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cakecrumbs — The Myth of Talent
Published: 2014-06-24 13:00:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 22674; Favourites: 640; Downloads: 0
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The Myth of Talent
If there's one comment that is made more often than any other on any decent piece of artwork it's "you're so talented."
It's also the one [positively intended] comment I've seen the most artists bristle at, sometimes even retort. For some of us, it's a pet hate. Why?
We know it's meant as a compliment, so we smile and say thank you and try to resist the urge to insist that 'talent' is the biggest myth there is. Not only is it a myth, at its worst the use of the word is potentially destructive to the artistic community.
What's so wrong with the word 'talent'?
You might not realise it, but calling someone talented can often feel like a backhanded compliment. No skilled artist woke up one day just being able to do what they can do. We were all born completely unable to do just about anything useful. But through daily practise we learned how to use our limbs for motility, our voices for words, and our hands for creativity.
When you praise an artists talent, you are ignoring all of that. You make out like their work is some innate gift that got magicked out of thin air. You boil down all their artistic achievements into a matter of being a lucky recipient. The artists ceases to be the agent of their own creation.
The artist knows how much hard work they have put into a piece, how many years of practise and experience got them to the point of where they are. All the mistakes and feeling like you weren't getting anywhere, the lessons learned and the eventual breakthrough. All if that is discounted the moment we pretend artistic ability is a gift.
What's destructive about calling someone talented?
We have a really terrible habit for praising people for 'natural' abilities. This is something that extends beyond just art and into everything thing there is. You're good at something? Wow! You're so gifted! You're so smart, so athletic, so talented.
Study after study after study has shown that praising someone's apparent innate ability to achieve something can be destructive to their development. Kids in particular, but it is true of any person in any stage of learning.
People praised for being innately talented come to depend on this ability being innate. When they hit a hurdle, they are more likely to give up. They take it personally, they see it as being a failure of self: "I'm not smart/talented/good enough for this." Let's face it, it's an easy way out. Once you decide you're just naturally not meant to do a thing it's easy to stop trying.
Conversely, people praised for being hard workers understand that hitting a hurdle means jumping higher next time. They know they have to work harder, work longer, and that their next attempt will end in a different result. And as a result, they are able to reach greater heights because they push themselves to them.
Countless scientific and social studies have demonstrated this effect. There are even more countless anecdotes of these experiences. Perhaps you have one of your own? Talk to anyone who, as a child, was constantly told they were gifted at something, only to give up on that thing when they could no longer sustain being accidentally gifted in adolescence. It's an enormous problem in school classrooms and is one of the many failures of our reward-based learning methodology. But it's also just as important in any learning environment, personal artistic learning included.
Why are the words I use on deviantART important?
We are a community that prides itself on fostering artistic growth. The best thing about dA is how readily we can help and be helped, teach as we are being taught, inspire as we are being inspired. To grow together as a community, we ought to provide the best learning environment possible. The language we use is a powerful tool that shapes not only our psyche, but how we learn as well.
The next time you promote an artist in a feature, try substituting the word 'talented' with 'skilled'. When you fall in love with an art piece, praise the artist's hard work. Talk about their eye for detail, their choice of colour, their neat stitches, the perfect choice of shutter speed, their wonderful concept or their incredible realism. Try talking about all the extrinsic things about the piece, all the things they did to make that piece happen.
Not only will you probably make the artist feel better, but when you realise that the level of artistic brilliance you dream to achieve happens through something we can all control, you'll feel better about your own artistic journey too.
~~~
Still don't believe talent has nothing to do with it? Check out these improvement memes. Now, to my knowledge none of the following artists received a visit from a fairy godmother who bestowed upon them to gift to art. They worked hard and nurtured their skill. The results speak for themselves.
Always remember; practise makes progress!
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Comments: 587
I have never heard of a baby walking out of a mother's womb. The ability to learn quicker is a little white lie, it only means this person repeated a process more than you or most people, was introduced to advance knowledge (secrets) that was not available to most people, or simply because he or she never gave up. Everyone is born a blank canvas, each and every person is the greatest master piece and in rare ocassions the worst disaster. So talent comes from practice (lots of it), inspiration, tenacity and ofcourse if you have a great mentor it is a Big plus.
Most educators want you to believe talent is something you are born with. These instructors look for students who already have good ability, what does this imply? it means that they are incapable of breaking down information and deliver it in the most understandable method. They are mediocre teachers, who's sole method of survival is to ride on the reputation of an already able student.
If you really want to learn to do something well! do not listen to those who tell you that you don't have talent. Look for a real master, who can turn a blank canvas into a master piece.
