I'll quote myself from an old thread in another one of the talkgraphics.com forums. I was reacting to someone suggesting I had "talent" after seeing a reasonably competent sketch I had posted:

"I reject the notion of "gifts" and talent for the most part. I think all people are creative - it is part of being human. We all learn to express (and repress) our creativity in different ways. We all develop particular sets of skills. Some skills are clearly difficult to learn. The sketching skills I have aren't particularly well developed and anyone could match or exceed them with a little effort. Our society's tendency towards attributing talent has the negative effect of making those without the particular skill feel somewhat inadequate when they see someone who does. Of course the concept of talent also pumps up the ego of the person who has developed a desirable skill.
Some creative skills take years to develop - but not necessarily hard work. Sketching gets easier the more you do it. Anyone can sketch and the "trick" to getting better is to keep at it and not be discouraged or set too high an expectation on yourself. As Nike says "just do it". Same goes for almost any skill - whether it's writing nice letters, being great in bed, or making funny jokes. We can all be great letter writing lovers full of funny jokes."

The artistic skills we can develop in ourselves draw upon creativity and a facility to learn that are inate characteristics of all people. Others can help facilitate our developing skills and exercising our creativity - or they can hinder and subdue. Ultimately it is not so much about being "tought" as it is about our willingness to learn. Combine enthusiasm with some basic 'learning' skills and you will likely prevail with whatever skill you seek to develop.

I think one of the biggest hindrances to people developing their artistic skills is the misguided idea that whatever we do must be good. If you try something new most likely your first efforts will be pretty dismal. In our culture our self esteem gets tied up in the quality of what we produce. We tend to avoid doing anything that might 'reflect' poorly upon us. This avoidance is so strong when it comes to artistic efforts that many people won't even doodle! Heaven forbid their doodle might be seen by someone! That kind of fear keeps millions from singing, drawing, public speaking, or ever telling a joke. It is sad. So much human potential is squashed by such petty vanity. If you find you are holding yourself back (from doing bad art [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]) then slap yourself silly! Drawing: Just do it! Your skills will get dramatically better if you give them a reasonable chance to develop.

Regards, Ross

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