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A couple of theories about how artists and fans work
11 years ago
I feel like blathering a little. These are just my opinions. I might be completely and totally out of touch with reality!
1. You've probably heard someone say this before, and when they did it was probably ridiculously bitter sounding. "Furries are only interested in sex." (Furries are interested in sex, but they're interested in a batch of things including sex.) And there's certainly the truism that people will immediately zip towards color art above black and white. But you wanna know what furries really dig?
Werewolves.
Without a big unifying TV, movie or game series, what would appear to be a single furry fandom is actually a whole batch of little sub-fandoms under a huge umbrella. The most similar thing would be, I dunno, saying "comic book fans." Incidentally, I like that furry is a big-tent definition - I think it makes us a more diverse and fun fandom. People really dig art that's about their specific little interest - although the stats on that are probably a little skewed. If I drew a really nice caracal, lots of caracal fans would favorite it, partly because nearly nobody ever seems to draw 'em (too bad really, I think they're very pretty cats!). But if I drew a really nice dragon, maybe it wouldn't get so many favorites - there's a lot of dragon art out there, and a lot of it is 'way better than anything I can do!
There are a lot of little groups in fandom who will like werewolf art. Wolf fans. Old-school Werewolf the Apocalypse fans. Transformation fans. People who really like the metaphor of furry as reverting to a much more naturalistic, earth-centered point of view. Fans of horror movies. Wildlife art fans. You notice I still love drawing 'em, as much as I like looking at art of 'em.
Hopefully I have not just jinxed the next werewolf drawings I do!
2. If you're an artist, you've probably looked at your artwork and hated it. I am not talking about mild dislike here. If you're me, you've probably looked at your artwork and spotted the obvious mistakes sometime pretty shortly after you've finished it, gone oh wow this is awesome, and uploaded it in front of the world. By comparison to the dismal horrors you've just inflicted on your viewers, some of the stuff you're looking at is just awesome. Argh!
Outside of very real issues with technical skill, or (the exact opposite) very unhelpful and uncompassionate self-judgment rooted in toxic past experiences, here's why I think that is;
You know how your view of yourself and other people is likely to be off because you see a fairly filtered version of their reality, whereas you get to see your own stuff 24/7, 365/year?
This is the art version. But it's really harsh in some technical ways because you spend a lot of time looking at your art, tweaking your art, moving lines on paper or pixels on screen. Naturally, you're gonna keep doing this even after you've posted the thing or sent it to your customer! This isn't terrible in itself. Whereas you're not in anyone else's head - you can't see their process of revision and questioning. Of course you think their stuff is ace, and of course it's gonna stack up really well compared to your own work! Even more with a difference in medium. For instance, I really love big chunky welded abstract sculptures, which are things I can't possibly make myself. For all I know, there are really skilled welders out there who look at the same stuff I adore so much, and unlike me, they have a really informed opinion of what they're looking at, where it works, where it doesn't work.
I'd wonder whether folks like Iain McCaig or Terryl Whitlatch are out there somewhere, drawing creatures and costumes 'way better than I could ever do, and having those horrible little twinges of "oh man this looks terrible!" all the time.
1. You've probably heard someone say this before, and when they did it was probably ridiculously bitter sounding. "Furries are only interested in sex." (Furries are interested in sex, but they're interested in a batch of things including sex.) And there's certainly the truism that people will immediately zip towards color art above black and white. But you wanna know what furries really dig?
Werewolves.
Without a big unifying TV, movie or game series, what would appear to be a single furry fandom is actually a whole batch of little sub-fandoms under a huge umbrella. The most similar thing would be, I dunno, saying "comic book fans." Incidentally, I like that furry is a big-tent definition - I think it makes us a more diverse and fun fandom. People really dig art that's about their specific little interest - although the stats on that are probably a little skewed. If I drew a really nice caracal, lots of caracal fans would favorite it, partly because nearly nobody ever seems to draw 'em (too bad really, I think they're very pretty cats!). But if I drew a really nice dragon, maybe it wouldn't get so many favorites - there's a lot of dragon art out there, and a lot of it is 'way better than anything I can do!
There are a lot of little groups in fandom who will like werewolf art. Wolf fans. Old-school Werewolf the Apocalypse fans. Transformation fans. People who really like the metaphor of furry as reverting to a much more naturalistic, earth-centered point of view. Fans of horror movies. Wildlife art fans. You notice I still love drawing 'em, as much as I like looking at art of 'em.
Hopefully I have not just jinxed the next werewolf drawings I do!
2. If you're an artist, you've probably looked at your artwork and hated it. I am not talking about mild dislike here. If you're me, you've probably looked at your artwork and spotted the obvious mistakes sometime pretty shortly after you've finished it, gone oh wow this is awesome, and uploaded it in front of the world. By comparison to the dismal horrors you've just inflicted on your viewers, some of the stuff you're looking at is just awesome. Argh!
Outside of very real issues with technical skill, or (the exact opposite) very unhelpful and uncompassionate self-judgment rooted in toxic past experiences, here's why I think that is;
You know how your view of yourself and other people is likely to be off because you see a fairly filtered version of their reality, whereas you get to see your own stuff 24/7, 365/year?
This is the art version. But it's really harsh in some technical ways because you spend a lot of time looking at your art, tweaking your art, moving lines on paper or pixels on screen. Naturally, you're gonna keep doing this even after you've posted the thing or sent it to your customer! This isn't terrible in itself. Whereas you're not in anyone else's head - you can't see their process of revision and questioning. Of course you think their stuff is ace, and of course it's gonna stack up really well compared to your own work! Even more with a difference in medium. For instance, I really love big chunky welded abstract sculptures, which are things I can't possibly make myself. For all I know, there are really skilled welders out there who look at the same stuff I adore so much, and unlike me, they have a really informed opinion of what they're looking at, where it works, where it doesn't work.
I'd wonder whether folks like Iain McCaig or Terryl Whitlatch are out there somewhere, drawing creatures and costumes 'way better than I could ever do, and having those horrible little twinges of "oh man this looks terrible!" all the time.
I admit I cringe at how I made my previous writings....too gooey, not enough wit
Because it's an awesome.
*On that later part, I can't recall if Deviantart wouldn't have had one as well, but it's hard to say with how cluttered the site is now >.>;
I wish I could say I'm here for the sex these days. I'm notoriously bad at it.
Part of becoming a good artist is in being self-critical, perhaps overly so. When an artist does a poor drawing but is satisfied with it, then he/she will never make the effort to improve. Why should they? The poor quality does not bother them.
Almost ALL of the Old Masters were very critical about their own work to themselves and very sensitive to other people’s criticism (particularly other artists’).
So long as an artist learns to use his (or her) own fault-finding as starting points for self-improvement through further study and practice then they can view their “inner judge” as a friend. But if they purposely silence their “inner judge” and continue creating art that they know is poor, that just below the surface feeling of discontent with what they are turning out will eventually kill their desire to create.