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I think the argument against this is just as strong: talent is the ability to learn quicker, not having the ability to be good at something in the first place. However I strongly agree that we shouldn't praise the talent of an artist, but the skill or creativity. I personally hate being called 'talented'. I worked damn hard to improve my writing and still am. I feel talent would imply my writing level won't adjust with me as I progress or as the community around me calls for different literature to be written.
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That's being lazy to say that talent does not exist. It's either those without talents who say that, or those who have no confidence in themselves to begin with (even though they have talents) and don't want to realize that they are better than a vast majority of the population. How can it be insulting to be praised for one's talents? I actually quite enjoy the compliments when I get them. I tend to say that I practiced a lot in my art (which is partly true) but it is also true that being able to draw a masterpiece does not come to every body, no matter the amount of time one had been practicing. I've seen a few people who have never once draw in their life, or simply rarely did, but they are quite talented and can do what most people cannot in just a few years of practice.
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While I would agree with the general message of this journal--I would argue that hard work itself IS a talent. It takes a lot of time and effort, and let's face it, that's not something everyone can do. In a sense, hard work is also a tale of willpower. I myself present a perfect example of what lack of willpower can do: giving up on drawing entirely. Certainly not proud of it, but it is what it is.
Bear in mind, hard work alone is meaningless if you're not practicing the right things. There's an old saying out there that goes: Do not mistake a craftsman with ten years of experience with one who has one year of experience ten times. In other words, it's not just what you're practicing but HOW you're practicing it. Mindless repetition might make you faster at doing something...the wrong way. Even better than working hard is working smart. Some people are better at doing this than others. I've seen some self-improvement memes with more visible progress over a span of one year than some spanning five. Passion is also another important piece of the puzzle. If you've no passion for what you're trying to do, you're not going to get very far.
Just as an interesting point of discussion, I would also indicate the existence of child prodigies. Of course they're rare--hence the term prodigy. But at some innate level, there is a level of talent being displayed there. Certainly there's a lot of practice involved. But it's interesting that a child aged 10 years, for example, can play the piano as beautifully as someone who has been at it for 20 years. How is this possible?
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Interesting article. And of course we must all remember that there are, quite literally, thousands of people on dA to whom English is a second or third tongue. I dabble in speaking German and, if the only word I'd learned to tell someone they'd done well was 'talentiert' then that is all I have the use of to praise them with. And possibly the same in reverse for hesitant speakers of English.
I rarely, if ever, say 'wow you're so talented' to anyone on here but, even if I did, to me the word 'Talented' includes all of the blood, sweat and tears expended to become that way. It certainly isn't implying that anyone woke up one morning with new skills.
Admittedly the first word given by Google to define 'Talented' is 'gifted'. But then we have... skillful, skilled, accomplished, brilliant, expert, consummate, master, first-rate, polished, artistic, adroit, dexterous, able, competent, capable, apt, deft, adept, proficient... I'd say 90% of those words allude to the hours of practise involved.
And I guess, finally, shouldn't we all be grateful that someone has chosen to spend some of the valuable time from their day to offer praise, even if they've chosen 'the wrong word'?
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It depends upon the recipient, but personally I feel it depends a lot on the way it is said. Most of the time you can see it's positively intended so you swallow your misgivings about the word. But it's mostly when people go "You're so talented. Gosh you're so lucky, I could never do what you do" that it feels really annoying.
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"If others can do it, you can do it too" - at one point, i come to hate this idea. I found it so unreal, to the point that i'm doubting my capabilities.
But after reading such inspirational journals like this (especially damaimikaz's) i realize that we can really do what others can it's just the amount of time, effort and the heart we put in a piece that makes the difference. Anyone can draw flowers, no doubt. Some will stop at the petals, while others may put stem, leaves or even multiply the flowers and make a flower field.
It's true that skill can be thought, but the drive to improve is something that is innate, no one can't teach that.
I'm happy that i made a dA account. I always love to see amazing artworks. It's as if i could see through the heart of their creators. Great journal!
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That is exactly it. And it is something I seem to spend a lot of time telling my followers as they are constantly telling me they could never do what I do, to which I am forever replying that yes they can. You've just gotta invest the time and embrace the mistakes. They aren't a sign that you "don't have the talent". They are important learning milestones on the journey to eventual success.
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Thank you for finally saying this. I have been pushing myself for a long time to get better (maybe a little too hard) but I have improved, and it had nothing to do with natural given talent. In the end, hard work is more rewarding
A word of advice for those learning how to draw. Da Vinci was a pretty old guy by the time he made any of his great works, but that's because he didn't have the internet.
