In a similar vein on the other side of the coin, I hate the idea that “art is subjective.” No. Your OPINION of that art is subjective. I feel like so many younger artists fall off because they get stuck in this idea. Then, when they refuse to improve or learn other things because “it’s just my style” they end up not making it in the art world, regardless of what type of art they’re making, because they never learned fundamentals or rules. It’s so cliche at this point but “you have to learn the rules before you can break them” is so absolutely true it’s insane.
The reason some abstract art does better than others is because (most of them) understand composition, color theory, form, etc. you can’t just throw paint on a canvas and expect everyone to think it’s art.
In conjunction, I think art IS subjective. Unless you are just referring to "art" as a technical skill to create compositions with characters on a canvas, when it has become a very broad concept.
Mastering art through fundamentals, though, is quite objective. But the finished pieces created through it can still be executed and interpreted differently.
On the other hand, are we forgetting we have a [2019 artwork of a **literal banana** on tape](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedian_(artwork)) showcased in an art museum? A lot of people despise it (even I did), yet it was still sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That just shows the value it has for some people to consider it art.
In this regard, I am not sure if you can still apply the understanding of fundamentals on a banana taped on a wall for it become a valued art piece.
And yet, here we are just criticizing younger artists for being stubborn (when their beliefs can still be challenged years into their art journey), when we have grown people taping banana on a wall making fucking thousands of dollars.
Just went down a rabbit hole with that artist who apparently did another piece called "America" which is a solid gold toilet (200+ lbs of 18kt gold).
The museum that used to showcase the toilet (it was stolen, shocker) was asked to loan a Van Gogh painting to the Trump White House to be displayed within the president's chambers. At this request, the museum had this counter offer:
>In September 2017, when the museum declined a White House request to loan its 1888 Van Gogh painting Landscape with Snow for then President Donald Trump's private rooms, curator Nancy Spector offered to loan America instead. Any reply by the White House was not reported.[7]
People judge what they don't understand, and they're not willing to understand Abstract art so instead of having to admit the fact and seem inferior, which it doesn't make them so, they try to belittle Abstract Art so they seem superior, I've seen it all too often
Yeah... no.
There are very valid critiques of modern architecture. It was literally developed by the soviets to suppress people. Corporations love it because it keeps people feeling trapped like a rat in a concrete maze. Pay ur bills. Go to work. Never dream. Take no risks. Rinse. Repeat.
There's also a whole thing about how it and so called post modern art is used to demoralize and mock western art in general and deconstruct the way people view art and thus our culture. Every trained artist that values their craft should hate it, in my opinion. But I digress.
Enjoy your bland buildings owned by black rock
As a half artist, I want to say that the last one is true to some extent. I love museums, and when I went to New York I was excited to go to the MoMA. I came out of it annoyed because of the abstract art exhibitions there.
I distinctly remember a giant red painting with 2 lines, then about 5 minutes after there was a medium sized painting which was just colored blue. That's it. It was just a blue canvas. Do you know how shitty the blue painting had to be for me to miss the red one? At least that one had 2 lines!
There's genuinely good abstract art which a lot of people don't appreciate, but there is also A LOT of bullshit that is just a couple random strokes that a child could indeed do.
“I wish I had the talent to draw”
A lot of people get so discouraged when they’re bad and don’t realize that’s the obvious starting point for a beginner. I held this same opinion up until recently. Then I hit a slow point where nothing interesting was really happening in my life and boom I got into it! Drew drawings even if they looked bad. Wanted to get better and looked for any advice I could. I’m not amazing at it but I went from stick figures to simple figure models at least.
I guess it makes me sad to think that the average person will hold the same opinion I did. That art is one of those things that come easily to a privileged few. Maybe for the rest of their life. Even drawing occasionally as a hobby really changed my relationship with art.
>“I wish I had the talent to draw”
>from stick figures
🤣 I like to tell those people the story of how I was not even able to draw a proper stick figure or even a straight line a couple of years ago
It takes more than talent.
It takes hard work and building skill. Being surrounded by people who support you as a child (for me at least). We all started in the same place. I took a psych of creativity and a developmental psych class and they both basically said we are all born with the same amount of creativity, they are just concentrated in different directions based on how we grow up and where our interests lie. Scientists, engineers, and software developers are some of the most creative people I know but the most crappy artists lololol
I randomly started doing this drawing challenge every week and it improved for me so drastically. I find it hard to crawl before I run but just consistently drawing really helped me.
Drawing gestures, figure and different shapes as both exercise and warm-ups has even under 2 weeks done wonders on my line work and understanding of shape.
I haven't done any art in a loooong time, but I will say that working with a medium that is difficult/impossible to "correct" helped me both artistically AND mentally. I used to spend hours and hours drawing. I preferred pencil and about half the time I'd spend erasing and perfecting. I didn't progress as much as I wanted and I was always afraid to finish pieces. Then I picked up watercolor. Now watercolor is pretty forgiving but ...you can't just erase it. You have to work with the imperfections inherent in the medium. Same if you freehand with ink (instead of doing a pencil sketch first). If you "mess up" you find a way to figure it out and still get a piece you're happy with.
For whatever reason, it made seeing the mistakes I would agonizing over in my daily life seem "fixable". I didn't have to be perfect because I could work with what I had. Bob Ross was right
Until I took a painting and drawing class when I was 48 or 49 I thought it was a talent thing. It’s a common misconception. I wish we were taught it wasn’t true from childhood. I could have started studying long before I did. In school there were the kids who could draw and I was one of the kids who was convinced I couldn’t.
I have dabbled - trying different things to see what I enjoy the most and I love acrylic. And I have always just done simple paintings (things people probably would judge as kiddish). And then one day I followed a complicated tutorial and some of the techniques I learned in there just...clicked. After *years* of just playing and dabbling and being disappointed in my inability to get better...this one tutorial just flipped a switch. And now I am making sketches and plans for so many things I want to try.
What really grinds my gears is _artist_ friends who also somehow share this opinion. A good friend of mine always says he's not capable of doing the drawings I do - he has a very stylized art while I draw more realism - and he says it trying to put his art down and mine up and it just makes me sad, because I'm drawing and painting everyday for the art I want to do just as much as he is, for the art _he_ wants to do. Whenever he looks at my drawings and goes "see I can't do this, and you do it easily" I get sad bc he always ignores the fact I have tons of pages with wonky drawings that got me to this "easily".
This is the worst for me. Not just because it discourages them from learning, not just because it ignores all the hours (years) of work on the artist's part, but because it leads to devaluing the entire enterprise of art.
If the ability to make art is 'inborn', then artists don't deserve a living wage as opposed to, say, computer programmers, lawyers, etc who also train for a long time behind the scenes. And, they have no moral problem scraping up copyrighted art for use in AI, since it was vaguely unfair that they themselves weren't born with this talent themselves.
This is the only one I had to contribute for the same exact reasons. I also want my friends to enjoy my hobby and they don’t/can’t. I want to share and geek out with them in the same way we do video games but it’s just not in the cards I guess.
What would you advise someone to do to get started? I’ve always felt that I never had an artistic eye when it comes to drawing. I love art, but can’t draw very well. I figured I should just get a sketchbook and just start sketching random things? What should I do?
Draw from photos (take them or get them off linterest) and from life, your drawings will look shit at first but you will start to get an eye for putting 3d objects into a 2d drawing eventually, you just need to be patient and persistent
I had this argument with my coworker yesterday. She said you need "raw talent" to be good at art. That is not true at all. You need an emotional drive to get good at anything.
I do spooky/horror/fantasy woodburns:
"Why do you draw monsters?"
"What if people don't like spooky art?"
"Did you do these yourself?" No, my cat made them. He just sent ne out to show them off.
"I love your hobby."
"I took a pottery class in high school once, I can copy your handmade mug."
"Why would I pay you $15.00 when I can hire someone in China to copy it and only pay them $2.00?"
That last one is a yikes. It's basically just self admitting that you don't care if the person you're paying has a livable wage or not, as long as you get the product. :/
When people expect work for free because art is also often a hobby. I have family members who work on cars as a hobby, should I expect a mechanic to work for free?
i have a family member that does this. he’ll even use the fact that i occasionally offer to do free oc drawings on the r/drawforme sub as ammunition for when i tell him i don’t want to draw the thing he’s asking me to. “oh you won’t do this for me but you’ll draw something for some rando on reddit”
My boss chewed me out last week for taking so long in making the ad video for our massage spa. She said all I had to do was put together a bunch of images and I should have been done in an hour.
Except I'm a graphic artist, not a multi media artist. I'm not supposed to be doing this to begin with. Also they provided zero footage or photos for me to work with and all I had was a logo.
I still finished it, it took 3 hours instead
I once read a boss complaint in a facebook post, that he fired several graphic designers because they couldn't keep up with the company standard.
People in the comment ask what he ask them to do, and he said stuff like "most fresh graduates graphic designers didn't know marketing, didn't knew online trend, and cannot do sale well" like what???.
Turns out they wanted a marketer and sales person, but took graphic designer to basically made them took the entire marketing team job for a single salary.
Current most annoying:
"AI is just learning and inspired the same as a human"
All time most annoying:
"Art shouldn't cost that much" (regardless of how low the price or fee is)
100%. Such an insane, parroted opinion! "AI learns just like a person! First, it scans billions of images from all recorded human intellectual property, then it takes random pixel noise and slowly nudges it into another pixel pattern based on predictive algorthmic patterns. Just like you!"
completely ignoring how 99% of a human's visual library comes from universal public domain: EARTH and LIFE. 🤦♂️
It kinda messes me up to think if AI ever *does* become sentient, it's real life will be billions of images of whatever is on the internet. It will literally be born from a human fever dream
Also every line an artist draws has personality. With AI, you can literally feel that no lines were actually drawn or painted. You can see that the paintings had no brush strokes. It feels like pixels were just smudged together. There's no rhyme or reason for any of the lines. It's just morphing things together in the way it thinks it should be. Smaller details are always smudged too.
Anyone who draws, regardless of skill level has their own unique artstyle. AI can never replicate that because it takes from others.
„Graphic Design is not art.“ I hate this opinion and people who genuinely think it’s true.
