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why is it that two people can start to
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learn to draw at exactly the same time
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each with no prior
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experience and yet one of them seemed to
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go further much faster one of them
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seemed to build on what they do and to
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improve much faster even when they have
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much the same access to resources I
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suspect this is often put down to what I
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increasingly see as the very unhelpful
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concept of natural Talent well that
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person's just more talented which is a
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way of saying it comes easier to them
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they're able to go faster more easily
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because somehow it just naturally ties
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in with them in some way that other
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people don't have it's some sort of Head
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Start to begin and then some sort of
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natural Advantage as they keep going
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part of the problem with that of course
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is that we end up thinking am I talented
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do I have enough Talent if I have
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troubles with learning to draw if I
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reach a block and I can't improve is the
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problem simply that I don't have enough
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talent because well what can I do about
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that not much at all but let me give you
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some other reasons why I think this
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might happen and I hope that will be
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particularly encouraging to anyone
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firstly wanting to understand the
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process of how we learn to draw or learn
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to do anything more but also to anyone
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starting to wonder whether perhaps their
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problem is they don't have enough talent
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and wondering therefore should they just
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give up let's say I'm in a group of 10
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we all start to draw at the same time
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the only thing we have in common really
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is that we all start to draw or all
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start to learn to draw at the same time
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because the truth is that none of us
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start from the same place for a lot of
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reasons we have different personalities
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we have different life experiences but
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even if we're almost the same age just
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one or two years difference life
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experience can make a huge difference
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particularly at the early adult stage of
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life and those one or two extra years
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may have actually brought us a lot of
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life experience that's going to be very
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helpful in learning to draw let me spell
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out a couple of them to give you an idea
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of what I'm talking about and the most
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obvious one is some of us have learned
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how to observe more carefully than
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others for all sorts of reasons it may
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be we had a particular interest say in
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well when I was a boy I love stamps and
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I collected stamps and I used to look
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very intently at the stamps trying to
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see differences trying to see the
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patterns the designs how they were made
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especially in the older line drawn
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non-photographic ways of producing
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stamps or possibly I've had an interest
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in say bird watching where I've actually
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tried to find birds and when I found
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them I look at them very intently for
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the short period they stay still so that
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I can see gather all the information in
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my mind enough so I can then find them
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in a book now none of these things are
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anything to do with drawing but I can
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actually learn how to observe very
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quickly to see key things or to remember
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them for afterwards by doing things such
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as this and of course if you've watched
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any of my videos you know that careful
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observation is an enormous skill and
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learning to see the things that we need
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to see to draw rather than the things we
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need to see just for General Life
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getting by is not always as easy as it
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sounds but for some people they've done
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other things that have happen to push
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that skill development further so when
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they look at something at the same time
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as someone who hasn't got that
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experience it looks like they can draw
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better more easily it's just that
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they've already developed skills skills
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they didn't realize they were going to
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need maybe we've learned other skills
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say carpentry where we learn to have to
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be very precise with the way we look and
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see and measure and perhaps estimate so
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that when we say make a cut it's in the
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right place and we don't waste the wood
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again it's got nothing to do with
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drawing but it may well put us ahead of
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someone who hasn't happened to do any of
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these things in their life experience so
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far sometimes it can be more
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straightforward things such as I've
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simply used a pen a lot maybe I was very
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studious at school and I did subjects
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where we had to write a lot of essay so
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I became very comfortable with holding a
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pen and moving a pen with lovely fluid
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movements my arm is nice and loose and
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relaxed when I write because I couldn't
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write well without that and those hand
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eye coordination arm hand wrist skills
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all happen to be very useful if I start
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to learn to draw particularly if I was
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used to writing in the same medium which
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I'm going to draw with this is an
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advantage I'm sure I had when I started
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to draw and that's it I'd learned to
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learn now sometimes we learn to learn
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because we learn how to learn because
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learning is a skill and because I'm a
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trained High School teacher not art but
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a trained High School teacher I learned
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to learn as part of our teacher
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education but when I began to draw and
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realized I had to learn this new skill I
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understood a lot of practices that would
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be helpful a lot of strategies that
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would be helpful or not helpful in the
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learning to learn process even though I
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didn't have a teacher I was self-taught
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I knew how to function as a teacher and
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that helped me know what to do how to do
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it when to do it to maximum
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Advantage it didn't make it easier in
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itself for me to learn to draw but it
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cut out a lot of time wandering in the
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wilderness doing things that weren't
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going to be as helpful as the things I
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chose to do it wasn't Talent it was life
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experience and learning before I started
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if we go back to our 10 people who are
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all starting to learn at the same time
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if we were to ask each of them why are
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you learning to draw why do you want to
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we are going to get 10 very different
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reasons and each of them is likely to
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have a different level of motivation and
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commitment there's a commitment enough
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and motivation enough for all of us to
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start but when the going gets tough when
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we have to make choices with what we do
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with our time and just how much
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importance and effort and concentration
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I'm prepared to spend on this is going
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to change if I'm doing it just to have
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fun if I'm doing it because I've been
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really inspired by other drawings and
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it's made me want to try it it's going
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to be very different if I think it's
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going to be a side hustle if I'm going
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to be able to sell my drawings at
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markets and so forth and it's very
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different again if I dream of being a
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full-time artist who lives off their art
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for my career and as Life Starts to
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throw up other things in our path as we
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move along for some of us our
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motivational level will mean we pull
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back or slow down maybe stop all
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together relative to others and it's not
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that anyone should or shouldn't do that
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it's simply understanding why there is a
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difference I would say the reason some
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people improve is that they push through
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the difficulties that other people might
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let them slow down a bit because of
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because of the other things in life that
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they value and the other time
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commitments they have it's not natural
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Talent it's just other stuff happening
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and we all respond to that differently
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I've left this one till last I wasn't
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sure whether to include it or not
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because in my mind I don't want to be
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unhelpful but I think when we just start
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to learn to draw sometimes being
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perfectionistic can work to our
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advantage in that it really pushes us to
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a high standard now let me say in the
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longer term I think perfectionism is
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highly destructive to learning to draw
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because in the end it gives us all sorts
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of focuses that really aren't helpful
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for learning process or for General
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morale during the process but at the
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very start when it's not so obvious to
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us or to others again it may just push
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us at may be a motivating thing this
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fear or drive that we have to get it
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perfect can allow us to dredge up energy
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and effort that perhaps other people not
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quite so driven don't have and that can
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make it look as though we're getting
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further more
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easily but not at all we all simply have
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different personalities and life
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experiences that mold how we think and
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how we push ourselves on I think the
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bottom line I think I think the takehome
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of all of this is when we learn to draw
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don't compare ourselves with other
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people don't worry about who is or isn't
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talented not a helpful concept if it
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means anything at all at all I'm the
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only person I need to be concerned about
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and I should really avoid comparing my
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drawings with others particularly other
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beginners if I find that generally a
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discouraging thing to do because we
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might start at the same time but we all
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start from different different places
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but what I really hope is that my videos
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help you get to the place that you're
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wanting to get to as quickly and as
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effectively as possible good day I'm
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Steven Travis so after all that it's
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probably time for us all to stop
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watching videos and do a drawing I'll
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see you next time bye