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I for one believe that maybe it is a talent, or other things can be..
Well with art it can be taught, but its the devotion to want to get better that makes people wonderful artist. That makes their art stand out~
But Talent is a thing in my book. like singers. Unlike art not everyone can be taught to sing nicely. You have to be born with a wonderful voice
(this is just my opinion. Nothing meant to be negative 
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thank for writing this journal. i have always hated the word talent.
i appreciate your effort to enlighten people who default to using this word.
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Hard work pays off in all things. When people praise my amigurumi skills, I always tell them "That's what roughly thirteen years of crochet will get you." Though here on dA, most people are more interested in the cute than the technical aspect because they know it takes practice
Of all the people I know, I can think of only one who is truly "talented".
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I have known people who have never practiced nor trained in the arts be able to produce a stunning piece of work the first time they pick up a pencil/paintbrush and try. That is called talent. Talent exists and with practice your skills will improve, thus your talent will prosper.
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Am I the only person who thinks it's insanely distracting when people sprinkle silly gifs into their articles? It seems like a popular thing to do around here and I find it really detracts from the experience of reading any one of these types of articles. I can't possibly be the only person who feels that way.
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I kinda agree with you too, actually. I don't mind some gifs when the article is meant to be humorous at some level. But I was reading one of those articles about getting more watchers/views/whatevs and shit, a few weeks ago, and the text itself barely had anything actually funny, yet all of those silly gifs thrown randomly in the article was making the page takes forever to load here (that's what you get for having to use lamey internet connection anyway 
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Nope, you're not. I would have preferred to see some deviations or tuts (not memes, those can be deceptive), but hey, you can't please everyone.
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Some hate it, others love it, and others won't read a wall of text without images to break it up. As ever it's impossible to please everyone.
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especially with Jennifer Lawrence's facial expressions XD
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I'm right there with you!
I'm just trying to read and then someone feels the need to stick movement in my peripheral vision!
It's rather irritating!
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No, you are not the only one. Society as a whole feels the need to demonstrate emotion with asinine gifs when intellectual and intelligent writing would suffice.
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My concern was mostly that I have a harder time focusing when I read through this stuff.
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Talent does exist. The important part is knowing what is talent and what is skill. Talent incorporates something you are naturally good at. Skill is acquired from practice/learning, and you are able to increase the skill level of your talent. Neither should be disregarded, and it's not an insult when used correctly.
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I don't think 'talent' is a word to insults artists. Personally I see a lot of art on deviantart that have no shred of skill and yet they're being praised to being talented, while those who do have skill do not get much credit. And I agree with what most say, talent is something people are born with, it is a sense to understand and do things better than others at a faster and easier pace. Skill just builds up the talent. And sometimes there is a person who has no talent and no amount of practice will change. Reason being they can not understand to change. So talent is not a myth.
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I agree and disagree with parts of this. I believe that people do have natural talent in several different areas. For example, someone who picks up a pen and writes will be able to write better than someone else, because it was the gift they were blessed with. Same with anything else, from sports to art to schoolwork to people skills. That doesn't mean that the person who couldn't write as well as the other won't eventually become that great. Through practice, they very well can. But I think saying that people don't have natural talent is not true. It is there, and it does exist. I tried to explain that as best I could, sorry if its difficult to understand ^_^'
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I disagree with you. I (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) would be flattered if someone called me talented, because talent indicates that it looks like you're naturally good at it. If you can make something look so easy and effortless but still too good to be true, even though you put a lot of time and energy in it, it feels like the biggest accomplishment to me. It means that you're so skilled that the person automatically assumes that there must be more than "just" skill, that you have some sort of secret, that you could make anything you'd want. (Also, would you really want your date to actually KNOW that you spent more than eight hours to be able to look like that, or would you want him to think that you can pull things off almost naturally?)
For me, skill is good and important. But skill + talent = that little bit of extra that not everyone has found out about yet.
I'm not sure how else to explain it.
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Talent is real. It's hard to explain why somebody who has less training than somebody else can be better than the other person.
It's also like beauty (stupid analogy here xD). We all have different looks, some of us are naturally beautiful people but others have to work to be beautiful (plastic surgery, make up, all that stuff.).
Just like talent, nobody is born on the same playing field. If talent wasn't real, everybody would have the same amount of skills and would learn at the same pace, and this is simply not the case. Talent is even defined as "natural ability: an unusual natural ability to do something well, especially in artistic areas that can be developed by training".
