Concept Art Illustration And Creative Psychology 

Thanks to your kind encouragement, the full audiobook is available! You can find it here: bit.ly/2BuRiRH

you are a good speaker...or dare I say...talented? : )

Right from the get go. What you said is my EXACT reality - was always 'talented' at art. Went to an art highschool, did better than most while doing less and handing things in later and later. Now, I am an anxious perfectionist who quits at every turn because I was once 'so talented', this should be 'so easy' and there are so many holes in my abilities that those who had to work much harder than me from the bottom have long since filled in. 'Talent' sucked enjoyment from my art - expectations were always so high, I could never finish anything without it being 'perfect' first. I am in my late 20s now and I haven't drawn in months, because failure sets me back 15 years mentally. Talent is meaningless. or rather, a curse. Anyway, subscribed.

This video is so refreshing after all the "You're so talented!" compliments I get for my art. I know what talent is. I grew up as a pretty gifted child when it came to academic things like school. I scored in the top 3 consistently in any class and it all felt incredibly undeserved. I could look around a room at school and point out almost every person as someone who was trying harder than me - studying harder and putting in a lot more time. This led to a feeling that I was simply made for academic success, after all, how else could I be so much better than everyone else who had to spend so much time understanding the things I already did? But, time went on. I reached university and immediately felt the effects that my talent had on me. Instead of information being served on platter straight to my brain like it was in school, I had to search for it, I had to study for hours on end, I had to try. This overwhelmed me, and soon I realised I was in the group that was barely passing. Thankfully, I'd already stopped using my grades as a source of validation in the later years of school, so I was able to accept that fact quite well. Still, that did lead to me dropping out. Having recently discovered a passion for art, and also having seen other artists and how incredibly skilled I'd have to be if I want to make this my profession, I started to put in work. Every day, I've been studying different areas of art and working on personal projects for several hours (not in a way where I burn out though, I'm still making sure to enjoy it). At last, I feel like I'm making progress and it feels amazing that I have achieved it not through talent, but through genuine hard work. I'll continue to do what I'm doing, and will probably continue to be silently irritated when people call me talented when I post my art online lol. Anyway, thanks for the video Marco, it really spoke to me and, I'm sure, a lot of others as well.

I am the best example of that stigma. I was one of those people "I wish I had a talent to draw, but I don't". And then one time I thought, what if I watch a youtube tutorial? What if I can learn more? I started painting at 28 years old and I am amazed with what I can actually do with just a little bit of education. I just wish I knew this before, that you can learn how to draw and paint.

"love makes hard work much less hard." Awesome

Thanks for making this Marco , i can relate to alot of the this you said in this video. I was one of those "talanted" kids growing up and gradually lost interest in drawing because everyone praise around me made me think that i was good enough and there nothing else to learn But my interest rekindled when i saw the stuff other artist were putting up online when i was about 13 during the early deviantart days and i wanted to try drawing like that but of course the results were mostly terrible and it made me questioned myself if i really had it in me. I then gave up for a few years before i then encountered some artists on youtube describing the same problem i was facing and how hard they had to work and the stuff they did to get to the level they are. I decided to give it another go for a few years and really dedicated myself into learning a few of the drawing and painting fundamentals and looking at multiple artists works i admire to figure out how they do things. And now after looking back at my old works when i first started drawing , there a huge difference . Guess all i wanted to say is that i agree hardwork and the discipline to carry it through does in fact pay off.

6 minutes in and I'm feeling VERY ATTACKED!!!!

Man, I'm only seeing this now. I went to college 6 years ago and was good at drawing and had a knack for lots of things got loads of praise then left college. After that all that talent slowly drained away and the people that I once thought "your way behind my level in art" have now got jobs in tattoo parlours and are great artists while I can't even draw a face anymore 😭

Marco, I go back to this every time I am feeling like I am losing my passion on creating especially that I just graduated art school & tryna find a job. Thank you so much.

