This inspirational article provides insights into myths surrounding art and artists.

Preview lesson A02 - Understanding talent

Hi,

I found your site through a recommendation on another forum. I knew it had value on first glance.

I always thought drawing came from a hidden talent. Yes, I knew there was art class back in my
school days, but that still required talent, or so I thought. I'm sure there is something to it, and
maybe having "The Gift" helps, but now I feel it can be aquired through a steady commitment.

Afterall, my family never thought I would become a graphics or website designer on my own
learning capabilities.

I had a vision of a cartoon character. I was going to use Photo Shop and Flash to draw the character's.
My freehand drawing reminds of a 3yr old. Ok, Maybe I'm exagerating a bit at 2-1/2!

This particular lesson gave me hope, that I can aquire the ability to draw it on my own, and use the
other tools to enhance it with color. That alone would make me happy.

Thank You for sharing your learned abilities as an artist.

Robert

Brenda,
I just read 'Understanding Talent' and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It must have had an impact on me as after I finished reading I felt all cerebral and intelligent.
I started writing a post to share additional thoughts on artists, talents, values, and a whole lot more.
Luckily for everyone I came to my senses. It took quite awhile though.

You really covered some primal aspects of art and of artists in those few paragraphs.
Great job.

Thanks!

I just finished reading this tutorial. It was a great one.

Thank You!

'Robert Palmer' welcome you can do it!! go for it anyone can be a artist if they put there mind to it and keep going someone had to start somewhere! looking forward to seeing your work!
am just starting out as a artist my self

Yes, I agree too anyone, no everyone is an artist but just hasn't realised it yet.
Everybody has an imagination that is an artistic atribute, Paitience also helps learning to look helps too.
But go for it keep drawing.

All the best
Andy.

Andy Yes Paitience is the Key!!

Thank you for wonderful inspiring message Brenda.
I found your site blog hopping.
I liked it so much I put your site in my blog.
Here hoping I can learn how to be a artist, instead of a frusterated creative person.
Most I can do right now is do very basic digital art and recoloring, and effects but sometimes I can
mouse draw something really good.[attachmentid=67]


oops image is way too small this a recolor of old master black and white[attachmentid=68]

i like ur art work

Hi Seattleoutsider,
The best thing to do is get a scanner a pad of paper (Baking paper) copy the outline of something you want to draw and scan it into the PC. Or better still try and hand draw it and then scan. and you can manipulate your image as much as you want. Try and store your base drawings as Vector files in what ever graphics program you are using.
Sometimes my drawings look better scanded than hand drawn SssHH! don't tell everybody thanks.

All the best with drawing.
Andy
Ps Its a scanner and a new desk this month.

This topic was pretty interesting to read. Everyone around me tends to express that view of art coming from this mystery talent. I always figured with some instruction (and then lots of practice) anybody could learn to draw. Whether they became a master was up to them. It was great having the myths debunked clearly.

Thanks!

This article was really inspiring! Now I have more courage and desire to improve my beginner`s skills

To be patient and my wishes come true

I have drawn a wlsh corgi from pembroke variety that looks very realistic.
I think that talent depends from pracitce, in just 2 weks my fur that was actually very ugly now looks so realistic and I think that my improvement is great. Well....I a just 14 3/4 years old. And I can't believe y level is that good ^^

I like that lesson, really, Brenda improved a LOT if we see her 14 years old art and her actual art.

lol, i like it..
14 yrs.. mega LOL
haha xD

Brenda, I just read your article and I completely agree.

It's funny because my husband claims to have zero drawing skills, which he usually mentions when we are in a heated game of Pictionary with family and friends. And after looking at his "scribbles" everyone usually laughs and agrees. But...this is not true. He is a contractor and I have seen some of the technical drawings that he's done for customers, of patios, trellises, additions, etc., and they are amazing! He does have drawing skills, they just aren't the same as the ones I have.

It seems to be all about where your interest lies.

I also just want to say that this site is terrific! And it's great that you are "sharing" your insights, experience, and skills so freely with everyone!

Thanks!

My husband told me the same thing that's being said in this lesson - commit and work hard at something and you will become good at it. I admit, I commit.

me too, i see this tutorial, great work!

Great tutorial. It gave me the confidence to realise it is all about practice, persistence and consistence.

And of course enjoyment of the whole process plays a major role.

Thank you Brenda.

The harder in drawing (for me) it's to realize that ANYONE CAN draw ^^

Someone from my other art community suggested this website a while ago, but I was going through old posts to find the good stuff and I found this. I'm really amazed how good the info is here!

