during a child's first three years. Prior to that, it was commonly thought that inherited genes were solely responsible for our intelligence. Not so anymore. In the battle between nature and nurture as to what created intelligence, nurture is now the dominant causal factor. That's vitally important to know because, while we cannot control our inherited genes, we can sure control the environment.”<<< By Marsh Kaminsky

So you will never have Freddie Mercury voice because you don’t have the same gene structure as him to have those same vocal cords that give him that signature voice, a signature voice that he then matured and worked with for many years there after.

Another Comment >>>You can believe what you want, but, there is a reason why Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than you. and there is a reason why he is not a better artist than you. there is a reason why u wont wake up tomorrow morning and start practicing basketball with the "belief" that you will become better than jordan through hard work. its because you understand your limitations. not that you don’t "believe" u can do it. there is a huge difference. understanding our limitations is just as important as recognizing our strengths.<<<

Yes I believe that if tomorrow I woke up and wanted to be Micheal Jordan I probably will never be as good as him. Because genetically he has been given a body structure and height that I will never have. That is my limitation. Do I believe that if I had started when he did at training with the same ferocious vigor that by the time I was his age I would be a better basketball player then most of the women my age and height yes. Now if Michael Jordan had gone the route of the arts with the same vigor as I do and had, the same stimulation as me as a child, I think he would be at the same skill level as me maybe better if he was introduced to new information that I have yet to learn. Or if his drive was stronger then mine. You don’t need to be genetically blessed to be an artist you just need to learn how to view the world the same way an artist understands the world.

There is nothing holding me back genetically from being one of the great masters. My limitation is time and knowledge. If I was introduced to the same type of information and stimuli I believe that I could at one point get to the same level of a great artist. If you and I were 2 of the babies in that experiment and my artistic level was better than yours that just means my brain development was simply stimulated in the right way to come out with that type of work.

What is a “gift” are our educators! It is the people that drive us to move forward despite being slower or faster then some. It is the environment that I am in that I am thankful for and the experiences and information in my life that have brought me to this point as an artist. I believe that if you spent the NEXT 50 years of your life pursuing the knowledge of the greats with the belief that there is nothing genetically holding you back from doing so, with the same dedication as Tiger Woods or any athlete that trains every single moment of their spare time starting from the foundation and up YES I DO BELIEVE you will one day reach a skill level that only people dream about.

Another comment from an artist I respect, you can find him here [link]

<<<Rorke while I totally agree with you. You gotta understand you just can't change some people's attitudes. I realised this a while ago and have since given up. Some people will use any excuse they can find possible to avoid putting in that extra effort and commitment required to "make it" (an hour here and there every few days isn't going to cut it - even for 50years). They look at other's work and just make huge assumptions on the time and effort the artist put in. I'd challenge anyone to draw for 12hours a day for a year and not see vast improvement - or even to draw every waking minute (if they work), cut games, tv, going out, lunch breaks, tea breaks ETC. But it's not worth it - they've always got an excuse, always a reason why they can't do it. Claiming others have talent is the biggest excuse used in the book. I've given up arguing with them because they're prepared to settle and accept 2nd best for themselves, and why not - it's so much easier right?

You and I both know the blood sweat and tears before we drew something half decent - if anyone thinks it takes less than that then they're in dreamland.

Talent is a passion, a drive, someone willing to stop at nothing to achieve their dreams - not some hidden innate ability some humans are born with.

Michelangelo said it himself, if people knew the time and effort he put into his craft, people would not be impressed at all. They've already worked out it takes around 10,000 hours to become a "genius" at something. Once you've done your 10,000 hours drawing come back and tell us you still suck.

Comparing drawing with basketball is now the worst excuse I've heard yet - the great thing about art is we're not limited by physique - anyone who can at least write, can draw.
Anyways Rorke I used to be like you. Now I just devote my time to people willing to learn, encourage them that they can achieve anything in Art. People that have already built up the insecurities/inhibitions, who been telling themselves for so long now they can't and never will do it - it's almost impossible to change their mind.