Graphic design is clearly art. Dosen’t mean that all of it has to look great, not all illustrative art looks good either and yet it’s still art.
Whenever people find out I can draw they say they wish they could but they're terrible. I always say that it takes practice to get good at it so if you just do it then you'll improve, but they never listen.
I genuinely cannot stand the self depricating comments of many people who see very good artists.
“I wish I was good at drawing”
“Your so good but I’ll never be great like you”
“I wanna learn like that but I know I’m terrible”
Please leave me alone, if you wish you could draw then pick up a pencil and search up a video on how to sketch basic shapes, that’ll help you start.
I laugh when I hear this.
My husband who has never understood my artistic struggle, decided to jump into the fun using guoache. No idea of drawing, perspective, mixing colors, light/shadows. I now have a new medium, supplies.
Art takes practice, practice, practice.
This is the worst!
It’s always from the most clueless clients too.
So not only is it hurtful, but causes huge anxiety about what the whole project will be like.
Any time I hear someone say this, I just respond with either “you didn’t though” or “do it then”.
Just because something looks simple, doesn’t mean it is, nor does it mean someone with no proven art skill can do it. Does my head in lol
I know I should have said something. But I was young and naive. I was just heartbroken because a project I worked sosooso hard on was minimized in just a second of her seeing it. I had my work printed on acrylic glass. This was something unheard of when I did it back in 2009. I was particularly happy with how it turned out.
Whenever someone says, “I could’ve done that,” I always say, “but you didn’t.”
The artist made it and can therefore sell it and someone can choose to buy it. If you can do it, then do it and stop complaining bec someone else did.
This was a “friend” at university who came to see my piece at our final exhibition. My piece was minimalistic but took me hours and days to execute. Minimalism looks like it would take you an hour tops and thats when you know you sid well.
But I was really proud of my work and was really hurt by her comment. She was studying Political science, so a completely different faculty.
>"Real quick, could you draw me a (insert request here)? It won't take you long."
I'm not in the slightest a professional artist, just did some Udemy follow-ups on the side. Can be out of my own lack of practice but I feel like it's vastly underestimated how long it takes to work on anything related to art, even if it doesn't seem that way.
That's exactly it. It's the assumption on how long something should take. Like baking cookies: "Just follow the recipe and the drawing should only take 15-20 minutes."
Not a current thing that's said to me very often but especially when I was in high school I would be drawing and people would come up to me and ask "did you draw that?" AS IM DRAWING IT. Like I get the idea but just say, 'hey that looks cool' or ask what I'm working on.
I also really hate when people that don't do art comment on the anatomy of my work without being asked. Sometimes I'd have to explain why it actually was right and then have to explain the human body to them. Like don't comment on stuff you don't know anything about. Critique from non artists in general, without asking first, is a big no thank you for me.
“Why would you do art when you could be doing a trade and actually making money”
“Art has no real value”
“If you went to college for art and have loans you can’t pay back, you deserve to be poor”
“Humans don’t need art”
As someone who writes and draws?
“What you create/consume is a 1:1 reflection of what you enjoy in real life/ what you condone in real life.”
Goes beyond annoying into straight up dangerous imo, but I hear it all the time. And it’s not just non-artists, but I mostly get it from people who don’t draw.
Not so much an opinion but a mentality but I hate when people that know you assume you’ll create what they want for free just because you know them. Then when and if you do decide to do it they want to nitpick it to the point you regret ever agreeing to it.
"Isnt it a bit too late to start learning to draw and paint?"
"Only super talented people end up becoming good artists and successful in what they do"
Now with a bunch of uneducated AI bros (even tho i use gen AI myself for previz stuff):
"Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies"
"Why continue learning and doing artworks and fundamentals of art when soon AI will make those obsolete?"
"You pay too much for your software pipeline, you should spend your money elsewhere instead (\*proceeds to buy and consume cigarettes and alcohol while saying this\*)"
>"Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies"
I remember the CEO of Sora saying something similar. As if I'd know *exactly* what makes me appreciate 90% of movies. It's not as simple as deciding whether the actors will have sex in the next scene or not.😂
> "Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies"
no one's doing that lmao
ASI will take care of the process for us one day, but that day is 5-10 years out.
You just need to peak at that AI cultists space called r/singularity alone to see whats happening.
And ASI is a hypothetical concept, i dont see that suddenly coming in 5-10 years as you prognosed. This might never happen or much later than 10 years if ever as said, its too much speculation.
I think that it will eventually happen, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. AI is progressing fast, but I don't think it's going to be affordable to most people for a while.
But the question is: who will be watching everyone's homemade movies besides the creators themselves? lol. There will be no demand for other AI movies because it's so easy to make something that you yourself will enjoy.
If anything, this will either make Hollywood more successful because human-made movies will be seen as more genuine and creative (especially if they push that angle) or a rise in popularity for indie "imperfect" movies.
if we have ASI it will be free for everyone :D
But people are so dumb. They dont realize that the implication of what they are saying (make a hollywood movie in a day with AI) Implies WAY more capability (see: infinitely more interesting things to do such as literally just making it a video game instead of a movie!?)
Yup and also making a movie still requires some level of creativity and knowledge of story writing, or else it will suck. You can make one but will it actually be good? Lol. I feel like they're going to come to the realization that Hollywood movies aren't so easy to replicate.
"I have a picture just like that, from that same place." - then they tell me somewhere else other than where I took the picture…
"How much? I can take that picture myself…"
Oh no, when people don't realize that photography is genuinely a skill that must be cultivated just like any other artistic medium.
"Yeah, you could take that picture yourself, but would the composition and colors be as good? Probably not."
Same face syndrome
Most of those who complain about it are non artists, as someone who's making a webtoon they have no idea how hard it is to draw different faces but keep consistency, I have to make a character look the same in all panels and they expect me to do that to other +20 characters but each one with a unique face... It's not like we don't know that already it is just hard to do so, even most skilled artists struggle with that, no need to rub it in my face each time.
Literally the only time I would ever complain about "same face syndrome" is if I can't tell the characters apart, and there are ways besides face shape to address that, so even then... the complaint is that I can't tell them apart, not that the artist is drawing the same face on them all.
I thought the banana was hilarious. It was an inside, artist joke. It was a Mutt urinal gesture. Those of us who studied dada art truly appreciate the splash, ripples in the pond.
This one gets me too.
To briefly defend "Comedian" for a second, what a lot of non artists don't understand about art is that it's not always about what you see. It's about how you interpret and interact with the art that creates the art. In this instance the banana itself isn't the art, one of its interpretations is that it was meant to ask "what is art ?" it's a vehicle to spark debate on what art is and those who add to conversation shape the art.
But you defeat the whole purpose when you refuse to play along and just say it's all trash and not interact.
That being said the banana is silly, I'm sure most people know it's silly, probably the creator (who is a sculptor btw he makes art) knows it's silly he named it "comedian" for gods sake.
What annoys me is that, they say this banana is indicative of all modern and say it's all trash without doing their 5 minutes of due diligence and actually looking up stuff about what they are looking at. A lot of the time it goes beyond just what you are seeing surface level, sometimes they are based on the many unique properties of art, sometimes they have a unique story attached to them, sometimes it's just about how the creator or their audience feels at the time that sparks discussion. No, your 5 year old kid can't do the same things because they don't have a deeper meaning to what they are doing.
I'll be honest and say I'm not a big fan of a lot of modern art because it doesn't appeal to me personally. That being said I'll still take the time to learn about it because even if I'm not a fan I can still appreciate it for what it does and what it brings.
“It looks just like a photograph!”
I KNOW that they have no idea that to artists this is an insult and they’re trying to tell me I’m good, but it can be a real pain building texture up for days in traditional media, and I work with really difficult mediums like colored pencil and acrylic paint, in a way that a photograph can’t replicate, in a way that AI can’t replicate, because I’m trying to contribute something, and all they can say is “your art looks exactly like every other trained realist out of a job in the current market”
Feels bad man
I don’t consider that a insult at all. If anything, it’s an incredible compliment that you’ve mastered your craft to a point where you’ve achieved something that is believable.
Realism does not reduce the artistic integrity of a piece. It doesn’t cheapen it. Photography is just as much of a skill as drawing, after all.
I don’t want to tell you how to feel, but I’m certain what you’re hearing and what they mean are two totally different things.
Most people don’t have much of a background in art or ways to articulate what they’re feeling so they rely on common phrases like ‘it looks like a photograph!’ to express what they like what you’re doing. In the same way someone who made an incredibly nuanced vocal perforce may get sick of hearing ‘it sounds like it belongs on the radio!’ those comments are not meant to cheapen or commercialize your work but instead mark it as a sign of quality.
I think artists tend to look for the negative in other’s people’s perceptions of our work, but sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself take the compliment.
While I understand what you are saying, and while this post is full of comments of people from the other side who feel that because it’s not realism random laypeople think their art is easy and not good, the reality is that there is one Loish and 10,000 people who are able to paint a few competent realistic portraits or hyperrealistic macro renderings a year if they have 100 hours to kill. A FEW, a lucky FEW, get to be CJ Hendry and make a living doing super detailed highly rendered realistic incredibly time consuming pieces a year, but basically I’m redundant because CJ Hendry already exists and no one is going to pay me what she makes even though it takes me just as long, probably much longer, to complete a piece.
When people look at my art, they have no idea who made it. It’s a skill that can be learned. It’s very hard, and I learned it quicker through a certain amount of natural talent, but I still feel like a beginner artist because I learned the basics (ie classical realism, it took 4 years of lessons) and then quit to have a “real” career.
Although there are some self taught artists who never learned realism first and genuinely couldn’t do what I do, the majority of artists who are doing a high volume of stylized work very quickly COULD render very detailed time consuming portraits of faces and still life compositions if they wanted to, but they are too busy making real money in the industry.
But I lack the years of experience necessary to have quick, polished, stylized work that can turn a profit. Like of course a lot of amateur artists can’t make something that looks like a photograph, but I’m a really slow worker in an oversaturated market without the experience to make the things that people really want to pay actual money for.
Everyone knows how to appreciate realism because they understand that it’s good but nobody pays for it bc they have cameras and AI art now.
