While there is a lot of practice involved, there are simply some people who will never have the ability to do anything nearly as well as he (and probably you) can do. It's like saying anyone could become a great singer with enough practice or a great athlete with enough practice. You can certainly become a good singer, athlete, or "drawer" with enough practice but to reach the elite levels requires an innate ability that most don't possess.
I'm very familiar with the 10,000 hour rule proposed by Gladwell and my son is involved in high levels of athletics, so I feel like I'm knowledgeable enough in the concepts of talent and hard work. Again, I won't argue whether his skills show true artistic ability or not (leaning toward not) but he definitely has skills.
How to put this... playing a musical instrument is basically the same. As long as you can get the basic coordination down you can replicate ANYTHING with enough practice. This is true of anyone. Replication does not make a musician at all though.
The level of "art" in this is the same as what I described. Anyone that can do basic shapes and shading techniques can eventually do what he is doing here with enough time and effort. I mean ANYONE. If you can hold a pencil you can do what he is doing. It takes none of that "innate" talent at all to do what he is doing. It does take hard work, lots of patience, and lots of persistence. Of that there is no doubt. Much of which many people are not willing to do the patience and persistence part. That is really is the level of talent involved, because some people just don't have the patience to do what he does.
That isn't the same as artistic talent at all. It looks great, but it isn't good art.
As an example, for a long time I played the piano. I am not a musician. I am basically tone deaf. You couldn't get me to compose anything. At one time though you could give me a sheet of notes, and with the exact mechanics I could play damn near anything. Can't do that now as I haven't touched a piano since I was 13. Hell I would have to relearn the basics of how to play all over I think and I don't want to go back to it. It wasn't fun. I knew I was never going to be a good musician, despite being technically good at playing. There is a difference.
That's why when I hear classical music, I don't exactly think the musicians playing something from Beethoven are particularly great. They are technically very capable, and I like the music, but I don't think any of them are all that good really despite how well they can play.
It's that next step of creation that takes talent. That is something that can't be taught and you either have it or you don't. Making something from scratch, with your own composition in mind to invoke something you want out of the audience is where real talent is at. Being good technically at the art type you are trying to do certainly helps the artist get their point across. But a good technical drawing only shows good technical skills.
To use your sports analogy, if a person has a certain level of coordination, they can be damn good at certain drills. I've seen some excellent sports players with great coordination and ability technically... but they will never be professionals. They lack that ability to "see the field" properly. To anticipate, to go inside the mind of the opponent. Some people have raw physical ability by being fast enough or strong enough to overcome that to a degree. The truly outstanding players in any sport go beyond technical ability though. That is where the raw talent lies. The ability to anticipate what is needed to be done before it happens. To be where you need to be so you don't have to have ridiculous speed/strength to make up for it. Of course having ridiculous speed/strength/size certainly helps immensely. Much of that can't be achieved except by accident of birth either.
But to do art or music requires less on the accident of birth for physical capabilities. Even to be good at the technical aspects of an artistic expression.
I am impressed with the level of technical ability achieved by the person linked in the OP. It does take a certain amount of dedication to be able to do that. It is a dedication which many aren't able to put in to doing. That is very commendable. But it is certainly not something based on a unique talent that can't be learned by anyone. Because anyone that can do the basics can reach the level of "skill" shown by the art in the OP.
