I agree that there are some people out there who have an edge. First they have an innate desire to do whatever is it they will be awesome at. Not all of us are aware of what we can really shine at, simply because we don't always get to try everything. I might have the makings of the worlds greatest basket weaver but I don't plan on spending my time to find out.
Now AFTER someone decides they love something, it may turn out they have a god given gift in that area, like Stephen Hawking or Usain Bolt. There will always be the occasional genius, however, the majority of us, the 999 999 out of a million, are in the same boat of only becoming great (not necessarily the best in the world) at what we practice. Oh, and when I say practice, I mean practice really, really, really, hard.
I have pictures of my art growing up. From what I see, I would be your average kid, but as I got older, the gap between my skills and other children skills widened. I just liked what I did, and with the right encouragement, worked hard and got better at it. There is a huge jump in my skills from ages 12 - 14. This is because I started practicing on my own, a few hours a week.
Grade 9 (we had do an acrylic painting of a wildlife photo)
In fact many of the people we consider "prodigies" were sent away at the ages of 8-10 to do absolutely nothing but study one specific field. If you look at a history of education, the current model of "study a bit of everything" until your 18 then specialize, has only been around for a short time.
Michelangelo was sent away at 13 to study under the masters. So when you see something sculpted by the 18 year old Michelangelo, remember, he had already clocked at least 10 000 hours (assuming he only studied 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it was probably way more) in his art education. 10 000 has been marked as the number of hours it takes to master a craft. Michelangelo spent 10 000 hours under some of the best teachers of his time. When you think about it, how can we realistically compare "prodigies" from history to "prodigies" today. I certainly didn't have the advantage of 10 000 hours under an accomplished artist before turning eighteen.
No, what I had during the same time span was probably like 700-900 hours of an untrained humanities teacher stumbling her way through a middle school art class, a high school teacher with over 200 students to monitor per semester, and good old fashioned practice by myself. Sad to say, out off all the kids I knew growing up, I spent way more time on art than they did. Students who don't study on their own, even with projects, realistically get less than 500 hours, taking art for 2 years in middle school, (no homework) and 3 years in high school with an additional 3 hours of homework per week (which is a very high estimate for homework volume for an art class)
So the next time you think you or your kid, doesn't have a "talent" for art, stop being so harsh! Encourage practice, remind them that they can't compare themselves to unrealistic standards set by a different form of education. My husband has to do that for me all the time.
Now if they don't want to practice and still complain they suck that's a different story......
