My very first design

[Cupcake]

nobody, that loves to read books, would inevitably become a good writer, only because he works hard for years

Wow... that really reffers to me... I read a book from the time it hits my hands to the time I'm done (other then eating, sleeping, etc) and I can never write a good story! That was a bit off topic, but I just had to say that...

[Joseph Wu]

Everyone has talent, but not everyone has the same talent. I have some small talents for origami design. Robert Lang has much greater origami design talent than I do. However, there are things I can do that he cannot. Who is more "talented"? As risenfromdeath might say, neither of us is more talented than the other. That is true in a general sense. However, in a practical sense, Robert is definitely a better origami designer than I am, so he is more talented in that particular skill. In some other skill set, I might be more talented than he is.

Chris is quite right: we cannot all be talented in all things. I will never be a sports superstar because I don't have that sort of talent. Neither will I ever be a famous actor because I don't have that sort of talent. I will never be a great writer because I don't have that sort of talent. And that's okay. I know what I can do, and I'm content. I don't need to delude myself into thinking that I can be the best at anything just so long as I work hard enough. If I did, I would only be a very tired and very disappointed person.

Find your gift, and be the best you can be. Trying to be what you're not only leads to frustration.

EDIT: I hope you realize that I'm not saying anything about whether or not you have talent in origami, risenfromdeath. That's something you're going to have to find out for yourself.

[risenfromdeath]

well if you had intrest in sports since childhood
just tell me why woun't you be good in sports.
well i agree that a person cannot master in all fields but he/she can choose a field to master and work hard he /she will surely master it.
it doesnot mean he/she is not talented,it is just that they have not harvested their talents(or maybe they are not intrested)
you must have read billions of book just tell me how many times have you tried to write a story? years ago you when you wrote your first story and had preserved it till today and when you read it today you will find it ridiculous .why is it so ? well it is because you have reached a higher intelectual level than you were before or perhaps you are better than you were before
i can draw,play guitar ,i am good in caligraphy but i am cannot paint well
that doesnot mean i don't have talent it is just that i never tried to paint

joseph wu i am a big fan of yours and i like each and every model that you have shown in your site.i also like robert langs work and as a newbie i cannot compare you .

now if you see the first model you have made you would surely laugh at it
had you left folding when you were a child you would never have become what you are today ,if you had played football seriously since you were a child you would surely have represented your college if not your country.
every one can do everything the only thing is that one can be better in some field than the other. and life is too short to master everything.

[Joseph Wu]

well if you had intrest in sports since childhood
just tell me why woun't you be good in sports.
well i agree that a person cannot master in all fields but he/she can choose a field to master and work hard he /she will surely master it.

Quite simple, really. I cannot be good in sports because I have curved shin bones. I also have a smaller-than-normal lung capacity. For those physical reasons alone, I could never be a good athlete. But I suppose that physical deficiencies do not define talent or lack thereof. So, I add another deficiency that could be defined as a lack of talent: I am not well coordinated between my upper body and lower body (if my arms are doing the right thing, then my legs are not, and vice versa). I've tried many sports, and this deficiency has caused me to fail every time.

I cannot dance. I cannot do martial arts (I've tried several). I cannot play ice hockey. For those sports that I actually enjoy (tennis and swimming) and have spent considerable time practicing, my lack of coordination means that I am a competent recreactional athlete, but will never be anywhere near world-class. If I had played football seriously, I would have two injured shins, be constantly out of breath, and would still have been picked last when the sides were chosen on the playground. That is the reality of the situation. No amount of effort on my part could change that.

You believe you can do anything you set your mind to. Good for you! It is a wonderful attitude to have, especially when trying new things. However, if you are not prepared for the reality that there are some things you will never be good at, you will only set yourself up for disappointment.

(And, for the record, the first model I ever designed came out exactly as I wanted it to. Yes, I've improved since then, and could probably do much better now with the same subject, but I'm still proud of that first one. That, I think, indicates a bit of natural talent: that I could create something even before I really understood the process of origami design.)

