Why you DON'T need talent
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2024
- I used to have a hard time wrestling with the idea of "talent" -- whether I had it, or at least enough to reach my goals. It took me a long time to develop a healthier mindset, so I hope sharing my journey will be helpful to someone out there. btw, my actual secret talent is being too stupid to give up
Also, if it's confusing from the video, I used to draw when I was in school, then quit for a very long time to focus on my career, then properly started again and started taking art seriously for the first time as an adult.
00:00 - What is talent?
01:06 - What if I'm not talented?
03:24 - Why do you need to be good at things?
05:35 - Age vs talent
07:12 - Needing validation for art
Streamed on / pikat
Edited by @SkysagiOP
BGM
Andreas Zoeller - [Lo-Fi] Route 216
GlitchxCity - Jubilife Village Vibes
Snivys - Route 6 (Lo-fi Remix) ~ Echthesia - ตลก
"Without practice, talent is merely potential"
Whats that from ?
So real for that
"Talent without training is nothing" -Luke Skywalker
I'm oozing with potential
But with little practice , talent can easily outmatch hard work.
“Do you practice because you have talent? Or are you talented because you practice”
Nah, I'd practice - The talented one
Nah, I’d try harder - the untalented one
throughout the paper and the pencil i alone am the artist one
This unironically hits harder than original
I get the meme, but one isn't talented because they practiced. That's not what the word means
I will be 30 this year, started drawing at the age of 26 and never stopped since. you are probably the most relatable artist I've seen on this platform.
I've drawn all my life, and I'm 45, and I still suck because I'm lazy.
I don't have talent and I don't work. I just sit and cry.
Just like me frfr
As a person who used to be an athlete, talent is definitely real. Within athletics, the classroom, or the art world, there will always be someone who understands and grasps concepts way faster and will get better way faster. It’s discouraging, and your ceiling may not be as high, but if you really want to get to a certain level in your passion, you’ll just have to work harder
Especially in athletics - because genetics is a lottery that we don't all win and every human has their own strengths and weaknesses.
@@KyosumariFr
Imo with art, talent is invisible and not that measurable since it's all mental and abstract. That makes it a lot harder to come to terms with when comparing yourself vs say, having longer arms.
@@karidyas00like PewDiePie and his 100 days progress surpassing that of most beginners.
"Talent" with art is a mental thing that has a lot of complexity and often when someone who has "talent", just has a bunch of past experiences and transfer skills that help them be as good as they are. You don't need to put a whole lot of hard work to improve as fast as them but rather need to change to a more optimal thinking pattern for art. Since art is a mental aspect your ceiling is as high as your mental capacity so unless your brain literally cannot function as much as someone else theoretically your ceiling will be at a similar place
Put hundreds of hours trying to learn animation, only to see my talented friends surpassing me after learning it over a weekend. completely disheartening, I can't look at the shit I make without feeling disgusted and angry at myself.
Just gave up for now, tablet has been collecting dust in the drawer for a while... Starting from scratch with the art fundamentals with paper and pencil on my free time.
Talent is VERY real, and it really gets to me when someone clearly talented thinks the 8 hours it took them to perfect a skill is "hard work and not talent"
I’m sorry, I know that kind of insecurity can be really crippling. I had to deal with it myself. Talent is real but if you can get yourself to a place where you notice your own strengths and realise that talent isn’t everything, you’ll be able to continue and, more importantly, have fun. One of the most important things I learnt through animation school is that you don’t have to be ‘the golden child’. You just have to find meaning and pride in what you do. I’d much rather watch an imperfectly animated video with a lot of heart than the most beautifully and technically perfect thing with no soul. Just look at undertale, it’s art is as basic as it comes and it’s still one of the most famous games in recent memory. Don’t throw away hundreds of hours of work because someone else exists. Do it out of spite if you have to, prove to them and yourself that you can be just as good in your own way. Don’t give up.
just wanted to say that I completely understand how you feel. I got so burnt out thinking that I could "catch up" with my talented friends who surpassed me with minimal effort. going to art school, spending 12+ hours every day practicing leading to physical illness and injury, and nauseating anxiety too. I also had to pack up the tablet for 2 years while I worked on starting a different unrelated career. it's very freeing to now feel the inspiration instead of the bitterness that she mentions in the video now that the pressure is off. I think it's awful that people say "hard work always wins over talent" because it dismisses the fact that our journeys are all different lengths and the skill hurdles we have to overcome are different too. I hope you're able to have fun with art again!
I'm in the same boat when it comes to "validation", its not necessarily I need people to pat me on the head but I am doing it because I want to show people the thoughts in my head, i want them to experience the same kind of joy that i receive from creating these little worlds, share a bit of that escapism.
definitely, the joy of creating something and sharing it with people who are as passionate about that thing as you are is extremely motivating
Growing up autistic, I didn't really have friends. I was only good at one thing, drawing. I and all of my parents' friends was told that I was that son that's gonna make it big with my art. Now I'm 23, no job no successful art career, and no college degree. I don't feel hopeless. I just feel like my entire life/brain needs restructuring. I love animals and nature but I hate math and chemistry. I need to make this art thing work. There is no if. I have no other choice
all the best in your endeavor, maybe you are gonna make it big in art by 30 .. keep going NEVER give up, who knows what tomorrow will bring . Learn from others mistake and don;t give up is not worth it
to me, talent is like a learning speed multiplier
Finally an artist that believes talent exists. It's pointless to say it doesn't exist because it DOES. But just like you said, without practice it amounts to nothing. I have a medium to low talent to art, but that does not mean I don't love it. Everyone that loves art has a predisposition to it, regardless of talent level. Although I improve slower, I still do it because it's my passion. You should do it too, even with low talent :)
Everytime someone says talent doesnt exist is because they think of talent as. 100percent being perfect from the start and being a miracle.
So I often ask if they believe talent doesnt exist what about other fields? Sports, gaming, cards, driving whatever. Some people generally pick up something easier.
Thats what talent is. Picking it up easier. Anything beyond that is practice and makes no difference.
