The Count To Infinity - v11

[ReKoil]

239.591

So suffering is a form of art then? 🤔

 

[Fleurdelis]

239592

if that is the case im a Da Vinci

 

[Duck]

239593

Sure, why not? Art is self expression.

 

[Starlight]

239594.

Art is unobtanium

 

[StCooler]

239 595

The infinite and the win are unobtainia.
And a completed Pokédex too.

 

[Duck]

239 596

It's only impossible until the modders get around to it.

 

[Sheep]

239597

whoosh

 

[Megan]

239598

Changing themes and finding a proper image to throw into my signature is hard :(

That's why I end up doing everything myself, nowadays. People might be better at drawing. But they use that skill mostly for stuff that doesn't appeal to me. <_<

 

[Fleurdelis]

239599

I cannot draw at all xD

my last attempt I made it was... something I can tell you that

 

[Duck]

239 600

Nobody starts good, it's all about practice until you suck less and less.

 

[ReKoil]

239.601

Long live mediocrity =D

 

[Fleurdelis]

239602

my art is in the art of spamming wheeled toy cars in video games and bullying people with them

 

[Duck]

239603

Please don't bully people

 

[StCooler]

239 604

Nobody starts good, it's all about practice until you suck less and less.

The difference between the good and the bad, is how fast they get better.
I'm good at mathematics but not at... well, basically anything else. 😅

 

[Megan]

239605

Long live mediocrity =D

Most people are just mediocre. It's only the few who stick out that are not. Unfortunately, we as a society kinda never figured out that instead of putting the talented people on a pedestal we should instead focus on letting people with only middling skills catch up so that society as a whole can grow. Social Media kinda has shown that again as it's very much a place to compare yourself with other people.

The difference between the good and the bad, is how fast they get better.
I'm good at mathematics but not at... well, basically anything else. 😅

Considering that I've literally spend decades trying to get better at art and others who spend like a year are still very far ahead of me; that really says a lot about how good I am, huh? :(

 

[Duck]

239606

It's a bit more complicated than that. It's not that most people are mediocre (that carries negative connotations), rather most people are average. It's not a bad thing or a good thing or anything like that, it just is.

Most people will have one or two things they excel at and that's fine, but if you want to get better at something (anything really) it's more often than not just a question of trying at it in a structured way.

So it's not even a question of "society won't led the middle of the pack catch up" because it wouldn't help - it'd just shift the average a bit higher, but things would fundamentally stay the same - and it wouldn't be effective because most people don't want to catch up.

If anything the tragedy of social media is less that good artists and makers are getting recognition, and more that art and hobbies are being aggressively pushed as something you should do as a side-hustle instead of for fun.

People are comparing themselves to other is exactly how our monkey brains are wired to work, it's just that instead of only having your hometown to compare yourself to, you have the whole world now.

The difference between the good and the bad, is how fast they get better.
I'm good at mathematics but not at... well, basically anything else. 😅

It's less about how fast they get better and more that they stick with it. In the context of math, for example, your average person hits a wall in fourth grade math, loudly declares "I'm bad at math" and refuses to engage with math any more than the bare minimum. (The state of math education also doesn't help, to be sure).

In the context of art, you'll find people that will start drawing, won't create masterpieces and will just go "Eh, I'm bad" and not draw anymore.

Like, sure, you'll get people with a higher "talent" but talent can only ever get you so far, and more importantly, talent will set up a positive feedback loop (you do something, people say it's cool / it's impressive / you're smart / whatever, so you want to do more of it) which will make you stick with it for far longer.

tl;dr: It's OK to not be good at everything. Grinding will overpower talent.

 

[StCooler]

239 607

Considering that I've literally spend decades trying to get better at art and others who spend like a year are still very far ahead of me; that really says a lot about how good I am, huh? :(

I feel you :(
Maybe you need someone to teach you? Join some classes? I don't know if something like an "art coach" does exist?
Basically I am the type of guy who needs to be taught up to a certain point. When I say I'm not that smart, it's because I've noticed that this certain point was farther for me than for most people. In other words: I need a lot of teaching before I can handle things alone, in almost all aspects of life.
Currently I'm having a hard time on League of Legends because I find it hard to learn everything without someone teaching you (+ the game doesn't help you start anyway) so I'm considering online coaching.
Maybe that's the same for you and art ^^"

<Lots of things but it would make my post very long>

This was a great post :)

I agree for the most part.
I would add that your genetics / childhood environment define your potential, and if you work on that potential you'll reach your limit, and if you don't you'll be stuck at the bottom limit. This is something you see in sports, I believe it's the same elsewhere.

