A question of talent

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by Sturmhalo
At the end of the day it\'s a hobby and who cares how good anyone is at anything? What counts is that people enjoy what they do. How many times have we heard of people on here thinking they\'re all depressed simply because they\'ve lost the enjoyment of their hobby? It\'s a hobby and it doesn\'t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

And funnily enough, I\'m in the \'don\'t like my hobby\' stage again. Couldn\'t paint the back end of a (miniature) cow. Balls!

But quite right. A nice simple view of what painting is about is that. We\'ll leave it to you guys to split hairs and pour ourselves a cold beer instead. Seriously, don\'t over-analyse it all lol

Still, back on my point, there\'s a definite element of \'some who can, some who can\'t\'. That\'s the way life goes All this talk of achieving whatever you put your mind to is a little silly at times. Some people are, once again, dick-fingered lol

 

[monolith]

@Alexei_Z: Unemployed bum, really. I\'d like to make a living outta painting, but it\'s a bit of work without the startup cash. I figure $1000 to $1500 Australian, and I\'d have a website, hosting, paypal acct, ebay, etc. and a decent digital camera. then it\'s just a case of getting some minis people really want to buy. Ah well. Pipe dreams are the best kind.

Besides, No one on here\'s even seen my work to get an idea of how good I may or may not be. I think I\'d like to win a Golden Demon, too. I hear they\'re good for business.

 

[dachande]

It is true that the only barriers people face in this hobby are themselves. Personally, I put a barrier on myself without realizing it, because I didn\'t like the NMM style or the layering technique or any of a thousand other reasons. That stopped my growth.

When Duende and I started getting Vallejo paints, that all changed. I looked around at my painted stuff, then at CMON and wondered why my scores weren\'t higher (scores really don\'t matter to me, honestly, mainly because of snipers and whiny painters - but I have jumped about 100 points, so take that as you will). I decided, with a little cajolling from a friend that I needed to cut loose, take away my mental barrier and try something new. Since then, I know I\'ve improved, and am only getting better. I\'ve also set goals, and for me that\'s a big step.

If I can get a \'wow\' out of someone, or even a smiling \'you suck\', then I know I\'m doing something right. I also know I still have a long way to go to reach my goals, but at least I\'m on the right track.

 

[sivousplay]

Originally posted by Sturmhalo
At the end of the day it\'s a hobby and who cares how good anyone is at anything? What counts is that people enjoy what they do. How many times have we heard of people on here thinking they\'re all depressed simply because they\'ve lost the enjoyment of their hobby? It\'s a hobby and it doesn\'t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

In the grand scheme of things, the earth doesn\'t even matter ... so, I don\'t think we should use the grand scheme as our metric for what matters and what doesn\'t or it\'s all pretty pointless.

Any activity that we choose to do has the opportunity to give us joy ... focus on the joy you get out of them and you\'ll spend more time doing them and you\'ll naturally get better as you spend more time.

Let the joy, not the accolades drive you and you may find that you start to get some of the accolades.

jim

 

[ipaintminis]

Originally posted by reverend
I don\'t know about that. A lot of people are, to use an old phrase, dick-fingered. It\'s a skill and not everyone can operate to any degree of proficiency in a particular skill just because of hard work. Some people just don\'t have the knack. I point to the late, great R Lobinske who, it seems, was a painter of many years of experience, but he still made everything look like crap. he knew what he was talking about, but he couldn\'t/can\'t paint for love nor money lol

It\'s a skill, and some have a natural leaning towards it, many others don\'t.

Sorry Becca! :innocent:

to each their own rev... :] but i still think even mr.lobinski could have been better if he wasnt so bull headed. thats the point really.

 

[Equus]

Originally posted by reverend
But quite right. A nice simple view of what painting is about is that. We\'ll leave it to you guys to split hairs and pour ourselves a cold beer instead. Seriously, don\'t over-analyse it all lol

True, but I think my view on the question has spiraled wildly out of control so that the \"question of talent\" is going beyond painting and toward art, in general. I also have a tendency to overanalyze EVERYTHING, which is one of the reasons I do directing now. That and the highly opinionated part.

And I do have to agree that there are people who just can\'t, but I think that\'s the exception rather than the average. Granted, some people become much better painters much quicker and there is a certain amount of physical aptitude (ie not being dick-fingered ) involved.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by sivousplay

Let the joy, not the accolades drive you and you may find that you start to get some of the accolades.

Umm... and you\'re saying that on a site like this?! Accolades. personal kudos, and egoism is exactly what drives half the people here! Ignore the golden demons, the pointless on-line contests, and the cliquey back slapping and then we\'ll see how many of us are left here!

 

[Equus]

Originally posted by Sturmhalo

Originally posted by sivousplay

Let the joy, not the accolades drive you and you may find that you start to get some of the accolades.

Umm... and you\'re saying that on a site like this?! Accolades. personal kudos, and egoism is exactly what drives half the people here! Ignore the golden demons, the pointless on-line contests, and the cliquey back slapping and then we\'ll see how many of us are left here!