I'll make sure to get here more often and learn as much as I can. Sadly I'm not home and don't have free access to internet when I need references... well I work my memory and background (negative area) alot more, specially nature background.

Thanks to Brenda ^^

I like the paint it is wonderful

This article helped change my viewpoint of art. I didn't think I would be able to draw because I don't have the rare art skills some seem born with. Being 17 already and not being good at art discouraged me. But, now I fully realize that it's not going to happen over night! I gotta make it happen with practice, practice, practice. I really have to work on the patience part, though...

all are real good sir

Hi.
I think, everyone can draw. Of course. Take a pencil and a paper. Draw some lines and see, you`ve just drawn.
But not everyone can really draw.
I think there is a big different between drawing for fun, for a game like Activity for example or doing a comic or draw an animal, that it looks, as if it would live.
Surely with hard work you can get to a high level, but the last point, to be great, needs talent. Too many are good, only a few are great, and it hurts to find out, that you are good.
Maybe my demand of drawing (especially my own) is too high, I don`t know.

PS.: Please excuse my terrible english, I`m Austrian :-)

This was a really nice article. I never thought I was able to draw. When I was little, everyone would always flock over to the kids who could draw extremely well for their ages. Any time I took an art class, the class was geared toward people who could already draw well. But I think this article is true Everyone's talented if they work to develop a talent.

That is so sad what you are saying. I don´t know: should I feel angry or sorry (for you).
Who was so mean to you and told you, that being "good" is bad, and has so much authority to you that you believe it. And what means "great" anyway?
Do you feel sorry for yourself because you will never be a second Leonardo, so you can stop trying? And you can take the easy route and complain than taking the maybe sometimes hard way and try it?
Sure, so you will avoid getting judged and getting hurt sometimes. And it´s obvious that you will be the rudest judge of all to yourself, so you know for what you are afraid of.

What kind of "Mist" is it to distinguish between "drawing" and "really drawing". It the same like saying there is a difference between "living" or "really living". You live or you don´t live, you draw or you don´t draw. That´s all.
I don´t know whether you ever will read this.
But, please, anyone, who read your post may never, never, never believe, what YOU have written.
To everyone out there: Please don´t.

Parents have a way of doing this to their kids. I grew up in an art free environment! I can remember as a child 4 or 5 years of age, sitting at the table with a pencil and paper and asking my mother to show me how to draw. The responce I got was "Oh I can't do that, I can't even draw a straight line!" This answer was repeaated time and again over the year, and "You have to be born with that talent" was added as I got older.
Imagine my suprise at 40 years of age when I found out you don't need to be born with a special talent! You just have to put forth the effort to learn.
Can I draw now? Well not the way my mom was talking about...
I can not just sit down and draw pictures from the images I see in my head (the way she thought all art was created). I can not even draw what I see very well or very quickly.

I use tools! I use a projector to place lines on the paper where the eyes and noses and other major refernces are when doing a portrait, then using the refernece, draw the pictuer. Am I good? Am I great?? NO! But I can draw and make pictures that can be hung on the wall and when people see them the say WOW your have talent..
I am learning to keep my mothers voice and training silent and just say "Thanks!"

This past Christmas I had mom and my cousine over, and my cousin say "You are really turning into a fine artist" Of course mom has to correct her "He is not an artist, he is a coppier!" 80 years old and still and expert at pushing buttons!

The point is ANTHING is possible no matter what someone tells you if you put forth the time and effort to learn!

My art work

That's sad yet somewhat funny. You are a brilliant artist. All art is, is copying. Maybe with a few changes here and there, but that's it. Even a dragon is just a combination of croc/alligator scales, an eagle's posture and talons, and the head [with scales] and teeth of a lion.

Thanks for the article... I often feel my friends and family are just being nice... I am my own worst critic...

I have to say how much I appreciated reading this. I've always felt as though I was starting in a hole because I didn't have a formal education in art and started so late. This is something I've wanted to do since I was very young and finding the courage to try, to explore, to free that part of me who wants to try -- and not listen to the inner critic has been difficult and very rewarding. Sometimes, I think I get so wrapped up in trying to perfect a technique that I think I forget that its alright to just ... relax and enjoy what I'm doing.

Some one wrote that they grew up in an art-free home -- that was mine as well. My mother, bless her controlling, domineering heart had very firm ideas about what I was supposed to do with my life and none of it was creative. She systematically tried to exterminate any joy I had in writing or drawing ... and encouraged me constantly to keep to the work of earning a living. Grrr.

