Can you be taught/learn how to draw/paint or do you have to be naturally talented?

[beeonmybonnett]

I’m itching to join an art class at my local community centre, as a hobby, and get to draw/paint pets and landscapes. I reckon it would be really therapeutic and enjoyable - plus I’d get to meet new people too!

The only problem is that unfortunately I was not gifted with the ability to be able to draw/paint! I can just about draw a stick man!

Would there be any point in me signing up to an art class? Is it really something that you can be taught and learn to do? Is it the same as not being good at maths, studying it for gcse then suddenly you’re really good at it? Or do you just have to be naturally talented at it and if you’re not, there’s nothing you can do about it?

I think everyone can do some kind of art. You may never be able to do realistic pets or landscapes, but you may be good at a different style. You don’t have to paint in a realistic way to be an artist! I draw abstract art and I have sold pictures and even done a public wall mural - and I absolutely can not draw in a realistic way. Like you I can just about draw a stick man! But I am good at colours and shapes. I use digital tools which are great for helping you draw perfectly round circles and colour in smoothly. Sometimes I do screen printing or linocut printing to get my work off the screen and onto paper.

Maybe visit a local art gallery where the work is done by amateur local artists, and see what sort of stuff people are producing. Get on Artstation and have a look at different styles. Don’t get hung up on producing realistic art!

My natural ability is not far off stick men also. I can to some extent copy or be guided step by step.

I once did a watercolour class years ago at Centre Parcs just for the hell of it. My forest scene was passable but we were hand held through it.

I suppose if I did a lot of classes I'd get better but I don't have natural talent for painting unlike my DS who appears to have been born just knowing how to paint and draw. He's got better too obviously but it seems much more innate in him.

A relative of mine started weekly classes about 2 years ago. No previous artistic interest, no GCSE or anything. Produces fab things now that absolutely look like "proper" art.

Yes, you can definitely learn/improve!
I think a lot of people are thwarted by rubbish teachers and also lacking a willingness to try/fail. The 10 000 hours thing is definitely true for creative subjects- put the effort in and you will get somewhere.
I often recommend step by step drawing books for beginners (child and adult) and also copying art works in pencil- either freehand or using the grid system, as a starting place. Good luck and enjoy!

Just do it! I realised a while ago that it's fine to do something because you want to - even if you are terrible at it! And you might surprise yourself.

It's definitely something you can learn. A lot of drawing is about constructing the scene/figure geometrically first. No one is 'bad' at drawing, they just haven't been taught properly.

If you could see the drawings I submitted as part of my uni application compared to now, you would not be asking that question 😅

My uni app was awful, really embarrassing. I've actually ended up making a little business out of my drawings which you'd find hard to believe if you saw my work from years ago.

Go for it!

Definitely! And there are so many routes to go down so just start exploring. You might decide you love realistic scenes in pencils, or abstract drawings in ink, or impressionist paintings using oil etc etc etc. They all use different skills. There is so much to learn about colour theory, light and dark, and composition too. Please let us know how you get on! 😁

I don't know if it's something you can learn but I think being any good at it is entirely besides the point anyway. It's about the enjoyment, being creative and switching off from life for a while.

I think you need to have natural talent to be really good but I think anyone can do some form of art.

Go for it. In my experience school art teachers don't help because they're only interested in kids who already show promise. I remember getting my knuckles rapped with a wooden ruler because my portrait of the kid opposite wasn't good enough.

My DF was a talented amateur artist but he died when I was young and I think had he lived I'd me more artistic than I am.

Have a look at Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty White? (I might be confusing her with someone from the Golden Girls). It really helped me understand the difference between drawing what I knew was there and what I actually "saw".

I took a beginner's art class 10 years ago which took us through the basics of composition, and lots of different mediums....It was an absolute joy!

I'm rubbish! But the freedom to play around, create and just experiment was exhilarating! I felt like a child again.

This was one Saturday a month for 5 hours which meant you could totally immerse yourself and get lost in what you were doing.

If its a beginners class go for it!

You can be taught prospective, where the horizon line is and placing the vanishing point. You can be taught how to draw a ball to make it look spherical. You can be shown how to draw bodies in proportion

Not sure you can be taught hand/eye coordination but I guess practice helps

Normal visual perception is a very wide range. Don’t think you can improve on what nature handed out to you and I don’t think you can be taught artistic flare.. Having said that you can be trained to produce something pleasing.

