Talent: Can it be learned?

So I was thinking; when it comes to art, do you believe you must be born with it to be successful? Or can you learn it?

Discuss!

Great Question...here's my off the cuff speculation.

1. You need to be interested/inspired to design.
2. You need to be creative in designing.
3. You need to be good at executing designs.


1. Not everyone will end up being interested in designing and executing artwork. Lower levels of interest may want to be an artist, but less ambitious.
2. For those who are, they may be born into a less creative environment and lack certain traits (colorblindness, non-visual learner, impatience.)
3. For those with these abilities to set out to execute designs, they may have poor work ethic, distracted by other commitments, rush their work, have unsteady hand, or a pure lack of ability to develop skills to execute their creative thoughts.

So, yes to an extent. And who you are and the environment you are in has a HUGE impact as well. Essentially there are qualities that are out of our control which likely impacts our artistic ability/success. Not to say that all control is out of our hands!

I think what really creates an artist is motivation. If people keep practising and learning about their art they will improve. You can be born with an advantage, I feel, in color perception, but things like creativity and skill are nurture and practice. It of course helps when you have an interested and dedicated personality, but I feel like that is present for everyone with artistic aspirations.

i feel like it can be learned in some aspects, but you have to have creativity and motivation. If you're not creative, i'm not really sure how a piece of art can be successful. yes it might look artistically correct, but if it's not creative i'm not so sure.
i've always been creative. when i was younger, i always painted and sewed. i've just always loved art.

Yes and no.

First off, talent is talent, and isn't something gained by hard work and time. Talent is a natural endowment of an ability, and thus is automatically possessed.

But at the same time, without practising art and trying out different things, you'll never find what you're good at, so I think in that sense you can learn what your talent is.

But also you can practise to the point where you can become just as good as someone with natural ability, so you can 'learn their talent' in that way too.

I don't really like the concept of "talent". At least the way people tend to use it.
Yes, I do think that the environment you're born into etc. can have a big effect on basically every part of your life BUT whether you get good at drawing (or any other form of art) depends on how much time you put into it.

People usually use "you have talent" in a kind of "you were born with those skills" manner, which I find really unappreciative of an artist's hard work.
It's not like people wake up one day, randomly decide to be an artist and then start producing masterpieces because they "have the talent". No. Artists create masterpieces because they spent so much time practising. When others were out doing other things, artists were drawing/sculpting/whatever.

"I can't draw at all" - that is because you have never really been drawing and lack the practise
"I wish I could draw" - you could one day if you pick up a pencil now and start practising
And if you don't want to? That is fine. Art can be a hobby. Some like spending hours every day on it, others would rather do something else. Everyone is different and enjoys different things :>
Just don't "excuse" your lack of skills with "I don't have any talent".

You don't really go up to top athletes either and say "wow you really have a talent for running". I guess because it's physically exhausting, people tend to appreciate their hard work more (and I mean athletes are amazing and their hard work should definitely be recognised!)... but artists have to train their skills too, and even though it may not be as physically exhausting as sports, it still takes a lot of time, money (art supplies, maybe courses and lessons) and I think also willpower.

Ninja Aiden said:

Yes and no.

First off, talent is talent, and isn't something gained by hard work and time. Talent is a natural endowment of an ability, and thus is automatically possessed.

But at the same time, without practising art and trying out different things, you'll never find what you're good at, so I think in that sense you can learn what your talent is.

But also you can practise to the point where you can become just as good as someone with natural ability, so you can 'learn their talent' in that way too.

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I can kinda see where talent plays in with something like sports, but I don't believe things like talent are present in things like music and art. Unless you're colorblind, or tone deaf, I don't believe you can have an advantage at birth.

See, now that's where I'd disagree. I personally believe that some artists naturally have an ability to draw well. Autism also often grants some insane talent, with the artists musicians or whoever not having drawn/played before. They can just play a masterpiece or draw a skyline off the bat. In that case talent does exist in the artist world.

Talent is very much present. Of course, normally people have to have a basic understanding of the artistic style they are pursuing, but I feel that some people are very much naturally endowed with an advantage above others in the same category. That doesn't mean to say those with talent stand out above those who work hard. Some people have talent but don't utilise it, whereas some people will work very hard to produce work of a higher quality and more of it.

I think to say someone has talent is generally inferred to mean more than it should. To say someone is talented doesn't mean they have the skill to use it, or apply it. One has to still be skilled to truly make use of a talent, whereas someone with just skill will work hard at their craft to improve it and use it to its full potential.

If you have the interest and at least some natural skill, I think a talent can be learned. If you dont, I am pretty sure its impossible.

I think the problem of this discussion is that everyone seems to interpret "talent" a bit different so we aren't really talking about the same things here ...?

For me, "talent" means some kind of "skill" you're born with that just kinda magically catapults you into higher levels of some kind of area.
I don't think talent = interest.
Interest in something makes you spend time on it and thus get better at it. But it doesn't inherently make you better at something on its own.

What do you guys think?

