Talent vs Hard Work. THE FAIRY TALE DEBUNKED!!!
I hear it all the time. "I WISH I HAD YOUR TALENT AND PAINT LIKE YOU". I hear it so often actually that today I decided to dedicate a whole blog to it.
I hear the same thing all over again in different shades of grey. Many (if not most) people who exclaim their appreciation of my art do it through attributing it to my "talent". They very rarely say: wow man you must have worked so hard to get to this level of painting. They just think that "I am talented thus I can pick up the brush and paint whatever I want in an amazing style and detail cause I got the magic requirement for it nailed down- talent"
HELL NO.
Repeat after me 3 times:
Talent is overrated and hard work is shunned
Talent is overrated and hard work is shunned
TALENT IS FRIKIN OVERRATED AND HARD WORK IS SHUNNED I SAY!
!
But I'll say more on this just to piss few people off. Many people also use the "lack of talent" as an excuse for their mediocre life. The famous LACK OF TALENT is a counter story of TALENT, and it's just as big. It's huge in the dictionary of the mind-scape of many people and it's almost always a disguise of largely denied quality:
Laziness
.
Yup you heard me. Most people who so called "don't have a talent" are just plain lazy.
I bet you heard this quote before:
I don't think that most people actually understand what is meant by dark places here. Dark places it the blood and sweat and tears that you'll go through to make a diamond out of your uncut raw piece of stone which is worth nothing without your absolute dedication. Dark places is the failure after failure after hopelessness that you will be subject to and where most give up, before you can even make your over-rated talent show up as anything decent in the real world.
You know, Pareto's principle applies to whole lot of things. And in certain way it applies to painting too (or any artistic effort for that matter), if in somewhat reversed way.
There was a famous painter in the town where I grew up. His name was Zenozicka. Even back in the deep communist era, some 40-60 years back, he used to claim one thing: 80% of people can become proficient painters. And he proved it many times. By teaching (he was an excellent art teacher), all sorts of people how to paint. People who claimed to be complete art-morons who can only draw stick figures (that's another analogy that I hear way too often that makes me wanna answer back...). And by making them progress and become proficient painters, beyond their initial belief.
Now don't get me wrong. Of course many people who claim they can't paint are telling the truth. But not because they lack talent, but because they DON'T WANT TO LEARN. If you don't want to learn, if you don't have a genuine desire to master a new skill, you won't ever learn shit.
But desire is not all. That's only the ticket to the concert but it won't put your ass in the moshpit. It won't magically teleport you to the "desired acquisition of skill" area. You gotta grind your way there.
I saw it happen myself many times, because I attended plein-air courses 2 or 3 years in a row and saw some real amateurs grow their skills exponentially just by their diligence and hard work. But I don't have to look at other people. I have myself as a suitable example of it.
SO LET'S HAVE A LOOK AT MY MASTER PIECES FROM DECADE AGO
THIS IS WHAT I PAINTED IN 2004, 25 YEARS OLD
I know, crazy talent right? You can already tell!!
The trees are just amazing. Sick talent. Blew Vincent away.
THIS IS WHAT I PAINTED 12 YEARS LATER
:
What do you think that I did in those 12 years? I just sit of my ass and let my talent take me to new highs?
NOPE
WHEN OTHERS STOPPED WORKING AT 5PM I KEPT ON WORKING TILL MIDNIGHT
WHEN OTHERS WENT FOR DRINKS I STAYED IN AND PAINTED
WHEN OTHERS HAD SOCIAL LIFE I HAD STUDIO ALONE LIFE
WHEN OTHERS HAD WEEKENDS OFF I WORKED 7 DAYS A WEEK
WHEN OTHERS FOCUSED ON LOOKING ATTRACTIVE AND GETTING LAID I PAINTED
WHEN OTHERS PURSUED SAFE CAREERS FOR CONVENIENCE OF PAYCHECK I GAVE UP WELL PAID JOB AND LIVED AT BORDERLINE OF POVERTY FOR 3 YEARS SO I COULD PERFECT MY SKILLS DOUBLE FULL TIME
I could go on for several hundred lines but I bet you get the point.
Next time you think: I wish I had talent for x just stop wishing and start doing. All you need is passion, joy and time. And time YOU HAVE! You just gotta cut out all the unessential fat, all the pleasure hunt and social media recognition BS etc.
I will tell you something to end this already way too long blog:
If you put the most attractive woman in the world in front of me, smoking hot beauty incarnated, and tell me: she can be your partner for life, your wife, and she will be sweet and tender to you, all you need to do is give up painting. If you tell me the same with a pile of money or any other thing that most people dream of, I would have the same answer to all of them:
GET LOST I NEED TO PAINT
And this, my friends, is the answer to all. Not talent. So let's say it one last time time today, merrily and together, shell we?:
TALENT IS OVERRATED SO GO AND DO THE FIRST STEP TODAY!
