While I personally do not intend to write or start a web comic anytime in the near future if at all, I find your advice to be very practical and useful in the art field in general. So while your target audience is of course illustrators and web comic creators, you are affecting others in similar fields as well – at least those of us that have interest in illustrated stories.

Thank your for your work. Seriously.

Cheers,
River

I’m from Puerto Rico, a small territory, but people here are egocentrical. They have a Dog eat Dog mentality and they dont help no one, and those that help is because they want something in exchange. And that is just plain wrong. We are so few and still divided in some many ways that is hard to keep up with all the things that matter. They revolve around drama…very unhealthy and is driving people insane.

I want to help everyone; comments, hints everything that is on my abilities to drive this force forward. But sometimes it drains, sometimes I need help, but no one is willing to give it unless there is something for them to gain.

I got many years doing this, I’m not know because, life is a bitch and sometimes people got to move with the flow and find other things to fill the soul and the pockets. But this time I want to break through.
I’m driven. But this drive and passion, due to my unknown status is taken for granted by those that have a bit of exposure, but at the end they had done nothing for themselves or the big community.

Again, thanks for the hints and the good deed of taking some who are wandering around and take them by their hands. It means a lot and surely, makes the day to some.

Even when I try my best to teach these types something, they think it’s somehow funny to deliberately put in no effort and then they kind of chuckle and go “See! I’m unteachable!” They sabotage any efforts I make just to poof up their egoism that they suck. It’s a weird vicious cycle. Both the “I HAZ TALENT” and “I suck” parties equally seem to think they are perfectly good as they are.

Actually, I think the “I suck” party is worse, as I could never see how somebody could be happy with a skill they themselves admit is sub-par. At least the “talent” party are actively happy with themselves, arrogant but happy.

I’m always striving to improve myself in everything, mostly Star Trek trivia, but everything else too, so I hate the “I suck” party more because it’s a personal insult, whereas the “talent” party usually doesn’t realize there is no such thing as talent, as they’ve been told all their lives that they haz it.

You know?

Point is, if she can get good at art and can’t even use her hands, then all of us who can use our hands just need to show the same dedication as her and our drawings will eventually get good.

Yes, I do think that every persons’ brain is wired slightly differently, and that some people have a slight edge in certain fields. But that’s it. In *every* case I’ve seen of child prodigies, they’ve had a *lot* of opportunity to practice their skills. And yes, children learn faster than adults at many things.

That being said, the most common child prodigy that people bring up is Mozart. Of course, these people don’t bring up that his father was a music teacher and that he sat in on his sister’s lessons.

People who love chess tend to spend a lot of time thinking about it. I know that I went through that phase for several years when I was younger (up through high school) and I got to be fairly good at it – never great, but good. Then I stopped having fun and went on to other things. However, some of what chess taught me stayed with me.

I also loved foreign languages. During college I could speak (through hard work) almost a dozen of them somewhat and was extremely fluent in German. However, again, after college I didn’t get a chance to use these languages, but some of these things stayed with me.

And during high school I wrote a *lot* of fantasy and science fiction stories, all but a few of which have unfortunately been lost because they were written on a typewriter and thrown out during one of my moves.

I also had a love for computers ever since jr. high school. And this is where all the practice that went into chess and languages and math and other things combined. For almost twenty years I was a *very* good programmer/systems analyst. This ability didn’t come out of nowhere. It came from a *lot* of study in programming, from building my own computers, and from the study that went into chess, and writing, and human languages. Not to mention a *lot* of hard work. And yes, people called me talented enough that I believed it for a while.

Yes, talent can help. Some people have better visualization than others. Some people have better hand-to-eye coordination. However, all this does is to help you up a bit on the learning curve – it doesn’t magically make you a genius at a drawing.

I am now learning art. I’m not even trying to learn drawing yet, but am working on 3d graphics. I *know* that it will take a long time to get as good as some of my idols, but I’m practicing and trying. I am even working on creating my first webcomic. I’m using 3d applications for the art with photoshop filters to make it look less 3d. I’m practicing scripting, I’m working on the art. And I’m slowly getting better.

And I’m not just speaking from opinion here. Just do a simple google of “talent vs practice”. Studies are showing more and more that all it takes to make a master is practice. Specific types of practice can decrease the time involved (sometimes called “directed practice” in which you continually work on your weaknesses) and some types of practice do very little for you (continually redoing things you’ve already mastered for instance).

So, if you’re going to talk about talent, prove it. Research the life of this 9-year-old chess prodigy to show that they have never done anything that could prepare them for chess.

And yes, like most people I’m lazy. I just wish that I could get through the difficult parts of learning. That is, until I realize that some of my most fun moments at writing and programming have been during those difficult times. There is a wonderful feeling when things come together.

the history of the game demonstrates that there is something called talent. when a nine year old can play as well or better than a master who has spent most of their lives playing, learning, and loving the game, there seems to be something more than passion and perseverance (which complement talent). i still play the game and hope to improve, but i know that there are certain heights i will never reach.

on the other hand, i know that i am talented at drawing. i never feel limited, and i have produced two amateur comic books.

i would like to end this comment with a quote, “Talent is doing easily what others find difficult.” Art is easy for me; chess is not, although i am passionate about both. Outcome: Everyone must be talented at something. They just have to find out what that is. And it doesn’t necessarily have to fall under the usual categories of art, writing, music, and so on. it could be anything. business, programming, teaching, and the list goes on.

I completely agree with people who’s commented, BUT one thing which i see as maybe what you could call talent is…..some people have a very special way of seeing things -or express them. Everyone can learn how to draw. It’s a matter of practice and blabla. You can even learn how to compose pictures by “formula”. But I’ve come across some people who just in general create stuff that has that extra “punch” which absolutely enchants people.
Is that talent or..?