In relation to art and artists, Jack Kirby Steve Ditko and Stan Lee were all in their forties before they created the foundations of the Marvel universe and changed popular culture as it exsists today. Stan already considered himself a failure and was ready to move on.

You probably know this story but just in case you don’t. Frank Frazetta, who got work pen and ink work in comicbooks at a very early age, then went on to ghost al capps little abner sunday page for about 8 years. After a dispute with Capp over salary Frank quit and tried to return to comics. They told him his work was old fashioned and he should do something else. Can you imagine, Frank Frazetta!

So at the age of 30 with a growing family to support decided he was going to be a painter, editors declined him work. Friends like Don Evans and Roy Krenkel would share their commissions with Frank. Eventually Roy fell behind on deadlines with Ace books and Frank stepped in and did a full book cover for Tarzan. It sold very well and it became financially beneficial to give Frank work for ace. Donald Wollheim, the editor for ace books didn’t see the potential in Frank, when his covers would sell more books than other artists he just couldn’t understand it. I guess what I’m saying is that even though Frank was considered a prodigy of sorts in one area of art at one time early in his life, he was also written off later and told he didn’t have what it takes, by the people who had all the power in the world over him, those who could publish his work. If he hadn’t had the perserverence he had, in spite of being told his early paintings weren’t good enough imagine how different the landscape of popular culture would be. This guy influenced generations of artists in every field of visual artists imaginable.

I think age gives us objectivity, maybe if Frank were a younger man when he was told he didn’t have what it takes he would have moved on to some other profession and the world would be a very different place in some respects. Anyway, I hope I didn’t wander too far from the intent of this blog post, let’s just say I agree with you.

Part of it does have to do with teachers telling potential students that they should not bother.

There is a mystery around the visual arts that most people tend to believe, that drawing or painting is something that one is born with.

Of course some people do have natural artistic talent, ability to sketch a good likeness, or a natural feel for use of colors.

However what people do not realize that drawing and painting and any other art are technical skills, just like being an engineer or computer programmers.

There is a technique and underlying fundamentals to everything. In the visual arts you have tone, use of light and shadow, perspective, line drawing, dimension, etc. These are all fundamentals that can be learned by anyone, and when drilled and practiced over and over, whalla, beautiful art is created.

When I design a website I am not using natural talent I was born with, I just learned the techniques involved with it and after practicing and building and studying some more I am really good at it.

The same can be done with drawing, or painting, or sculpting.

If any art teacher tells you that you can’t learn art then you just need to find an new art teacher