I have heard many times that as an artist I was "born with this talent" but growing up I never thought I could draw at all. But if I remember correctly, I pushed myself to learn how to draw and paint; I trained my eye to see colors in all things. It wasn't easy for me, I was a terrible artist and I had to learn to use contrast and push myself to use the proper techniques. That is what got me to where I am today as an artist, not magically having this skill.
For some people I do think that art is simply apart of their blood. It's a talent and a passion they are born with. But I think for every artist there is a challenge to it, no one can get away without some struggle. I may not have been born with the skills but I was born with the passion and the eyes to see things differently.
I have always been jealous of those who can just sit there and draw something beautiful and create it out of thin air. I can't do that, but that doesn't mean I am less of an artist. Every artist is born with that creative passion which drives them to become the artist they are.
Something I had noticed while reading an Art History book is that artists often times really admire other artists' work. Now this isn't in a competition idea but in a kind of... jealous idea. As artists we have skills in a very specific sense; we are either sculptors, painters, designers, draw-ers? and sometimes these skills can overlap. But in a broader sense you never really see painters like Mondrian painting figures or portraits. Everyone is kind of stuck in their certain style of creating. I've had many great cartoonists tell me they'd love to be able to draw realistically but they simply can't.
Maybe just maybe every artist are born with some sort of skill: the skill of a specific style. Whether or not they waste their entire career wishing they were a fantastical Hyper-Realism painter instead of an Impressionist, it doesn't matter because the connection that everyone has with a certain style is special. You just understand why and how it flows better than any other genre and sometimes you may never fully understand why a giant blue shape hanging on the wall is considered art, but you may not just say it aloud...
Overall art is different for everyone, it is a personal growth and experience and no one is alike. We comprehend things differently, we can have different meanings and opinions, and of course our flow of creating will always be different. So don't waste your time wishing you had the talents of someone else, your talents and passion are unique to you and once you find them and acknowledge them they will grow and develop. Let others inspire you, but don't wish to have what they have.