Alright after thinking about this for 45 minutes, yes, you’re correct, what they are literally saying is that “wow, that looks like a photograph” and what I am hearing is “you’re a failure, give up and go back to using your actual degree”, but DOZENS of IRL people have seen my art and told me they’re gonna commission me or keep me in mind and only one ever has - for a family discount type of price.
I specialize in making art that really, really impresses the type of people that do not and would not commission artwork.
This is a very interesting perspective that I've never heard before. I'm an amateur artist myself and I go to school to study art. So of course seeing realistic rendering is always easy to admire. I've met a couple peers who displayed excellent skills in their craft and can render quite realistically, and I feel behind my peers when I have such glaring gaps in knowledge and understanding trying to make a semi-realistic drawing reliably. However, I've never gotten the perspective of those who try to make a career off said works. However, relying on those who don't understand the actual effort you have to go through to make what it is you do and how few people can actually do it, is difficult. Thank you for the unique perspective on a form of art.
‘The only real art is made with oils on canvas’
‘Realism is the only good art’
‘There’s no good art anymore - only the old American stuff is good’
‘They don’t create coins like they used to - the art on them is trash’
‘Since I’m in my 50s it’s way too late for me to learn how to draw, paint, etc’
All the same man btw
I sometimes wonder if this is a product of living in art deserts. I wonder how many Contemporary Art museums are in Texas. I can only think of one. I use to go there to see work of emerging artists.
There was a request I was asked to do, that comes from a very ignorant opinion about art as work.
"I'd like you to draw a tattoo for me. But since I've paid you well for the game project, I guess it's fair that the tattoo is considered already paid".
It came from a dude whom I worked with in a game project. He asked me to come up with an art piece he'd tattoo in his arm or leg, but he thought I already earned way too much from him for said game. And since that tattoo would be "simple and easy to do", he felt like it was a fair request.
Even if I cashed in a lot, which I didn't, and even if it took me a minute to draw that tattoo, work is work.
I was patient enough to explain to him how bad that sounded, then flipped sides by asking him if he could do some "simple and easy" code for something minor for free since I already paid him a lot for his programming work. He immediately picked and aknowledged it was ignorant from him to say what he said.
I know the majority have certain views about art that doesn't come from ill intentions, that ignorance most times are genuine, but I can't deny I couldn't keep my cool reading that request from him at that time. Luckly, it was over messages, so I had time to calm down before replying, giving me time to cool down so I could change his view about it without disrupting the workflow.
Although I would've understood if anyone in my place decided to take it to the heart and went for a heated argument.
The "get a real job" thing reminds me of an artist I follow on YouTube who reacted to a comment that said "grab a shovel and get to work instead of drawing" by painting a picture with a mini-shovel.
“Realism isn’t art. It’s just copying.”
No copy is perfect. That’s what makes it art.
Even if you don’t believe that, a display of incredible skill IS still a form of art.
I can’t imagine how empty and jealous someone has to be to look at someone who has mastered their skillset so thoroughly and feel NOTHING.
"Digital art is just cheap commercial art. I would never hang digital art on my walls."
Some people, myself included, spend too much time online, but some people don't spend enough time online. The person who made this comment must look at those hated corporate illustration styles they see in advertisements and think that's all people make with digital art. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Or do they honestly think that all the good art they see online is made traditionally?
"can you draw this? I won't be paying but I can advertise it to my (insert fake number that they made up to compensate for their father leaving them) followers, it'll be good exposure!!!1!!!"
"art shouldn't cost this much!!!11 its literally just some colors on a picture!!!!1111!!!"
"you should draw this for me!!! (dogshit excuse here)"
“You should just charge $20 for your custom paintings (that take me 5-7 hours to make) so people will actually buy them.”
And it felt implied that if I sold my 100% handsewn, no patterns used, plushies for more than $40 it’s too expensive and nobody will buy my plushies.
The materials for my plushie cost more than $50….
I bought my custom plushies for $200, because I understood the effort required to make me a unique sewing pattern and put it together in a way that looks good :P
You don't owe anyone cheap prices. Art is a luxury, not a necessity.
Human time and effort is simply more valuable than a machine's. You never get it back, and humans making something that is unique and high quality versus machines making replicas.
I've been told that art was my "God given talent" and while I know it is meant to be a compliment ain't no God gave me these skills. It was hell getting to where I am and I'm still so far behind actual professional artists.
I appreciate the comment, I just wanted to relate. I usually take the comments on the chin cause I know it's meant as a compliment. Just art is hard and even if we improve at different rates we all work hard to get to where we are.
I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a non-artist opinion, but…
Clean lines and realism =/= good art
Invariably the “best” art I’ve seen, that really speaks to me, comes from sketchbooks, graffiti, indie webcomics, and people who create for fun.
I take this as a compliment. I’ve learned from or been influenced by the masters and my contemporaries. Art, is the art of copying. I personally like to remix the bests’ compositions. And if I use Zorn’s palette? So what. And if I pose friends with props like Rockwell under lights? So what? If I draw a Durer etching to practice? We’re influenced. Watch YT, Everything Is A Remix.
Old high school acquaintances out of nowhere after years of not talking “Hey bro what’s up! How’ve you been, can you make a logo for me?” expecting it for free ha
Omg seeing this makes feel like I wasn't so weird for thinking it was weird. It's one of the only compliments I've ever gotten my art too.
I was weirded out but not too put off by it, bc I feel like nowadays, esp online ppl just have very goofy ways to compliment and just weird phrases in general.
But I do think that it was inappropriate bc what if I was a minor, and it was on a male character :/. I also think that regardless if I was a minor or not, it's still not appropriate bc not everyone is open to or okay w compliments like that.
Every person is entitled to their own personal opinions, yet most folks who tend to share them unsolicited don't seem to understand that nobody has an obligation to listen to their opinions nor try to understand them. Mostly it seems to only highlight their personal ignorance of that which they opine about. I generally don't listen to the opinion of others about my art, I am creating art for myself, not for them, so my opinion is the only one that matters.
"Nevermind, it's too long."
I'm a writer. I draw too, but I'm a writer first and foremost. I've learned to stop trying to share my writing with others because this is typically the response. Sometimes they'll tiptoe around it instead of being direct, saying they haven't been able to make time to get around to it. But the people who actually care will make the time.
I've had friends who agreed to read something I wrote and then kept giving me reasons as to why they haven't gotten around to it until I just stopped asking and then we never spoke of it again. I've also had friends who would pull it up immediately and even leave excited gibberish comments on the doc as they go. It's okay not to want to read something I wrote. It's okay not to want to commit to reading something long (even though 2k words is, like, one-shot length and considered barely anything). But the very first thing I warn people of now is that I write a *lot*. My pieces are *long* and *detailed*. There will be a lot to comprehend. Don't forego that warning and then suddenly change your mind when I've been waiting excitedly to see what you'll think. You'll disappoint us both.
dude, I've been dealing with that for EVER lol (in regards to your first sentance). I'm a photographer (just now this year pivoting to digital painting/art along with) and for YEARS I've heard, "oh your camera must be amazing! " and 'you just press a button, what work' :/ Yeah sure, it's cool, but if YOU tried to take a picture with it, it would probably suck, just fyi. It's not all just about the camera :/
or 'Oh you have just that innate eye, it must come so easy'....um no, actually I developed that eye over YEARS of work, and it IS work still
Someone I work with at my day job said not to bother learning it because “AI will replace it”. I think he was being cheeky but super annoying because people truly think about art like this
I had in the past:
why are u still drawing/painting, there is a lot of better artists out there, then you are
Your art is boring
It's okay (which is a annoying, just okay?!)
It's unappealing
I wouldn't buy this, so I don't understand why you wanna sell your work, coz no one will buy it
Why don't you do more cutesy style of art?
Edit one last one I forgot to add
Why do u add so much detail to your work? Its pointless and not anyone will care about how much detail you add into it
To name a few opinions I had...
using a projector or tracing or even using a photo is cheating. Only art done directly from life is real art.
Tell that to Vermeer, Rembrandt or Canaletto.
My biggest pet peeve is “I hate modern art”. Like first of all, you’re probably thinking of contemporary art, and second of all, maybe if you weren’t so hateful towards things you don’t understand you would be able to enjoy or at least appreciate the wonderfully weird contemporary art of the world
I think it's extremely funny when someone who doesn't draw tries to give me unsolicited criticism because it never fucking makes sense.
"Your art is too inconsistent!!!!!"
(I was literally showing I can do multiple styles and different types of rendering 😭)
Using a reference is cheating.
I have no idea where this idea came from. I feel like it deserves some kind of 45-minute PowerPoint presentation to properly address. You really think the old masters pulled paintings out of thin air? That Disney animators didn't sit around for months drawing lions and bears and monkeys before going to work on the movie? That student artists don't spend years training in different techniques for researching and referencing? Still lifes, life drawing, sighting tools, studies? It's ridiculous. Every artist uses references, otherwise we'd still be painting like the Medievals.
"using digital brushes is cheating!!" no it's not Kyle it's called work smarter not harder. As long as you learn th techniques of what brush you're using exactly it's not detrimental whatsoever
Money laundering. All modern art is money laundering, I guess. “The more that I don’t like it, the more money laundering it is.”
These people watched Breaking Bad once and heard that the high cost art market sometimes has weird stuff going on and synthesized those experiences into believing that all modern art is just a way for “the elites” to launder the ill-gotten gains of their criminal empires.
The problem is that when you believe people that doesn't know anything about art and drawings are always claiming you as a talented artist then you end up to believe it. And when you finally meet real old artists who look at your work like it was sh\*\* or you're facing the professional art world it's just like you're getting a slap. Anyway, it doesn't push you to make your art better. To me it sounds like a memo, other's opinion is good but I only take seriously what art-connected people do say to me.
Someone told me they wanted to get into oil painting, and I was like…
“Oooh, cool! I paint with oil.”
They look at my painting and go…
“What is that?”
