And when I say “write,” I mean both in the technical sense and in the authorial sense.
Inspired by a couple of artists I’ve seen on the 'net whose style I either really like or don’t mind, only to find that their written communication skills are… unpolished.
How many “dual threats” do you know or know of? Is such a thing common? Is the state usually “one is good while the other is average”? I know that I like to think of myself as having writing talent, but cannot draw to save my life, so there’s the opposite from my examples above.
One factor in this is that artists usually have to write in order to communicate and promote their art. Writers seldom have to draw publicly. So the data would be skewed.
All I can offer is anecdotes. I’d say both my drawing and writing abilities are at 98% level or above.
My two best artist friends have above average writing skills. This board has some talented artists who compose their posts with acceptable skill.
It’s possible to be a great writer without a drop of visual talent. It’s possible to be a very good artistic without serious writing skill. High intelligence helps in both fields, so there’s probably more overlap than random chance would produce.
I know f&sf the best, and there are only a handful of people who write and draw professionally. The ones who started out as artists - Harry Harrison and Greg Bear, e.g. - are much better known as writers. Go to a large con and look at the ASFA suite (artists) and the SFWA suite (writers). Not only different faces, but the former have style and the latter are slobs. If you had to pick them out at random you’d have near 100% success.
OTOH, many comic books are both written and drawn by the same person, and that allows a creative edge in the work that most teams can’t match. Alternatively, Jack Kirby is the poster child for artists who wanted to write and failed miserably at it.
I go to a lot of art exhibits, where artists put up text about their work. Unpolished is too polite a word for them. Hilarious is better. Awful beyond belief. Illiterate. Delusional.
Writing and art are separate skills. They aren’t at all mutually exclusive, but few people appear at both their peaks. That’s true for most different skills, so it’s not surprising. Professional level ability is a whole other world than good amateur work.
What does IYE mean, BTW? Or is it a typo for IYO?
And what does a degree in English have to do with writing? They’re as separate skills as writing and art.
Yes. Both require practice, which requires time. You can only put in so much practice on any skill when you have to split your time. You’re more likely to find success by focusing on one skill and getting as good at it as you possibly can.
It seemed relevant, given the OP’s “I mean both in the technical sense and in the authorial sense.” and “their written communication skills are… unpolished.”
Considering the great number of people both illustrating and writing their own comics, comic books, webcomics, and graphic novels… I’d say there are plenty of double threats.
As far as creative writing, that’s always gamble. But as far as just plain grammar and communication, I haven’t come across many examples in personal experience where a person has needed to write in an even semi-public manner, even semi-frequently, and not been basically competent.
The only counter examples I can think of are obviously young, trying to look cool, or are for other reasons undereducated, on social networking sites. Or people who it’s clear are ESL.
Personally, I consider myself to be fairly (not professional, but decent) creative both graphically and lexicographically.
I think art is in general, a more difficult skill than writing, just because language is something everyone has to use every day just to get by in life.
OTOH, while having multiple skills is inherently more difficult than a single skill, I don’t think there is any “mutually exclusive” factor AT ALL. I don’t think there is any skill that having it makes another skill more difficult to learn.
Tolkien managed both pretty well. His writing was far better, but his illustrations were good enough to be included in The Hobbit, and there are a couple of books of his art available.
I am an AMAZING artist and a FANTASTIC writing talent.
Not really, I’m slightly above average at both, but in my experience I’ve known plenty of people who can do more than one creative thing at reasonable skill levels. One tends to dominate, though.
I have never found them to be mutually exclusive skills. There are very few people who only have one “talent.” Why not be both a writer and an artist? I used to dream of being well above average at both (but that takes work I have not put in.)
In reading books to my children, I often come across talented writers that also illustrate. The fact that they are producing children’s books in no way lessens the quality of their work. Some of my favorite picture book authors are “double threats.”
Wouldn’t a truly intelligent (and motivated) person be good at writing and art (and science and math and music and cooking and inventing and carpentry and Scrabble)?
I believe skills in most areas are the result of being a motivated learner, much more than being zapped by some ethereal “talent” fairy. The trick is being motivated… (more than I am).
But if I wanted to be a good writer, by gum, I’d… stop using phrases like “by gum”. And saturate myself in great writing and take classes and join an Algonquin Round Table, and work at it.
And if I wanted to be a good artist, same thing. In fact, I was told by a great artist to lock myself in a room with a stack of art books until I understood why my work wasn’t like that of better artists. And that that would be the first step to making better art.
At no point did he say “Oh, just be born with talent”. He talked exclusively of learning and doing the work.
So, I’d say if you’re a good at writing or drawing, don’t worry – you could get better at the other if you chose. And Scrabble, too.