This video needs to be watched by anyone looking to persue a passion,

Dear god, I can't thank you enough for clarifying what "hard work" is in words. It's one of those terms you hear all the time growing up, but no one teaches you what MEANS. They just expect you to get it.

the comments are all talking about the inspirational/eye opening stuff he said, and for good reason, but can we just stop & appreciate that he did this whole thing on ONE LAYER??

Hi Marco, Thanks for the awesome encouragement. One thing I have to add: You asked about whether programmers get told they are talented, and as a developer, I can tell you that this happens actually quite often in the field. Working in Development is actually quite similar to the artistic fields since technique and experience are the most important things in the field. Thanks again, keep it up :) Regards Michael

I listen to these talks why I practice art. It's a great listen, thank you!

"Yes, you can start now. No, you are not too old." I love this quote more than anything being such a late starter. I'm listening to this again and currently making a digital painting. I would have never attempted this if messages like this weren't put out there. Thank you!

This was actually an eye opener for me. You have no idea how badly I needed this. As an artist who just starting things in her life, I was falling into depression because of the 'Stigma' and lack of belief in myself. Hearing this made me realize things that what I'm feeling right now is normal and I have to treat things differently and work with an entirely new but positive perspective. So thanks for this and I love your style :)

About 25 minutes in I find myself ordering your book. I look forward to read the rest! By the way your artwork really feels vivid and alive!

Amazing "story"! Almost felt like you described me lol, was born with talent for music, everyone around me praised me. Took me way more years than i like to admit to really wake up from the ego buble and see that i really wasnt that good anymore, since everone else had passed me or was at my "skill" level. Even now as a full grown adult i suffer from my early misstakes with "talent", i feel like i was totally blinded by how easy it seemed at the time. If i had practiced and kept acquire more skill i would be miles ahead from where i am today. Intresting topic to say the least, really something that should be talked more about. But i doubt a young kid with talent would listen anyway.. lol!

The commentary in this video is absolute GOLD for any creative (or aspiring creative) person doing ANY work in ANY field. Seriously, take to heart what he is saying. Absolute truth.

I am such a big fan! You thank your viewers for the encouragement, but YOU need to know how much you inspire and encouragement to keep going and chasing my dreams of making a living creating art. Huge thanks to you, dude!

This was SO powerful! Thank you for sharing this and writing out these thoughts down. So many people needed and need to hear this.

That's exactly what I had to hear. Thank you for this, Bucci!

I’m so grateful for social media as it’s allowed me to view other artist’s work and strive to improve myself. People would give me compliments and say I’m “talented” and everything, and that would cause me to slowly lose interest in improving my skills, as it would lead me to believe in good enough as is. Seeing that there’s always someone out there with better skills than me helps to keep me going and keep me striving to get better at what I do.

I’m five minutes in and I already relate to this so much. In elementary school, I was told constantly by teachers and parents and other students how smart I was and how I was ahead of everyone else and they wanted me to skip a grade for a challenge. I finished my tests before everyone else, never had any questions because I understood everything immediately, etc. In middle/high school, I was homeschooled. I felt like I didn’t need to work at school because I’d been told growing up how easy it came to me. My grades fell, but my love for art grew. I was in art classes and was drawing badly for my age, but then one day something just clicked and I was drawing exceptionally well suddenly. I was the only one in my entire community of people that could draw, and again, teachers, parents, and other students told me every day how talented I was and how successful I’d one day be. I was drawing portraits of famous people mainly, but they looked realistic enough that it became my entire identity. Everyone wanted me to draw someone or something specific, and I liked the praise so I did it. I graduated high school, and chose not to go to college. I was going to take a gap year and study art and work on getting a job in the field. Instead, I lost interest in drawing, got a job in a restaurant, and never went to college. I went from being ahead of everyone in my class academically, and being ‘exceptional’ at art, to being an uneducated dud with no path in life. My peers have all gone to college and are successful where they are, and I feel like I failed everyone who ever told me I’d be the best, including myself, which made me pretty depressed for a couple years. A few months ago, I was hit by a car and wasn’t allowed to get out of bed except to use the bathroom. Laying trapped in a bed opened up the world to me. Drawing was how I filled my time, and ever since, it’s all I want to do. I feel like I finally have a true love for it and I want to understand it more than I ever did. Maybe I’ll even go to college 🤷🏼‍♀️ all in all, I would say talent and natural gifts are overrated. Life requires hard work, and telling a kid that they don’t need to work for something makes them lazy and complacent, and eventually everyone is ahead of them. I just hope I can catch up

Drew a good simple portrait while listening to this. It's really good like the way you spoke was so nice that it did not distract me from what I was doing and yet I could hear it well.