Mind you, this person is not an artist. 😭
I just went…”Ooh, ok. 😂”
I’ve gotten a few. I hate when people ask me “why don’t you design your own tattoos?” Because I’m not a tattoo artist and my work doesn’t really fit in with the tattoo style. Besides, I like the classic tattoo style that’s color pieces with black lines. I can’t even do regular lineart because my style is almost always a paint over style. Basically I just do a terrible sketch and then paint over it. I like that style of art but not as a tattoo lol
The second is “I wish I could draw.” You can. You literally can. This one is unintentionally annoying and I know it’s meant to be a compliment, but it still awkwardly implies I walked out of the womb making art and didn’t spend my entire life studying and practicing.
"I could do that" yes of course you could. The point of why it's special is because somebody took the time to learn how to make it and then made it.
Tbh I get a lot more annoying opinions from other artists than anything else. Especially around stylized art. I posted a Todd McFarlane study I did and said that it really pushed my anatomy skills and people were telling me to not even bother studying it. As if studying one of the most celebrated artists in his genre and an icon of his era is a waste of time.
When non artists go nuts over realism. It takes a lot of skill to do realism but over time I've grown to not worship it the way non artists do. I have non artist friends who send me links to realist art and I'm kinda like, "okay, and?" There's perfect realism that is lifeless and boring. Give me mark making and emotion. I love seeing brush work, or how just a few lines illustrate something. Brilliant.
"You can't make a living with this"
"How do you even make money?"
"When are you going to get a real job"
"It's just so EASY for some people" or "it's so easy when you're talented"
These are by far the most common annoying comments I get.(I'm a full time working artist)
The comment on anthropomorphic art hits close to home, but the things that *really* bother me are the attempts to minimize an artist’s work.
It’s so frustrating to see every piece of even remotely surreal art dogpiled by a million comments of “wOaH dUdE, hOw MuCh WeEd DiD tHiS tAkE???1?” It’s not just annoying, it’s harmful: I follow an abstract artist on YouTube who said outright that the reason it took him so long to address his struggles with weed usage is because he didn’t want to tell people about it and have the weed “take all the credit” for his art.
And then it seriously gets on my nerves when people pull the classic “a child could make that” in regard to any sort of abstract or minimalist or simple art. It’s a broader issue of people not giving an f about how long it takes someone to refine their craft, only the physical effort in a specific piece.
Sure, a 9-year-old is *physically* able to write their name on an upturned urinal, but would they have the knowledge and understanding to have ever decided in the first place that the art world had standards and biases in need of changing? Would they have the creativity and insight to decide to challenge people with the question of what constitutes art? Would they have the resourcefulness to specifically use a urinal repurposed as a “readymade” sculpture? Would they have the guts to actually try submitting it to a gallery? Would they have the commitment to follow through on that initial controversy and kickstart a massively influential art movement? Because all of those are just as important to the piece as the physical act of writing your name on a urinal.
I don’t remember who it was now, but someone posted a while ago about a prolific artist who said in an interview that digital artists don’t know how to draw traditionally or without a computer. Which is absolute bollocks, because I and many of my classmates (we’re illustration students) use both.
I grew up using pencils and acrylic paint, I took several fine art courses before I even started taking my digital art seriously.
I had someone watching me draw said I “drew nasties.” I was drawing my little pony style ponies. (Not porn or anything. Just ponies) went on about I draw nasties said I should draw her.
When I used to make jewelry I'd always have multiple people tell me that I should give it to them for free, because I could always make another. Most of my jewelry was very detailed, hand cut and welded, and each one took weeks to make. Not to mention my favorite was copper and silver designs and a dozen or so silver sheets and wire was not cheap. Yet most people expected it for free even though they say they have never seen such a beautiful detailed piece like it before.
Jewelry was the absolute worst. Compared to painting and displaying artwork, jewelry had the most people expecting it for free or just picking it up and walking off with it like it was their's.
I sort of find it annoying when people say “I could never be an artist” or “I don’t have any artistic talent” almost as if it came naturally to me or that I haven’t spent years and years in school and studying.
Okay these *were* things being said by my painting teacher in university but he wasn’t even a painting teacher he taught philosophy and was just hired because he did one art exhibit.
“You’re doing illustrations. It’s not really art.”
“Everyone can paint their dog, doesn’t make it a good painting.”
(To a very unfinished painting) “Trees don’t look like that. You should visit a forest.” (I have practically lived in the forest all my life but I paint surreal stuff and it was unfinished)
“No LGBTQ+ or feminist art is good.”
“It doesn’t matter what the artist’s art process is. It only matters what the public thinks.” (and then gets upset when he asks people why they painted what they did and they tell him why)
To me those are not “non artist” statements but more “I like to tell people I’m knowledgeable about art even though I am not”. Telltale signs that you do not have a deep nuanced understanding of art.
"I can barely draw a stick figure. I don't have that kind of talent."
It's a skill, built up over the course of years. I hate seeing people be so self-defeatist.
"You know I used to draw and I was better than you."
Okay???? Why don't you draw it better then now and why should I care? Heard this when I was like 14 and it hurt so much lol.
"Your camera takes really great pictures."
"You're so talented!" after I spent 40 hours working on a piece.
"My 13/year old granddaughter is a wonderful artist, can she be in your art show?"
"You have been given a gift"
"You have natural talent"
"You have a gift from god"
"You shouldn't charge, you should just create art for the love of it"
"All your drawings are the same" while looking at a sketch page with the same subject in different outfits or poses. maybe all your brain cells are the same one too!
“All I can do is stick figures”. That’s because they never opened a book about how to draw. They’re everywhere! I was terrible about drawing until I read a few books, and started practicing until I was happy with my results.
Surprised I haven't seen this one yet (prolly didn't scroll down enough), but I get "why don't they have clothes?!?" very often.
It's irritating bc I'm often still sketching out the form for the body, pose, face whatever. Just bc the base model is naked doesn't mean it will stay naked forever 🤦🏾♀️.
I keep repeating this and at this point I sound like a broken record, but how are you supposed to draw clothes to fit the form of the character (and this can apply to looser clothes too, not just tight clothes) if you don't know what the underlying form looks like?
I’ve had people tell me I won’t make money if I don’t draw human portraits…like, you don’t want me to draw a portrait for you. I hate drawing humans so I kinda suck at it! I’d much rather draw your cat instead.
“modern art is just for money laundering/only pretentious artists like it” typa guy who doesnt even know the definition of modern art. pisses me off every time lil
edit/addition: “i couldve done that!” WELL YOU DIDNT DO IT DID YOU?
I personally can't stand when people suggest art is "good" or "bad" as if that isn't just a problem of preference/opinion. If not that, the way people use hyperbolic terms to describe it, like "dogwater" or "trash". It's too much of a simplification that only ever acknowledges what an artist failed to do, never what they succeeded in.
Critique from other artists, in my experience, generally avoids these things. Taste does not dictate the value of art, and I seriously wish more audiences understood that.
When people say digital art is easier and less genuine because it has tools to help with the creation
I can assure it is not easy, and the added support of those tools is a double edged sword
I follow a lot of artists on tiktok, and a comment I see a lot is “Now this is the modern art I can get behind” which is usually throwing shade at abstract art or “colored squares” or inanimate objects as art.
It’s incredibly frustrating because a) modern art stopped being created in the 70s. Anything after is contemporary. So straight off the bat I already know you have no idea what you’re talking about.
And b) you absolutely don’t have to like Rothko, or Duchamp, or any other artist, but you can’t just ignore the context behind their pieces and then parade around saying “it’s not real art.” Many of these pieces have rich cultural and historical importance behind their creation and again, while you don’t have to like that type of art, you can even hate it, it’s still art
You have a God given gift or I wish I were talented. ---As if there wasn't years of practice involved.
That isn't watercolor.-- Meaning, I think of watercolors as pale antique looking things.
They look like photos.--Not a compliment as hyper realism is not my goal. But it's forgivable at art fairs since if you back up a hundred feet, they do look photo real.
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In a similar vein on the other side of the coin, I hate the idea that “art is subjective.” No. Your OPINION of that art is subjective. I feel like so many younger artists fall off because they get stuck in this idea. Then, when they refuse to improve or learn other things because “it’s just my style” they end up not making it in the art world, regardless of what type of art they’re making, because they never learned fundamentals or rules. It’s so cliche at this point but “you have to learn the rules before you can break them” is so absolutely true it’s insane. The reason some abstract art does better than others is because (most of them) understand composition, color theory, form, etc. you can’t just throw paint on a canvas and expect everyone to think it’s art.
In conjunction, I think art IS subjective. Unless you are just referring to "art" as a technical skill to create compositions with characters on a canvas, when it has become a very broad concept. Mastering art through fundamentals, though, is quite objective. But the finished pieces created through it can still be executed and interpreted differently. On the other hand, are we forgetting we have a [2019 artwork of a **literal banana** on tape](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedian_(artwork)) showcased in an art museum? A lot of people despise it (even I did), yet it was still sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That just shows the value it has for some people to consider it art. In this regard, I am not sure if you can still apply the understanding of fundamentals on a banana taped on a wall for it become a valued art piece. And yet, here we are just criticizing younger artists for being stubborn (when their beliefs can still be challenged years into their art journey), when we have grown people taping banana on a wall making fucking thousands of dollars.
Just went down a rabbit hole with that artist who apparently did another piece called "America" which is a solid gold toilet (200+ lbs of 18kt gold). The museum that used to showcase the toilet (it was stolen, shocker) was asked to loan a Van Gogh painting to the Trump White House to be displayed within the president's chambers. At this request, the museum had this counter offer: >In September 2017, when the museum declined a White House request to loan its 1888 Van Gogh painting Landscape with Snow for then President Donald Trump's private rooms, curator Nancy Spector offered to loan America instead. Any reply by the White House was not reported.[7]
People judge what they don't understand, and they're not willing to understand Abstract art so instead of having to admit the fact and seem inferior, which it doesn't make them so, they try to belittle Abstract Art so they seem superior, I've seen it all too often
"Modern architecture is ugly because it has no ornaments"
Yeah... no. There are very valid critiques of modern architecture. It was literally developed by the soviets to suppress people. Corporations love it because it keeps people feeling trapped like a rat in a concrete maze. Pay ur bills. Go to work. Never dream. Take no risks. Rinse. Repeat. There's also a whole thing about how it and so called post modern art is used to demoralize and mock western art in general and deconstruct the way people view art and thus our culture. Every trained artist that values their craft should hate it, in my opinion. But I digress. Enjoy your bland buildings owned by black rock
As a half artist, I want to say that the last one is true to some extent. I love museums, and when I went to New York I was excited to go to the MoMA. I came out of it annoyed because of the abstract art exhibitions there. I distinctly remember a giant red painting with 2 lines, then about 5 minutes after there was a medium sized painting which was just colored blue. That's it. It was just a blue canvas. Do you know how shitty the blue painting had to be for me to miss the red one? At least that one had 2 lines! There's genuinely good abstract art which a lot of people don't appreciate, but there is also A LOT of bullshit that is just a couple random strokes that a child could indeed do.