Of course we have to work to get better, you can't expect to know Shakespeare without reading any of his literature. But the thing is, with talented artists, they will grasp it better than somebody who is "not-so-talented."
I disagree to an extent with this article. It's true that we have to work to master any medium but saying talent doesn't exist is like saying gifted children don't exist, everybody needs to study to be a genius. Of course we need to study to get better but gifted children grasp it easier and faster.
I think talent should be defined as the ability to understand something easier than somebody else would, that's basically all that it boils down to.
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I totally agree. It is absolutely true that one is not born talented, and that it takes years of hard work and dedication to become good at it. Some develop faster than others, but the end goal/result is the same. All this hard work, and then some well-meaning soul comes along and trivializes it all by calling you "talented". "Boy, I wish I had YOUR talent," they say. How many times have we heard this? They are implying that you somehow received this marvelous gift out of nowhere, that you were born with it. They have no idea the blood sweat and tears that went into honing your craft.
"Oh yeah, let's all go down to the talent store and buy us some talent!" What a bunch of rubbish!
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For some people, it doesn't even take that much time. :'p
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Talent means that person is more easily able to learn that particular thing more easily than another might.
I do agree that you need to put effort to get better, though.
That being said, I personally don't mind being called talented, but I don't really believe the person telling me I am either, because I'm not.
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well said! this is a great article!
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I'm sorry, but I disagree with this article! I have been practicing for YEARS and still can't get my art to look good. It just is missing some vital part that makes it work! I truly believe that if you don't first have talent to develop through practice, your art will never get beyond a 'good-but-not-great' stage.
It's the same with actors, some just have that indefinable something that makes them great. I choose to call it "raw talent" that they have worked at to develop.
Let me be clear that I agree with the author on many of the points in the article. Talent MUST be worked at and developed or it goes nowhere. But it must first exist. I hope that I do not offend the author with this long, drawn-out wall of text. This is, of course, only my own opinion. If you look at my profile you will find that I have none of my own art on display. Perhaps this is why I feel so strongly about talent, I have none of my own and need to explain (to myself at least) why my art is so very bad even after I have worked so hard at it.
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Skill is having learned. Talent is being able to learn. Some people learn particular things more easily than others, and we all learn some things more easily than we learn other things.
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That must be the most "racist" thing I ever heard! (sarcasm)
Everyone is equal, if you do not agree you are "racist"!!!! (sarcasm again)
everythingisracism.com
This BS about talent Vs. Practice is some kind of leftist pet subject atm. Probably related to Critical theory.
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Can you be more obtuse and vague? Maybe more related to string theory, entanglement and Strodinger's cat?
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It never occurred to me that there was anything leftist about it. I myself am satisfied that there is no such thing as "superiority" except with respect to some specific criterion - in this case, the ability to produce work recognized by other people as Art. There is no inequality in the ability to produce art recognized by oneself - only different inclinations. (My son, at age 5, not only produced "art" but proposed to sell it too.)
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Talent is not the innate ability to be able to perform a task perfectly. I do not have an immediate ability to draw perfectly, shoot a bow with perfect accuracy, swim, or string words together to form an emotionally powerful work of literature. Talent is the innate ability to quickly learn, and be able to apply yourself to tasks; the ability to adapt to changes and continue pushing on, not to just jump into something and instantly start surpassing all previous benchmarks. People say I have talent in archery, in art, in swordplay, because I am able to learn incredibly quickly in each field. I surpass benchmarks because I push myself, but my talent in those activities decreases the amount of work it takes me to learn the skills necessary, and apply them, to create, shoot, or perform my waza.
You, and people like you, are responsible for the decline of the creative mind in this world, for placing in the minds and head of already established artists, and the aspiring children who wish for a creative outlet, the lies that Talent is a myth, and replacing it with the hubris and fallacy of the Skill Echelon. Art is an expression of self, not a mechanical process of creating something for the incognitant mass-society of driveling idiots this world has become, and the self-righteous attitude of Elitists such as yourself are a blight on the real artists that make up the creative community. Your argument sounds more like the childish temper-tantrum of a person who did not have the advantage of learning quickly to do something, and, therefore you believe it is your responsibility to drag as many people as possible down into your pit of self-hatred and loathing of those who find success more easily than yourself. It's pathetic; you're pathetic.
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Actually I am someone who has spent my life being told I am skilled/gifted/smart/etc due to my quick success at many things. I am also someone with multiple degrees in science, with a significant amount of time spent in the behavioural sciences. I've spent a lot of time looking at research which demonstrates the detrimental effect of praising intrinsic factors. As an artist who is heavily involved in an artistic community, I am constantly seeing people sadly declare that they are not talented enough for a certain medium so they do not try it. It saddens me to think of what we are losing as a community because people are taught to believe that they will not succeed before they've even tried. Far from trying to bring anyone down, I want to elevate people to know that they can do it.
