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On Art
16 years ago
For too long I have been silent.
I speak not to those here who simply draw for the sake of drawing. Those who are contesting for attention by how shocking or graphic they can make an image appear. I am speaking to those who create. You both know who you are, and I encourage the former to stop reading, and the latter to continue.
Art, more specifically, the ability to create art is not a gift. It is a skill. A talent. Like a perfect golf swing or remarkable penmanship, creating art takes discipline, hard work, and dedication to create. The mind is created able to imagine, able to see without seeing. It is the true fire passed down to us by Prometheus, and without a will and desire to tend to it, this fire dies, likely never to be re-ignited. This, then, is the fundamental difference; man with fire and man without.
Many shuffle past us, boring and without creativity. In their jealousy for the skill, they label it a "gift". It is well, according to this idiotic sociological habit, to call athlete's ability a "gift." An athlete is simply given the ability to travel swiftly, leap, duck, and brush off injury that would crush a lesser man. It is not the years of training, the strict adherence to nutritional regimens, and personal hardship that grants them their strength. No, it is a gift. As random as the roll of a die, and not at all borne of the individual's determination.
Have we not struggled to achieve what we have? How many of us spent childhoods locked away in our rooms, computer paper scattered across the room, pencils rolling about our desks, trying to draw a perfect hand? Sitting in the back of classroom, ignoring what should have been a "normal" childhood for the far more fascinating imaginings in our minds? The hours of missed notes lost in margin-doodles, the odd looks from our classmates as they peek onto our papers and catch a glimpse of our minds? What makes us different from an athlete, however, is that an athlete can begin his or her career at any point in their lives. Thankfully, the human body can withstand a tremendous amount of damage and still recover, making a healthy lifestyle achievable to all who wish it at any time. Creativity, however, must be protected and nurtured all of one's life. It can never be lost, or it will never return. One can learn the technical skills of painting, penciling, and inking, but the works will never again show the passion of a person truly in touch with the image being created.
The next time someone tries to tell you that your ability to draw, to write, to create is a gift, punch them in the face. Hard. Life is a gift, one we do not work for, one we cannot refuse. Everything else is a skill. We practice, we fail, we learn.
The lost among us will be offended by your sentiment, saying they were just trying to be nice and compliment you; but yield not. Correct them, stand firm, and get back to drawing.
I speak not to those here who simply draw for the sake of drawing. Those who are contesting for attention by how shocking or graphic they can make an image appear. I am speaking to those who create. You both know who you are, and I encourage the former to stop reading, and the latter to continue.
Art, more specifically, the ability to create art is not a gift. It is a skill. A talent. Like a perfect golf swing or remarkable penmanship, creating art takes discipline, hard work, and dedication to create. The mind is created able to imagine, able to see without seeing. It is the true fire passed down to us by Prometheus, and without a will and desire to tend to it, this fire dies, likely never to be re-ignited. This, then, is the fundamental difference; man with fire and man without.
Many shuffle past us, boring and without creativity. In their jealousy for the skill, they label it a "gift". It is well, according to this idiotic sociological habit, to call athlete's ability a "gift." An athlete is simply given the ability to travel swiftly, leap, duck, and brush off injury that would crush a lesser man. It is not the years of training, the strict adherence to nutritional regimens, and personal hardship that grants them their strength. No, it is a gift. As random as the roll of a die, and not at all borne of the individual's determination.
Have we not struggled to achieve what we have? How many of us spent childhoods locked away in our rooms, computer paper scattered across the room, pencils rolling about our desks, trying to draw a perfect hand? Sitting in the back of classroom, ignoring what should have been a "normal" childhood for the far more fascinating imaginings in our minds? The hours of missed notes lost in margin-doodles, the odd looks from our classmates as they peek onto our papers and catch a glimpse of our minds? What makes us different from an athlete, however, is that an athlete can begin his or her career at any point in their lives. Thankfully, the human body can withstand a tremendous amount of damage and still recover, making a healthy lifestyle achievable to all who wish it at any time. Creativity, however, must be protected and nurtured all of one's life. It can never be lost, or it will never return. One can learn the technical skills of painting, penciling, and inking, but the works will never again show the passion of a person truly in touch with the image being created.
The next time someone tries to tell you that your ability to draw, to write, to create is a gift, punch them in the face. Hard. Life is a gift, one we do not work for, one we cannot refuse. Everything else is a skill. We practice, we fail, we learn.
The lost among us will be offended by your sentiment, saying they were just trying to be nice and compliment you; but yield not. Correct them, stand firm, and get back to drawing.
