the myth about talent

4 min read

Deviation Actions

leventep's avatar
By
Published:
11.2K Views
Many people are under the assumption many of the high profile artists in the digital art community are mainly good because of talent. This is not completely true(in my opinion). What does make them great is the simple fact of constant and regular practice. But if you still like to cling to the word, then talent is just in other words an ambition and motivation. This word,"talent" has been branded with something that you think is something that can only be inherited and if you dont have it you are doomed to fail. Many people has lost potential careers because of this.

well folks let me put that myth to rest because i think anyone with ambition and motivation can learn any tool and any skill.And if you are not learning it, it is because you are not working hard enough on it.its simple as that.The practice will open your eyes and you will develop to see things in different ways, once again this has nothing to do with talent.  Once your understanding of all the levels of art gets wider you will be able to do more because you have seen it, worked with it and practiced it.

a good example on how to test yourself is to simply to do master copies, and the majority of artist who do it are very successful. And many artists in production and in personal art use reference for their work. In a sense learning and replicating some aspects of a reference weather its design, lighting, palette or texture.And by doing this all that information is being stored in your visual memory and gets added to the experience bit by bit. Slowly that will build up and your visual vocabulary becomes that much bigger. You have become better not because you had a secret power you were born with but just because you took all that visual information in and learned it.

so don't be afraid to tackle things because of this word, instead , observe learn and be inspired.

And yes a good visual eye takes many many years to develop and impatience is something that frustrates many people who are developing their skills, and so they give up claiming that they dont have "talent". Once again the success comes from ambition motivation and just a fuck ton of practice. Your whole artistic life is ment to be constantly practicing.

but take one day at a time and with persistence you WILL see results.

i think a lot of high profile artists would agree with this, because we all went through these stages and we have reached new levels of artistic understanding.And we still strive for learning more.


so it's fun to see people react to this  so here is more text to read:)  yay


* this is not about disputing the existence of talent, its about the idea that practice is everything when it comes to any kind of development. Talent is simply our brain being more efficient because we are learning and we are enjoying it.

* yes true prodigies exist(savants or people who have developed a keen sense to learn) BUT how can we really know how they got there, Take Mozart, a prodigy, a genius , composed music since he was 5-6? but he also lived a life of touring and shows, and his father was his stern teacher.Imagine a life of music everyday in and out, you breath it you live it. Your brain will see patterns, learn melodies, remember keys, memorize harmonious combinations etc etc. Of course you will be very quick to outrun other people because they had not been exposed to the same factors of learning.

* we can tell that someone is doing something good with ease, but its hard to know for fact how they got there.The girl who plays piano beautifully is "talented", but what we dont know is that she played that piano and that piece a thousand times.My own sister who was great at drawing said she gave up because i had more "talent" but she didnt know i was up almost every night drawing.

And yes hard work does pay off, if you are keen to be fast , you haveto do it more and you haveto love doing it. Someone who hates it will never learn or develop, neither the one who does not take initiatives.
© 2013 - 2024 leventep
Comments92
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
zirothar's avatar
Each individual has a physiological plateau. Example: A professional tennis player who had been playing since he was 3 years old but never managed to win Wimbledon or become the world number 1 [link] . He was by average standards a successful player, but not likely to be remembered as a great player like Pete Samprass.

The same could be expressed with someone who has played guitar their whole life, and by normal standards is good. He can play by ear and regularly does session work and writes and plays their own music. But Slash will always be better than him.

Talent is something intangible. A quantum-level neurological difference that can't be replicated in another even with the same experience and knowledge. This is your personal physiological plateau of ability. Most people, barring physiological problems, will have the potential to be very good at most things, providing they put in the work to practice, thus improve. However, most people who put in the practice and hard work will not achieve greatness, win an Olympic medal, or become a professional concept artist. Also, your plateau of ability will begin to fall sometime in your twenties [link]. Meaning your ability to develop your skills will become harder over time and a decrease in ability is going to occur even though more knowledge may be attained. Yes, I am suggesting that sometimes it IS too late to learn.

This isn't to mention perpetual evolutionary flux, meaning that certain individuals have genetic differences/mutations advancing their natural physical and neaurological ability.

Or, maybe all those snooker players who can't beat Ronnie O'Sullivan just aren't putting the effort in!