You don’t need talent to become an artist

As an artist, people tell me: ‘you have talent’ or ‘you are gifted’.

I don’t agree because I believe drawing is a learned skill, not a talent. It's something you can learn too but you have to be completely motivated. 

Ask yourself this: Is it something I really really want or is it just something I wish I could do? Am I willing to put in many hours of hard work?

Just like with anything you learn you will need to do the work and practice.

There might be others that will learn a new skill a bit faster but how good you become depends on how dedicated you are and how much time you will put into learning.

Artists are not 'gifted' or born with 'talent' 

Drawing didn’t come naturally to me at all. It took a lot of dedication and practice and I had to learn to trust the process. My judgemental voice, mistakes, and failures were all part of the process of learning something new and growing my skills.

Just like when you first learned how to read and write you will need to start at the beginning and put in the time. You will need to put your mind and efforts towards learning and developing that skill.

Learn, practice and repeat!

Learning how to draw is also about learning how to see things differently. You will need to learn how to observe what you are going to draw and learn how to look for ‘mistakes’ in your own drawings. This will all come with trial and error. 

It’s important to keep on practicing, keep showing up, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

By making mistakes you will learn and understand what you did wrong and make sure you don’t repeat the same mistakes.

With every drawing you create you will learn something new and continue to grow as an artist.

If you want to be an artist then practice, practice, practice. Study the basics of art, practice a lot, make mistakes and most important keep on showing up!

Just like Bob Ross always said: "Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you're willing to practice, you can do”  and YOU can learn too.

In the drawing course within my membership, I will teach and encourage you to practice and improve. Want to join our art community? Check out the details here.

- Emmy

Want to read more? Check out the other topics here.