Talent Verses Ability

In the world there seems to be a magic dividing line between the Artist and the average person. The average person believes that talent is a thing that you are born with and you either have it or you don’t.

The problem with Talent is this; it is one part ability, one part practice and two parts focused drive. The average person on the street may not understand this process and often put the Artist on a pedestal because of what is perceived as “God Given” talent. It has been my experience however that most humans have some measure of ability and with a little practice and a few pointers their ability evolves. The main difference between the average person and the “Artist” is the focused drive. An Artist is driven sometimes to the exclusion of all else and it is this, as the old saying goes, that “Divides the Men from the Boys” but isn’t this true of so many things? The driven Artist often has to be reminded to join the rest of the world once in a while. Without a doubt these individuals will always rise to the top in direct proportion to their ability to be driven and focused.

When I teach people painting and drawing it doesn’t take long before I see which ones are the ones with ability and the ones with talent. The talented artists will be focused, and involved in their projects while the ones with abilities will just coast along making due with the minimum effort. The final results will, on the surface look similar but when inspected a little deeper talent will win out. The talented person’s work always has that little bit of something extra that shines through

So now the question arises, can I move from just having ability to having talent? The answer happily is yes, but only if you can find inside yourself the focused drive required in order to push yourself to the next level. Sometimes that may just look like discipline to practice more in order to perfect difficult techniques or maybe it will be to get out there and look for representation. It may even be to invent a way of doing things that no one else has done before. Remember “Focused Drive” will give you the edge over ability alone every time, even if your competition has a greater level of ability than you do.

If you can’t find the drive inside you that’s alright too; just accept this about yourself and learn to enjoy the level you are at and take the pressure off yourself to be the best. Sadly I see individuals with ability abandon what they do completely because they are not as good as they think they could be. Creativity is the great balm for the soul, it helps to calm and restore our stressed out minds and that in itself makes it a pass time worth perusing, as long as you take it one day at a time.