Artist and non-understanding public

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

I like to write, sadly I lost touch with the one person besides family I can show my rough ideas to. I have noticed a problem with showing things to people. I don't mind constructive critism but I really don't want to get into a debate of where the major plot should go (I already have a good idea). I don't want to hear who should get with who (carful saying the character won't be getting with anyone). And when I say I don't write sex scenes I rally don't want you to offer to write it for me. I don't care if sex sells. I'm not a prude but not everything needs graphic sex in it.

 

I've also had friends who draw and gotten annoying haggling tips and always someone who'd ask if they'll draw something for them. (In school one girl always started bugging anyone who drew for a picture of a rose. No matter what they drew.)

 

Me and a couple others make jewelry and we tend to be haggled by people asking for special 'orders' (more like free samples. The fact one of my friends actually sells jewelry means she should still make it free for co-workers) One girl keeps asking forvery complicated wire designs. She asked for it everyday for a week even though I kept telling her I needed a design.

 

Anyone else run into these problems.

[lightbird]

I draw and I've realized that it's best to not listen to opinions of people who aren't drawing/writing or at least known to view a lot of art/read a lot, because their criticism often isn't going to be really valid and useful. Being an artist/writer yourself isn't a necessity to be a critic but I think a person can give a valid opinion as long as they, again, read a lot and/or view a lot of art and thus might have built up some critical perception.

As for people begging for art... I guess it's kind of a stigma of being able to draw, many people who don't draw take another person's talent and skill for granted. In these cases it's best to have a firm attitude and inform them that you/your friends don't draw or write per request. If others can't take it, it's their problem. You are not obliged to give to others the fruit of your creativity just because you can create something. The same way you wouldn't ask a friend surgeon to operate you for free.

Edited January 29, 2011 by lightbird

[RheaZen]

I... what?

 

This should probably go in multimedia, anyhow.

 

Only problem I can think of atm was being guffed on my first commission >___>

[Cheshire]

Oh yes.

Whenever someone sees me drawing they go 'OH COOL DRAW ME SOMETHING EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE CLEARLY BUSY AND NOT INTERESTED. WHA'S THAT? MAYBE LATER? OH NO I WANT A PICTURE NOW KTHNXBAI'.

 

Once, while drawing a dragon etc., somebody asked me why it had boobs. I then proceeded to try and explain the complex anatomy of the drawing to them. Their answer?

"So...It has boobs?"

 

Now I just tend to smile and go back to my drawing when somebody says something. A nice comment is always appreciated, sure, but I like to have some privacy when drawing, not have fifty pairs of eyes ogling my every sketch. It makes me feel pressured and embarassed.

[KageSora]

I've seen people complain about the whole "people beggin/demanding free art/writing" stuff. The people who want the free stuff say crap like "Oh, you're good at it, it won't take you any effort at all and you like doing it so that should be payment enough!" because they don't understand that just because somebody is good at something it still takes time and effort to do.

 

 

They ask, because they figure you can whip it up in a short time.

 

People who aren't artists/writers don't get it.

 

 

 

As for not being able to show your stuff to others... I get that, too. It's sad.

 

A lot of my stuff I can't show to my mom, who is good with English, because she would A) hate the violence, hate the fact that there are male-male relationships, and C) hate the fact that *gasp* I can write "adult" stuff!

 

I can't really show my ideas to people I know in real life, because of similar reasons--they wouldn't approve of the content. It's sad that so many people have such rigid ideas of what people should be able to draw/write, and think it's horrible when they don't conform to that--especially since some of those people probably secretly (or not so secretly) enjoy the products of such efforts. >.=.>

 

 

And, of course, I don't know many people who are good with art/writing.

 

I like when somebody says "You know, the anatomy looks off, you might try X" or something, or somebody goes "You know, the story is good, but you have some typos here, and this part doesn't make sense here, and are you going somewhere with this part here because it seems like it doesn't fit in" rather than "Hey, that's cool, you should add in X and Y and you should to Z with the plot becasue I saw something like that in THIS, and it's so cool!"