But if you struggle picking something the chance you give is very high.
No idea why people think its different for artists.
Artists are seen as strash by society its a paradox
@@user-vl8ck4gz6w "Thats what talent is. Picking it up easier."
That's part of it, but not entirely. For me, talent is whatever inborn advantage you have that allows you to excel in a certain field.
Take basketball for example, Picture two players who are both passionate about the sport. One is 1.6 meters tall, the other is 2 meters. If they both put in the same amount of effort in training, etc., which one of them do you think will be better at the game? People who say talent doesn't exist _always_ brush things like these aside.
i think there is alot to doing art. you have to have the passion for it, and the talent for it because talent is something your born with. your not born able to do art, your born with the creative talent/passion
my favorite finance youtuber.
The end caught me off guard, almost spat out my milk.
I feel I learned a lot about this, and myself, through fighting games and other hobbies over the years; learning to accept that you might not ever become *the best*, or that becoming the best might not even matter. "Impossible dreams are the best kind" is a line I've kept with me for a long time and I think I've begun to understand that line through my recent years of fighting games, always striving to be better than I was before, so I could say with confidence that I can kick my own ass from then. I also firmly believe that under the right circumstances, a talent can be learned, an *affinity* for the skill you're learning, can be learned, so it's worth it to keep trying and keep learning - who knows, maybe you'll be better than you ever thought was possible, maybe there's a limit you just can't see yet, maybe something will click and you'll grow faster than you think.
Whether all that is truth or impossible dreams, I think being able to, for example, create art is heckin' cool, and I'm sure not gonna give up any time soon trying to bring my character ideas to life.
From another angle (the fighting gamer in me once again), I think it's fun to have competition (maybe more accurately someone to push and encourage you), or a realistic skill level to strive for so that when you reach that level, you can learn from someone or something else and grow even more. This goes doubly for what you said about finding art friends - your little group/pairing can constantly bounce off each other and learn together, asking questions about each other's process or references or what have you.
I'm stopping here cuz I tend to ramble when I get typing about something I enjoy, but there's a lot of ways to approach it.
Pikat is quickly becoming one of my fave art tubers.
Short, concise, but full of deapth and actually good advice, love it!
I think some people are more predispositioned to learning skills faster, which could be perceived as talent, but I don't really believe in talent
if so i really do have it, because I learned it in 3 months, but i'm not a complete beginner, I'm also a 3d artist for years so I have a solid foundation of 3d structure, anatomy, lighting and drawing also have the similar learning curve so its really easy for me to grasp the concept. But if I don't have all that previous knowledge of 3D artist it would took me years more to learn it.
same
I don't have a talent for drawing. My brain doesn't usually think like that and needs a day to re-adapt before I can draw anything that looks ok. It otherwise looks like I somehow lost everything I've learnt about anatomy, perspective, etc...
It is true however, that it doesn't stop me from eventually creating nice art.
I mean...that kind of would be the definition of talent, though. Talent is simply "natural aptitude," or having a natural advantage. At the end of the day, people's brains do work differently (yes, our brains on the cellular level are extremely similar, but there are people who have varying levels of Aphantasia, for example).
There's nothing to believe in, it's simply a fact that some people have a natural advantage that we would describe as "talent." I do think that people vastly underestimate how much hard work goes into perfecting a skill, especially art, though.
@@eldritchbeauty people vastly underestimate how much hard work goes into perfecting a skill, especially art, though.
>>>Pretty much this. I have seen a popular artist (100k+ followers on twitter) posted his yearly progress from 2005-2022. TBH the first 7-8 years of his works sucked, big time, like bad color and anatomy, but it's starting ti click at 2014-15, and now he's pretty good at it.
I still struggle with drawing. I try hard to improve and it feels like I never do regardless of how much time I put into studying, practice, etc. Even showing it to my old art group, they would either completely ignore it or tear it down to the ground.
I still practice since I do have a personal goal I want to reach with drawing and art, and it'll probably take me longer than most people and many more years to go, but I do want to reach this goal, and I can only hope that I find a good art group/community one day, and that I can finally reach that goal in the future.
bro i relate to this so much T^T i used to also be a gifted kid and people around me would always say that i was 'good at drawing for a 9 year old' and lowkey my ego shot so high i thought i was the best in the world so i stopped practicing,, got a reality check when i entered hs and gave up for a couple years but started again from scratch when i turned 15. honestly talent can only get you so far, it's your mindset that'll determine how far you get in the long run.
That's something I'm somewhat struggling with nowadays. I used to be the "art kid" growing up, so you'd think I'm super amazing right now at my 30s. And no, I neglected my art studying because of the ego of being the "art kid".
So, yeah, I'm trying to compensate all the wasted time I didn't seek for tutorials and stuff being already older than most artists and having okay-ish results. My art is passable, at best.
So my real struggle is: I should be better now if I didn't neglect studies.
Always wanting to be number one and comparing yourself to others only to realize you will never be number one and then you start hating yourself... yeah I definitly see myself there LOL. It's really nice to see other people also struggle with the same stuff I do and it honestly really motivates me because I know I'm not alone in that regard.
Somehow your videos always resonate with me on a level that other art youtubers fail to do. You are just like me frfr
i just want to make art that i think looks good and eventually maybe make money with my hobby, so i don't really care that much that there are people better than me, it's more that i feel inspired and just say to myself "Damn, i can get this good if i just practice?"
As a fellow 30 something who got a tech career and stopped drawing, these videos are so encouraging. I’ve been feeling really self conscious lately about my art skills being rusty compared to Twitter people who are younger than me, but if the point is to have fun, I guess that shouldn’t get me down too much.
Are you self thought? Any curriculum to be followed would be appreciated , in programming I presume. Never too late to pick up that one thing we love. I gave up on the bass for years being to busy with life and survival but is not worth it
“Hard work trumps talent when talent fails to work hard”
The way I’ve seen talent is that it has two components
1. Your “starting stats” in life. Some people are born with a naturally higher degree of color perception
2. Your ability to learn/pick-up related skills. Anatomy just “makes sense” to some people (many of them become doctors/surgeons). It’s like in a video game - some people will beat a boss first try, others need a handful or dozens of attempts to win, but then another boss or mechanic later could give that same person trouble.
