It's both, and it's a fine balance. That's why high quality art is a comparative rarity. If you practice too much, you will just be an automaton. Able to make

It's both, and it's a fine balance. That's why high quality art is a comparative rarity. If you practice too much, you will just be an automaton. Able to make but not to express. Your work will be derivative, uninteresting. There are literally millions of artists who have fallen into this trap. If you practice too little then all your creativity will be for naught as you lack the skill and ability to translate it into an expression. Michelangelo, for example, was apprenticed when he was only 13, and by the time he made the Pieta he had been studying and working for 10 years. The important thing is to find the balance. To practice as a means to hone a skill that is at your command, rather than your master.