[risenfromdeath]

the walk of thousand miles starts with a tiny step.
if one cannot be excellent,he/she can atleast do enough to satisfy himself/herself and i am all always ready for faliure .someone who doesnot have the courage to cope up with faliures can do nothing in life they always are infear of faliures to try anything new
faliures are the indication that the job was not done right
it tells us to try again and not to end it.
well you have a problem that is physical
not mental
suppose you had no problem and went on in some sports like tennis etc for all your life
and at your age now ,you try origami and when you see your initial model and that done by other artist you would surely heart and stop trying well i am sure about that
that doesnot mean you don't have talent in origami as we all know you are supperb
everybody love his or her initial work an are proud of it
do you know why talents MOSTLY developes when we are small?
that is because when we are small it seems to us that nothing is impossible, but now we have a part of our brain which always tell that "well you cannot do that" and to that fire ,critism adds fuel .the person ends up diverted.it is not that i am very good(or good)in origami

i came to know the word origami only 4 months ago and it facinated me i surfed the net to find more model then i came to know that the step wiseinstruction is called diagram and searched the net for diagrams to get started
my end models looks horrific
but you know ,i will surely learn it,i don't like to do something what other people have done ,i like to do works independently
so any advice would be warmly welcomed
here in india i have never met any one who does origami (in my whole life in india)
but i would surely learn it
i would also like to know about various artist
how they began folding?,how long they have been folding? and most important ,how they learned to fold?
i am also looking for pictures of creatures
i know that "fishtank" has already started a thread
but i don't even know the names of creature to find in google or http://www.picsearch.com
can you suggest me a site?

[wolf]

but i don't even know the names of creature to find in google or http://www.picsearch.com
can you suggest me a site?

What subject matter are you interested in? For insects and animals, there are many pictorial field guides that you can find in google.
For mythological creatures, do a search for a bestiary. It may not have pictures, but it'll have the names of the various creatures that you can then search for.

[risenfromdeath]

thanks wolf

[iAm4free]

hi nikhil i am from delhi
where are you from?
how long have you been folding?

I've been folding since I was 5 years old I'm from Bangalore... its been quite a while since i got to posting in this forum....

[Cupcake]

People always have things they do and do not want to do, or just can't... As I mentioned before, I cannot write... That is mostly how I lose marks in English... My problem is I want to write more, yet I have a fairly low attention span for work (I can't work on one thing for mor than 3 days or else I give up [makes it hard to do modules]) .
Basically, I just base my life on Eating, Sleeping, Origami, Soccer, School and Math... everybody chooses things that they want to do, and they try it. Or maybe, your parents mold your life when you're young... for instance, my parents put me in soccer when I was years old, and since then I have been playing hard... I have top of my team (don't mean to brag) in the league that I play in in the summer.
Yet, always remember: no matter what you do, there is almost always someone better than you. Learn from your mistakes, and you will go far

[esato]

Yet, always remember: no matter what you do, there is almost always someone better than you. Learn from your mistakes, and you will go far

Unless you are Roger Federer, Ronaldinho, Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods, of course!

[iAm4free]

I didn't concentrate on the seriousness of this discussion initially but few who are into origami have a physical defect.... not that I am counting myself out... its perhaps the reason god gave them extra talent to create new things to balance things out...

Joseph I really like the models on the website and I didn't know its you in this forum!!! Its a pleasure to talk to you.

[Nick]

well if you had intrest in sports since childhood
just tell me why woun't you be good in sports.

I've been interested in football for nearly 50 years, but can't play worth diddly squat. The reason is, I'm cr*p at it! No balance, no talent. However, I can make obscenely loud noises on a guitar, which is clearly a natural talent and one I like to share with as many people as I can. See http://www.bettyblackmusic.com/audio.htm for a coulpe of vids.

Hard work will take you so far, but the true talents of the origami world were born with that extra something. Otherwise we'd all be emulating the Langs and Kamiyas of this world.

[wolf]

Otherwise we'd all be emulating the Langs and Kamiyas of this world.

Any sufficiently advanced craftsman is indistinguishable from a born artist.

*ducks*