I know I personally had an affinity/“talent” for learning - I always got full marks in school (even college and grad school). It wasn’t that I was necessarily smart (I think I’m pretty dumb tbh), but if I wanted to learn something, I could teach myself whatever it was to a solid level of understanding much more quickly than other people. I could read a chapter of a textbook and “get it” without having to really “study”. So it’s been fun teaching myself how to do art digitally - I personally saw in myself Pewdiepie levels of improvement in these last ~60ish days. I’m sure there will be hurdles that I’ll struggle with, but it’s been interesting how quickly I’ll grasp some of these “fundamentals” concepts without doing the 200+ drills (that being said, a large component to doing the drawing stuff is intuition, it’s one thing to know what you gotta do and another to actually do it).
So yeah, I’m just rambling now. I know firsthand how the perfectionism that comes with talent is a very destructive force for your overall mental wellbeing
I was the same, and honestly, talent and 'ease' is a double edged sword. I never learned to study because I never had to. Everything came easily to me. School was boring because it took 10 weeks to get through a subject that took me three days (at most) to understand completely enough to teach others in my tables / groups how to understand it too, leaving me disinterested and eventually destroying any passion I could have had for each and every subject because I was forced to do them to monotony until they became chores, painful chores, and never formed the habits needed to actually 'work hard' in a lot of areas -- the skills that others who struggled more ended up spending their whole young lives developing. That isn't to say that I didn't work hard on my art, but at the time, that didn't feel like work. It was instead my escape and joy from the monotony of being forced into a daily prison of repetition where the ability to actually learn something new was constantly being held back by the people around me, and stiflingly always the same, without any new stimulation or challenge. I was already naturally drawn to creative outlets, but this also gave me more incentive to continue to do it. It was an outlet for me in a world that felt suffocating and boring.
Then when I grew up - when talent alone was not enough, not enough to be recognized in a sea of people much larger than a school - when I didn't have the social skills because I was always smarter and disinterested than everyone else and had a hard time relating or wanting to spend time with people who couldn't reach my level, and I hadn't learned how to put myself out there more because the gifted child curse had always done so for me, when I didn't have the study skills built up to make the self-directed study and out-of-classroom work happen, I failed HARD. I fell hard. It was a new low that made adulting VERY VERY difficult, and even more so from other, digressing, variables. I suddenly felt stupid. Like a failure. Like I wasn't enough. There was a LOT of other things happening that reinforced this mentality, as I also felt that if I wasn't wanted/needed by someone... I didn't have value at all. If I wasn't performing, I was basically subhuman. Toxic trauma OP.
This brings me to something someone else said - that validation is unhealthy. I disagree. EVERY human has a basic social need of being validated by their guardians and peers in order to build confidence and feel heard/seen/understood. To build ego. Validation itself is a normal and necessary part of the human psyche, or we wouldn't all seek it so much. In fact, I'd argue that if everyone who was obsessed with other people's approval had actually received validation and healthy upbringings, that they wouldn't have gotten to that point -- or at least, not nearly so badly. If the expectations set upon them didn't set them up to constantly seek to meet them only for it to never be enough... but I digress.
Validation is what you're receiving every time your friend hears you out. Validation is when your partner hears your pain and concerns and doesn't gaslight you for them. It feels good to know that you're not alone in what you think, feel, and experiences. Or at the very least, that you've been seen/heard/acknowledged. The human experience is one that isn't meant to happen alone. We are social and need other people in our lives by nature. It is when the need for validation becomes extreme and destructive that it becomes unhealthy, just as too much of even healthy foods is bad for you. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing in the wrong amount/application. Needing validation is the human condition. Needing it so badly that you seek it at all times and cannot find value without shouldn't be.
Honestly, the issues I have with creating and art anymore isn't talent or skill. I have plenty of both. I'm confident in that. But the passion died a long time ago, and I've never felt the same way about it as I used to. It's hard to care enough about anything anymore. Depression makes enjoyment difficult. Therefore motivation and inspiration take powerful hits, making the creation process gatekept by a mental and emotional hill that needs climbed just to start. My body reached its limit a long time ago, and chronic illness makes the process of arting painful. And yet, it is the one skill I have left in any way that can make me money when I'm disabled and isolated.
If i had any advice of my own to give, it is to let it be known that talent alone will never fix any of these things, and should utterly be a non-factor when you're deciding to do something. if you feel for it, do it. And don't self sabotage yourself until you don't have any joy or emotion left to want to anymore. There is validation in the growth you will see over time just by continuing to do. it will come. Don't let go of that joy. Of that desire. You never know when you might just ruin yourself from something that could have been great for you, like I did. The only person you should be comparing yourself to is yourself. Your growth. Your goals. YOUR journey. You can do it. And it can be fun. Love yourself and trust your heart.
Happy creating!
@@Kyosumari golden words, I hope you will conquer this mountain ahead of you and thanks for your wise words. I wish you all the best and health.
Talking of how other people doing better than you can make you bitter, Pewdiepie's rapid improvement hit me bitter, which surprised me. I really like Mr. Felix, so that competitive/comparative spirit coming to the fore was unexpected.
I feel you on that “Need to be number 1” type mindset. I still kinda have that. It’s hard to break free from it.
Talent is very real I think and it's just a fact of life I think. The revelation you have about wanting to improve and enjoy art for yourself is the end goal I think! And it goes beyond learning/practicing art!
Wonderful tips as someone who just started drawing 3 months ago. I do feel I vastly prefer sketching and lineart over coloring/rendering, and that's ok.
Talent is the spark
Hard Work is the fire from that spark to keep going beyond.
Take it from me, I've been drawn since I was 11, I'm older now.