 

No thanks, I like what I'm doing with my plot. Now, if I ask for plot ideas that's a different idea--but when people get offended if you say "Y'know, I just don't think that'll work in this story..." it makes me regret sharing what I'm working on. :|

 

 

There's a reason I tend to keep my projects secret...

 

People who have no idea how to write/draw (and don't read a lot/look at a lot of art, or don't just have a good eye for such things [because you can be good at seeing where something is off even if you can't do it yourself]) really just need to stop telling people what to do with their own stuff...

 

 

 

However, it's not just people who don't write/draw that are a problem. People who draw/write a lot sometime get rather full of themselves and tell others what they should do, even if that's not what they other person wants to do...

Edited January 29, 2011 by KageSora

[lightbird]

I've seen people complain about the whole "people beggin/demanding free art/writing" stuff. The people who want the free stuff say crap like "Oh, you're good at it, it won't take you any effort at all and you like doing it so that should be payment enough!" because they don't understand that just because somebody is good at something it still takes time and effort to do.

 

 

They ask, because they figure you can whip it up in a short time.

 

People who aren't artists/writers don't get it.

/nodnod

 

Ever so often my mother suggests that I could whip up a painting for this or that relative's birthday or something. Every time I give her that stare and patiently say that it isn't as easy as she might think.

It's not even funny when you hear the suggestion of painting something for every relative you'll see at Christmas dinner when you've got the end of the winter lecture period and a crapton of study work to do, still, in front of you.

[KageSora]

/nodnod

 

Ever so often my mother suggests that I could whip up a painting for this or that relative's birthday or something. Every time I give her that stare and patiently say that it isn't as easy as she might think.

It's not even funny when you hear the suggestion of painting something for every relative you'll see at Christmas dinner when you've got the end of the winter lecture period and a crapton of study work to do, still, in front of you.

I know, it's why I've made sure to firmly establish that I will do one holiday picture or story for select holidays of my choosing, subject to change each year, unless I otherwise decided to make individual gifts. And the more people I'm making gifts for, the more basic it is--you want me to draw for 10 people, they get sketches not full-color super-polished stuff. Especially if you give me little warning beforehand.

 

I hate getting informed of something special like a day in advance. Sure, I like drawing gifts. When I have more than 3 hours to make it look really, really nice. :|

 

 

I hate how people don't understand that sometimes it can take days, or weeks, or months, or years to get something done, for various reasons. Oh, sure, if I really work at it and have a lot of inspiration and will to work, I can get a picture done nicely in a few hours, or I can write a short story in a little bit, or a poem.

 

But most of the time it's staring blankly at a blank screen, trying to get an idea of what to draw, how to draw it, what to write about, or how to put the idea I have into words in a way that makes sense to somebody besides me. Then there's the erasing everything you've drawn 80 times before you finally get a pose you both like and are capable of working with, or re-writing the same part of your story 10 times after rereading it 90 times and not being able to figure out what is wrong because something just seems so off about it. Then there's the re-drawing one or two parts over and over and over to get it to look right, then there's the shading and re-shading over and over and over and the occasional instance of just completely wiping out the entire coloring you've done, hours of work, because it looks wrong and you can't figure out how to make it look right...

 

Sure, some people can produce some amazing stuff really quickly... But the majority of us can't do that, and it makes me sad that people don't understand that. :<

 

 

And, of course, people who have never experienced it don't comprehend just how absolutely crushing it can be to have a program crash on you as you are in the process of saving, costing you 10+ hours of work or an entire story you carefully crafted to the best of your ability and were incredibly proud of. ANYBODY who says "Well, why not just start over?" to me makes me want to smack them. They should try pouring their best effort into something, being very proud of the results and thinking it looks better than they could have ever thought it could come out looking, then find out it's all gone... Dx

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

Has anyone had someone read something and then say you should write what you know. I write sci-fi/fatasy. What are they expecting? And never ask them to elaborate. I did that. Bad move.

Edited February 5, 2011 by LADYDRAGONSKEEPER

[KageSora]

Has anyone had someone read something and then say you should write what you know. I write sci-fi/fatasy. What are they expecting? And never ask them to elaborate. I did that. Bad move.

