I know many artists that don’t believe in talent. I do, although in the sense that “talent” and “aptitude” are one and the same.
I believe that talent is a secret door that opens for some of us and reveals a certain preternatural understanding of art, music, sorting out lines of code, blending flavors in the kitchen, or even driving a car in circles 500 times in a row. To illustrate this point, let’s look to one of the most famous artists in history: Leonardo da Vinci.
Everywhere da Vinci wandered, he captured images in his mind of the places, objects, and creatures he’d seen. He locked them away in his brain as fully formed memories – colors, movement, the placement of the sun, the position of the clouds. And later, in his studio or at his easel, he could render them in every exacting detail. It’s a remarkable gift and one that I often wish I possessed. But it also reminds us that that talent can falter. The special aptitudes people are born with can stall unless they’re put to use. And in that way, talent can be overcome by those who simply have the drive to succeed.
There are artists, past and present, who didn’t seem to possess any great aptitude for art. They weren’t “born with pencil in hand” as many biographies often begin. They simply felt that they had private visions or secret stories that they needed to share and pushed to manifest their ideas in the world through rigorous study, routine experimentation, and a commitment to improve.
To say, “I wish I had your talent!” seems to dismiss the sacrifices many artists make to develop their abilities. It also creates this invisible barrier the separates success and failure based on talent alone, when that barrier can easily be overcome (if not toppled) with the right measure of motivation.
This is best illustrated by the words of famed artist and writer Alan Moore: “In every school that I’ve been in, there have always been – without exception – three or four other people who were better than me at writing – better than me at drawing, or all these other skills – that are now working in shoe factories, who are working down mines, and who are completely buried in industrial reality and will never ever see the light of day.”
Don’t ever be discouraged by what someone else has created. Don’t ever feel as if you can’t achieve the same sort of creative success or develop the same skill set. You can. You can by being willing to look at every failure as a step forward and every success an achievement to build on. Remember, your imagination, your ability to learn, and your ability to create solutions that move projects forward won’t give up on you unless you let them.
KingUnicorn is a guest blogger here at Grimvisions you can read more from him and see his work at http://kingunicorn.blogspot.com/
Aaah, friends…I have the opposite problem; and have wrestled with it my whole life!
I consider myself to have plenty of artistic talent. No, I’m nowhere near the ‘best’ artist, and there are always people with much more talent than me…
But my problem isn’t with any lack of talent, or even lask of ideas or inspiraton – it is with my lack of FOLLOW THRU! I have the worst case of Artists ADD I have ever known! I get so many ideas flowing thru me at all times, that I can barley catch them long enough t get them out into a project or peice of art.
I have the equation backwards! I have 99% talent & 1% follow thru!
I think I am starting to come to the conclusion that I am an ‘idea girl’ and that I have so many ideas that I may not be meant to produce each one myself. Someimes I think that maybe I am only supposed to ‘catch’some, and pass the rest along to others.
I dunno. But I am working on it EVERYDAY! Because I so badly need to express myself thru my art- and i would be nice to also make a living from my ‘talent’. (LOL)
Any thoughts, tips or tricks to share with me? This starving artist would be most grateful!
~Danae
craftychick1221YAHOO.com
Thank you for these wonderful words! I make my own spooky art, but have never thought of myself as talented – I copy then try to do my own thing. I’ve always compared myself to others who are more “artistic” than I, and subsequently, always feel worse about my own creations. Some good, some bad, like any other endeavor in life. Thank you for the inspirational comments – they will, for me, provide some impetus toward trusting my own vision and allowing myself to express it.
This is a fantastic post. And I completely agree with it. I was never artistic growing up, I never thought of myself as such. I just have always had a love for macabre art. A few people have pushed me in the right direction and helped me along, and I have struggled and learned from my mistakes. My shop is full of failed experiments, and mistakes, but I have learned from all of them. I spend a lot of time looking at real world examples of things I am trying to recreate: rust, bark, aged cloth, etc… I then spend countless hours trying to paint them. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. In the end I think I get a close approximation. For a lot of the things we attempt to do there is no instruction book … at least that I have found.
I love these words and I sooo agree! I sending friends to come and check this out – it’s the push some of us truely need! Thanks! <3
Completely agreed. The worst stifle’r of creativity is not believing in yourself to be able to create. Don’t compare your success to others, it stifles. Imitating others art can be the building block to your own style. After all, most of us used the training wheels known as ‘coloring books’ as children.