I think I'm in the minority here that doesnt consider the word Talent to mean "Natural skill" while still thinking it exists
i consider it just another way to say someone is really good at something, and if you wanna be more specific then that then yeah "Natural talent" and "Learned talent" exist but a lot of people forget that Natural talent is something you still have to discover
there's millions of people who've lived their entire life and died not discovering theirs, and just as many who were born without one whatsoever yet still made it because they aquired learned talent
one isn't nessesarely better then the other, both have to be kept up, one just has a easier time keeping it up and learning it but not having talent is not an excuse to not practice or work on your skill
Just love you VODs, it made me kept on practice art, even knowing I have little to no talent for it.
From the birds in the background to the editing I love how nice and chill this video is. It fits well with the discussion being held
Hearing you got into this in your 30s literally changed my mindset from "there's no point, I'm too late" to "I am going to do this". Thank you ❤
So glad you make youtube vids from your twitch. So helpful when I miss the streams
I'm so glad you are addressing your own personal art struggles it makes me feel a lot better and more forgiving of my past self
OMG, I feel like listening to someone who is talking with me and saying almost everything that I think. I totally agree with you! Especially when you said that it's preferable to feel inspired by amazing art than bitter. It's the first time I've heard someone else say this, and it's so healthy. You're so cool!
I feel like talent is having an intrinsic understanding of shading, proportions, anatomy, and whatnot without having to spend a decade of learning to get to that point.
I imagine if you do study for at least a decade you can match it or go beyond. Im just too lazy in practice to want to invest so much time into art like how I envision my pieces going.
This video is such a healing existence for me. Thank you for sharing!
thank you for uploading this. i can relate to the extreme pathological thinking from being the "gifted kid". i find comfort in seeing that im not alone in this. im picking up art now again in my 20s. thank you.
I think talent is a predisposition, and it can give you a lot of boost at the beggining, but can lead to not learning how to... learn, ealy on. And then you're in a big trouble when you hit your natural talent's wall. The gifted kid, burnt out underperforming adult moment, be it in art or academically, it's very similar. (Been drawing since I was 5, like legit art classes, and you can see I'm not very good still, even tho I'm almost 30, so you can imagine how "great" that feels lmao)
Also I'm all in for the discussion about the effects of your skill equating to you being able to pay rent. When I worked in gamedev/character animation it absolutely drained and ruined me, and I still feel effects of this looming stress over my head and entire livelihood.
This spoke to me in volumes. I am currently in the mental struggle of learning to not be the best at something. Art, video games, etc. I feel like such a failure and give up on everything because I find someone who is better than me and instead of inspired I do feel upset at myself. I have a lot of self hate because I am constantly sizing myself up to other people only to fall short. This causes me to give up and do nothing which only makes the problem worse because I need to use that time to get better and learn to accept my shitty attempts at art and finish something.
Edit: I am someone who has been drawing since I was like 8 and am in my 30s now. I feel so much contempt for myself for having over 20 years drawing experience and having art that looks worse than a beginner and I have such a hard time getting over that.
I'm about your age, and this video resonates deeply in my soul.
I used to want to draw when I was younger, I tried to learn for a bit, but I compared myself too much to the actually great artists and got frustrated and quit. I had no friends to support me and, as you said, it was a lot harder to find good tutorials back in the day. I only picked up art again recently, and nowadays I don't care about being the best, or even being very good - I just want to be good enough to get my visions across. To banish all these creative phantoms out of my skull, make them stop hurting me.
The hardest part is the unrelenting passage of time. The many years - decades - completely wasted, the idea of what I could be now if I HADN'T quit. And conversely, the uncertainty of the future, the plague and strife washing over this entire planet, wondering whether I even have the time left to get good enough to do what I wanted to do. Depressing at one end, frightening at the other. I need to stop worrying about it, but it's hard.
I feel this, I have always loved art and being creative. Back when I was a teenager the internet was just a baby and finding tutorials that weren't those silly manga books was hard. and I gave up. It wasn't until recently I picked up a pencil again and started to actively study more. I'm hoping ill be able to achieve my one true goal before I pass on in this world. But even if I don't, I will have zero regrets because at least I went back to try again.
Hard work beats talent until talent works hard
I never thought about it before, I think I also had that need to be the best when I was young.. and I think that need and my inability to be the best is what made me stop drawing regularly for 20+ years. now my attitude is more healthy, my goals now are to just be better than past me. Unfortunately my art muscles have atrophied and need a lot of exercise to get back to where I once was. I have noticed that I am better than when I was when I first started my journey again but I have a long way to go before I exceed the level of my young self. But I will get there.
This video format is so so good
love watching these videos
Pikat, you are my comfort youtuber. I always feel so much better after watching your content. You're doing something right and I hope you know that.
I'll be honest, I wish I was a hard working person
But I'm not talented nor hard working
I just cry, regret doing nothing and get frustrated for not being good at something
I don't know why, but I can't just do things, I wish I had the will and strength to it
I think I have this issue. I rarely ever feel inspired when I look at other artists. But you inspire me to actually improve on myself and not to worry about it so, thank you!
Love the old lady pikat with the cane.
I definitely relate to wanting to be #1. I've had literal mental breakdowns because of this thought. I still struggle but not nearly as much as it was when I was in my early 20's. I even stopped drawing for years because I couldn't get over that thought process. Thankfully I am getting allot better at accepting things. I wish that I had never quit drawing because I've been drawing my whole life and I keep improving everyday but I cant help but wonder how much better I would be if I kept drawing.
