Pretty much no one starts out good. I consider it far more impressive to start from nothing and build a skill than to just have a natural talent going in.
As an artist, anything you do like two weeks prior looks like shit to you. You're constantly making tiny improvements and noticing things you'd change. You keep improving, so you look back and see all the things that are "wrong" even if it's better than 99.9% of all humans in the history of the world.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Now with the internet and accessibility to education, the “average” artist from today is leagues more capable in a technical sense than almost anyone from even 100 years ago. You can pick up the basics of character drawing in just a couple years with the right lessons when that would have mostly been trial and error before.
Calling someones hard earned skill “talent” is nothing short of insulting. Talent does not exist, there is only vast and endless effort and practice poured into a skill. People that are good at something are skilled, not talented. It’s not a gift, it wasn’t given, it was earned.
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When someone tells me "you're so talented" but they haven't seen my work from 5 years ago | Spyke
10 replies
Self-Improvement is a talent as well.
Yeah OP, skill ≥ talent. Rock on mon ami
Pretty much no one starts out good. I consider it far more impressive to start from nothing and build a skill than to just have a natural talent going in.
As an artist, anything you do like two weeks prior looks like shit to you. You're constantly making tiny improvements and noticing things you'd change. You keep improving, so you look back and see all the things that are "wrong" even if it's better than 99.9% of all humans in the history of the world.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Now with the internet and accessibility to education, the “average” artist from today is leagues more capable in a technical sense than almost anyone from even 100 years ago. You can pick up the basics of character drawing in just a couple years with the right lessons when that would have mostly been trial and error before.
The hardest part about this is calling something you're working on "done."
It's done now. Check back in a year and there's glaring issues, how the fuck did I not notice that?
I was born perfect at everything I can do well.
(Because everything I failed at I immediately stopped doing.)
"Talent" is the ultimate gaslight to keep you from learning new skills. Talent doesnt exist. Practice and understanding are what makes the best work.
Calling someones hard earned skill “talent” is nothing short of insulting. Talent does not exist, there is only vast and endless effort and practice poured into a skill. People that are good at something are skilled, not talented. It’s not a gift, it wasn’t given, it was earned.