This was amazing! I came to learn how to be a better painter and I left with some of the best creative advice I've ever heard, translatable to all forms of art/passion/creation. As a writer, I felt a lot of what was said could be directly applied to my field and many others. Thank you so much for posting this. I will definitely pick up a copy of your book and recommend it to others.

This excerpt changed my thinking on a lot of things. My writing, my art, gaming, working out. All of my goals are achievable if I put enough work into repetitive practice, and stop expecting immediate results. I've also come to appreciate that the process of "getting good" at something is typically bitter work but can also be enjoyable. Just being able to appreciate the grind is one of the most significant skills for one to acquire. By this time next year I hope to have a few new skills under my belt. From here on out, that is how I will gauge my success in a year.

I just turned 50 years old, have worked as a professional illustrator for over 25 years, and cried through most of this video. Such great insight. It has really highlighted to me my own mistakes I’ve made in my thinking about art and working as an artist.

This video and the audiobook (that I bought after watching the video) are absolutely wonderful :-) The logic so harmonic and there are so many wise quotes even Dumbledore would have been inspired by (it also is the perfect background noise for drawing). Thank you for having the courage and persistence to finish this piece of literaric beauty :-)

You're back! Man I think you've got one of the best art teachers on the internet (even counting the whole schoolism/gumroad and all!)

These where the exact things I needed to hear at this exact moment in my artistic journey, where there is currently so much confusion, transformation and insecurity going on inside my head. Thanks from the heart for putting this out. I love your channel.

I'm so glad that I came back to listen to this again. Even though this already motivated me months and months ago. I needed to be reminded to ignore stigma again. I'm trying. I'm trying so hard every single day.

I always find just what I need on your channel :)

what can we do to keep you doing these videos? don't have words to thank you. thanks a lot :)

dude, I have been watching your vids for like only a few months but the contents are so abundant that I feel like my artistic career just sped up like a year or so. GREAT CONTENTS.

I watched this video for the first time 2 years ago, and I just wanted to point out how incredibly emotionally intelligent you are. I think the underlying wisdom can apply to mostly anything, from recovering from addictions to how to build lasting relationships etc. It's an amazing piece of wisdom, thank you so much for sharing.

That's an awesome description of creativity by some one till date! Loved every bit of it.Described in the most authentic way it can be.Precise and well researched.Thanks for making this sir,will inspire many.

This is an amazing video and it applies to everything in life not just art, for all supposed talent flaunters in any field. I teach language and I love art , I think my students can benefit from this. Thank you , thank you. By the way, you are an excellent teacher, everything is so well presented that anybody can understand.

And here I was thinking nothing could surprise me this week. No line of thought could match my own and fill the gaps. Why is my creativity not being enough? Thanks Marco. Just bought your Audiobook.

This guy raised the bar for free youtube lessons,everytime i watch your videos ,i feel really grateful to you.So ,Thank you again.Love from India.

Awesome video, thanks for sharing its really insightful. Love the painting as well! The bounce light and amount of colors is really beautiful.

26:13 - Hard Work For me and anyone else that wants to hear this sometimes

I was always untalented as a kid, but I had fixations on creative things like writing, cartoons, and story telling so I worked hard at understanding those things. It felt good listening to this.

i came across this at a time where i'm really struggling with my work. i needed to hear this, even though i've heard it before...i'll probably have to hear it a million more times until i really get it. thanks for everything and for putting your ideas and teachings out there, Marco!

Thank you so, so much for sharing this. This literally changed my world and I want to cry, wishing I heard this earlier. I was born with talent to draw and people have told me since elementary school. I never drew much because I was so good at it but at the age of 13, I got inspired to pick it up. It seemed so easy, so I dropped it again. When I was close to graduating high school at the age of 17, I did not know what to do, so I reverted back to drawing. I took a course to work on my application for the school and I was always at the top, even in that course. I picked up acrylic paint immediately although I never touched paint in my life before that. I got into my school with one of the best grades and with my application work exhibited during the annual exhibition. I didn't even bother with a backup plan in case I didn't get in. I knew I would. The school started out so easy too and I was the youngest and didn't feel the crushing feeling of 'everyone being better than me', like others did once they started. Everyone complimented my work, especially in painting in etching. I banked on my talent and one day I woke up to find that everyone seemed far ahead. I got frustrated and restless but my 'talent' mindset was so rooted that I did not take action. Here I am, into my 5th year of studying illustration and still with no idea of what I want to do. Heck I don't even know when I'll graduate. I tried everything from drawing to painting, to etching, to animation. From stylized, to realistic, to traditional to abstract. Even photography. I just didn't (and still don't) know where to start looking, because everything always came to me with no effort. Thanks to your video, I'm starting to make a list of things I need to improve on. Thanks to you, I finally know why I'm struggling so much. Thank you. So much. (Sorry for the long comment!)

i needed this, im the talented one with lazy habits, thank you

This is one of the most moving, encouraging and beautiful videos I've ever "seen" (more like heard). Infinite thanks for this Marco, this one carved deep within me

Both in terms of life lessons and in the very self debasing struggle creatives face, thank you for your work and your insight. I am your ardent and humble admirer.

I have shared this video on facebook. Its really has been a blessing to find it. Thanks for making this video.

man I wasn't expecting to be called out in just 10 minutes of the video

I've listened to this for the third time. Thank you. It is so great to hear your perspective on creativity. I always come back to this whenever I feel discouraged about my art.

Your story of being jealous and wanting to surpass the talented, was literally my childhood. I find that there are latent talents that reside within each individual while they reap their sown skills; as every individual has a different way of seeing into the medium of art. This video was fantastic, and I always appreciate learning from someone who enjoys teaching over just wanting money from teaching. So thank you for that.

I DIDN'T KNOW. I NEEDED. THIS. SUBCRIBED.

When he said to go to take a shower and get dressed for the art gods, I stopped the video and took a shower and changed out of my pajamas. ^-^

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better". One of my favourite quotes. Samuel Beckett. Definitely go out of your comfort zone. Explore. Fail. Build yourself up again

Not even started and I already want to say thanks, Marco. Love listening to you talk about art and always a great teacher and inspiration. All the best!

I really love this 'traditional' style in digital painting but in photoshop I struggle to get it, I struggle to mix/blend colours because if i don't use opacity, there's no mixing but if i do everything comes out soft. :/

There are so many harsh truths in this and it is so hugely relevant to me right now that it's made me tear up. It's like an long-needed intervention. I am one of those talented kids. I turn 30 this year and my talent has been stagnating - "I can go back to it any time", I think - but every time I do, I'm uninspired; what style I do have (minimal - as I am clearly a 'rendering child') is flat and without any real emotion, form or artistic readability; my techniques are lacking and lose their way through any work I do from a total lack of focus and discipline and basic training because I've always been 'the one who can draw', exclusively from 'natural talent'. Ha. I've watched my peers, both in real life and online, creep up and pass me through hard work and determination (just as you did Tim). I feel left behind and my regret at letting my ego let my talent die has made me irrationally resentful and frustrated. My recent realisation is that even at my "best" (age 19-21), I was basically the human equivalent of a photocopier. Copying reference images pixel by pixel. Looked impressive as when people said 'I thought that was a photo! WOW!, I got a ridiculous amount of pleasure from telling them otherwise... but there has never been any true expression in my work. No depth, no emotion. Never been able to work off-reference, from imagination. I may as well have just photocopied it. Saved the 40+ hours on each piece. Now, older, I feel I've been trying to force expression and painterly-looks in the latter half of my 20s without the real tools (the knowledge) to do it - meaning the work has gotten muddier and flatter. Of course, I blamed all of that, in my hubris and pig-headedness, on my lack of good physical tools. (of course I did.) So I bought the software, the tablets and the brush packs and the latest stylii and what do you know - ? No change. This video has been a massive bit of tough love for me. I know we've never met but it just feels like it was a heat-seeking missile aimed directly at my ego. I'll be listening to the rest of the audiobook and watching the rest of your videos and most importantly, getting my ego to accept I have to relearn - no other artist on RU-vid I've found so far has really 'spoken to me' as you have. So, thank you - truly.

That first thing about talent hit me hard, it's exactly what happened to me, teachers never taught me because I already 'got it', never drove me to experiment, never taught me art discipline because I was 'gifted' and my ego was crushed when I lost 'talent', and then the same teachers suddenly started using me as the 'bad example', I've kind of given up for years on art, regretting never going through the experimental process and learning steps, gunno take myself back and listen to this on repeat and start working on actually learning

Thank you a THOUSAND times - you got me out of my deep black hole of discouragement.... Please make more for us. You are so wise!

Thanks Marco I really love your videos and advice... Yea I hate when the people says that you draw because "you born with it" or it´s a "gift"... These people don´t look the hours, days and weeks expended enjoying and suffering the neverending work of learning. (Sorry for my english if isn´t good enough)

the analogies in this were nothing short of genius

This is just AMAZING and you say a lot of what Jeff Watts says about the foster attitudes and habits and trying to learn art. I'm a part of his online school and i love it.

Thank you so much for putting what i have struggled with as a young artist into words. I went through school being the best in my class at drawing, that feeling of being the best made me repeat mistakes in my art again and again without realizing it. It wasn't until high school that a started to notice that i was falling behind, and classmates that where behind me started to catch up, and eventually surpassed me. I realized that i was cocky and lazy and that they had earned their skill. While i kinda just winged it my whole life. I'm 24 years now, and i practice most of my free time. I still find myself repeating some of my prior mistakes but i am happy that i can notice it when it happens. I'm making changes too improve and develop more skill and i don't plan to stop now haha. Thanks again Marco.

Great vid but when I hear people talk about talent it comes off as superstitious or something. I was considered talented as a kid but that's because I drew more than others and drew what I liked. Your childhood rival either drew more than you or saw the world in an advantageous way. Some people draw hard and others draw smart, both may end up in the same skill bracket but the second option is faster

Anytime someone tells me "I wish I could draw" I always say: "No you dont" cause if you did youd be drawing

Wow! That was fantastic Marco! Refreshing to hear an artist communicate with such clarity the pitfalls that befall us along the way. I will have to rewatch this video as your narrative took up 95% of my attention. Thanks for sharing! This is immensely helpful!

this is litteraly the best, and most genuine art advice iv'e ever recieved. thank you so much.

So much informative! Pure awesome!! Have to listen 2 times more at least).. May I ask you? How did you manage to organize your brushset into categories (basic, favs, watercolor, etc.)?

Willpower, passion and persistence are the greatest and most universal of all talents.

I am so sorry for stumbling on this video so late.. I see it was posted 2017 but it’s 2019 now and I can’t tell you how relevant and insightful your words are. Not to echo everything the video already stated but the part about skill being the virtue to work on rather than relying on talent, is a statement way underrated. Thank you

I dont have time to read at all, but i REALLY want the info of your book, can you make an audio book version of it? I would buy that sucker in a heartbeat

Talent is just passion for doing a certain thing :p with passion you do anything with care and focus

lmao the way you holed yourself up in your room is the bread and butter of my improvement. I naturally get jealous easily- instead of directing it towards the person, I just use it as stubborn energy for improvement. It's not for everyone, but it allows me to stay positive, improve, and make friends because my energy is very apparent and honest.

I almost didn't sit through this because I often don't like hearing people read their own books like this. However, I am SO glad I heard this. I'll probably get that book now. Thank you for putting into words something I've been needing well organized like this.

Is this book on Audio to purchase?

I'm kind of concerned with the section on talent. I love the imagery! It's great story telling, but it is also dangerous. I have seen far too many people in the comments below cursing this wretched thing called "talent" that bestowed upon them so unfairly. That isn't an okay thing to be saying. The issue you addressed is the issue of arrogance and ignorance. You describe a situation like that in the "turtle & the hair". Where someones arrogance leads them to be lazy; thus, putting them behind the slower opponent in the end. And you state this accurately as a parasite to be feared and hated. But the words you used were misleading. You used "talent" as the antagonist, when in fact, the real evil is laziness. Where the true antagonist may be clear to some, it has been hidden from others. This has lead to statements such as the ones above. The problem with these statements is that they are committing the exact same sin as the one mentioned in the second part of the book. However, rather than the talent-less cursing their lack of talent for their lack of skill, now the talented are cursing their presence of talent for their lack of skill. You have accidentally recreated the very problem you are trying to solve. Nothing is to blame for lack of skill other than lack of effort.

Hearing you talk like this made me buy your audio book for more. Best purchase of the year yet.

In the past two days, I've learned more about art than in art school 45 years ago and independent study. Mind Blown!!!

Urgh I hate saying " repetition is the definition of insanity " it was coined by Albert Einstein and has more todo with math - probably students using the wrong method rather then then right one , and thinking they missed a variable.

"When you hear the word "Misstake", what do you think of." I stoped to write. I do not think. I look behind me. A pile of notes. A pile of drawings. Rib cages, Buckets, Gestures, Arms, Muscles, Pelvis, Fingers, Hands, Legs, Eyes, Lips. Horrible out of proportion drawings. Old Comic Panels, A failed self portrait. A City with too many layers. Some writing in liquid gold, which looks cartoonish. I don't see misstakes behind me. I see failure. I can look at all of them. Even the newest and I still see the Misstakes I made. Misstake ... Looking at this comment realising I made a mistake while writing "mistake". The Irony is not lost on me. Sometimes, I go through some of them. I pick up an old one and Know what I did wrong. But what I also know is ... What I did Better! That City? I wanted to try to do something Big. I should have reduced the layer count and added more texture. The horrible self Portrait? I know what I did wrong. But some could still see that it was meant to be me. The Comic? My first ever paid job for a friend. I worked days on those 3 pannels and got paid less than a euro per hour. But it was a favour I did. The guy I drew even asked if I could do another one for his wedding. Self doubt crept upon me. I declined. That Golden writing? A banner for a friend. What made me honestly concider going into the industry. The moment I realised that this is what I WANT. Those Rib Cages? Practice. Old drawing of eyes? My first few attempts to draw faces. What I allways wanted was to make a drawing "perfect". Sometimes I concider "Wouldn't it be easier to make it just good enough?" And I stop myself. This is NOT what I signed up for. I had talent. Not much, but a little. It faded quickly and the only thing which kept me on level with others was practice. Thinking about being "good enough" is equivalent to giving up for me. I don't want to be "good enough". I want to be BETTER. Did I improve? Yes. But I want to be BETTER. Someone praised my work? I can still see the flaws. I need to be BETTER. I cooked a meal for a friend and he praised me? It needs to be BETTER. This in essence is why I started to take drawing serriously. I am at the start of my journey. I am an amateur, but I learn to be BETTER. Maybe this line of thinking is another mistake ... but it is mine to make.

Thank you for this. I relate to everything and you said it all so well. I always wanted to draw when I was younger and drawing everyday I gradually got a little better, but I always compared myself (I still do sometimes) to the "talented" kids who got everything right, was praised by teachers and fellow students. I spent two years studying animation and 3d design at an institute to go through the same thing. I never felt good enough and my work was always overlooked. I basically gave up for seven years, but an oppertunity showed itself to me in the form of a one year course in concept art. I started doing traditional art again, I learned how to do digital art and worked every single day to better my understanding of values, colour etc. Now I'm in the second year mentorship group and loving what I do, even if it looks like crap, I can now say that I see where I have made mistakes and I can work from there to better myself and my art and I seek nobody's approval, except for a handful of people. P. S I love your videos and the way that you explain things. I am gaining the knowledge to build on to my skill.

Dedication, Discipline and Consistency without these things you will never get better.

Hi Marco! I deeply appreciate all your videos and tutorials that you put out there. With the opinions about talent though, I have to disagree. I agree with the observations, but have a different perspective on the interpretations. So this is the inside experience of the naturally talented person. Yes, I am very gifted, and those gifts come from God. No one can judge whether a person deserves their talents or beauty, it is God's design. And those gifts come with the responsibility to use them for God's plans, meaning for good. I have a huge creative talent, it has always flown through me. Yes, at some point in my childhood it became very visible. But to assume that every talented person gets the same caring and nurturing treatment is a bit limited. A child with next to no talent might be nurtured by the parents, taken to different classes and workshops to sharpen their skills, while the talented person can be totally overlooked. You see ther might be different reasons why a talented person might start slacking off: difficult family situation, financial, emotional... What if they are facing some kind of abuse? Do you know how challenging and confusing it is to be faced with envy that early on in life? When people assume you are better than them, not because you act that way, but because of their own insecurities. Then they show their bitterness and envy, sometime openly but most of the time covertly. They even idolise you and pretend to be your friend, but deep inside resenting you. And you can totally sense that something is wrong... There is a lot more to this talent concept than you see on the surface. But when all said and done, and another challenge overcome, I am deeply grateful to God for all my talent and gifts, and I don't take them them for granted.

5:12 "We learn that other people can do better than we can" Yes, always remember there is an Asian somewhere that is better than you :)

Still listening, but I've never heard such concentrated artistic truth spoken so eloquently, thank you for this

I like to listen to your speech, wise words and very motivating concepts while I'm drawing, it' nice to get inspired and taught while you're practicing.

Thank you very much for this video. As a freelance artist myself, it has opened my eyes to the shortcomings that I commonly make... and how to fix them. It has inspired me to look at things differently and in a more positive light.

Your musings on talent reflect my own experience perfectly. Talent is a step up, but each step after that is just as hard work as it is for everyone else.

There are videos that inspire me, and there are the ones that motivate me. Thank you for being the one to motivate me!

Thank you so much for both giving me motivation AND showing me how to keep it. It's easy for me to have short bursts of inspiration but then lose it as soon as I see a better artist. It's quite a crushing feeling as I'm sure you've experienced, but as you said, you simply need to "show up". Thanks!

Thanks A LOT for making this video. I am one of those non talented people and I have been working on my pretty hard for past 8 years working on my drawing and music. I have a pretty huge inferiority complex. I beat myself down SO MUCH that once after finishing a painting I cried myself to sleep telling myself I will never be a good artist. But this has made me feel better. Thank you :) Keep 'em coming

Since I listen to this everyday, I finally managed to buy the audiobook. It completely changed my views as an artist. It saved my life. Thanks Marco Bucci!

I need to hear you everyday. Thank you for this.

Your videos are a blessing! I‘ve been considering art as a career however I felt like I wasn’t good enough for the industry, even though I‘ve been told by many people that I was ‘talented‘! Your videos motivated me to keep practicing to reach that level, though! Thank you, really! It means a lot to me!

The part about mistakes...SO good to hear that said.

I love what you say about compliments

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing and reading parts from your book! I'm an freelance artist - not yet full time - starting to dabble at digital illustration now and also still working on my voice as an artist and what you wrote is everything I know to be true in Art. I know I need to show up more, but it's so hard at the same time when you're not an artist full time and still have other responsibilities. You've also made great analogies on traps to avoid. Just wanted to say thanks, really. Your channel is awesome and I learn a lot from you.

Thank you for your generosity Marco, your work is really inspiring and coupled with your attitude you bring it to a next level that few others have. Thank you.