I hope I got you guys pumped a bit :D
Thanks for reading, commenting, upvoting and all the other love!
Jan
@jankasparec
WHEN OTHERS WENT FOR DRINKS I STAYED IN AND PAINTED
WHEN OTHERS HAD SOCIAL LIFE I HAD STUDIO ALONE LIFE
WHEN OTHERS HAD WEEKENDS OFF I WORKED 7 DAYS A WEEK
WHEN OTHERS FOCUSED ON LOOKING ATTRACTIVE AND GETTING LAID I PAINTED
WHEN OTHERS PURSUED SAFE CAREERS FOR CONVENIENCE OF PAYCHECK I GAVE UP WELL PAID JOB AND LIVED AT BORDERLINE OF POVERTY FOR 3 YEARS SO I COULD PERFECT MY SKILLS DOUBLE FULL TIME
I could go on for several hundred lines but I bet you get the point.
Next time you think: I wish I had talent for x just stop wishing and start doing. All you need is passion, joy and time. And time YOU HAVE! You just gotta cut out all the unessential fat, all the pleasure hunt and social media recognition BS etc.
I will tell you something to end this already way too long blog:
If you put the most attractive woman in the world in front of me, smoking hot beauty incarnated, and tell me: she can be your partner for life, your wife, and she will be sweet and tender to you, all you need to do is give up painting. If you tell me the same with a pile of money or any other thing that most people dream of, I would have the same answer to all of them:
GET LOST I NEED TO PAINT
And this, my friends, is the answer to all. Not talent. So let's say it one last time time today, merrily and together, shell we?:
TALENT IS OVERRATED SO GO AND DO THE FIRST STEP TODAY!
I hope I got you guys pumped a bit :D
Thanks for reading, commenting, upvoting and all the other love!
Jan
@jankasparec
I think you are one of the most hardworking people I have met so far Janny :)
Well, if somebody else said it I would not take it seriously. But you spend sooooooo much time with me that I might even believe it my beloved Glady:D
Jan you're fully right! Commitment and dedication is really really important things in life. The richest and the most famous and the ones who're best in their work haven't got talent for that, I mean maybe they're talented but that's not 100% of achieve. They've been working a lot to achieve what they did.
We all like to sit down and rest but that's not the way to improve our skills and overcome yourself in life. It'a never ending loop but positive one if you make it so.
Your painting skills are amazing tho! Keep your good work and remember: live day by day trying to be better than you were yesterday :)
P.s. are you from Balkan somewhere?
Thanks for lovely comment my friend. I am Czech originally, now living in Canada. All the best! <3
Your surname, if it is, tricked me :D
Thanks!
Same Slavic family!
Well said. Lots and lots of hard work.
Absolutely true! I tell people the same thing, it's mostly hard work! But if you really Love something, then it's easy to work hard. So more than anything, you need to Love what you do to be good at it.
I didn't excel at art on primary or secondary school, they told me to change my style in the art academy, people told me to get a job for years, and I lived earning under minimum wage for all my life, even though I have a University degree.
12 years now for me too since I decided to go for art all the way. I'm feeling good with my choices and the progress dedication provides! I hope to keep exploring art as long as I live.
Cheers to continuing to progress in Art and life :D
You're absolutely right. It's struggle without LOVE ( I call it passion but it's the aspect of the same thing) and any struggle becomes work and I say fuck work, just dance, even if it's hard and it hurts! Thanks for awesome comment bro!
I laughed out loud when I began reading. Oh how many times every creative person has heard this!! I completely agree @jankasparec and have found that old saying "99% perspiration and 1% inspiration" to be true.
One must be interested and drawn to something to dedicate oneself to it. The love of it and desire to be better motivates the hard work and then yes maybe some talent can come through.
As someone who knows all about hard work and who has dedicated 25 years to becoming improving my eye, my craft and capacity to express, I've seen what hard work can bring, but also the limitations of it! Anyone can become really good, but I'm not sure anyone can be truly great -I'm not sure that hard work can provide inspired vision nor the kind of true love that brings that magic ingredient beyond the hard work.
Fun post to read and I really appreciate your use of light in your painting!
