At the time that I wrote this article, it was the day after I found out that someone had said some very mean things against my art and me as a person that was posted very viral onto tumblr for over a 12,000 people to see. While I tried not to let it phase me much, it did get me thinking about a talk I once heard titled "Its for who it's for, it's not for who it's not for!". Ironically the next morning that was the talk I was listening to on my iPod as part of my daily dose of success principle CD listening. Background over, let's get to the point shall we?
The talk was basically by a best selling author who discovered his book rated on a site, I believe was called, goodreads.com or something along those lines. He was talking about how he had all 5's, a few 4's and 1 big fat 1, on a scale of 1-5. He drew something out that really struck home with me and I'd love to share it here. It looked like this:
He said that's the curve of likeability of his book. Then he drew another similar picture:
The first main point is that he'd rather have a curve like the first example than a curve like the second. He continued to explain his point that his book was for the people who rated it 5 and that he wouldn't spend his next book trying to win over that person who voted 1. If he spent all his time obsessing over that one little person who didn't like or get his book then he'd be letting down the few hundred people that gave him a 5 and his curve would quickly invert.
Basically this is a really great point. You will never, ever, ever have 100% of the population liking you. Statistically, whatever you stand for the most passionately in life (apple pie, cats, politics, favorite color, etc) someone in your hometown even will oppose that which you love just as passionately. If you spend all your time trying to please those couple of negative people you'll never be happy and you'll loose all support all together.
Anyone who does anything should expect opposition of some sort or critics. A great example of this is that once I posted an article here. It got tons of favorites, views, kind comments etc except for one very long, trolling comment that was kinda silly to have been posted because it made the person look really bad as well as uninformed. For every mile of good feedback you get you'll get at least an inch negative, almost guaranteed every time.
So how does this relate to your art? I see a lot of people around that they have a bad day, someone posts something slightly rude or mean and they go all bezerk, post hate journals, spam the person or deactivate their account over it. Deviant art gave us a 'hide comment' button for a reason. If it was just trolling or an overly rude critique you can just hide it and ignore it. The picture is for who it's for, and not for who it's not for.
The fact is there are people out there who just want to be plain mean for no reason other than to cause drama. The more people you deal with the more drama and with a site like dA there's lots of people. As I once heard quoted "The more animals in the barn yard, the more doo-doo to deal with." and this is so true when it comes to big groups of people. So really the main point is you can't let these random trolls, negative nellies or other sadness bringing people bring you down.
You don't know if they were just having a bad day and that comment came out wrong. You don't know if they said that just to crawl under your skin because they have no self confidence. You don't know that their cat didn't just die or something. Nothing justifies being a jerk on the internet but at least maybe give them the benefit of the doubt, hide the comment and forget the whole thing ever happened.
So next time you decide you want to quit art or delete your account or never draw again consider this article. Your art work is for the people that like it, not for the people who won't. Focus on the support you do have, however small, and ignore those meanies that 99% of the time just want to cause a problem for the fun of it.
Remember this quote: "When I saw someone had attacked my art online I was happy because it meant I was finally doing enough right for someone to take notice and get envious." If you're on the right path you will get critics. Part of growth is how you deal with them and if you can deal with them the right way it'll grow you as a person too.
Now for a feature of some very diverse art works that are 'for who they're for':
AJ
Basically this is a really great point. You will never, ever, ever have 100% of the population liking you. Statistically, whatever you stand for the most passionately in life (apple pie, cats, politics, favorite color, etc) someone in your hometown even will oppose that which you love just as passionately. If you spend all your time trying to please those couple of negative people you'll never be happy and you'll loose all support all together.
Anyone who does anything should expect opposition of some sort or critics. A great example of this is that once I posted an article here. It got tons of favorites, views, kind comments etc except for one very long, trolling comment that was kinda silly to have been posted because it made the person look really bad as well as uninformed. For every mile of good feedback you get you'll get at least an inch negative, almost guaranteed every time.
So how does this relate to your art? I see a lot of people around that they have a bad day, someone posts something slightly rude or mean and they go all bezerk, post hate journals, spam the person or deactivate their account over it. Deviant art gave us a 'hide comment' button for a reason. If it was just trolling or an overly rude critique you can just hide it and ignore it. The picture is for who it's for, and not for who it's not for.
The fact is there are people out there who just want to be plain mean for no reason other than to cause drama. The more people you deal with the more drama and with a site like dA there's lots of people. As I once heard quoted "The more animals in the barn yard, the more doo-doo to deal with." and this is so true when it comes to big groups of people. So really the main point is you can't let these random trolls, negative nellies or other sadness bringing people bring you down.
You don't know if they were just having a bad day and that comment came out wrong. You don't know if they said that just to crawl under your skin because they have no self confidence. You don't know that their cat didn't just die or something. Nothing justifies being a jerk on the internet but at least maybe give them the benefit of the doubt, hide the comment and forget the whole thing ever happened.
So next time you decide you want to quit art or delete your account or never draw again consider this article. Your art work is for the people that like it, not for the people who won't. Focus on the support you do have, however small, and ignore those meanies that 99% of the time just want to cause a problem for the fun of it.
Remember this quote: "When I saw someone had attacked my art online I was happy because it meant I was finally doing enough right for someone to take notice and get envious." If you're on the right path you will get critics. Part of growth is how you deal with them and if you can deal with them the right way it'll grow you as a person too.
Now for a feature of some very diverse art works that are 'for who they're for':
AJ