I think some talent is require but no one is truly a great artist without significant practice and harnessing of their talent/skills. I think with a large deal of focus, determination, classes, and practice I could be an awesome artist, but for now I remain mediocre thanks to my pre-existing talent. It depends on what you do without it.

Obviously, if you start out with no talent whatsoever, it's much more difficult because you essentially have no base to build on. Once that base is built, however, whether it be through classes or countless hours of practice, then the ride is a lot smoother.

Talent is a stat modifier.

Art + 5
Art Learning x 2

However, hard work can overcome talent easily, especially if the 'talented' person does not progress. What happens is that art can become stale, and even if you are at a high "art stat", if you don't continue to progress your stat points become useless.

Most college classes I've taken focus less on how good you are, but how much you progress. So if you are incredibly talented, but do not explore and progress, you can actually be in danger of failing. Audrey Kawasaki's art is great, it's got great skill, it's got great 'talent'. But it's a joke point to many artists because she's been doing the same thing with the wood and the face and the hair for about a decade.

Does talent give you an edge up?

Absolutely.

Should you be upset if you have no natural talent?

Nah, don't worry about it. If you just keep at it you'll always go somewhere.

Ninja Aiden said:

See, now that's where I'd disagree. I personally believe that some artists naturally have an ability to draw well. Autism also often grants some insane talent, with the artists musicians or whoever not having drawn/played before. They can just play a masterpiece or draw a skyline off the bat. In that case talent does exist in the artist world.

Talent is very much present. Of course, normally people have to have a basic understanding of the artistic style they are pursuing, but I feel that some people are very much naturally endowed with an advantage above others in the same category. That doesn't mean to say those with talent stand out above those who work hard. Some people have talent but don't utilise it, whereas some people will work very hard to produce work of a higher quality and more of it.

I think to say someone has talent is generally inferred to mean more than it should. To say someone is talented doesn't mean they have the skill to use it, or apply it. One has to still be skilled to truly make use of a talent, whereas someone with just skill will work hard at their craft to improve it and use it to its full potential.

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Okay, so I'm heavily involved in a lot of music stuff, and have a big family that is into music, and I have never ever heard of someone being able to play by just picking it up. The only thing someone can be born with is perfect pitch, and perfect pitch does not equate to being able to play well. People don't get born with the muscle memory to play something, and that it's something that usually needs to be learned. There may be some advantages in biology, but I don't believe that anyone is instinctively able to do any form of art.

Refer to this article, and this one about people with Autism having amazing abilities.

I have seen people be able to do amazing things in terms of art, with seemingly very little practise. I don't just claim this from nothing :P

But you are right too, most people can't just be born with an ability to do any kind of art. Myself for example. I don't have any real raw talent. In order to improve, I have to tirelessly practise and keep trying new things and finding what works and what doesn't.

Ninja Aiden said:

But you are right too, most people can't just be born with an ability to do any kind of art. Myself for example. I don't have any real raw talent. In order to improve, I have to tirelessly practise and keep trying new things and finding what works and what doesn't.

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Everyone I know is like that, though?
I have friends who are absolutely amazing artists, but that is because they spent an incredible amount of time on their art. They spent their whole summer holidays drawing. They got up in the morning and sat down to draw all day until they went to bed. Every day.

I don't know ANY artist who says of themselves "I'm good at art because I was born with talent." Because they know they reached their skill level by practising hard for years. I usually hear the "you have so much talent" thing from non-artists kind of as an excuse why they aren't good at it. (And it's not like they have to be? I said it earlier, everyone is different. They are probably amazing at something else that the artist completely sucks at)

I know "you're so talented" is meant as a compliment and I always thank people when they tell me that because they obviously mean no harm ... but I think the whole concept of it is SO unappreciative of the hard work artists put into their skills.

Ninja Aiden said:

Refer to this article, and this one about people with Autism having amazing abilities.

I have seen people be able to do amazing things in terms of art, with seemingly very little practise. I don't just claim this from nothing :P

But you are right too, most people can't just be born with an ability to do any kind of art. Myself for example. I don't have any real raw talent. In order to improve, I have to tirelessly practise and keep trying new things and finding what works and what doesn't.

Click to expand...

I've read those articles and saw documentaries of those people, but nowhere does it state that they were just suddenly capable of doing this. Yes, they have a memory that is photographic, either visual or aural, but the fact that they are able to sketch and play these things still include a lot of practice. The article about the autistic painter even mentions him always having drawn and starting at a young age as a way to express himself. It's commitment, combined with an unique memorization skill, that makes him an artist, he was never 'born' with the ability to sketch that well, he had to practice that. The musician has had tutoring since he was five, and again, his skill is a coping mechanism, it's a passion. These people don't get born with amazing skill, they hone it.

I think talent is more or less the ability to understand what you are doing. If you have an artistic talent, but you've never done art before, then chances are, when someone tells you about the basics, you are going like "oh, I get it" and suddenly your skill level increases by a good amount. You might not be on the same level as those people who've been doing their stuff for a while already, yet, which is obvious, because you still need to get some actual experience, but your ability to understand these things faster helps shorten the time you need to get there.

So I'd say: talent cannot be learnt, it's just another word for the learning process you have to go through, itself.