After quite a bit of research and experience, both formal and informal, I have found a good and useful way to think about talent. Talent is all about the SPEED at which you learn. This can go from general to specific, and if a person is aware of how they learn, they can use strategies to deliberately speed up. This has a little overlap with the idea of facility or aptitude. If someone has a facility or aptitude for something, they will learn faster and this can appear as talent. It can break down into a few different aspects- if someone has a love for a discipline, but not that much aptitude, they can "brute force" it over time with hard work and still attain proficiency. The luck that applies here has to do with the teachers you run into or find. I have found that I may not be interested in something like math, but if I have a good teacher, they will spark my curiosity. I will want to know why they are excited about this particular thing. Hope this helps.

Thanks for posting this Marshall. I learned a lot, and although I am a beginner, it's great to know the standards that the pros uphold. It was motivating and inspiring. Deadlines for work will be a bit of a challenge for me vs. my leisurely hobbyist sketchbook pace.