But thank you for your wonderful comment. Your inability to make a point without personally attacking the person you are replying to is very telling.
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Wow, that was one heck of a rant. Go fuck yourself. You sound like a cynical old timer with Metathesiophobia. Talent is not an inherently good OR bad term. I believe cakecrumbs' message was aimed towards the people who use the term talent to mean innate ability to perform a task perfectly. You have already established that you do not belong to that clique, so I really cannot grasp the reason why you, as one of those so-called real artists, are acting like cakecrumbs was personally insulting you. I think that the thing cakecrumbs has a problem with is that some people ignore all of the hard work an artist may or may not have put into a piece. When people like you come along and post a verbose rant (I would like to complement your vocabulary) against someone who was just trying to help, basically agreeing with them while simultaneously insulting their point of view, it just clogs up the internet. As Randall Monroe said,
Old folks act like total noobs
Get off our net; YOU block the tubes
I do agree with your view of art. Yay self expression and all that. But when you use a rant as an excuse to brag about all the stuff you can do (Hey everyone look at me I can hit a sparrow with a single arrow) it tends to piss people off.
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:laugh: Cynical old-timer? Not really. More of a supremely jaded youngster that has a very low tolerance for asininities, but, hey, some people just can't handle somebody who is capable for thinking for themselves. If you can't handle my opinion, move along, but, don't flatter yourself with the stupidity of thinking I made the argument about what I can do, if you're going to comment. Maybe learn some reading-comprehension skills, and you'd have figured out that, as a person who works hard to achieve small goals through a tiny talent of learning fast, has every right to feel insulted, rather than trying to hop onto your soap-box to try your hand at castigating somebody out of the blue without deigning to make an effort in understanding the argument. If you are so concerned with me 'blocking the tubes', then make an effort of going out of your way to find somebody who cares, rather than trying to butt heads against a cannon with a switch.
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I'm sorry, I can't tell if it's because of my appallingly awful reading comprehension skills or not, but there were several parts of your comment I didn't understand. I didn't know that a lexile score of 1647 was bad, by the way, so thank you for informing me of that. As a person who puts immense amounts of work into mastering things and usually succeed rather quickly due to how fast she learns, I did not feel at all insulted. Your use of large words is always correct, however, you have failed to proofread your comment and made some basic grammatical errors. I will not hold these against you, as I was able to understand it relatively well, provided that you don't hold any misapprehensions I may or may not have made against me.
Making an effort is mostly equivalent to going out of your way, so using both of those in the same sentence was redundant.
The first paragraph of this comment utilized a lot of sarcasm. Since your comment was about 20% incomprehensible I thought I should point that out.
You seem like a smart person, and I would like to have a meaningful discussion with you sometime, as I rarely get the privilege of holding an intellectual conversation with anyone who actually groks the material.
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Lmao that comment. >u<
Please consider writing a book, I'd love to read it.
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I write lots of fan fiction when I feel like it (lol those contradicted each other) but I have tried to write books, and it just doesn't work. Idk. But if you want to read some fanfiction for Naruto or hp my ffn username is coralflower 
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Ohh, maybe not Naruto but I'll definitely have a look at the Harry Potter ones \o/
If your fanfiction is anything like your rants it'll make for a VERY entertaining read! xd
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Oh... Well, I haven't updated the HP ones in a looong time because they suck. But I was thinking of starting a new one. We'll see.
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I think that talent is a big but not essential piece of artistic growth, and it shouldnt be seen as such. I completely agree with you.
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I think it is foolish to disregard talent fully. I have worked on my artwork for years and yet and still way off from doing art that some 16 year old can basically spit out without thinking. it's not that hard work can't pay off, but there is a thing of being able to innately understand and do something that is part of basic ability which people don't carry for every thing they do. some are better at socializing, at marketing and for here on da, drawing or writing.
however; the innate will stagnate if not worked on daily to progress. but the base of it is still innate and is what propels the masters above the average.
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I agree that talent exists, but not that it's a prerequisite to being able to do anything. It's an advantage. There are a few artists that found their work extremely easy, but plenty others who started out talentless and found ways around it.
I think it's a little to do with what you practice and how you study. Somebody who draws the same character, pose and style every day is not going to be as good as somebody who does anatomy and composition studies. Someone who goes to art school is going to have it easier than somebody who practices alone for the same amount of time.
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