Fortunately for me, I'm incredibly stubborn and I refused to give up on my own dreams ... even if I did have to wade through a lot of "stuff" before I could work on making them come true. :-)

Thanks for the tutorial.

I'll be eternally grateful to Brenda for the rest of my life... because, I didn't know that ANYBODY could draw, I used to think that you are born with the talent.

So... now I'm taking the lessons form this webpage and I'm loving it.

THANKS BRENDA

WOW!! This site is really helpful.

Super tare!!!! excelent!

Hey I am a girl in 12 years old what do you think the best lesson for me please admin answer me but like people told me I am good at drawing haha I think that I have to take lesons on drawing Graphics I want the name of lesson to enter it to learn Graphics



Thanks[size="6"][/size][color="#FF0000"][/color] thanks again

thanx for your great work

This lesson is very encouraging. Thanks.

Trully an inspiration. Thank you for the support

'Till the next time

Ana

I liked reading this. Thanks for posting it. I began to see my self in the first bit you mentioned about getting a confidence boost off teachers etc. Ever since I was little I've always tried to make my artwork different from everybody elses.

I already had an idea (well more like hope) that Talent was something one could cultivate and create instead of something that you are "born with", this lesson certainly gives me New Hope

The Understanding Talent Section is definately one of my favorite introductory lessons to drawspace.

Reading from someone as talented as Brenda that anyone can learn how to draw through dedication and practice is definately what caused me to become a member.

I have visited other art sites where everybody is already great at drawing or painting, may even have formal training, and are selling there works professionally. That can be very intimidating for a new comer like me.

The diversity in the experience levels among the members here is awesome!

Anyone I meet who is dedicated to becoming better at drawing I will definately direct towards drawspace.

Thanks!

cigale

Dear Brenda,
My compliments, your drawing is delightful. Thank you for sharing your talent and experience with all drawspace users.
Best regards,
Fabio

hello

this was a truly incuraging article...but... i strongly think that talent is not a thing that u can totaly develop by hard work and devotation...just imagine.. if u have in front of u two drawings..the same subjec two identycal pictures...one made by a talanted persone and one made by someone that "forced"himself in learning drawing and art... u can see that that the firs one has something special a sparcle something alive something magical its not just a picture its an art work somethin done with passione whit love..and the other one just a mimessis of reality so subiectivity just a technical copy everybody can draw like that but not anybody can be an artist..


just my opinion..good article anyways

take care

Sigh - so you think its a good article - but totally contradict its central point?

Drawing is a skill - it is learnable, it is teachable.

You have to want to do it - exactly the same as any other skill which requires considerable work and practice.

But this idea that some people are "talented" - that it just somehow comes to them magically - is nonsense - and it is important that people realise that it's nonsense.

The best drawers I know (and I am friends with some really world-class artists) are people who put in an enormous amount of time at it. What non-artists see as "talent" is actually the result of a great deal of persistent application, of hard work. I spent a weekend in the company of one such world-class artist, last year, while he briefly dropped into the UK to find a London gallery to represent him - and we spent the weekend going round the National Gallery and Tate Britain - and he drew, continuously.


Dave

wow
I was reading that part "You already taken the first step!"
I dunno why, but I've felt really good with that, thanks Brenda

My sister, who is 6 years younger than me, started drawing at a very young age. It was like she was born with the "talent" to be able to draw anything. Looking back, I realize now that she spent hours every week drawing things. What she was born with, probably, was the desire to draw. She makes her living now as a graphic artist.

I've always loved to draw, but I haven't been disciplined in learning. I did get a technical degree in architectural drafting and made my living at that for about 15 years (before autocad). I loved it, really. The act of drawing was calming to me. With that I had my straight edges and my triangles and my templates, so I did very little actual free hand drawing.

Now I want to learn how to draw. I'd like to create representational drawings for my websites. I'm looking forward to future lessons. Thanks, Brenda! BTW, your drawings are beautiful!

hi

I am a starter, I have passion for drawing but not the skill, hope i wud be able to learn a lot from you. thanks!

hi thanks for this

Hi,

I was always fascinated with drawing and painting, my grandfather used to paint as well as a few of my uncles and aunts.

Unfortunately I was in an academic school and Art wasn't a subject, so I was never taught the basics of art and I also lack some skill. We didn't live close to any of our family and couldn't learn from them.

This site is absolutely great and has everthing that I was looking for. I feel more confident already!

Thanks for sharing all this knowledge.