Thankfully, I've never had that problem, but I have had the asking for elaboration problem. Suddenly, instead of getting some well-thought out stuff in a few paragraphs, I've got a 52-page essay elaborating on a point that's not the one I want them to elaborate on... /exaggeration

[SnowSherry]

Do writers usually sequester themselves away in a cabin, or someplace far away from mundane interruptions so they can really concentrate?

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

As tempting as it is to, no. Most artist have day jobs. Art doesn't pay as much as people thiink.

[crazywargod]

And, of course, people who have never experienced it don't comprehend just how absolutely crushing it can be to have a program crash on you as you are in the process of saving, costing you 10+ hours of work or an entire story you carefully crafted to the best of your ability and were incredibly proud of. ANYBODY who says "Well, why not just start over?" to me makes me want to smack them. They should try pouring their best effort into something, being very proud of the results and thinking it looks better than they could have ever thought it could come out looking, then find out it's all gone... Dx

Oh yes. I know the pain all too well. It has happened with homework, mainly essays (I am horrible at essays), quite a few times. I finally get it to look nice, go to save, just to have the computer freeze. Or the art I had on my computer just to have some windows file get corrupted and I lose all my art.

[bloodred-dragonfly]

I can understand all of you. The poor misunderstood artists have to stick together, don't they?

 

I love writing short stories, taking photos or drawing with almoust every medium you can get. And I'm lucky enough to know my familie backs me up.

We don't have that much money, because my mum is unemployed since the birth of my little brother and my dad is a hard working man even though his left hand is hurting like every day. But they still manage to save enough money to finance me when I start to study art in university... as soon as I'm done with school.

 

But there was a time when I realy had to fight to get some respect for what I do and I was often told that I would'nt be able to live from my 'stupid drawings and that computer stuff'....

 

(In school one girl always started bugging anyone who drew for a picture of a rose. No matter what they drew.)

Oh... I've got one of those, too!

My brother showed his girlfriend (yes... the little 11 yyears old shrimp got himself a girlfriend and I'm still a damn lonely single) some of my pictures and she would just go on like: Draw me some pokemon! I Want you to draw me a pokemon!

And then she brought her friend one day and that one bugged me to draw her Hello f** Kitty!!!

I was on the verge of tears!

 

And the girl sitting next to me in school is absolutely awsome... her speciallity are portraits and silli comic art.

The teachers are always bothering her and even ask her to draw pictures for them! She gets annoyed every time someone apart from me (because she knows that I can actually be helpful and that I will praise her for the good parts and criticise only the odd parts but not her personal style) asks her something about what she's drawing.

 

As for not being able to show your stuff to others... I get that, too. It's sad.

it truely is...

I had that as well, but I've found a really good forum for writers. Of course there are some people who are just giving you faves, a bunch of comments like 'I Luv it!' 'write more' (not helpful at all) and some just go around and try promoting their own work but in the one and a half year I am member there, noone ever insulted me or said anything bad just because they didn't like my plot.

And if you are lucky you will even find some nice old constructive citicism!

you can try looking around if you are interested^^

 

Then there's the erasing everything you've drawn 80 times before you finally get a pose you both like and are capable of working with, or re-writing the same part of your story 10 times after rereading it 90 times and not being able to figure out what is wrong because something just seems so off about it. Then there's the re-drawing one or two parts over and over and over to get it to look right, then there's the shading and re-shading over and over and over and the occasional instance of just completely wiping out the entire coloring you've done, hours of work, because it looks wrong and you can't figure out how to make it look right...

I envy you for your patience! You seem to be a perfectionist

but I know what you mean...

[KageSora]

Do writers usually sequester themselves away in a cabin, or someplace far away from mundane interruptions so they can really concentrate?

Not me. I do prefer either silence or my own music, and it can be very hard to concentrate if it's very noisy, but it's not something I do unless I'm having an absolutely horrendous time concentrating.

 

@bloodred-dragonfly: Yes, I am a perfectionist with OCD. Very dangerous combination, makes so much stuff I work on never actually get done because I can't get it to look right.

 

 

 

-EDIT- Lookie what I spotted:

 

Edited February 6, 2011 by KageSora

[satyr76]

I'm not an artist, but it annoys me when I see people do things like that. I only ask for drawings if someone is taking requests. I usually give crits if something in anatomy seems off, but that's as far as I go.