Yup...we\'d end up with people who don\'t have any galleries and wax philosophical about art. Or bitter drunk b@st@rds. I may be able to qualify for both, depending on what time of day it is.

 

[dachande]

[/quote]

Umm... and you\'re saying that on a site like this?! Accolades. personal kudos, and egoism is exactly what drives half the people here! Ignore the golden demons, the pointless on-line contests, and the cliquey back slapping and then we\'ll see how many of us are left here! [/quote]

Hehe. That\'s why I don\'t post or really care about scores that much. I\'m not into the \"popularity gets the scores\" attitude. The ability to grow and certain innate abilities are the true factors to becoming a better painter. Ego and cliques can take a jump.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by Equus

Originally posted by Sturmhalo

Originally posted by sivousplay

Let the joy, not the accolades drive you and you may find that you start to get some of the accolades.

Umm... and you\'re saying that on a site like this?! Accolades. personal kudos, and egoism is exactly what drives half the people here! Ignore the golden demons, the pointless on-line contests, and the cliquey back slapping and then we\'ll see how many of us are left here!

Yup...we\'d end up with people who don\'t have any galleries and wax philosophical about art. Or bitter drunk b@st@rds. I may be able to qualify for both, depending on what time of day it is.

Bollocks :innocent:

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by dachande

Umm... and you\'re saying that on a site like this?! Accolades. personal kudos, and egoism is exactly what drives half the people here! Ignore the golden demons, the pointless on-line contests, and the cliquey back slapping and then we\'ll see how many of us are left here! [/quote]

Hehe. That\'s why I don\'t post or really care about scores that much. I\'m not into the \"popularity gets the scores\" attitude. The ability to grow and certain innate abilities are the true factors to becoming a better painter. Ego and cliques can take a jump. [/quote]

Didn\'t think I\'d seen you pimping your miniatures in the shoutbox or on the forums. Well done my man! Have a drink on me.

Someone I can respect at last

 

[dachande]

And you never will, Sturmhalo. You never will. I\'ll buy the next round.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Let the painting speak for itself I say.



And mine\'s a vodka Dachande

 

[Infidel Castro]

It\'s like brothers, separated at birth and reunited on Channel 5 in a moving documentary!

Good on the pair of you.

And the idea with painting is the same as anything else in the world. You get a majority of average folk and then some amazing ones and some dick-fingered ones. That\'s just the way life goes! You can improvew in some degree in anything you do, but it doesn\'t mean you can become the best from sheer determination. Some people just can\'t do stuff. All this management-speak about reaching your personal peaks and all that jazz is bollocks

 

[Legacy Account]

Bollocks and shite.....

Just paint yer toys and enjoy it.

 

[dachande]

*Raises Lager to Sturm, Rev and Spacemunkie*

Yep, to hell with conformity. Time to go paint some little plastic critters (See. I can do that more often because my arms aren\'t always busy patting myself on the back).

On a side note, I do have a gallery here and on another site. Not for accolades, but for constructive criticism. When praise is given, it feels good, but fishing for it is ridiculous. I\'m not that shallow.

 

[Infidel Castro]

I was thinking about this again (my mind goes eighteen to the dozen) and wondering about the root of the idea for this website. The progenitor of the whole system was that website where people would vote on each other to see whether they were attractive or pug-ugly. I was then wondering if they ewver encountered turf wars and stuff over who was the prettiest lol Can you imagine grown adults fighting over who had the nicest face and body, people sniping others down to lower scores so they could be the best on the website etc.................? Gave me a chuckle. I know this is a little off-topic, but it just goes to show how people get so caught up in the system. Just like CMoN

Anyway, cheers in return *raises an ice-cold beer*

EDIT - is it nineteen to the dozen or eighteen? God knows. Nineteen sounds better though.

 

[Legacy Account]

\"5 - Actually a 5.5. You are not horrendously unattractive, but there are definite simian undertones to your whole appearance...\"

\"5.5! COME ON! I\'m not that ugly! Anyway, did you ever look in the mirror? I\'ve seen better looking offal...\"

 

[Infidel Castro]

Exactly. That\'s the way of these things, people bitch-slapping and pulling hair...it just ain\'t right.

\'Your make-up needs more highlighting, but don\'t dry-brush or else you\'ll only get a 6\' lol

 

[Jambot13]

I reckon that with time and patience painting techniques can be mastered by anyone. I think there are other, much more important bits of knowledge that you need to become a truly great miniature painter though. The main two for me are a deep understanding of colour and a certain level of restraint, and I think this is why many of the very best painters in the world come from an art background.

I’ve seen painters with perfect technique who create very uninspiring miniatures because they are far to concerned with showing off their technique. Just because they can perfectly blend every possible colour in the world they do so, all on one miniature, or they plaster it with over the top freehand just because they have a steady hand.

The real master painters have the technique down, but what makes the difference is that they know how best to apply it and when to stop. The good news is that this can be learned to, so we all have the potential to be brilliant!

Sorry to break from the rather interesting grounds this thread is now covering and actually address the initial question for once!