Thank you for an awesome comment @natureofbeing. And yes I do agree with you that talent is that special something that can make a different between good artist and extraordinary artist. I also think that real passion can ignite the fire of talent where it was not before. I do believe that talent is not necessarily inborn and cannot be cultivated during one's life. But most of all- I don't think that any activity should be done with the vision of the result, but for the sake of being present (and getting lost = loose the mind, open the heart, come back to "true home") in the creative moment. An amazing painting done by someone who just seeks recognition is a small piece of art compared to someone's "stick man" which was done with zero expectation and maximum joy. I do hear you though. Thanks again! Much Love on your creative journey!
Dude! I can't agree more! There is something strange that happens when i say - i drawin answer to the question what you do... I can't explain it. It's like i'm doing some kind of witchcraft or something. I feel the same way for art as i feel for science. But i never heard someone to call a scientist talented... It's the same thing. You have to learn, study, practice, work like a madman, keeping your nose on the grinding stone till the end. Anthony Jones have this thing on his page- Talent is not given, It's earned. But people in the industry use this word to describe people like you and hardly me. Everyone else can't wrap their heads around the idea that we spent most of our time examining techniques, reading, practicing. We do not sacrifice goats in the bathroom in order to keep our magical powers. We sacrifice ourselves in order to become more than we are. Talent is just a wrong word used to describe the wrong thing. It's passion, nothing else. I admire people like you. Science, craftsmanship, art. These are things that require time to master. And mastery is what people see, the problem is that we do not settle down for the current status that we have in the matter of art or any other field. Heavy grind, tinkering always thinking is what is needed.
We are standing on the shoulders of giants, I hope one day we will be the giants that the next generation will stand on! And this can only be possible if we build ourselves. :) This is what we do all the time dedicating in art.
Great work!
Beautiful beautiful comment brother. Thank you for taking your time and writing all this. Totally agree. Sacrifice goats in the bathroom, that's a great one bro:D Gonna check out your blog! Following you for sure. All the best with your art!
When i hear that word... Something in me starts boiling, cause this word means that you devaluate my effort. The scary thing is when artist say that he is talented. What then? Especially a good artist.
I don't care if the one saying is just splashing buckets of paint on big canvases saying it's art... Cause even the insult to art is art... But If a skilled artist says that... It makes me sad
I actually think that my talent is waaaay smaller than lots of people who I know in arts but who never made it as high as me in the "industry" cause they are 1.part time and not serious 2.less original. Who cares after all we're good bro! :) Thanks again!
Is it like you have developed a need to create? To separate yourself from the world for X time, and be with yourself and the world that you need to create. There are a lot of ways to look at it, I usually ask my closer friends that use to create, why they do it, and what pushes them in the direction that they are headed.
Not only your art is exceptional, the message IN this post is exceptional. I KNOW how you feel. "You are so talented."
I fucking WORK non stop.
Your paintings caught my eye the first time I saw them on Steemit, I've been following you for a while now. And dude, keep on going what you're doing. And the next time people think talent is overrated, just simply say: "So you had a nice dream you say? I made it happen."
Cheers!
Ha ha Ruben, you brought me big smile my friend. Thanks a lot for your bad ass comment!
Your stuff is gold man!! Deserves bad ass comments. Thanks for motivating! The only talent we need, is practice.
This was really inspiring, @jankasparec. I especially liked what you said about following your desire through the dark places. A lot of people romanticize desire too much, in my opinion. It is hard work that will make you grow. Thank you for this!
Thank you! Hard work and passion can eventually even seed talent where it was not inborn. I do believe that. Same as DNA is not pre-programmed, which has already been proven. It constantly reshapes per our input. Much Love your way! Following you
Much love for you too! Will resteem your post and follow you too. I will read this over and over in case I get bitten by the lazy bug. I aspire to work as hard as you!
Your paintings are heavenly it goes to show that hard work pays
Talent without passion for hard work is dead
Thanks so much for your comment @iksilva!
I absolutely agree (btw. I love the humorous style of your post)!
Unfortunately a consequence of this talent thing is, that most people see art not as a job but more a hobby. Something you have talent for, is not work - its´s just fun. Therefore the performance of artists is so underestimated with all it´s negative consequences (like not being taken seriously, payment, etc).
Yes you are so right! And that's so not true when people think that. Yes it is fun sometimes, but many times it's still a daily battle against resistance. Thanks for awesome comment!
You Nailed it! The progression pics were a nice touch. It takes a lot of failures and dedication to get to a level that can create a career. You have to make some sacrifices to get there too. I'm a full-time career artist, some people don't take my job seriously and expect something for nothing. I explain the hardwork it took and takes to do my job. As an artist you have to constantly evolve. Great Share
Good to meet you here brother and all the best to you! THank you!
Thanks. Gonna definitely keep up with your work. Feel free to check out some of my artwork too @pattoounlimited. Namaste