Reminds me of an old guy in life drawing class, he's been going for over 12years (I remember him from when i was in high school) He goes 2hours a week and draws the model. He hasn't improved in 12yrs because he thinks just turning up and doing some drawing is going to make him decent. On the other hand if he drew 2hours a day and studied anatomy in-between class - I can guarantee he'd be awesome after these 12years. It's little things like this that people don't realise - same reason people assume going to art school is going to make you good at art, wrong - it's only something you can do for yourself with your own initiative - all the resources are out there, the only thing holding people back is themselves>>>

I think it’s well said and to the point you should really check Alextooth's work [link]


Although if I can just change one persons mind I think I have made a difference. So I will keep being a thorn in someone’s side, I know it. Plus I just like to piss people off sometimes.

So in conclusion I would like to leave you all with this.

Lets say someone traps you in a room where you had to paint/draw/whatever medium and you had a whole library of resources in this room on how to get better, even video tutorials, internet tutorials you name it. You can even have some of the masters come and teach you each day.

You get fed, you have a bed, you can have entertainment material but for the most part there are no distractions what’s so ever. Just you and the art. Your captor tells you, you cannot come out until you had gotten to the skill level of a master. Do you think you would just die in that room?

I don't think so. Now the real question is if someone promised you that if you did this you would come out on the other end at a skill level that far surpasses your own would you do it? Would you run into that room and happily shut the door behind you?



If you are a struggling artist with this feeling that you have been jipped by the talent fairy may I suggest a book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.” [link]

Follow the link at the top if you want to be able to click the [link]s

[Ad Bot]

[Tom Gunn]

Almost everyone is like that on call of duty.

[Sirrus]

That's a serious tl;dr but I read the "In Conclusion..." part and I think I understand what it's trying to say.

I think that you don't need natural talent to be really good at it, but I think that some people that have a knack for a particular skill or art will pick it up and learn it much quicker and master it at a much higher rate of speed than someone who is inherently bad at it.

Like let's say you have very limber and strong fingers. You'd make a good guitarist. That doesn't mean that someone with terrible hand-eye coordination or some other disadvantage couldn't be a good guitarist, it just means that they would have to work at it harder and longer than the first person.

Also there's really a physical limit to how good you can become at something. I can practice every day of my life starting right now to become a figure skater, this includes weight lifting, running, training, skating practice etc., and I'll probably never be as good as someone who has done the same thing as I have but has other physical advantages.

You need to understand that we're not all equal physically and mentally. My friend and I could start practicing some skill that neither of us have ever done (let's say, wakeboarding) and at some point in our training, one of us will reach our physical or mental limit. At some point, someone just tops out on what they can accomplish. If my friend has a lower center of gravity or faster reaction times or whatever it takes to become a good wakeboarder physically or mentally, no amount of training will remedy that for me.

[Valen]

Thanks for that Sirrus. Though with art there are no physical limitations unless you have parkinsenss or something :I

[Wynd_Fox]

I've always wanted to draw better, and actually, after looking at some nice tutorials, I've gotten a lot better.

[Valen]

practice practice practice c;

[NickTheSushi]

Thanks for that Sirrus. Though with art there are no physical limitations unless you have parkinsenss or something :I

What if the page is too small? Technically, if you wanted to draw something larger than that is physically impossible.

 

[Wynd_Fox]

Draw on the desk.

[oromis]

I draw recognizably, and a few people say some of my drawings are good, but there are so many people in my school that draw 10x better than me. But it really gets me angry when those mexicans draw better than me :c

[Menen]

Im a Natural Cook and I have an Eye for identifying flaws in Designs.

[Block Buster]

What if the page is too small? Technically, if you wanted to draw something larger than that is physically impossible.

 

that's when you just multiply by zero

[Solid]

Ever since I started playing Blockland I've improved 10x at drawing. :D

[Valen]

Ever since I started playing Blockland I've improved 10x at drawing. :D

Me too but I wouldn't say it was because of Blockland in any way xD

[Retz]

I think some of you should read this if you are interested in doing any kind of art but are having some trouble with how so many people are at a skill level way above your own.



http://rorke.deviantart.com/journal/30525000/#commentsFollow the link at the top if you want to be able to click the [link]s

They teach us this in school. =/.

[Valen]

They teach us this in school. =/.

they taught me  the wrong way. Saying when someone is good at something that it was their natural gift. :C

but now I know. C: