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“You’re so talented!”

I hear this a lot about my crochet. I know it’s meant as a compliment and I generally take it as one but this phrase and similar ones always irritate me a little bit. You may be thinking “wow I’d love for people to tell me I’m talented, you’re ungrateful!” and I get where you’re coming from. Especially if you’re a beginner, getting any type of compliment on your art is awesome! It isn’t the appreciation of my work that annoys me – it’s the word “talent.” While I may have some creative talent, I’ve also spent a lot of time working on my creative skills.

Misrepresenting the Process

“Huh? Why does that matter?” you ask. Well, when people compliment my “talent,” it often feels like all of the work I’ve done to build creative skills like crochet is being dismissed. Perhaps this is me being autistic and taking things too literally, but to me, “talent” implies that it is something that comes naturally and doesn’t need much effort from the person.

While it may look like some of my crochet items are effortless (and some simple projects are), many of my crochet pieces take a lot of work and effort. Not only have I taught myself how to crochet over the past several years, but I am still teaching myself new things and working to improve those skills frequently!

In fact, many of the more complex things I’ve made still often cause frustration for me as they include skills that I’m still developing. For example, when I make amigurumi that requires sewing parts on, I can pretty much guarantee you there will be at least one moment during the process where I want to throw it across the room. I tend to make a lot of low-sew or no-sew amigurumi and I’m still working on improving my ability to sew pieces on and not have them crooked or uneven. It is a skill – not something I’m naturally capable of.

So when I show someone one of those more complex items I’ve made and they respond with “you’re so talented!” it feels a little like they’re not really understanding or appreciating the amount of time and effort that went into making it. It feels almost as though they are misrepresenting or misunderstanding the process behind what I’ve made.

The Detrimental Side of Creative Talent

Aside from that, though, is that the idea of “creative talent” does something that I feel has a very negative impact on a lot of people: it creates a mindset that discourages them from being creative.

We have probably all, at one point or another, admired someone we view as a creative person. Whether that’s a painter, a dancer, or a filmmaker, we’re all familiar with the archetypal “artist.” We tend to view these people as having a natural propensity for creativity, regardless of how much practice and training they’ve gone through. We see them as simply possessing creative talent and it creates this sort of barrier. It creates an “us vs. them” mentality with “us” being non-creatives and “them” being these people we have labeled as creatives. With that, it creates a sort of hopelessness about “us” becoming one of “them.”

The Truth about Creative Skills

The truth though is that everyone can learn and build creative skills. No matter your age, your educational background, etc., you can learn how to do a new creative activity you’ve never tried before. I started teaching myself how to crochet when I was 27 years old. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Did that mean that I could never figure out how to crochet? Of course not! I learned anyway and now frequently get complimented on the things that I never would’ve been able to create 3 years ago.

Currently, at age 30, I’m learning digital illustration. I have always viewed myself as someone who is “bad” at drawing. I struggle to make circles that pass as circles instead of ovals or shaky blobs. I pretty much gave up on traditional art mediums when I was in middle school. I’ve half-heartedly tried to teach myself digital illustration in the past, but when I discovered that – surprise, surprise! – I wasn’t immediately good at it, I gave up and ditched it. And this brings me to my least favorite part about the myth of creative talent.

Creative Talent Stops People from Learning Creative Skills

When people think there are two groups of people, creatives and non-creatives, and they place themselves in that second group, they see creativity as a pointless endeavor. Why bother with creative activities if you have no talent and just can’t make any thing good? Many people will look at creativity as something they lack, something they can’t have. It creates this mindset that they can only admire art, they can’t make it themselves. Even if they try making something, when it’s not immediately perfect, they give up because they obviously don’t have a talent for it, so why waste their time? Better to use it in a more productive way.

But that’s nonsense!

As I said before, anyone can learn creative skills. The first step to doing that is understanding that it is not a natural talent, but is a learnable skill. Of course certain things will come more easily to some people than to others. I’ve seen people who take a month to learn how to make decent amigurumi and I’ve seen people who take a year. However, they still learn it in their own time if they stick with it and don’t quit because they suck.

And you will suck at first. There’s nothing wrong with that. Be patient. Allow yourself to be a beginner. Sucking at art is a part of the process and if you keep practicing, you will get better. As you start to see your skills improve – no matter how slowly – you will start to see some of the benefits of creativity that we all deserve to experience – natural talent or not.

Key Takeaways

• Calling someone “talented” can unintentionally erase the hours of practice behind their work.
• Most “effortless” art is not effortless – it’s refined through skill, repetition, mistakes, and problem-solving.
• The “creative people vs. non-creative people” idea hurts, because it convinces people they shouldn’t even try.
• Creative skill is learnable at any age, even if you start from zero (and feel wildly awkward at first).
• Progress isn’t quick or neat. You’ll mess up, get frustrated, but you’ll still improve if you keep going.
• The real key is mindset: let yourself be a beginner, stay patient, and don’t quit just because you “suck” early on.

If you want to start learning a new creative skill, check out my list of creative activities to try – it’s totally free when you sign up for my email list!

Last updated on 12/23/25