When it comes to art. There will always be someone who is better than you no matter what
I was that kind of “gifted kid” at school. I’m not bragging or smth I’ve put a huuuuge amount of effort to be best at everything. And I’ve been amongst the best students but I felt like I’ve been lacking something. And there came art to my life. I thought like “nah that’s kind of easy and people tell me that I have something like talent “ aaand… failure. Since the very first time I’ve I tried myself as a writer and as a manga-artist I’ve never been happy with any of my work. It was not perfect AND EVEN - not even close to definition of “good” one. For unknown reasons I wasn’t disappointed by that fact but kept struggling on and on. And now, sitting here, I realise how much I need to do in order to go further. But it feels like my “talent” is not enough, it feels that I don’t give as much myself as needed. It feels like I don’t have enough time to improve my manga. And this makes me kind of depressed. I know that my comment now doesn’t link to the video theme, but this is a cry of help I guess
thank u for your video
the feeling of needing to be #1 hits so hard. im super competitive but interestingly enough different to you in that i was NEVER gifted in anything. i feel like i have to put thousands of hours into something to be average but then it sky rockets to top 1% of that thing. but it still just feels like im bad at that thing constantly i swear i could be #2 in the world and somehow still feel like im terrible at it. im not really sure if talent exists but i do think to a degree that some people understand how to learn better than others which imo is more important that just learning to do the thing u wanted anyway since if u learn how to learn then youll likely be atleast competent at basically everything which i think gets confused for talent alot.
this is sorta a random 5am ramble so it likely doesnt make alot of sense lmao
I'm trying to become an animator professionally, but this still helps that I should be creating things for my own enjoyment. I struggle with a lot of things especially comparing myself and being angry, but this definitely helps haha.
The need to be #1 coming from being a gifted kid and art being the only thing we are good at hit me right in the stomach, cuz we are literally the same in that manner, my mom was diagnosed with gifted child syndrome and I have shown every last sign of having it too, and the whiplash of seeing just how much competition I have when I entered a state show for the first time was extreme, I felt completely outclassed, and I still do as it was not that not ago (like a week ago), and I do get inspired by better artworks all of the time instead of getting down from them, but having my art outclassed by miles from people my age made me feel behind, like I was not doing eniugh, but it also showed me that I CAN do more, because I thought I hit the ceiling of my current environment, and that I could only get significantly better once I get to art college(I go to KCAI in august), but now I know I can still grow a decent amount before then, granted I will still need more advanced instruction than high school art teachers
Not to be rude or anything but your very talented if I should say I know you have worked hard for this but even after loosing a job in dec 2023 you were able to make a successful twitch channel an art youtube channel and many others etc I don't know if you taken any kinda help for this but still even with help its hard so this is not a simple feat not everyone can just become as successful as you after losing their jobs there are only a few lets just take myself as an example I tried many things in life like singing but failed dancing (failed) fighting (failed) now art but failing there too all the people around me have lost all hope in me but the bigger problem is I lost hoped in myself after years of trying and failing I still don't know what is my passion or what I wanna do in my future and by saying all this I just wanted to say that your amazing your awesome and I sure am envious of you but I will root for you I hope you have a blessed or successful life
You basically described my entire art journey so far, especially the whole being mad at myself for not being better at art.
I'm 26 and just started drawing a few months ago and I, of course, am not that skilled yet. That said I'm happy with how most of my drawings are turning out and I'm trying to learn something new whenever possible and, though I'm dreading a plateau that makes me feel discouraged, I'm still enjoying doing it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know I'm not great but I'm happy with how far I've come and practice is making me better and as long as I'm trying to improve I'll be okay with my progress. And regardless, as long as I enjoy it I'm going to keep doing it.
what you said in first minute are absolutely my thoughts as well!
I feel like many artists decline the talent existence because of pride. Because they feel like people undervaluing there hard work. Which i agree on half.
I had a bit different opinion. Talent isn't something that you can see from one picture. For example if there are two masterpieces that are both equal quality. But its not possible to tell who is talented in this situation. Unless if first masterpiece was achieved for example in 3 years of studying art and the second in 10 years. Its obviously who is talented here. But here is the thing. Its talent in the first case. But did it take that fast? No, it still took ages to grow. In my opinion talent is more about how fast you can understand art. The idea and other stuff is another case.
I personally, maybe i am too full of myself... But i do consider myself as a talented individual. I didn't start art on the same time as some of my university colleages, and they are obviously much better. But even with out actually studyin (honestly i watched videos before about art, but in the previous year i felt like its simply not enough, so i started reading books and actually exersizing), i feel like i really achieved a lot of things past 3~4 years. It could be faster if i really studied at first. But i do think my progress is very great.
But. Unfortunately i lack a lot of ideas...
Honestly i used to have some problems regarding my thoughts of progress at times. Because seeing all of amazing arts, its really easy to think that you will never grow to this extent. But there are one thougt that always make me going forward. "they spent much time for this to happen" and if they achieved that. Why cant i? It also the reason why i still keep my previous years albums open. Because I feel like it doesnt encourage only me for seing how much progress i had but i also encourage others on keeping draw things... Also its really pleasant to hear from other parties about how my skill grown.
new yt channel rahh🗣️🦅
I still feel like you do, I need to be best. But I don't mind the negative mental health damage I get from that, because I know for a fact that being stroger is more fun. Thus I will never stop trying hard to be better, for that moment of forgeting anything and just having fun while in the flow for hours
I think the problem I see most often with newer artists is people that work quite hard but draw influence from things that really lack appeal, followed by drawing the same stuff over and over. If the foundation you learned on is flawed, then continuing to try and build from there can still cause issues. I think most improvement in art comes from your ability to see appeal and problems in your own art, and if you study off unappealing stuff it can train your brain into bad habits. It's why I think it's important to study from a large amount of artists, and most importantly, from real life.
As long as you have fun doing what you do, you will be good enough.
Thank you for the video ❤
To me, talent is the willingness to do things that others are unwilling to. Kim Jung Gi can sit there and draw bicycles over and over again until he mastered it, i dont think most people are willing to go that far and thats fine. Unwillingness to do things doesn’t equal incompetence, it just means you in particular need a different approach than those with “talent”, sure it might be slower but atleast you won’t wanna kys over it. It also means dont think too much about talent, fish swims, cats claw, dogs bite etc.
edit: i just want to add that it took quite awhile of struggling with myself to come to this conclusion btw, so if you have a unhealthy fixation on talent like i had, i'd honestly suggest asking yourself what talent even is and slowly break it down. No matter how stubborn you are (couldn't have been more stubborn than me lol) eventually you'll come to the realization that its pointless to worry about it. Fight with what you have, you're YOU not some "insert talented person here".