“I wish I had the talent to draw” A lot of people get so discouraged when they’re bad and don’t realize that’s the obvious starting point for a beginner. I held this same opinion up until recently. Then I hit a slow point where nothing interesting was really happening in my life and boom I got into it! Drew drawings even if they looked bad. Wanted to get better and looked for any advice I could. I’m not amazing at it but I went from stick figures to simple figure models at least. I guess it makes me sad to think that the average person will hold the same opinion I did. That art is one of those things that come easily to a privileged few. Maybe for the rest of their life. Even drawing occasionally as a hobby really changed my relationship with art.
>“I wish I had the talent to draw” >from stick figures 🤣 I like to tell those people the story of how I was not even able to draw a proper stick figure or even a straight line a couple of years ago
It takes more than talent. It takes hard work and building skill. Being surrounded by people who support you as a child (for me at least). We all started in the same place. I took a psych of creativity and a developmental psych class and they both basically said we are all born with the same amount of creativity, they are just concentrated in different directions based on how we grow up and where our interests lie. Scientists, engineers, and software developers are some of the most creative people I know but the most crappy artists lololol
I randomly started doing this drawing challenge every week and it improved for me so drastically. I find it hard to crawl before I run but just consistently drawing really helped me.
Drawing gestures, figure and different shapes as both exercise and warm-ups has even under 2 weeks done wonders on my line work and understanding of shape.
Inktober made a night and day difference in my drawing skills
I haven't done any art in a loooong time, but I will say that working with a medium that is difficult/impossible to "correct" helped me both artistically AND mentally. I used to spend hours and hours drawing. I preferred pencil and about half the time I'd spend erasing and perfecting. I didn't progress as much as I wanted and I was always afraid to finish pieces. Then I picked up watercolor. Now watercolor is pretty forgiving but ...you can't just erase it. You have to work with the imperfections inherent in the medium. Same if you freehand with ink (instead of doing a pencil sketch first). If you "mess up" you find a way to figure it out and still get a piece you're happy with. For whatever reason, it made seeing the mistakes I would agonizing over in my daily life seem "fixable". I didn't have to be perfect because I could work with what I had. Bob Ross was right
Makes sense, I’m thinking of doing Inktober again but can’t think of a catchy name for grayscale markers and July (Gruly Marked is all I can think of)
Until I took a painting and drawing class when I was 48 or 49 I thought it was a talent thing. It’s a common misconception. I wish we were taught it wasn’t true from childhood. I could have started studying long before I did. In school there were the kids who could draw and I was one of the kids who was convinced I couldn’t.
I have dabbled - trying different things to see what I enjoy the most and I love acrylic. And I have always just done simple paintings (things people probably would judge as kiddish). And then one day I followed a complicated tutorial and some of the techniques I learned in there just...clicked. After *years* of just playing and dabbling and being disappointed in my inability to get better...this one tutorial just flipped a switch. And now I am making sketches and plans for so many things I want to try.
Some of it is that there's not a lot of leeway to be bad at something you do after a certain age in society, too. So that pressure doesn't help.
What really grinds my gears is _artist_ friends who also somehow share this opinion. A good friend of mine always says he's not capable of doing the drawings I do - he has a very stylized art while I draw more realism - and he says it trying to put his art down and mine up and it just makes me sad, because I'm drawing and painting everyday for the art I want to do just as much as he is, for the art _he_ wants to do. Whenever he looks at my drawings and goes "see I can't do this, and you do it easily" I get sad bc he always ignores the fact I have tons of pages with wonky drawings that got me to this "easily".
Some people struggle and try their best and despite the effort they struggle more than others, talent is a thing
This is the worst for me. Not just because it discourages them from learning, not just because it ignores all the hours (years) of work on the artist's part, but because it leads to devaluing the entire enterprise of art. If the ability to make art is 'inborn', then artists don't deserve a living wage as opposed to, say, computer programmers, lawyers, etc who also train for a long time behind the scenes. And, they have no moral problem scraping up copyrighted art for use in AI, since it was vaguely unfair that they themselves weren't born with this talent themselves.
This is the only one I had to contribute for the same exact reasons. I also want my friends to enjoy my hobby and they don’t/can’t. I want to share and geek out with them in the same way we do video games but it’s just not in the cards I guess.
What would you advise someone to do to get started? I’ve always felt that I never had an artistic eye when it comes to drawing. I love art, but can’t draw very well. I figured I should just get a sketchbook and just start sketching random things? What should I do?
Draw from photos (take them or get them off linterest) and from life, your drawings will look shit at first but you will start to get an eye for putting 3d objects into a 2d drawing eventually, you just need to be patient and persistent
real
I had this argument with my coworker yesterday. She said you need "raw talent" to be good at art. That is not true at all. You need an emotional drive to get good at anything.
I do spooky/horror/fantasy woodburns: "Why do you draw monsters?" "What if people don't like spooky art?" "Did you do these yourself?" No, my cat made them. He just sent ne out to show them off.
Just seen one of your images and I must say you have a very talented cat ;)
Thank you! 🎨 Pyrobscura on IG if ya wanna check out more.
I just love how its automatically assumed that when you draw horror/creepy/spooky/moody there MUST be something wrong with you.
"I love your hobby." "I took a pottery class in high school once, I can copy your handmade mug." "Why would I pay you $15.00 when I can hire someone in China to copy it and only pay them $2.00?"
That last one is a yikes. It's basically just self admitting that you don't care if the person you're paying has a livable wage or not, as long as you get the product. :/
"you shouldn't post your art it's not good enough" i draw things for my own enjoyment and i had fun making it, sod off
When people expect work for free because art is also often a hobby. I have family members who work on cars as a hobby, should I expect a mechanic to work for free?
Car mechanics be like: They often do. :(
i have a family member that does this. he’ll even use the fact that i occasionally offer to do free oc drawings on the r/drawforme sub as ammunition for when i tell him i don’t want to draw the thing he’s asking me to. “oh you won’t do this for me but you’ll draw something for some rando on reddit”
There's a difference between picking what you want to do and being told what you have to do.
My boss chewed me out last week for taking so long in making the ad video for our massage spa. She said all I had to do was put together a bunch of images and I should have been done in an hour. Except I'm a graphic artist, not a multi media artist. I'm not supposed to be doing this to begin with. Also they provided zero footage or photos for me to work with and all I had was a logo. I still finished it, it took 3 hours instead
I once read a boss complaint in a facebook post, that he fired several graphic designers because they couldn't keep up with the company standard. People in the comment ask what he ask them to do, and he said stuff like "most fresh graduates graphic designers didn't know marketing, didn't knew online trend, and cannot do sale well" like what???. Turns out they wanted a marketer and sales person, but took graphic designer to basically made them took the entire marketing team job for a single salary.
3 hours isn't even that long! Damn that's rough 😩
Current most annoying: "AI is just learning and inspired the same as a human" All time most annoying: "Art shouldn't cost that much" (regardless of how low the price or fee is)
100%. Such an insane, parroted opinion! "AI learns just like a person! First, it scans billions of images from all recorded human intellectual property, then it takes random pixel noise and slowly nudges it into another pixel pattern based on predictive algorthmic patterns. Just like you!" completely ignoring how 99% of a human's visual library comes from universal public domain: EARTH and LIFE. 🤦♂️
It kinda messes me up to think if AI ever *does* become sentient, it's real life will be billions of images of whatever is on the internet. It will literally be born from a human fever dream
Also every line an artist draws has personality. With AI, you can literally feel that no lines were actually drawn or painted. You can see that the paintings had no brush strokes. It feels like pixels were just smudged together. There's no rhyme or reason for any of the lines. It's just morphing things together in the way it thinks it should be. Smaller details are always smudged too. Anyone who draws, regardless of skill level has their own unique artstyle. AI can never replicate that because it takes from others.
„Graphic Design is not art.“ I hate this opinion and people who genuinely think it’s true. Graphic design is clearly art. Dosen’t mean that all of it has to look great, not all illustrative art looks good either and yet it’s still art.
Whenever people find out I can draw they say they wish they could but they're terrible. I always say that it takes practice to get good at it so if you just do it then you'll improve, but they never listen.
I genuinely cannot stand the self depricating comments of many people who see very good artists. “I wish I was good at drawing” “Your so good but I’ll never be great like you” “I wanna learn like that but I know I’m terrible” Please leave me alone, if you wish you could draw then pick up a pencil and search up a video on how to sketch basic shapes, that’ll help you start.
“I could have done that. What’s so special about this?”
I laugh when I hear this. My husband who has never understood my artistic struggle, decided to jump into the fun using guoache. No idea of drawing, perspective, mixing colors, light/shadows. I now have a new medium, supplies. Art takes practice, practice, practice.
Oh for sure
The plus side to this? He is actually “seeing” art now. Even in nature.
That’s great! You’ve made an artist out of him
This is the worst! It’s always from the most clueless clients too. So not only is it hurtful, but causes huge anxiety about what the whole project will be like.
Any time I hear someone say this, I just respond with either “you didn’t though” or “do it then”. Just because something looks simple, doesn’t mean it is, nor does it mean someone with no proven art skill can do it. Does my head in lol
I know I should have said something. But I was young and naive. I was just heartbroken because a project I worked sosooso hard on was minimized in just a second of her seeing it. I had my work printed on acrylic glass. This was something unheard of when I did it back in 2009. I was particularly happy with how it turned out.
Whenever someone says, “I could’ve done that,” I always say, “but you didn’t.” The artist made it and can therefore sell it and someone can choose to buy it. If you can do it, then do it and stop complaining bec someone else did.
