So I recently went to the Natural History Museum, and there were lots of nice comments from the people, but man, I keep forgetting that most folks don’t draw. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but the misperceptions about artists, or even just people who like drawing, that are thrown at me from people outside of the artist community make it terrible.  

Example: At the museum, a lady came up to me and said, “I can’t even draw a line even if I’d tried!” and I understand her intention was good, but I was thisss close to saying, “Well you don’t try very hard do you?”. 

Seriously, it’s very nice that people appreciate what we artists do, but when people start implying that we don’t have to work for the skills we [are trying to] master, that we didn’t spend hours and hours pretty much everyday practicing or studying our craft, I go from happy to cheesed off faster than you can say, “You were born with so much artistic talent”. 

It’s this completely bull notion that the arts are somehow completely different than any other subject. Whereas most things are mastered through a combination of intellect and hard work, somehow the arts are mastered through talent juice magically fed to a developing fetus and visitations from frolicking art fairies.

More than anything, it’s probably because of the conflicting attitudes toward art. It’s an easy, fun subject and yet when people try to actually do it, they find that it’s just as hard as any other subject. The only explanation must be that people who are good at it are just good at it by nature. This of course is completely untrue. It should go without saying but it’s not. As an artist, the best compliments I’ve received address my hard work and passion for my craft and, believe it or not, I’m tired of being treated like a lucky bastard.

Thoughts? 

Edit: I just wanted to address an important point that was brought up. Yes, it is true, that certain people have a greater proclivity for art, but talent can be found in any subject. In the arts however, the popular idea is that everyone is talented by virtue of the subject and not by an individual’s learning habits.