 

I do write a bit, however, and I absolutely hate it when people look over my shoulder while I'm writing.

*Glares at sister*

[KageSora]

I do write a bit, however, and I absolutely hate it when people look over my shoulder while I'm writing.

*Glares at sister*

Ohhhh, I just hate that! I hate having to decided if I should risk looking suspicious and stop suddenly, or if it's worth the risk that there may be something they don't like the look of written that catches their eye. Dx

 

 

(I usually opt to just change what I'm doing very quickly. It's... Safer. I'd rather them be suspicious than have actual confirmation, ahahaha...)

Edited February 9, 2011 by KageSora

[Vicats]

Honestly I'm too lazy to really care about people interrupting me/asking questions, and I think even a simple and poorly worded critiques can hold a helpful tidbit... but I do have a bit of an issue with people asking me to draw for them if I don't know them well.

 

I volunteer to draw stuff for my friends... for example I just finished "battle animals" which were pen drawings of my friends riding weird critters for our doors. (We all live in the same dorm) ... Four or five people, most of whom I DON'T KNOW AT ALL, have come to me telling me what animal they want to be riding in theirs. I know that there are six battle animal drawings and only twenty people on the floor, but um... the six people who have them are all close friends? Maybe that might... uh... show the purpose of the drawings?

 

Even worse was when I did a drawing for a friend who couldn't afford to buy his girlfriend a Christmas present. I spent 5+ hours on this drawing DURING EXAMS, while I had another 20 gifts for an art exchange to draw. He was pleased with it. She loved it. He hasn't been civil to me since - it's been THREE YEARS, and even though I see him just about every weekday that school is in, he has yet to be anything less than completely obnoxious to me. Now, that guy is a jerk and we all know it, but up until I did this drawing for him he was at least civil to me. Now I'm his favorite person to yell at. (All of my friends remark on my INTENSE BITTERNESS on this subject... moving on!) I'm kind of... squicked on drawing characters for friends. I'll do absurd doodles of THEM, but not their characters.

 

On the writing front, I have a good friend who's a talented writer (If prone to snark and obscenity!) and I tend to make "recommendations" for his plots... but I tend to do it in jest? It's entirely possible that people who make plot recommendations are just trying to show you that they're following your story and trying to be funny about it. (Taliesin and I went for an hour+ long walk the other night, where I made numerous terrible quips about what character interactions should happen, until he finally denounced "verbal fanfics" of his work and made me talk about my own writing. D: ) I myself write sometimes, but I am hideously ashamed of my narrative style and do not share. I'm more aggressive about/protective over my writing. Sooo I will never join a creative writing course!

 

OH AND ANOTHER RANT! Copyright! Putting art on the internet does not negate my rights! It does NOT. Aaaaarg. This mostly happens with my sprites, and it kills me to find them on little petsites and in roleplays. That's my art, I made it for my own purposes. It is not your character. It is not your species. Splicing it and recolouring it is not "spriting". I really wish people would respect intellectual property.

 

On another sidenote, given the complete incoherence of the above post, if you draw in public people are going to come and look at what you're doing. It's just going to happen. I can't deal with people watching me draw, so I draw in private.

 

 

... There was this really awkward moment when I had just finished an 18x24 painting of one of my characters... and my English teacher asked if she could have it for the English room. (She had actually read that character's story.) ... Yeah I said I had to keep it for my portfolio, but in reality I just didn't want it on the wall of the English room FOREVER. D:

[bloodred-dragonfly]

OH AND ANOTHER RANT! Copyright! Putting art on the internet does not negate my rights! It does NOT. Aaaaarg. This mostly happens with my sprites, and it kills me to find them on little petsites and in roleplays. That's my art, I made it for my own purposes. It is not your character. It is not your species. Splicing it and recolouring it is not "spriting". I really wish people would respect intellectual property.

 

I do understand why this upsets you.

You probably have your own ideas and stories in mind while drawing and it's not nice to see it being ripped appart.

That's probably the reason why I draw my RPG characters on my own instead of just clicking Copy and Paste...

