Born to Be an Artist.

In the few minutes I spent, today, on Yahoo Answers, a form of this question came up twice. Essentially, the askers wanted to know if a person had to be "born" to be an artist, or could one learn to be creative.

My answer was, basically, then NO ONE is "born" with any artistic talent. Just put a crayon in a baby's hand to see what happens. People have to LEARN to draw, or play an instrument, or sew, dance, sing, drive a car, do a sommersault, shoot baskets or any other skill. It IS true that for some, these skills come more easily. SOME of it could be genetic and some of it could be due to environmental factors.

But I firmly believe that, given one has the physical capablity to do it, anyone can learn do draw or, pretty much any other skill. All it takes is a real desire to learn, and the willingness to take the time to apply the skills and practice the heck out of the craft. Good coaching also helps.

And, just like with any other skill, whether it is running fast, balancing on a beam or constructing a good sentence, it will be easier and faster for some people. Call it "talent" or natural skill. It makes no difference. There is a clear distinction between being "talented and having mastered a skill.

Related to this question is another oft repeated query on Yahoo Answers: "Do you need to draw good to be a graphic artist?" It may surprise people to learn that one does NOT have to be a "good sketch artist" to be a good designer. Design is MUCH more than drawing. Drawing is what an illustrator does. A designer might BE an illustrator, but doesn't have to be. Look at the layout to these blog pages. Someone had to lay out the areas for text and images. Someone had to select colors, place tabs and everything else involved with putting this page up on the site. Not one component appears to be an illustration or drawing, but SOME ONE had to design the page.

Without the other skills a designer needs, then these pages would be nothing more than random groupings and placement of elements. Most amateurs, or people without training cannot do this. Not every layout is technically demanding, but ALL good layouts should be carefully considered. I know of several good, professional designers that can't draw a polar bear in a snowstorm. They don't need to. They DO need a good eye for composition, color harmony, flow, psychology and other elements of design.

Here is a graphic illustration created for one of those advertising slides shown before a movie starts. It depicts the music department for one of our local colleges

It is an example of an illustration that required absolutely NONE of my drawing ability. It only required some observation and a sense of composition and color. I knew what a guitar looked like and I had some idea of how a piano keyboard is laid out. (I actually went out and looked at one to be sure I had the correct arrangement of black and white keys.)

The entire graphic was created in Photoshop using, only, the basic rectangle and circular selection tools, bucket and gradiated fills, a bit of copying and pasting and one or two filters, including the add noise and crystalize features. Pencil and pigment NEVER was lain on paper to create this. No digital tablet was harmed in the creation of this image. It was all done with a mouse using only click, double click and click and drag functions.

As usual, here and on Yahoo Answers, I strive to give accurate and useful information. I may give MORE information than is needed, but, I try to give ENOUGH information to answer the question

Bye, for now.

Luv,

vince