Talent definitely exists but I think it’s more varied that most people consider. You aren’t just ‘good at art’, you’re good at observing or have extra good hand-eye coordination or maybe you just have really good visualisation of 3D objects. Someone who doesn’t consider themselves ‘talented at art’ because it takes them longer to improve/ doesn’t understand concepts as quickly etc, isn’t without other talents. I’m not naturally gifted at art in the general sense but I improve so quickly once I understand something, that’s my talent. Someone else may have a gift for emotion in their work, despite it not being the most beautiful. Likewise, someone may be able to produce hyper realistic works but not know how to connect to an audience emotionally through it. It’s all about perspective, everyone has talents to varying degrees.
im in my 30s too and its really nice to hear the perspective of someone my own age, thanks for being open about it.
I don’t think I can ever be as positive about art as Pikat is it frustrates me to see someone so accepting and that’s more on me, someone who wants to be a manga artist. And I can’t help but feel that people who don’t want to be that are so much more free to express and have a more flexible look on their art and progression and where they stand in the world with their art and what they want to achieve.
I was a writer first, so when I started drawing, the goal was, "I want to get good enough that I can draw references for my characters to give to artists who are better."
And then I got caught up in becoming "good." Totally lost sight of my original goal. Woke up about five years later and realized I'd already accomplished what I wanted to, and I'd completely missed it. XDD
My most important art influence is probably still my best friend from high school - because she was the artist first, who wanted to become an animator. Our story solidified for me that talent meant jack all if you weren't willing to put the work in.
I loved her art. I admired her so much. Her poses were so much more natural than mine, more fluid, her expressions more readable with more range. I was trying to catch up with her, and us both improve together. But she had a few setbacks with her community college (administrative errors) and ended up having to leave school. She stopped drawing. She stopped drawing for like TWO YEARS. When she came back to it, I had moved, and we were just communicating through Discord. Instead of her, I was the one in art school. Not studying animation, just web design, but I had a lot of art courses. And I was so excited for her to start drawing again.
She had stagnated. I'd passed her up. But I wanted so badly for her to pass me again and get to her dream of being an animator, that I treated her like one of my classmates and passed on whatever critique and information I could. It literally broke our friendship, because she refused to try anymore. All she wanted was a "Good job, sweetie, that looks great." It hurt so bad to have my hero throw away what I was still in the process of striving for, when I knew it meant more to her than it did to me.
I don't have talent. I just worked reasonably at whatever pace I felt like, and I improved in accordance with that. I think she had talent. She didn't have classes or instructors, either, but her characters always looked so lively. But she stopped trying, and her art stagnated. Talent can't go anywhere if hard work isn't present.
Hey Pikat! I found your content recently, and I've been absolutely loving it! I recently saw your video on how much money you make in a month, and it really drew me in for a multitude of reasons. People tend to be pretty apprehensive about discussing their earnings, and while that's entirely fair, I found your transparency incredibly refreshing! Your goal to outright make a living from content is something I think a lot of people can relate to, and it's super inspiring to see you trying so hard for it.
In recent years especially there have been a lot more individuals who aim to discourage people from making content, typically under the guise that it's "almost impossible to turn into a job". I try my absolute best to make sure people know that this isn't necessarily the case, and that this era of content creation is probably the best for people who are just starting out. I've actually used your channel as a reference for this point multiple times already! I've been on TH-cam for 10 years across various channels and currently work full-time as a content producer for a good friend of mine, and I wish more people would just give it a go. I'm not saying people need to quit their jobs and become a full-time TH-camr, but it's definitely something worth pursuing if you really want it. The only reason I've not committed to making content myself is because I have too many things I want to do at once, and I need to decide on a niche before going ahead with it.
I guess what I'm saying is that your content is very much reaching people, and I imagine you're inspiring tons of new creators to give this (very obtainable) dream job a shot. I hope to see you continue to grow, and thanks for reinvigorating me!
i didn't know you were 30 but they were right when they said theres a difference in knowledge quality and accessibility of knowledge between back then and today
POG Pikat lezzzzz gooooo!!!!
i don't do art professionally but observed people who have tried a long time and fall short of some people who pick up and get good at a relatively short time. It is a constant of any industry, i think certain people have a certain knack for something or sometimes they just don't have a knack for anything at all. I'm reminded of 2 very hard working people in my life who know very well how to study with stellar grades one of them did art for a passion but was never as good as their math skill the other amusingly did the complete opposite going into math but absolutely is mediocre in it but can draw a wicked touhou fanart using a charting terminal.
7:22 yess! YESS! I need for others to see my work. Which is why posting on twitter with zero followers feels like thowing away what I just made. That's why I'm trying to catch trends and use the quotation feature on twitter to attract more eyes
Thank you for another video, grandma.
Here's something a lot of people that are struggling with their self-confidence need to hear. You can not distinguish someone with talent and someone who doesn't have talent if neither practice. You won't know if you have talent until you've practiced. There could be a lot of talent locked inside of you, so let it out. The key to unlock your talent is practice. Go and practice! NOW! This isn't a request, This is a threat! Lol
DUUUDE, I RELATED SO HARD TO THE “I need to be the best AT ALL COSTS” BIT AT THE BEGINNING
I was crazy competetive XD still am, but I’ve gotten a bit better about it
The only reason I think I am at the skill level I am at today was because I always thought I was talented (even though my art wasn't that great until the past few years)
The ego boost that lead me to think I was talented had let me keep drawing and improving, although slowly, until I could draw things I was proud of.
You really just gotta own what you draw and not compare your skills to others negatively if you want to improve and be happy with your art.
i just found you so idk much about your content but i'm assuming these are clips from a stream. Maybe make another channel where you make longer videos in this style where you just talk about random stuff ( lightly edited VODs ). The idea is to be a video that someone can put on in the background and listen while doing something else. Like for this i was just working out when this vid came on and i found it really nice to listen to, kinda like a podcast. Just an idea :D
I’m a really quick learner when it came to academics and basically everything else, I’m pretty street smart and stuff but when it came to art anatomy was something that really confused me, as I’ve been drawing since I was 6 but I’ve never gotten past the basics, I’ve just now started researching anatomy and it’s seem really confusing! I struggle often with proportions and placement when it comes to the shapes and stuff, so it’s been quite confusing! I’ve been trying to get better and learn the shortcuts I need, though!
