All artists have a "voice." Some just don't know it yet. :P

Yes.

All *artists* have a voice.

If you haven't found it, then you don't have one for the time being. Thus by this description as well a person without a voice is not an artist.

If you create art, you are an artist. Fan art is still ART, remember? Right in the name. :)

I think artist is someone who creates something he/she wants to create. Doesn't have to be popular. Literally every craft can be called "form of art" that requires craftmanship or artistry. Most art is based on reference of something. Mimicry that ultimately leads to some sort real life concept or combination of concepts. I think anyone who does anything with passion or great interest can be called artist.

But yeah. Words have different meaning to everyone.

Do you have a talent for creating things? Then you're an artist. Do you create them from your own imagination and emotions? Then that's your voice. People just like to talk down on artists that draw, even though it IS an art medium. Hell, plenty of painters start off with making a rough sketch on their canvas with a pencil before paints even start to flow. I say you're an artist with a voice, and that person who reviewed those portfolios was being an asshat.

But, that's just my opinion. ;D

Yes I can create things. Anyone can create a thing. No they're rarely from my own imagination and most certainly they're devoid of my emotions.

Also to elaborate, he didn't look down on the drawings because they were drawing. He looked down on them because they were devoid of the guy's own artistic voice. The paintings were inspired by his Mexican heritage and thus had something of his emotions and imagination in them that his drawings did not. So no, the guy wasn't just being a douche, he had credentials to back up what he was saying.

I wouldn't give too many fucks to that CalArt reviewer. to call the portfolio with drawings thrash, and denying the artist his status as artist because of it, and a moment later he turns around 180° because of PAINTINGS? there would be a few things I'd call that one, "arrogant" and "self-imposed" and "self-righteous, pompous behind" would be my fist choice.

even artists that mimic their preferred topic 100%, do have a voice. it just sounds like someone elses, even if they create somethign off their own list mimicking somethign else. it's lust like another line to the poem.

The problem here is that CalArts is quite the prestigious school. A lot these professional animators out there...yeah, this is where they came from. The guy may have been harsh and rude, but he most likely had the credentials to back up his assessment.

And I left a bit out...it wasn't that they were just paintings. They were paintings inspired by his Mexican heritage. Ones that said something about who he was, where he came from...that sort of deal.

And mimicry isn't your own voice. You just said it...it sounds like someone else's. Meaning it's a cheap distortion of another person's voice. It's not yours. This is why artists hate it when newbies come in and try to mimic their art style...not just as a fun exercise but continuously try to mimic another person's style over and over again. Because it's taking a thing that they worked hard to develop and just using it for their own gain. You can learn via mimicry, but you can also steal another person's voice that way as well.

the way you told it smacks a lot of double standards. drawings are worthless, but paintings are everything? still, it's about his mexican heritage, but what if they weren't? would the statement still stand?
credentials or not, I have a huge problem with arrogance. in the end we all end up mud.

mimicry is a good starting point, though. unless you go into mimicry until people can't tell you from the legion of other mimickers... in the end it's their decision to remain faceless.
like most people, I copied linearts as a kid, but stopped, because it led me nowhere. many years later I started to draw animal people, and one of my goals was to create something that was "ME".

how about you? where are your goals? and don't start again on the mimicking stuff. I wouldn't be here watching you for being an art clone. your art struck a chord in me, showed me your personal art path, and made me curious where it would lead. as cheesy as it sounds, it's how it is. and you ought to know by now that I'm not here for the free art as well. :)
all I see you doing is babbling on about how unoriginal your stuff must be. but I want to see you talking about your strengths. the details, the expressions, how it comes together instead of, dunno, a portrait of someone floating in midspace and pasted onto a background at the last moment? no really, stop telling yourself how bad you are. one day you'll find yourself listening to you...

Haha, of course I listen to me...I'm the only person left to listen to.

Plus I hate getting my hopes up anymore. Saying I'm good only serves to get my hopes up for things that won't happen. I get sick of it. So while other people may dislike that I speak negatively of my own work and while it's not helpful in the least bit, it's what I feel about it. *shrug*

if I was nearby I'd paw at you until you ragequit.

I wished I could say something to make you feel better, because I see a downward spiral here. I am not someone versed in psychology, but I have been there myself some times, and had to finally stand up and get going again.

high hopes? I always hope I'd win the bleeding lottery, so I could finally pay all bills when they come up, and help out people in need of a few dollars and such. but it's always someone else who wins. so what? there is always someone who has it worse.
high hopes are like dreams. who would we be without dreams? and more important, who would we be if every dream comes true right away? most dreams will remain unfulfilled, yet we need somethign to reach out for.
so... don't let the disappointment get to you too much.

besides, I believe people sense such negativity and turn away. somehow, even across the internet. of course you could argument that many popular artists are negative holes, yet still popular and successful and have business etc etc. but look behind it; I would say they are very, very lonesome.
I doubt you want that. *paws at you*