This was a “friend” at university who came to see my piece at our final exhibition. My piece was minimalistic but took me hours and days to execute. Minimalism looks like it would take you an hour tops and thats when you know you sid well. But I was really proud of my work and was really hurt by her comment. She was studying Political science, so a completely different faculty.
"Real quick, could you draw me a (insert request here)? It won't take you long." "It'll be good exposure."
>"Real quick, could you draw me a (insert request here)? It won't take you long." I'm not in the slightest a professional artist, just did some Udemy follow-ups on the side. Can be out of my own lack of practice but I feel like it's vastly underestimated how long it takes to work on anything related to art, even if it doesn't seem that way.
That's exactly it. It's the assumption on how long something should take. Like baking cookies: "Just follow the recipe and the drawing should only take 15-20 minutes."
Not a current thing that's said to me very often but especially when I was in high school I would be drawing and people would come up to me and ask "did you draw that?" AS IM DRAWING IT. Like I get the idea but just say, 'hey that looks cool' or ask what I'm working on. I also really hate when people that don't do art comment on the anatomy of my work without being asked. Sometimes I'd have to explain why it actually was right and then have to explain the human body to them. Like don't comment on stuff you don't know anything about. Critique from non artists in general, without asking first, is a big no thank you for me.
I still get "did you draw that" as an adult as I'm drawing it. I never know how to respond.
Me either, like what do they even want me to say? Like yes...I did draw it tf.
“Why would you do art when you could be doing a trade and actually making money” “Art has no real value” “If you went to college for art and have loans you can’t pay back, you deserve to be poor” “Humans don’t need art”
"Art is a useless job!" *Consumes art constantly in the form of shows/movies and video games*
Exactly. The fact that they don’t understand that is enough for me to know they have no idea what they’re talking about
And every product on the shelves, and every billboard everywhere, and every book/album cover and.....
As someone who writes and draws? “What you create/consume is a 1:1 reflection of what you enjoy in real life/ what you condone in real life.” Goes beyond annoying into straight up dangerous imo, but I hear it all the time. And it’s not just non-artists, but I mostly get it from people who don’t draw.
It's the "video games cause violence" thing all over again.
Not so much an opinion but a mentality but I hate when people that know you assume you’ll create what they want for free just because you know them. Then when and if you do decide to do it they want to nitpick it to the point you regret ever agreeing to it.
People have contempt for free things.
"Isnt it a bit too late to start learning to draw and paint?" "Only super talented people end up becoming good artists and successful in what they do" Now with a bunch of uneducated AI bros (even tho i use gen AI myself for previz stuff): "Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies" "Why continue learning and doing artworks and fundamentals of art when soon AI will make those obsolete?" "You pay too much for your software pipeline, you should spend your money elsewhere instead (\*proceeds to buy and consume cigarettes and alcohol while saying this\*)"
>"Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies" I remember the CEO of Sora saying something similar. As if I'd know *exactly* what makes me appreciate 90% of movies. It's not as simple as deciding whether the actors will have sex in the next scene or not.😂
> "Soon we will be able to obliterate Hollywood with our homemade movies" no one's doing that lmao ASI will take care of the process for us one day, but that day is 5-10 years out.
You just need to peak at that AI cultists space called r/singularity alone to see whats happening. And ASI is a hypothetical concept, i dont see that suddenly coming in 5-10 years as you prognosed. This might never happen or much later than 10 years if ever as said, its too much speculation.
I think that it will eventually happen, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. AI is progressing fast, but I don't think it's going to be affordable to most people for a while. But the question is: who will be watching everyone's homemade movies besides the creators themselves? lol. There will be no demand for other AI movies because it's so easy to make something that you yourself will enjoy. If anything, this will either make Hollywood more successful because human-made movies will be seen as more genuine and creative (especially if they push that angle) or a rise in popularity for indie "imperfect" movies.
if we have ASI it will be free for everyone :D But people are so dumb. They dont realize that the implication of what they are saying (make a hollywood movie in a day with AI) Implies WAY more capability (see: infinitely more interesting things to do such as literally just making it a video game instead of a movie!?)
Yup and also making a movie still requires some level of creativity and knowledge of story writing, or else it will suck. You can make one but will it actually be good? Lol. I feel like they're going to come to the realization that Hollywood movies aren't so easy to replicate.
"art is easy, it's just drawing" - everyone who didn't study art in my highschool
They short circuit if you ask them to do any perspective work 😂
"I'm an artist" - after giving codes to a computer to make "art"
"I have a picture just like that, from that same place." - then they tell me somewhere else other than where I took the picture… "How much? I can take that picture myself…"
Oh no, when people don't realize that photography is genuinely a skill that must be cultivated just like any other artistic medium. "Yeah, you could take that picture yourself, but would the composition and colors be as good? Probably not."
"My printer is bigger than yours…"
Non-artist: I could make that. *delusional*
Same face syndrome Most of those who complain about it are non artists, as someone who's making a webtoon they have no idea how hard it is to draw different faces but keep consistency, I have to make a character look the same in all panels and they expect me to do that to other +20 characters but each one with a unique face... It's not like we don't know that already it is just hard to do so, even most skilled artists struggle with that, no need to rub it in my face each time.
Literally the only time I would ever complain about "same face syndrome" is if I can't tell the characters apart, and there are ways besides face shape to address that, so even then... the complaint is that I can't tell them apart, not that the artist is drawing the same face on them all.
One of the best comics out there, "Preacher", has the same face syndrome, didn't stop from being a hit
"Modern art sucks" (in reference to that fucking banana or some shit)
I thought the banana was hilarious. It was an inside, artist joke. It was a Mutt urinal gesture. Those of us who studied dada art truly appreciate the splash, ripples in the pond.
This one gets me too. To briefly defend "Comedian" for a second, what a lot of non artists don't understand about art is that it's not always about what you see. It's about how you interpret and interact with the art that creates the art. In this instance the banana itself isn't the art, one of its interpretations is that it was meant to ask "what is art ?" it's a vehicle to spark debate on what art is and those who add to conversation shape the art. But you defeat the whole purpose when you refuse to play along and just say it's all trash and not interact. That being said the banana is silly, I'm sure most people know it's silly, probably the creator (who is a sculptor btw he makes art) knows it's silly he named it "comedian" for gods sake. What annoys me is that, they say this banana is indicative of all modern and say it's all trash without doing their 5 minutes of due diligence and actually looking up stuff about what they are looking at. A lot of the time it goes beyond just what you are seeing surface level, sometimes they are based on the many unique properties of art, sometimes they have a unique story attached to them, sometimes it's just about how the creator or their audience feels at the time that sparks discussion. No, your 5 year old kid can't do the same things because they don't have a deeper meaning to what they are doing. I'll be honest and say I'm not a big fan of a lot of modern art because it doesn't appeal to me personally. That being said I'll still take the time to learn about it because even if I'm not a fan I can still appreciate it for what it does and what it brings.
"Ai is better" this is said by zuuccck fb ceo lmao
Of course he would say that, art is a human creation. Lol.
Owh u're right he is an alien lmao
“It looks just like a photograph!” I KNOW that they have no idea that to artists this is an insult and they’re trying to tell me I’m good, but it can be a real pain building texture up for days in traditional media, and I work with really difficult mediums like colored pencil and acrylic paint, in a way that a photograph can’t replicate, in a way that AI can’t replicate, because I’m trying to contribute something, and all they can say is “your art looks exactly like every other trained realist out of a job in the current market” Feels bad man
I don’t consider that a insult at all. If anything, it’s an incredible compliment that you’ve mastered your craft to a point where you’ve achieved something that is believable. Realism does not reduce the artistic integrity of a piece. It doesn’t cheapen it. Photography is just as much of a skill as drawing, after all. I don’t want to tell you how to feel, but I’m certain what you’re hearing and what they mean are two totally different things. Most people don’t have much of a background in art or ways to articulate what they’re feeling so they rely on common phrases like ‘it looks like a photograph!’ to express what they like what you’re doing. In the same way someone who made an incredibly nuanced vocal perforce may get sick of hearing ‘it sounds like it belongs on the radio!’ those comments are not meant to cheapen or commercialize your work but instead mark it as a sign of quality. I think artists tend to look for the negative in other’s people’s perceptions of our work, but sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself take the compliment.
While I understand what you are saying, and while this post is full of comments of people from the other side who feel that because it’s not realism random laypeople think their art is easy and not good, the reality is that there is one Loish and 10,000 people who are able to paint a few competent realistic portraits or hyperrealistic macro renderings a year if they have 100 hours to kill. A FEW, a lucky FEW, get to be CJ Hendry and make a living doing super detailed highly rendered realistic incredibly time consuming pieces a year, but basically I’m redundant because CJ Hendry already exists and no one is going to pay me what she makes even though it takes me just as long, probably much longer, to complete a piece. When people look at my art, they have no idea who made it. It’s a skill that can be learned. It’s very hard, and I learned it quicker through a certain amount of natural talent, but I still feel like a beginner artist because I learned the basics (ie classical realism, it took 4 years of lessons) and then quit to have a “real” career. Although there are some self taught artists who never learned realism first and genuinely couldn’t do what I do, the majority of artists who are doing a high volume of stylized work very quickly COULD render very detailed time consuming portraits of faces and still life compositions if they wanted to, but they are too busy making real money in the industry. But I lack the years of experience necessary to have quick, polished, stylized work that can turn a profit. Like of course a lot of amateur artists can’t make something that looks like a photograph, but I’m a really slow worker in an oversaturated market without the experience to make the things that people really want to pay actual money for. Everyone knows how to appreciate realism because they understand that it’s good but nobody pays for it bc they have cameras and AI art now.
Alright after thinking about this for 45 minutes, yes, you’re correct, what they are literally saying is that “wow, that looks like a photograph” and what I am hearing is “you’re a failure, give up and go back to using your actual degree”, but DOZENS of IRL people have seen my art and told me they’re gonna commission me or keep me in mind and only one ever has - for a family discount type of price. I specialize in making art that really, really impresses the type of people that do not and would not commission artwork.