 

[Megan]

239608

I feel you :(
Maybe you need someone to teach you? Join some classes? I don't know if something like an "art coach" does exist?
Basically I am the type of guy who needs to be taught up to a certain point. When I say I'm not that smart, it's because I've noticed that this certain point was farther for me than for most people. In other words: I need a lot of teaching before I can handle things alone, in almost all aspects of life.
Currently I'm having a hard time on League of Legends because I find it hard to learn everything without someone teaching you (+ the game doesn't help you start anyway) so I'm considering online coaching.
Maybe that's the same for you and art ^^"

I think it's being in an appropriate environment in general would be good. I liked to do it in school a lot, but during that time you have all the time and people you could want. Then life got in the way and after that I was stuck alone for a couple years and had absolutely no motivation whatsoever to do anything. And now I'm just stuck with spending most of my day with work related things or trying to sleep. And what's left I don't have much motivation to do anything. ^^"

And the people I have to associate with irl aren't exactly the people I like conversing as they are very self centric in nature and don't care about anything that doesn't make sense with their logic. But even quitting my job won't make things better as I will definitely just fall into the same situation that I was in before. ^^"

 

[Duck]

239609

I agree for the most part.
I would add that your genetics / childhood environment define your potential, and if you work on that potential you'll reach your limit, and if you don't you'll be stuck at the bottom limit. This is something you see in sports, I believe it's the same elsewhere.

I think you're confusing causation and correlation there.

It's less that not practicing during your youth will cause you to be stuck at bottom limit and more that athletes are usually selected during their childhood, which means that most athletes you see know will have practiced and devoted themselves to the sport for an early age because of the selection process.

In sports this selection is usually formal because there is a peak physical condition of the human body and you want to condition the athlete as much as possible before that (but even then, it's not the only way. There are plenty of famous athletes that only started their sport in late teens or university or even later than that).

But, like I mentioned in another post, being "good" sets up a positive feedback loop which is, in itself, an artificial form of selection. A structured environment helps of course, and setting that environment as soon as possible helps even more, but doing something from childhood isn't the only way to progress in any given field.

And loath as I am to sound like an Instagram coach ... if you convince yourself that you're fundamentally limited then you will be. Stop comparing yourself to others (or even to yourself in a small timescale), take a more active course in your learning (for example, start reading some math books and watching match classes online or start looking into different art concepts like anatomy or lighting) and you'll find that in the long term you will find results.

It just takes time.

 

[StCooler]

239 610

I think it's being in an appropriate environment in general would be good. I liked to do it in school a lot, but during that time you have all the time and people you could want. Then life got in the way and after that I was stuck alone for a couple years and had absolutely no motivation whatsoever to do anything. And now I'm just stuck with spending most of my day with work related things or trying to sleep. And what's left I don't have much motivation to do anything. ^^"

And the people I have to associate with irl aren't exactly the people I like conversing as they are very self centric in nature and don't care about anything that doesn't make sense with their logic. But even quitting my job won't make things better as I will definitely just fall into the same situation that I was in before. ^^"

I don't have a cure for lack of motivation ^^"
Does your job take all your time, or do you work ~40 hours a week?
Maybe try one day to go to an art class. If you like it then it's awesome, if you don't then at least you've tried.
Other than that, I can only send you positive vibes and steal your win in the right topic 😈

I think you're confusing causation and correlation there.

It's less that not practicing during your youth will cause you to be stuck at bottom limit and more that athletes are usually selected during their childhood, which means that most athletes you see know will have practiced and devoted themselves to the sport for an early age because of the selection process.

In sports this selection is usually formal because there is a peak physical condition of the human body and you want to condition the athlete as much as possible before that (but even then, it's not the only way. There are plenty of famous athletes that only started their sport in late teens or university or even later than that).

But, like I mentioned in another post, being "good" sets up a positive feedback loop which is, in itself, an artificial form of selection. A structured environment helps of course, and setting that environment as soon as possible helps even more, but doing something from childhood isn't the only way to progress in any given field.

And loath as I am to sound like an Instagram coach ... if you convince yourself that you're fundamentally limited then you will be. Stop comparing yourself to others (or even to yourself in a small timescale), take a more active course in your learning (for example, start reading some math books and watching match classes online or start looking into different art concepts like anatomy or lighting) and you'll find that in the long term you will find results.

It just takes time.

Don't worry, I don't confuse causation and correlation ^^
If you have the potential to be good then you'll get that positive feedback loop.
The selected athletes trained during their youth but also were "destined" to be good thanks to their genetic potential.
I think we agree but we don't say it with the same words ^^