Do the classes for you. Enjoy them. In my opinion drawing/painting fur is really hard

I took a beginner's art class 10 years ago which took us through the basics of composition, and lots of different mediums....It was an absolute joy!

This. Get to use loads of different media and tools, learn different techniques, learn about the colour wheel, perspective, composition, spaces - and what happens if you break the "rules". Look at different artists - what do you like about a work? What don't you like?

See what you like doing. You'll probably prefer working with some medias than others, some subjects more than others. Some people are great portraitists, others might be fab at botanical drawings, or using light and colour...

The one thing great artists will have in common is practice. You might have innate talent, but it's spending hours and hours and hours on it that makes you great, be it art, music, sport, writing... Artists tend to have sketch books, and draw heads or hands or trees or rabbits or buildings over and over. They do loads of studies and practice compositions and so on. They don't usually start with a blank canvas and nothing else - loads of preparatory stuff.

It doesn't matter if it's not great if you enjoy it, and classes can make you at least competent, because you'll have a better understanding of how to make different marks.

Go for it. Make it a thing that you draw or paint something every day. You tube is great for learning. I have not done any art since school a long time ago but now retired I started again. And I learn a lot daily, you just have to persevere and find your niche. I feel like I go into a different place when I am creating. Art journaling is a good platform to begin with. Good luck.

I think it's nothing to do with natural talent and all to do with repetition. I paint realistic wildlife portraits and started around 12 years ago having never picked up a paintbrush previously. My first painting was crap but they got better the more I did, I think if you enjoy doing it that is the key - you will want to keep practising and will invariably improve. I cannot paint anything other than animals, I have no interest in anything else so have never tried and as a result my people/landscapes have never progressed past the ability of the average six year old whereas my animals are definitely better than they were 12 years ago! My paintings are now sold in galleries all over the UK and on various cruise lines - go for it!!

In addition to YouTube, Instagram is really good for step-by-step art things. There are some really good tutorials out there, and even though it’s basically “copying”, every time you do it you’re learning skills you can apply on your own. I bought a big set of cheap markers and my 9yo followed a YouTube video to do this. It’s just following instructions really but next time she plays with the markers she’ll be able to do some of the same things she did in this picture and start to be more creative.

You need the book 'Drawing on the right side of the brain' by Betty Edwards. I never thought I could draw. I can now! Her thesis is that essentially drawing is about learning to look properly. Some people pick that up naturally, others don't. But everyone can learn to do it. It takes a switch of perspective more than anything. After that it's down to practice.

I always said I couldn't draw. Always admired those who can. Took myself off for a 6 week 'learn to draw' course. Loved it and found I could draw a bit and was getting better. It's something you need to practise daily to get loads better. Now I say I can draw, just not very well!

Do try!

there are many places now that offer one day workshops to try all sorts of difference art and craft skills - keep trying until you find your thing!

My uncle is incredibly artistic, as in people pay money for the works he creates. I however have the drawing skills of a toddler. We met up recently and we were chatting about it and his take on my lack of skill is that I was never taught properly, it’s a skill that you learn and then build on. I’m incredibly crafty, can do fantastic zen tangle designs but drawing and painting not so much. I’m better at copying though rather than freestyle but it’s basic copying at best

A great teacher can teach anyone to paint and draw well, if the pupil can listen and concentrate and practice and is prepared to dedicate time to it.

Don’t expect to be naturally able to do it. ‘Gifted’ people usually just had parents who taught them well very young.

If you are afraid of 'failing' at drawing, start off with a set of acrylics paints and try some abstract expressionism.

Look at some artists for inspiration - Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko, kandinsky, de Koning...... there are so many. Go to Tate Modern or your local art museum. Watch contemporary painters on YouTube - I like Louise Fletcher and Betty Franks, but there are so many.

Art is so exciting and stimulating and rewarding!

I draw and colour in for a living OP. I believe it is practise. No one is born with an innate ability to draw, it is practise, all practise that and learning how to use contrast, layout, colour combinations, shading etc

It takes time, lots of time. I do this for a living and it still takes lots of time to design anything to a professional level and I sometimes spend far to long deciding between dark grey and light black in a palette😁

Wow that’s amazing!!

Thanks for your replies everyone, I have read them all!

It’s just that I had always thought that some people were just born with the ability to draw and that they could just draw really good sketches without even being taught!

I am going to look into joining a class and see how I go. I will also look at YouTube too!