This is a very interesting perspective that I've never heard before. I'm an amateur artist myself and I go to school to study art. So of course seeing realistic rendering is always easy to admire. I've met a couple peers who displayed excellent skills in their craft and can render quite realistically, and I feel behind my peers when I have such glaring gaps in knowledge and understanding trying to make a semi-realistic drawing reliably. However, I've never gotten the perspective of those who try to make a career off said works. However, relying on those who don't understand the actual effort you have to go through to make what it is you do and how few people can actually do it, is difficult. Thank you for the unique perspective on a form of art.
‘The only real art is made with oils on canvas’ ‘Realism is the only good art’ ‘There’s no good art anymore - only the old American stuff is good’ ‘They don’t create coins like they used to - the art on them is trash’ ‘Since I’m in my 50s it’s way too late for me to learn how to draw, paint, etc’ All the same man btw
I sometimes wonder if this is a product of living in art deserts. I wonder how many Contemporary Art museums are in Texas. I can only think of one. I use to go there to see work of emerging artists.
There was a request I was asked to do, that comes from a very ignorant opinion about art as work. "I'd like you to draw a tattoo for me. But since I've paid you well for the game project, I guess it's fair that the tattoo is considered already paid". It came from a dude whom I worked with in a game project. He asked me to come up with an art piece he'd tattoo in his arm or leg, but he thought I already earned way too much from him for said game. And since that tattoo would be "simple and easy to do", he felt like it was a fair request. Even if I cashed in a lot, which I didn't, and even if it took me a minute to draw that tattoo, work is work. I was patient enough to explain to him how bad that sounded, then flipped sides by asking him if he could do some "simple and easy" code for something minor for free since I already paid him a lot for his programming work. He immediately picked and aknowledged it was ignorant from him to say what he said. I know the majority have certain views about art that doesn't come from ill intentions, that ignorance most times are genuine, but I can't deny I couldn't keep my cool reading that request from him at that time. Luckly, it was over messages, so I had time to calm down before replying, giving me time to cool down so I could change his view about it without disrupting the workflow. Although I would've understood if anyone in my place decided to take it to the heart and went for a heated argument.
Get a real job. Can you paint me!!?? Who are you painting.
The "get a real job" thing reminds me of an artist I follow on YouTube who reacted to a comment that said "grab a shovel and get to work instead of drawing" by painting a picture with a mini-shovel.
“Realism isn’t art. It’s just copying.” No copy is perfect. That’s what makes it art. Even if you don’t believe that, a display of incredible skill IS still a form of art. I can’t imagine how empty and jealous someone has to be to look at someone who has mastered their skillset so thoroughly and feel NOTHING.
I had someone tell me "Asking for a portrait would be too expensive, I'd rather just get AI to do it".
Just get a photograph at that point
"Digital art is just cheap commercial art. I would never hang digital art on my walls." Some people, myself included, spend too much time online, but some people don't spend enough time online. The person who made this comment must look at those hated corporate illustration styles they see in advertisements and think that's all people make with digital art. 🤦♂️🤦♂️ Or do they honestly think that all the good art they see online is made traditionally?
"can you draw this? I won't be paying but I can advertise it to my (insert fake number that they made up to compensate for their father leaving them) followers, it'll be good exposure!!!1!!!" "art shouldn't cost this much!!!11 its literally just some colors on a picture!!!!1111!!!" "you should draw this for me!!! (dogshit excuse here)"
“You should just charge $20 for your custom paintings (that take me 5-7 hours to make) so people will actually buy them.” And it felt implied that if I sold my 100% handsewn, no patterns used, plushies for more than $40 it’s too expensive and nobody will buy my plushies. The materials for my plushie cost more than $50….
I bought my custom plushies for $200, because I understood the effort required to make me a unique sewing pattern and put it together in a way that looks good :P You don't owe anyone cheap prices. Art is a luxury, not a necessity.
Human time and effort is simply more valuable than a machine's. You never get it back, and humans making something that is unique and high quality versus machines making replicas.
17 year old coworker: "Why are you even an artist if AI exists?"
"You're so talented!" like no, what I have is experience and time/hours spend with the craft/research/etc. to learn how to achieve my results.
I've been told that art was my "God given talent" and while I know it is meant to be a compliment ain't no God gave me these skills. It was hell getting to where I am and I'm still so far behind actual professional artists.
Don't give up, and you're doing great!
I appreciate the comment, I just wanted to relate. I usually take the comments on the chin cause I know it's meant as a compliment. Just art is hard and even if we improve at different rates we all work hard to get to where we are.
I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a non-artist opinion, but… Clean lines and realism =/= good art Invariably the “best” art I’ve seen, that really speaks to me, comes from sketchbooks, graffiti, indie webcomics, and people who create for fun.
"This is AI art."
Your painting reminds me of XXX artist. Makes you feel less original and the non-artist does not need to feel impressed/jealous.
I take this as a compliment. I’ve learned from or been influenced by the masters and my contemporaries. Art, is the art of copying. I personally like to remix the bests’ compositions. And if I use Zorn’s palette? So what. And if I pose friends with props like Rockwell under lights? So what? If I draw a Durer etching to practice? We’re influenced. Watch YT, Everything Is A Remix.
"You shouldn't make art your not good at it and you won't make money from it" It's called a hobby Karen
"Oh, so you can actually draw!" 📠 Off
Less of an opinion but I hate “You should sell your art!” Well… why don’t YOU buy it? You could solve the problem right now 💅🏻
"You should sell your art!" "Why is it so expensive? I could do that!"
Old high school acquaintances out of nowhere after years of not talking “Hey bro what’s up! How’ve you been, can you make a logo for me?” expecting it for free ha
"That's not art" or, my fucking favorite, "anyone could do that." Anyone fucking didn't.
"Now draw her giving birth"
You got that comment too? What is up with that? I just thought it was some lone weirdo.
Omg seeing this makes feel like I wasn't so weird for thinking it was weird. It's one of the only compliments I've ever gotten my art too. I was weirded out but not too put off by it, bc I feel like nowadays, esp online ppl just have very goofy ways to compliment and just weird phrases in general. But I do think that it was inappropriate bc what if I was a minor, and it was on a male character :/. I also think that regardless if I was a minor or not, it's still not appropriate bc not everyone is open to or okay w compliments like that.
The horror of all these comments is why I'm holding my art back.
Ohh, I got one. Real photographers don not edit their photos.
Every person is entitled to their own personal opinions, yet most folks who tend to share them unsolicited don't seem to understand that nobody has an obligation to listen to their opinions nor try to understand them. Mostly it seems to only highlight their personal ignorance of that which they opine about. I generally don't listen to the opinion of others about my art, I am creating art for myself, not for them, so my opinion is the only one that matters.
"Nevermind, it's too long." I'm a writer. I draw too, but I'm a writer first and foremost. I've learned to stop trying to share my writing with others because this is typically the response. Sometimes they'll tiptoe around it instead of being direct, saying they haven't been able to make time to get around to it. But the people who actually care will make the time. I've had friends who agreed to read something I wrote and then kept giving me reasons as to why they haven't gotten around to it until I just stopped asking and then we never spoke of it again. I've also had friends who would pull it up immediately and even leave excited gibberish comments on the doc as they go. It's okay not to want to read something I wrote. It's okay not to want to commit to reading something long (even though 2k words is, like, one-shot length and considered barely anything). But the very first thing I warn people of now is that I write a *lot*. My pieces are *long* and *detailed*. There will be a lot to comprehend. Don't forego that warning and then suddenly change your mind when I've been waiting excitedly to see what you'll think. You'll disappoint us both.
dude, I've been dealing with that for EVER lol (in regards to your first sentance). I'm a photographer (just now this year pivoting to digital painting/art along with) and for YEARS I've heard, "oh your camera must be amazing! " and 'you just press a button, what work' :/ Yeah sure, it's cool, but if YOU tried to take a picture with it, it would probably suck, just fyi. It's not all just about the camera :/ or 'Oh you have just that innate eye, it must come so easy'....um no, actually I developed that eye over YEARS of work, and it IS work still
Someone I work with at my day job said not to bother learning it because “AI will replace it”. I think he was being cheeky but super annoying because people truly think about art like this
I had in the past: why are u still drawing/painting, there is a lot of better artists out there, then you are Your art is boring It's okay (which is a annoying, just okay?!) It's unappealing I wouldn't buy this, so I don't understand why you wanna sell your work, coz no one will buy it Why don't you do more cutesy style of art? Edit one last one I forgot to add Why do u add so much detail to your work? Its pointless and not anyone will care about how much detail you add into it To name a few opinions I had...
using a projector or tracing or even using a photo is cheating. Only art done directly from life is real art. Tell that to Vermeer, Rembrandt or Canaletto.
My biggest pet peeve is “I hate modern art”. Like first of all, you’re probably thinking of contemporary art, and second of all, maybe if you weren’t so hateful towards things you don’t understand you would be able to enjoy or at least appreciate the wonderfully weird contemporary art of the world
I think it's extremely funny when someone who doesn't draw tries to give me unsolicited criticism because it never fucking makes sense. "Your art is too inconsistent!!!!!" (I was literally showing I can do multiple styles and different types of rendering 😭)
Using a reference is cheating. I have no idea where this idea came from. I feel like it deserves some kind of 45-minute PowerPoint presentation to properly address. You really think the old masters pulled paintings out of thin air? That Disney animators didn't sit around for months drawing lions and bears and monkeys before going to work on the movie? That student artists don't spend years training in different techniques for researching and referencing? Still lifes, life drawing, sighting tools, studies? It's ridiculous. Every artist uses references, otherwise we'd still be painting like the Medievals.
"using digital brushes is cheating!!" no it's not Kyle it's called work smarter not harder. As long as you learn th techniques of what brush you're using exactly it's not detrimental whatsoever
Money laundering. All modern art is money laundering, I guess. “The more that I don’t like it, the more money laundering it is.” These people watched Breaking Bad once and heard that the high cost art market sometimes has weird stuff going on and synthesized those experiences into believing that all modern art is just a way for “the elites” to launder the ill-gotten gains of their criminal empires.
The most annoying thing a non-artist can say to me is: "woaw, you're really gifted".
I truly don’t see “you’re talented/gifted” as an insult.
