Your "style" is shit

The BBQ Pit
1

No, wannabe artist, I’m not being “mean” by pointing out the flaws in “your style”. Nor am I somehow “hating” on you by telling you how to improve (just the opposite, I want you to be better than you are now and garnish even more internet fame by virtue of being good at what you do, rather than just being popular) or being “hostile” when I am simply being honest.

I’m not your self-esteem team. I’ll only give you props for things you did right. You don’t get an “A” for “Effort”. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and there’s nothing new under the sun (even the idea that “there’s nothing new” is pretty much as old as human civilization itself). The important thing is proper execution of said ideas, down to the tiniest detail.

You do not have a “style”. You have picked up, probably by means of copying other artists or following those shitty “how to draw” tutorials, a collection of shortcuts and bad habits without a proper understanding how things are supposed to look. Your drawings only resemble recognizable people, places, or things by the merit of my enormous brain, which is hard-wired to attempt interpreting any picture as a meaningful image.

You are not the next Picasso. Even Picasso went to a Real Art School and drew things The Conventional Way before he started fucking around with The Establishment.

You are not the next Walt Disney. Disney learned how to draw by observing real life horses, and then leveraged his talent into a multi-billion dollar industry by creating a distinctive style with consistent rules, resulting in instantly identifiable, iconic characters with the illusion of life.

Go ahead, threaten to not post your art here any more because I’m so “mean”. I don’t care. I spent my precious time explaining to you what you did wrong, why it’s wrong, and how to improve, but if you don’t want to listen to me, fine, I don’t want to waste my breath on you, either. Go ahead and go back to the echo chambers filled with empty vapid praise. Just remember that most of the people showering you with kudos don’t know shit about The Real World, because if they saw the works of someone who had real talent, who put actual effort into their works, they’d drop you like a live grenade.

To use a metaphor, I don’t expect you to be an Olympic-level swimmer, but if you’ve dived head-first into the deep end, then I sure as hell hope you don’t drown. On the other hand, if all you can do is hang out in the kiddy pool with water wings, then don’t act like you’re the second coming of Michael Phelps.

2

Who are you addressing and what are you on about?

3

Just a general “blowing off steam” rant.

There’s a community of self-proclaimed “artists” (especially the kind who do fan art) who have the kind of attitude that I’m bitching about and it makes for a lot of frustration.

If I got a penny for every time I heard “it’s my style” when I give constructive criticism, I’d be rich.

4

Is this solicited criticism?

5

Okay, now I’ve got to see the “art”, and read your critique of it.

Links, mon, links!

Seriously, I’m an art teacher and it’s often hard for me to get a handle on WHY something’s shit, and how to articulate “How to fix it.” Seeing how you handle “sub-standard art” would help a lot… and make me feel like I’m not alone in taking a stand against how-you-say shit.

6

Actually, I can get on board with this rant. When I was in music school, a popular quote (Charlie Parker? Dizzy Gillespie?) was “Master your instrument, master the music, then forget all that shit and just play.” That was great, but a lot of students had the attitude of “Yeah man, forget all that shit and just play!” Somehow they missed the mastery part.

7

“I wish I could be everywhere that people are doin’ art, so that I could keep the public from gettin’ aroused, or titillated, or otherwise confused by the counterculture.”

– Senator Howard Tankerbell (D-GA)

8

Okay then, wannabe “writer,” I’m not “being” mean by “pointing” out the “flaws” in your “use” of “quotation marks.” Nor am “I” somehow hating “on” you by telling “you” how to improve (just the “opposite”, I want you to be “better”)…

9

What am I missing as I thought the quotation marks were appropriate?

10

I second this. We have no reason to think those weren’t direct quotes.

11

When it comes to any of the arts, sometimes criticism is wanted, sometimes it’s not. The good artists will acknowledge well intended, even if negative, criticism, and give it it’s due attention. Though, also, sometimes well intentioned negative criticism doesn need to be heeded. The others will be content to ignore all negative criticism. I’m not by any means a professional at criticizing the arts, but I do often criticize, music especially, and I’ll offer my criticisms in non-arts as well. I know that my criticisms are well intentioned, and if they want to hear it, great, if not, why should I let someone who doesn’t respect my opinion impact my emotional state at all? When I get a “well, that’s my style” or “I like it that way” or “you wouldn’t understand” response, I’ll just write them off and move on.

12

Gotta go with tdn here. If you’re talking about Deviantart, the general understanding is that unless criticism is asked for, you don’t give it. It comes off as a bit haughty and some people tend to get super defensive over it. On the other hand, I do understand how annoying it is to see mediocre artists get to be super popular because they do fanart of popular series, while fantastic ones who do original pieces get nothing.

13

Fuck your rules, man. I unveiled my masterpiece ‘Pornoguernica’, daubed in my own precocious excrement, at the tender age of eight.

14

sniff

TOTALLY derivative of the early Third World Plague Patient school that swept Ethiopia in the Eighties.

15

For pete’s sake, man, don’t *sniff *it!

16

If she were responding to direct quotes, I’d expect, “I’m not ‘being mean’ by pointing out the flaws in your ‘style’. Nor am I somehow ‘hating on’ you by telling you how to improve or ‘being hostile’ when I am simply being honest.”

The single word in quotation marks looks more like it’s being done for emphasis.

17

Well, if the person said “Stop being mean! There’s no reason to be hostile. That’s my style so stop hating on me”, then those are pretty direct quotes.

18

I never said they weren’t. I just don’t think that most people reporting someone’s comment would choose to quote the way dotchan did. It seems a bit piecemeal and doesn’t fit the intonation that I imagine were she reading the OP aloud.

19

And that’s the kind of attitude that annoys me. Some people fail to understand that the kindest thing I could do is to point out how to be a better artist. It’s not haughty in and of itself to point out that, hey, I’ve walked down that road, you don’t want to go there, it’s filled with pointy rocks.

But in the long wrong, it’s no skin off my back if they don’t want to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I just Get Mad at Stupid Shit.

20

Well, the OP probably wants to express that (s)he denies the writer’s view of his/her remarks, especially “hostile.”