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No Anthrocon, So I'm Here Thinking about Bad Art
4 years ago
As I write this I'd have finished my breakfast with the other art show staffers and be at the convention center helping artists hang their works. Sadly, at the second AnthNocon (as I call it), I'm at home and it won't start for several hours yet.
So I'm here thinking.
Are you a bad artist? Do you turn out bad art?
Uhhhmmmm .... nah-uh. Truth is, nobody does. Something I learned during my tenure as a musician in high school. See, I would hear something that passes as music -- say, country/western -- and I'd say "Gawd, that is some really bad music!" On two or three different occasions I was told and reminded that there is no such thing as "bad music", only music that you don't care for.
Thinking about it after I began drawing slop-art around late 1999, living on VCL and Furnation, later of course Furry Art Pile and Yarf, now deviantArt and FurAffinity, that came home to roost. I turned out a lot of crap and people were actually liking it. Nowadays I turn out better crap and an occasional gem. And I look at what I turn out and compare it to, say, Max Blackrabbit, gNAW, Eric Schwartz, Iron Badger, Steve Martin, and realize what actual rubbish I turn out. I'll never be in their league, never.
Going through the sites I also saw artists turning out stuff even worse than mine. Not by much usually but not great. Then I remembered what I'd learned about bad music, it doesn't exist. Music is art. Art is art.Time is money And it came to me, there is no such thing as bad art!
I thought about some of the stuff I turned out In The Beginning and well, some people actually put Likes and Loves on it! My gawd, I'd think, they're easily pleased -- then I thought s'more about it, and I realized no, they like it.
There is no such thing as bad art. If you like it, it can't be bad. If you create it and think it's bad, you're wrong. Maybe there's room for improvement, I mean even the pros like the ones I mentioned above constantly practice and draw and probably turn out their share of crap themselves, not as much as I do but I'll bet you they do! But a lot of people who might see it would like it.
So guess what: Bad art doesn't exist. Keep drawing. If you feel you need to improve, keep drawing. And don't stop, it gets festering ideas of what you'd like to see out of your head, that's important to you. Especially if you want to see it drawn but can't afford to commission somebody, or you'd like to see a character a certain way and you know the artist who owns it won't draw it that way. Draw, keep drawing. You'll like it and I promise, so will others. And if they criticize it negatively, mentally tell them to go to Hell and draw it again, or keep drawing. Trust me, you'll surprise and amaze yourself in the end.
So I'm here thinking.
Are you a bad artist? Do you turn out bad art?
Uhhhmmmm .... nah-uh. Truth is, nobody does. Something I learned during my tenure as a musician in high school. See, I would hear something that passes as music -- say, country/western -- and I'd say "Gawd, that is some really bad music!" On two or three different occasions I was told and reminded that there is no such thing as "bad music", only music that you don't care for.
Thinking about it after I began drawing slop-art around late 1999, living on VCL and Furnation, later of course Furry Art Pile and Yarf, now deviantArt and FurAffinity, that came home to roost. I turned out a lot of crap and people were actually liking it. Nowadays I turn out better crap and an occasional gem. And I look at what I turn out and compare it to, say, Max Blackrabbit, gNAW, Eric Schwartz, Iron Badger, Steve Martin, and realize what actual rubbish I turn out. I'll never be in their league, never.
Going through the sites I also saw artists turning out stuff even worse than mine. Not by much usually but not great. Then I remembered what I'd learned about bad music, it doesn't exist. Music is art. Art is art.
I thought about some of the stuff I turned out In The Beginning and well, some people actually put Likes and Loves on it! My gawd, I'd think, they're easily pleased -- then I thought s'more about it, and I realized no, they like it.
There is no such thing as bad art. If you like it, it can't be bad. If you create it and think it's bad, you're wrong. Maybe there's room for improvement, I mean even the pros like the ones I mentioned above constantly practice and draw and probably turn out their share of crap themselves, not as much as I do but I'll bet you they do! But a lot of people who might see it would like it.
So guess what: Bad art doesn't exist. Keep drawing. If you feel you need to improve, keep drawing. And don't stop, it gets festering ideas of what you'd like to see out of your head, that's important to you. Especially if you want to see it drawn but can't afford to commission somebody, or you'd like to see a character a certain way and you know the artist who owns it won't draw it that way. Draw, keep drawing. You'll like it and I promise, so will others. And if they criticize it negatively, mentally tell them to go to Hell and draw it again, or keep drawing. Trust me, you'll surprise and amaze yourself in the end.
I always told my friend, who was never an artist to begin with, a writer but never drew, and he just wanted to try it out, that as long as their was passion behind it (as well as a few pointers) his art would be good.
This view on bad art though...feels very eye opening and similar to what I say but very different.
I'm glad you shared this because sometimes those thoughts creep into my head too.
like, it definitely kicks and you can rock out to it
but it's for the bad guy