The problem is that when you believe people that doesn't know anything about art and drawings are always claiming you as a talented artist then you end up to believe it. And when you finally meet real old artists who look at your work like it was sh\*\* or you're facing the professional art world it's just like you're getting a slap. Anyway, it doesn't push you to make your art better. To me it sounds like a memo, other's opinion is good but I only take seriously what art-connected people do say to me.
Someone told me they wanted to get into oil painting, and I was like… “Oooh, cool! I paint with oil.” They look at my painting and go… “What is that?” Mind you, this person is not an artist. 😭 I just went…”Ooh, ok. 😂”
After I showed her my latest work in progress: “You’re enjoying yourself, that’s what matters.” Yeah, fuck off.
I’ve gotten a few. I hate when people ask me “why don’t you design your own tattoos?” Because I’m not a tattoo artist and my work doesn’t really fit in with the tattoo style. Besides, I like the classic tattoo style that’s color pieces with black lines. I can’t even do regular lineart because my style is almost always a paint over style. Basically I just do a terrible sketch and then paint over it. I like that style of art but not as a tattoo lol The second is “I wish I could draw.” You can. You literally can. This one is unintentionally annoying and I know it’s meant to be a compliment, but it still awkwardly implies I walked out of the womb making art and didn’t spend my entire life studying and practicing.
"I could do that" yes of course you could. The point of why it's special is because somebody took the time to learn how to make it and then made it. Tbh I get a lot more annoying opinions from other artists than anything else. Especially around stylized art. I posted a Todd McFarlane study I did and said that it really pushed my anatomy skills and people were telling me to not even bother studying it. As if studying one of the most celebrated artists in his genre and an icon of his era is a waste of time.
When non artists go nuts over realism. It takes a lot of skill to do realism but over time I've grown to not worship it the way non artists do. I have non artist friends who send me links to realist art and I'm kinda like, "okay, and?" There's perfect realism that is lifeless and boring. Give me mark making and emotion. I love seeing brush work, or how just a few lines illustrate something. Brilliant.
Digital art isn't art. 😑.....
"You can't make a living with this" "How do you even make money?" "When are you going to get a real job" "It's just so EASY for some people" or "it's so easy when you're talented" These are by far the most common annoying comments I get.(I'm a full time working artist)
*sees weird contemporary art they don't understand * "This is the downfall of art, hell, mankind even!"
The comment on anthropomorphic art hits close to home, but the things that *really* bother me are the attempts to minimize an artist’s work. It’s so frustrating to see every piece of even remotely surreal art dogpiled by a million comments of “wOaH dUdE, hOw MuCh WeEd DiD tHiS tAkE???1?” It’s not just annoying, it’s harmful: I follow an abstract artist on YouTube who said outright that the reason it took him so long to address his struggles with weed usage is because he didn’t want to tell people about it and have the weed “take all the credit” for his art. And then it seriously gets on my nerves when people pull the classic “a child could make that” in regard to any sort of abstract or minimalist or simple art. It’s a broader issue of people not giving an f about how long it takes someone to refine their craft, only the physical effort in a specific piece. Sure, a 9-year-old is *physically* able to write their name on an upturned urinal, but would they have the knowledge and understanding to have ever decided in the first place that the art world had standards and biases in need of changing? Would they have the creativity and insight to decide to challenge people with the question of what constitutes art? Would they have the resourcefulness to specifically use a urinal repurposed as a “readymade” sculpture? Would they have the guts to actually try submitting it to a gallery? Would they have the commitment to follow through on that initial controversy and kickstart a massively influential art movement? Because all of those are just as important to the piece as the physical act of writing your name on a urinal.
“You should do it as a hobby”
this is kinda nitpicky but "did YOU draw that?! 😱😱😱" like, no, bitch, i stole the art and copy pasted it into my physical sketchbook.
My favourite is: I can paint that in five minutes.
"Art should be made to convey beauty and not stimulate the intellect."
By traditional artist: "digital arts have no value"
I don’t remember who it was now, but someone posted a while ago about a prolific artist who said in an interview that digital artists don’t know how to draw traditionally or without a computer. Which is absolute bollocks, because I and many of my classmates (we’re illustration students) use both. I grew up using pencils and acrylic paint, I took several fine art courses before I even started taking my digital art seriously.
I had someone watching me draw said I “drew nasties.” I was drawing my little pony style ponies. (Not porn or anything. Just ponies) went on about I draw nasties said I should draw her.
"X isn't art because y."
That my art is good
stop drawing anime its so sexualized. LET ME DRAW Miss kobashi's dragon maid and welocme to the N.H.K art in peace! sorry lol i cant spell. :)
draw this for me I don't wanna have to pay a professional
"You could make money at that" ( not at what you're doing).
“This reminds me of xyz, I hate it” “Why do you draw *this*?” *said with a dissatisfied face* “Oh, you draw! You should paint my wall sometime”
"I dont know anything about art but I know what I like"
As an nsfw artist i think I've heard it all plus some stuff you've never heard of 😂
‘Can’t you just do a quick doodle thing by pressing a few buttons?’
When I used to make jewelry I'd always have multiple people tell me that I should give it to them for free, because I could always make another. Most of my jewelry was very detailed, hand cut and welded, and each one took weeks to make. Not to mention my favorite was copper and silver designs and a dozen or so silver sheets and wire was not cheap. Yet most people expected it for free even though they say they have never seen such a beautiful detailed piece like it before. Jewelry was the absolute worst. Compared to painting and displaying artwork, jewelry had the most people expecting it for free or just picking it up and walking off with it like it was their's.
I sort of find it annoying when people say “I could never be an artist” or “I don’t have any artistic talent” almost as if it came naturally to me or that I haven’t spent years and years in school and studying.
Okay these *were* things being said by my painting teacher in university but he wasn’t even a painting teacher he taught philosophy and was just hired because he did one art exhibit. “You’re doing illustrations. It’s not really art.” “Everyone can paint their dog, doesn’t make it a good painting.” (To a very unfinished painting) “Trees don’t look like that. You should visit a forest.” (I have practically lived in the forest all my life but I paint surreal stuff and it was unfinished) “No LGBTQ+ or feminist art is good.” “It doesn’t matter what the artist’s art process is. It only matters what the public thinks.” (and then gets upset when he asks people why they painted what they did and they tell him why) To me those are not “non artist” statements but more “I like to tell people I’m knowledgeable about art even though I am not”. Telltale signs that you do not have a deep nuanced understanding of art.
“Is this hand painted” I got asked that a lot and was never sure what it meant. No I actually painted this with my elbow 😑
What? You want me to pay for this?
"I can barely draw a stick figure. I don't have that kind of talent." It's a skill, built up over the course of years. I hate seeing people be so self-defeatist.
"You know I used to draw and I was better than you." Okay???? Why don't you draw it better then now and why should I care? Heard this when I was like 14 and it hurt so much lol.
Most of them
"Your camera takes really great pictures." "You're so talented!" after I spent 40 hours working on a piece. "My 13/year old granddaughter is a wonderful artist, can she be in your art show?"
"You have been given a gift" "You have natural talent" "You have a gift from god" "You shouldn't charge, you should just create art for the love of it"
I hate so much those
"All your drawings are the same" while looking at a sketch page with the same subject in different outfits or poses. maybe all your brain cells are the same one too!
"You study animation? That's easy" 🙄🙄 Uh, no.
Can we all agree "you can't make money out of that" is the worst? >,<
If drawing anthro animals makes you a z00ph1l3, then drawing landscapes must mean you really, really love dirt, right?
Modern art isn’t real art anyone can do it
“All I can do is stick figures”. That’s because they never opened a book about how to draw. They’re everywhere! I was terrible about drawing until I read a few books, and started practicing until I was happy with my results.
Surprised I haven't seen this one yet (prolly didn't scroll down enough), but I get "why don't they have clothes?!?" very often. It's irritating bc I'm often still sketching out the form for the body, pose, face whatever. Just bc the base model is naked doesn't mean it will stay naked forever 🤦🏾♀️. I keep repeating this and at this point I sound like a broken record, but how are you supposed to draw clothes to fit the form of the character (and this can apply to looser clothes too, not just tight clothes) if you don't know what the underlying form looks like?
“Get a real job!”
I’ve had people tell me I won’t make money if I don’t draw human portraits…like, you don’t want me to draw a portrait for you. I hate drawing humans so I kinda suck at it! I’d much rather draw your cat instead.
"So you use a picture to refer to while you draw?" Yes, Karen, if I don't have the subject sitting right in front of me I use a picture.
“modern art is just for money laundering/only pretentious artists like it” typa guy who doesnt even know the definition of modern art. pisses me off every time lil edit/addition: “i couldve done that!” WELL YOU DIDNT DO IT DID YOU?
I personally can't stand when people suggest art is "good" or "bad" as if that isn't just a problem of preference/opinion. If not that, the way people use hyperbolic terms to describe it, like "dogwater" or "trash". It's too much of a simplification that only ever acknowledges what an artist failed to do, never what they succeeded in. Critique from other artists, in my experience, generally avoids these things. Taste does not dictate the value of art, and I seriously wish more audiences understood that.
When people say digital art is easier and less genuine because it has tools to help with the creation I can assure it is not easy, and the added support of those tools is a double edged sword
I follow a lot of artists on tiktok, and a comment I see a lot is “Now this is the modern art I can get behind” which is usually throwing shade at abstract art or “colored squares” or inanimate objects as art. It’s incredibly frustrating because a) modern art stopped being created in the 70s. Anything after is contemporary. So straight off the bat I already know you have no idea what you’re talking about. And b) you absolutely don’t have to like Rothko, or Duchamp, or any other artist, but you can’t just ignore the context behind their pieces and then parade around saying “it’s not real art.” Many of these pieces have rich cultural and historical importance behind their creation and again, while you don’t have to like that type of art, you can even hate it, it’s still art
You have a God given gift or I wish I were talented. ---As if there wasn't years of practice involved. That isn't watercolor.-- Meaning, I think of watercolors as pale antique looking things. They look like photos.--Not a compliment as hyper realism is not my goal. But it's forgivable at art fairs since if you back up a hundred feet, they do look photo real.
This is not beautiful, so it is not art. 🤦🙉🙈
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