Pikat never misses! I think that a lot of people can agree that someone who has little talent but has a lot of hard work will more times than not be better than someone who is just talented. I feel like this applies to many things outside of art as well. However I do feel like those who are really talented and put in the hard work like someone such as Kim Jung Gi who could visualize things to such a detailed extent with little to no sketch work/underline work are on a whole different tier of art. I think talent as a word is also widely used and said within art from people that don’t do art, but see many of our works and think that we must be so talented when we post an image. Not knowing it could’ve taken us several days of planning and drawing. Behind every big artist talented or not lies a history of hard work. Pikat is a prime example of someone who is constantly putting in hard work and showing us that you can obtain that professional-level art if you just put your mind to it.
Well said, hardwork always paid off! What pro-artists need are a bunch of these qualities / skills, they're offently gifted so we can't related that to improve ourself.
When we absolutly need to make art our job (and when we're not gitfed), that's a different point of view here. In fact, many bad feelings (explains on the video) are legit.
@@Diflyx Yeah those are really good points! I think it's really hard in the context when you make art a job. I do feel like there are very different stakes and that can effect a lot of people's mental when in the industry.
As there are so many form of art, i will just be talking about painting and drawing.
Talent totally exist in art, since everybody who has enough hand-eye cordination to write, can make art.
Unlike, say, playing musical instrument (not saying there’s no musical talent), you need much higher level of cordination: speed and accuracy. You can totally draw slow and inaccurate, just need to go over and over to achieve the desired results, until you completed a piece of art.
I myself am an artist who draws really slow, polishing my art until i’m happy with it.
Unlike other types of art form like sculpting, engraving, where you need a steady hand to not fuck your piece up, you can draw digitally, or with a pencil before commiting to something more serious, or even embracing the non-perfections as a part of it.
(Yes you can still make a wonky sculpture and call it a style, but you can draw an art over and over until youre happy with it, but there is just so many tries you have until the sculpture is unsculptable)
I’d say, to draw, the hand is merely a tool. What truly does the work is the brain. The brain knows what to do, what to put down, where is off looking, what vibe it’s trying to achieve. Making “conventional attractive” art (painting, drawing in particular) is less about the heart, but more about the science of what works and what doesnt, what is pleasing to the eyes, what sell the illusion of realism, or not.
It is not uncommon for the masters that we look up in term of making art, is also exceptional in other science field, such as physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, ect…
I would argue ‘talent’ in art, is just ‘being smart’ in general. Smart enough to pick up the cues of what make art pleasing quicker, smart enough to understand basic elements of aesthetic on one own or just through a few taught, smart enough to pay attentions to little details in life that sell the illusion of realism, smart enough to make comparisons and relevants of porpotions, values, color on one’s own with little to no prior knowledge.
I managed to boost my art level in one year when I was depressed and unable to draw a lot just by absorbing and processing a lot of visual information.
If a ‘talented’ person has been asorbing all this information ever since they’re born, it means that they’re born maybe bit smarter, or more sensitive, and their art journey has started way before they actually pick up a pencil.
I don’t think dimissing the existing of talent in making art is going to help anyone. Accepting that there are differences in the ability to asorb and process information between people, is the key to not get stuck in the “talented or untalented” conversation.
I’m not born smart, it took me a while to realised what informations smart people can make out just by glancing at the subject in a few seconds.
But that’s okay, I can learn.
I've always hated the word talent as for me it either diminished all my efforts or discouraged others to begin something that they could've started doing if they just got over the initial bump of being bad at something.
As a musician, I started in my late teens and I was so horrible, I had no clue how to be on pitch, nor to be in rhythm, yet through hours and hours of studying and practice I've reached a stage where people, especially my family, give me this trophy that I'm "talented". I'm nowhere near the skill of your average music teacher and yet everyone in my life treats me as if I'm some musical prodigy when really I just put in the effort.
I never was talented, I nourished my skills until I got good enough that the average person would consider me talented.
I like the way you tackle this topic, talent shouldn't be something we put any weight in, because even if you pick things up easily, it'll take years to get really good at anything at all.
I've only recently started drawing, and your channel shows probably the most relatable and realistical struggles of pretty much any medium. The fact you're so honest about these struggles I've had through other artistic mediums make the journey so much easier to keep up with.
yeah, I don't have talent, but I have for sure seen talented people, I've seen what they can do when they put work in and reach peaks I will never attain, but you know what? That is completly fine, like wtf are we even thinking, no one is ever gonna be the best artist in the world, and even if someone did, it means nothing, 90% of the population wouldn't care, we would still have crippling depression and daddy issues.
I'm not competing with Kim Jung Gi, I'm not competing with Kentaro Miura etc etc, The only person I'm competing with is myself. I can just appreciate other people's talent and be inspired by it.
the only thing that matters, imo, is love for the craft, because that love will drive you to study and work hard
I’d like to see a video about your take on AI! I’ve felt a bit of an existential crisis since everything has come out about investing my most important asset - my time on this earth - into art. I say this because I dreamt of making a living from art, not because I am shattered as a hobbyist. If it were just a hobby to me, AI wouldn’t bother me at all. Not anti AI (though the ethics should definitely be discussed) but just being realistic about creative careers being viable in ten years. Would like to hear your thoughts!
(Edit: Made this comment 10 seconds before getting to the age vs talent portion and feel a bit better now... lol.)
My problem is I see how far along other people are and how easy they make it look. Im 32 and feel like I am just now finding my passion for something.
I know its dumb to feel this way, but it feels like I am too late into the game to hope for anything more than just a hobby, as the amount of catch-up I have ahead of me feels insurmountable.
