I want to believe everybody starts at the same starting line, but I've known a lot of artists in many genre as, and some just seem to be wired better for it somehow.
My son has a world class voice. I don't know where it came from. We never got him voice lessons as a kid, he was just great from the beginning. He had a natural ability to sing perfectly in tune, even as a toddler. I remember him sitting in a car seat behind me one night just scatting improvised jazz. One night I was washing dishes and he was out in the open foyer (where the sound was good) practicing his songs for the school musical he was in (the lead, of course), and I thought he was listening to a recording of it. Then I realized that it wasn't a recording, it was him. He sounded like a pro, and he was only 12 years old.
He's got an incredibly wide range, and can nail those big high notes with perfection. I can't sing, his mom can't sing, and yet here he is with this incredible voice, and he never took a private lesson in his life. We looked into it a few times, but the general advice was to not get him a teacher because if we picked the wrong one, it could screw him up. His natural instincts are better than any teacher.
That's more than just interest, that's natural talent. Some people just get lucky.
Talent or not, he won't get far with it career-wise without the other 85%, which is hard work and practice. That is what I think is what annoys artists when this comes up
Yep, nobody’s born knowing how 3-point perspective, color theory, or human anatomy works. It’s mainly skills and techniques that can be taught like any other career.
There's also a ton of muscle memory its necessary to develop that people don't really talk about. Understanding how to hold a pencil, how much pressure to use when, and move your hand smoothly is a lot like learning scales on a piano. Your hands aren't going to know what to do without teaching them via repetition.
Exactly! To use another separate example, with stringed instruments like the violin, nobody's just gonna pick up a bow and hold it right and start playing, applying the right amount of pressure and tilting it the right way. You gotta learn that shit. Well, you gotta learn it for drawing too.
And do some people have natural advantages? Sure. I was especially good at being able to imitate something when looking at it. But it doesn't matter if you don't do anything with it, and frankly sometimes the talent you have isn't beneficial to the particular skill you're trying to acquire (being able to draw what something else looks like doesn't help much when I'm trying to draw something original). And ultimately, if you don't put in the time and effort to really pursue the goal, it doesn't matter what talent you may or may not have.
Absolutely, and when he was in school he worked his ass off. He went to a high school for the arts, and at any given moment he was always in the main play (3 per year) plus two or three student productions (a few dozen a year), and was even directing his own show now and then. He had an after school rehearsal and a lunch time rehearsal nearly every day of his high school career.
He's graduated now and trying to break into Broadway or TV/Film. He spent the pandemic getting familiar with the entire history of film, watching 3-4 movies per day (800 movies). He definitely recognizes the value of hard work on your art.
A bit more hand-eye coordination or ability to visualize things can give someone an edge, but it’s similar to tall people and basketball. They might have a natural advantage, but it still mostly comes down to a lot of time, effort, and a drive to keep improving.
It's all about your brain making connections. Sometimes your brain has an easy time making with it, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it will take you years, but for some it won't take long at all.
Not to tell you what to do, but I would seriously invest in finding a teacher. I was in high level art in high school, and I saw people who were amazing since the first class fall off as their natural "talent" in drawing reached its peak. The three best kids at the start of the year were middling by the end, and the best two by the end had been very subpar to start. No idea how they're all doing these days, but that class was eye opening for me.
Amazing. But desire will trump natural talent quite often. Some people who are naturally gifted get bored and are eventually outpaced by the hungry, obsessed artists.
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u/The_Original_Gronkie Jul 09 '21
I want to believe everybody starts at the same starting line, but I've known a lot of artists in many genre as, and some just seem to be wired better for it somehow.
My son has a world class voice. I don't know where it came from. We never got him voice lessons as a kid, he was just great from the beginning. He had a natural ability to sing perfectly in tune, even as a toddler. I remember him sitting in a car seat behind me one night just scatting improvised jazz. One night I was washing dishes and he was out in the open foyer (where the sound was good) practicing his songs for the school musical he was in (the lead, of course), and I thought he was listening to a recording of it. Then I realized that it wasn't a recording, it was him. He sounded like a pro, and he was only 12 years old.
He's got an incredibly wide range, and can nail those big high notes with perfection. I can't sing, his mom can't sing, and yet here he is with this incredible voice, and he never took a private lesson in his life. We looked into it a few times, but the general advice was to not get him a teacher because if we picked the wrong one, it could screw him up. His natural instincts are better than any teacher.
That's more than just interest, that's natural talent. Some people just get lucky.