But I wouldn't actually mind people using my art for their purposes (ha! as if anyone would do that! I'm not good enough... ) as long as they don't go around and claim they did it. And recolouring would be an absolute no-go!

 

[satyr76]

A lot of my stuff I can't show to my mom, who is good with English, because she would A) hate the violence, hate the fact that there are male-male relationships, and C) hate the fact that *gasp* I can write "adult" stuff!

Ugh, I hate this. It's why I haven't started a story I'm planning on writing. I plan on having the main character be gay, and they'll be shifters. So if someone read it, there are two conversations I can see happening:

 

Outcome #1:

Mom: omgwthbbq a gay? No that's too grown-up kthxbai.

 

Outcome #2:

 

Anyone: LOLOLOLOL Why is he naked? You're gross LOL

Me: He's a shifter. Do you expect his clothes to shift, too? And it isn't like I go into detail about it.

Person: LOLOL He's naked.

[lightbird]

Ugh, people staring over my shoulder while I draw. /also draws only in private nowadays

 

I found a solution how to not let people get away with original art for nothing - give them a high quality colour copy of the original, and keep the original to yourself. At least that's what I intend to do when I finish a belated birthday gift for a friend who has already TONS of other friends' work but refuses to gift away a single original she's done, even if it's meant as a gift/art trade part etc.

 

Don't remember, if I mentioned this, but I utterly hate it when people judge what I draw on the subject matter. I've lost count of how many times in the recent years I've heard that my bird/nature pieces are acceptable/OK but everything else is infantile . D:

[BoomBoomBingBang]

All these kind of things is why I'm afraid of showing anyone anything I make. And being a bit of a perfectionist can make me dislike most things I draw.

 

It's even worse not having a tablet or accessible scanner. :C

[AAurion]

I suck at drawing, so I'm practicing in secret. Occasionally I come out with something good and show it to a friend (she's working to get into art school, she's actually good, and we encourage each other to practice), but then other people see it and basically react with "omg you can draw cool will you draw another for me??" Which kinda freaks me out because I can't just sit and decide to draw something. I just... draw. Sometimes it comes out good, most of the time it doesn't. Eh. Practice practice.

 

Writing stories, I can do. I keep a notebook with me at school that I write ideas and short passages that come on a whim of inspiration in. People keep trying to see what I write, but I'm more embarrassed about my stories than my drawings ._. If they're good enough, or they're something I know my friend will be interested in, I'll type it out and edit it before sending it to her. I usually only send her the rough ideas, and she thinks I don't go through with them because I never show her the rest.

 

Yeah, I just... I dunno, I'm part perfectionist and part embarrassed.

[KageSora]

I like sticking my stuff on DA, because people there can comment on it (even though I almost never get crits... :< ) and aren't likely to ask me to draw them something because I can.

 

Also, @BoomBoomBingBang: You don't need a tablet/scanner to make art--I've seen some amazing stuff drawn just with a mouse. And, even if it's not amazing, you can still do good stuff with a mouse. this was made with a mouse, and though I don't think it's around online anymore (at least not that I know of), I know they used to do a lot with a mouse before they got a tablet years back.

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

I have some friends who are currently trying to get me to show them a story I'm writing. I thought of it when I get a good amount written, as I would like some opinions, but I'm a little shy on it seeing as they seemed rather disapointed when I told them it has no romance. Not to mention they can's even watch a horror movie without closing there eyes and it's horror/adventure.

 

Does anyone here know about these critique groups I've been hearing. I heard there are groups that will give creative and writing advise but I also hear you have to find one with actual writers and not opionated wannabes to get good advise.

Edited April 21, 2011 by LADYDRAGONSKEEPER

[Rascal1414]

I have some friends who are currently trying to get me to show them a story I'm writing. I thought of it when I get a good amount written, as I would like some opinions, but I'm a little shy on it seeing as they seemed rather disapointed when I told them it has no romance. Not to mention they can's even watch a horror movie without closing there eyes and it's horror/adventure.

 

Does anyone here know about these critique groups I've been hearing. I heard there are groups that will give creative and writing advise but I also hear you have to find one with actual writers and not opionated wannabes to get good advise.

there is one called authonomy and i have heard its pretty good to use