I still get inspired by other peoples art, but then I start to draw and immediately begin wishing I started 10 years ago. 😂
I think talent is similar to aptitude. one of those things where certain people grasp certain things faster- the way some people seem to excel in certain subjects at school. and i doubt that's completely natural to them either, but influenced by their experiences and interests. some people get math, some people understand grammar or science with ease, it just clicks for them. the same could be said for other things like arts! like you said, it can give you a boost and help you to learn certain concepts and techniques faster, but you still have to practice. and skill is the result of practice and study. that's how i look at it, at least :)
Alternate title : How I survive being like most people
Talent does exist, but I would say that everybody tends to have their own kind of talent. An artist may not be naturally good at drawing, but may be very good with colors. It only makes a difference when you put in the work, but another thing that I think is important is that you either find what you're talented at or make yourself talented at the thing you want to be good at. Talent, in my opinion, doesn't have to be something you're born with as opposed to just being something that allows you to pick up concepts and apply them with ease. It could be that you're just born with a mind that easily understands these things, but your talent might also come from previous experiences or an adopted mindset. I'm an artist. I have Tourettes and OCD. Maybe I'm talented, but there are struggles that I have to deal with that other people don't. Everyone has some kind of talent, but that usually comes with some kind of drawback that goes unnoticed because the person's talent and skill outshine their weaknesses. A lot of talented people never put in effort later on because they get too used to easily performing well early in their lives, which results in wasted potential. The bottom line is that whether you think you're talented or not, it doesn't matter as long as you're putting in the work and seeing improvement. I used to compare myself way too much to others, and whenever I saw that I clearly wasn't the best or good at something, I would get upset. Now, though, I really don't care. Someone could be amazing at something, and I wouldn't mind. Having people around who are better just means that you have more to learn from. Seeing art that is better than mine just inspires me and gives me ideas. The moment you switch to a more positive mindset is the moment you will start to see an upward shift in your improvement. Improvement comes naturally when you feel comfortable in accepting who you currently are. As soon as you drop your ego, everything that you could do better suddenly becomes visible and open to you.
My thought on talent is that it's one of three things:
- a structure that enabled, encouraged, and sometimes enforced practice (especially directed practice) from a very young age.
- previous acquisition of skills that cover some of the sub-skills inside a thing.
- or the closest thing to "talent", a thing you enjoy the act of doing even if you knowingly suck at it.
That last one is the hard one for art, I think. Everything I ever got good at, was because I enjoyed doing it poorly.
Pikat neesan the one we look upto!
I feel like one thing you shouldn't say to kids, when they show you something they did, is, "you're so talented." praise their hard work, not talent. Because, for me, it killed my ability to work hard, and took my will to do what I wanted when I realized I'm not that 'talented' and people way better at the stuff I do than me, exist. and for me, it wasted so many years, that when I realized I didn't necessarily have to be the best of the best, the top one percent, it felt like I'm too late.
That's how I feel inside, even if I try to comfort myself with words like 'it's never too late' and stuff. Talent might be a contributor to how good you are at something, but the bigger one is to never stop trying.
the ending LOL but nice video needed this
Talent certainly exists, for artists it comes in the form of an advantage at improvement, one learns faster etc etc. You can say that even one's "mentality" can be a form of "talent", being more outgoing, humble or shameless instead of wasting away at self-loathing and perfectionism can do wonders to your improvement in any skill, lol. But if there's an advantage for us artists here is that... talent doesn't really matter?
Since in the end for us, what matters the most is the end-result and not how fast you can reach that line. Art is a much more abstract and subjective thing since it's all about communicating your thoughts and emotions via your creations, there's an obvious skill-ceiling one needs to reach in order to properly communicate said ideas in the exact way you want, but that's it.
I've got no talent and all my hard work has equated to nothing. What should I do next? Off myself from this world and hope I come back as someone better?
talent exists in the sense that some people are just naturally more suited to certain tasks than others, which is just part of being human. however, talent alone does not help in the long run. building skills is far more important than raw talent. as someone else in the comments mentioned: "without practice, talent is merely potential"
talent is closer to being on a stepstool, skill closes those natural gaps
For me, I think that talent is that you gain experience faster than others, or picking up things faster ig, and I think that talents in other areas could also affect stuff ur doing rn, such as observation skills doesn’t necessarily means artistic talents, but you could probably draw still life pretty well, you would just find it difficult to draw abstract
When it comes to the whole age thing, the issue I have is that when I see someone younger than me who's way more skilled than I am, I just keep thinking about the time I wasted and how I should be better.
I see 16 year olds that are basically masters, while when I was 16, I was drawing stuff out of a How To Draw Anime book and struggled to understand gesture. I fucked up somewhere and I regret it.
as a former gifted kid with depression and inattentive type adhd, i've been recently trying to pick up art as a form of self expression. my whole life I've felt like I was completely blank without any forms of expressing myself, I had trouble communicating or even feeling my feelings, that my interests aren't actually interesting, that I am bad at everything I do, that if I'm not immediately good at something after a month of practice then I should not continue practicing because I'm not predispositioned for it. i'm trying to get into the mindset of just drawing for myself and showing it to my girlfriend who is very supportive. it's been about a month and while I'm not able to say I see any real progress, I intend on continuing.
Talent is like a multiplier without training talent means nothing. In the end hard work pays off
I think talent is just how much You like doing the certain thing. I always wanted to be a digital artist, after 5 years I desided that there is no point in me doing it, cuz I never had fun with it. I could make nice things but I didn't wanna, I didn't have talent :^
i've been thinking a lot about talent and got a conclusion since people around me call me talented in art, i think talent is when you are interested in something and actually doing it. you learn faster if you interested in it, or there's a moment where doing something so good even if you dont know how you do it then you gain interest in it. or your brain is actually figure something out before you try it and when you do it turn out great. why i said this? because from what i observed if someone really has interest on something they learn faster, you don't need talent all you need is interest and hardwork, (not only hard work, but also smart work. do it the right way and learn everytime you made mistake)