Its great to see this person's progression! He is obviously very talented and has a real gift.
I went through a similar progression as a child. My mother worked as an art teacher at the local YMCA while I was growing up. After school each day I would take the bus to the Y and sit in on her art classes. I became a pretty proficient artist -- technically speaking anyway -- but I never really developed into what I would call a creative artist.
I just didn't have that "gift." My brother did (and does) however. The lesson I learned is that anyone can learn to draw and be able to reproduce what they see fairly well (it is really just techniques) but to actually create takes something beyond technical skills. You have to have a vision and courage to express it. MindCandyMan has it.
"Its great to see this person's progression! He is obviously very talented and has a real gift. ... I just didn't have that 'gift.'"
I very much doubt that anyone looking at this guy's early drawings/paintings would say he had any kind of artistic "gift".
For me, the great lesson of looking at his progress is that it's a result of dedication, persistence, and hard work.
As an artist, it's incredibly frustrating for me to hear non-artists tell me how they "just can't draw" or "don't have the talent" and therefore won't even bother to try.
You can do it! But you have to want it enough to walk the long, difficult road.
"anyone can learn to draw and be able to reproduce what they see fairly well (it is really just techniques) but to actually create takes something beyond technical skills. You have to have a vision and courage to express it. MindCandyMan has it."
It's true that his later art especially shows a certain vision that goes beyond mere technical skill. He is fortunate to have managed to tap in to it, as not everyone does. However, I do believe that some sort of artistic vision is latently present in most everyone. But you have to strive to discover and express it over many years of hard effort. It's not something that's handed to anyone on a silver platter.
I believe you are right and it's all about "dedication, persistence, and hard work", as you very well sum it up.
Maybe I'm looking a bit whiny overall, but as you see from my other two comments on this news, I did not found a reason for walking the long, difficult road.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that, as you say, i can do it (especially as I fortunately have good starting conditions, always having enough money for food etc) but why? How do all these people (you may be included as far as I see), get their, "power" focused?
Why are you for example painting and not for example dedicating your life to the poor? There are so many things to dedicate your life to. I could be a judoka, painter, musician, father, researcher at university, owner of my own little "internet business"... But not everything parallel. I tried that a bit (Okay, I just started. I didn't went so far to actually be a father... But none of the other things either, as you may have expected). Alone the many different "peer groups" would be kind of giving me that feeling that I cannot "take a break" and thus am not free. Or so.
Alas, I guess this is not a counseling board, and I will shut up for now. Maybe some day I will have figured out what is really important to me. Hopefully before I'm old, gray and sitting in a wheelchair.
Being not gifted are an excuse to not do something. MindCandyMan was not good at the beginning, but he stick with it. I've seen him struggle, but never loosing is focus : draw. He's doing the hard work everyday. He has the courage to do it.
I didn't mean to give an excuse not to try. What I didn't articulate is that I got to a point (after many years) where I recognized my limitations. My brother and I would draw the same subject and mine would be an accurate representation (and certainly nothing to be ashamed of) but my brothers would always carry an interesting twist to his.
I don't have that same vision and that's OK. I don't have the physical size to be a football linebacker either. Not everyone can be Picasso but that isn't an excuse for not trying.
Learning to come up with "original" ideas is a skill too. It can be practiced and exercised.
For instance...
Wrote down ten adjectives, ten nouns, and ten verbs. Roll a d10 thrice. Then draw whatever that corresponds to. Like a "robot hamster farming". Then do a few more rolls.
There are many other exercises for your creativity; this is just what comes to mind at 3am after a long day.
Even at the start, he was drawing significantly better than I can--but he actually did put in the 10,000 hours of focused practice (with feedback from a forum-full of artists to focus him) so I don't think you can attribute it all to native talent.
I went through a similar progression as a child. My mother worked as an art teacher at the local YMCA while I was growing up. After school each day I would take the bus to the Y and sit in on her art classes. I became a pretty proficient artist -- technically speaking anyway -- but I never really developed into what I would call a creative artist.
I just didn't have that "gift." My brother did (and does) however. The lesson I learned is that anyone can learn to draw and be able to reproduce what they see fairly well (it is really just techniques) but to actually create takes something beyond technical skills. You have to have a vision and courage to express it. MindCandyMan has it.