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SenGrisane

What makes a great artist?

Is it style? Devotion to the arts? Tenacity in practicing to get better? Skill and Talent?
I think the most important part to being an artist is to be able to deal with critique.

First and foremost, your own. With except maybe a handful exceptions, nobody criticizes a work of art as harsh as the artist him/herself. They will see every crooked angle, every out of the way pixel and every struggle the had with drawing a finger. Something nobody else witnesses (unless they are doing a stream :P)
Learning to live with and ignore the voice that tells you "You suck!" is the first step to become a great master of the arts. Because if you are never satisfied, you will never be happy with what you draw. And if you do not like it, why should anybody else do?

The second critique comes from people you show the work to. Many will be polite and say nice things even when they see flaws and things they don't like. But some will voice their discontent... sometimes very bluntly.
You need to accept that as part of the art process. You can draw the best images in the world. If nobody but you sees them, what is the point? (some things you do want to keep to yourself, like vent art and such, but normally you draw to show others).
How many people draw in their closet but are to timid to show it off? We don't know!
Learn to live with the critique, be it justified or not. Really great artists listen to what is said and learn from it, to get better.
_____________________________

Some things I have learned during my years of drawing pictures.
- Don't write in the comments of a picture things like "It sucks, but I post it anyway." Don't devalue your own stuff. People will do that for you anyway. At least don't do it on every picture you post. Sometimes it is okay, if you really blew it.
- Post not only your good, but also your bad stuff (within reason). Not only will it show people that everyone has a good and bad times, sometimes they still enjoy it or you can get good critique on it.
- Grow a thick hide. Seriously. Getting all worked up by things somebody wrote on the web is probably the most waste of your time you can do. It can be difficult (especially for repeated, longer lasting or very offensive personal attacks).
But consider this. Would a normal person who is happy and in harmony with his life, spend as much of their time making other people down? An often used tactic for people that live in a pit, is to make others fall into it as well so they can stand on them to appear bigger than they are.
- When you see good stuff for/about/around art, make a bookmark immediately and not some time later thinking you'll remember anyway <.<
- Post your stuff in other places than your art galleries as well. You will get more honest critique that way from people that have really no idea who you are or at least a different kind of view.
Viewed: 42 times
Added: 11 years, 10 months ago
 
FrAnubis
11 years, 10 months ago
What makes a great artist?

Everything I don't have, simple as that.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
See. Point one. Don't devalue yourself. Your stuff looks pretty good. Keep working and results will come ;3
HavenInc
11 years, 10 months ago
"Learning to live with and ignore the voice that tells you "You suck!" is the first step to become a great master of the arts. Because if you are never satisfied, you will never be happy with what you draw. And if you do not like it, why should anybody else do?"

That is kinda wrong. If you get too comfortable with your art, then you won't strive to improve, were in you won't get any better. Yes, you have to ignore the voice that says you suck, but at the same time, if you're never satisfied with your art then you always try to improve it. Just cause you're not satisfied with your art doesn't mean you don't like it. =P If you love drawing but you're not satisfied, then it's the same deal.

"Grow a thick hide. Seriously. Getting all worked up by things somebody wrote on the web is probably the most waste of your time you can do. It can be difficult (especially for repeated, longer lasting or very offensive personal attacks)."

This is SO true. XD Cause if you can't just brush shit off, then you're going to be driven insane or always be pissed off when you're online. It's just how the net works.

~

Not for myself, what makes a great artist, is they should have decent art, not saying it's required but it helps. Then it's if they have a passion for the work. I mean, I'd go and commission a person who I KNOW loves their art and puts all their mind into it, then a person who's just in it for money. There's a reason why I always tell the people I commission, just to have fun with it. Because otherwise it just doesn't feel the same.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
Just because you ignore the voice it doesn't mean it goes away. That point is meant for those people who always write "My stuff sucks. I am such a bad artists. My pictures are shit" on everything they upload.
You should always strive to get better. But if you can't take critique you will either not listen to it, or you will take it serious too much.

Both are not good for your development ^^
HavenInc
11 years, 10 months ago
Not saying to ignore the voice, every artist thinks their art is worse then it is. XD It's because they just went through 6+ hours working on the bloody thing. But I get what you're saying. There's really only two ways to get better, either by knowing what's wrong with your art and knowing what you need to improve (And working to improve that) or learning what's wrong via critique. Most people that ignore critique just rarely and the ones who take it too seriously get too pressured so they lose the love of drawing and it turns to all, "Oh my god, I need to improve." and they rarely post art cause they don't think they're improving. Or something.

Just my opinions on the matter at least. XD
supremekitten
11 years, 10 months ago
The proper way to deal with critique is to properly filter the helpful from unhelpful which is not all that easy. Often you will find two people criticizing one thing from two opposite points of view, it is all subjective (For example, one may say something is too bright while the other will say it is too dark). A lot of critique is unhelpful and needs to be filtered out by the artist. You can listen to what other people say but in the end it has to come to your own judgement what you agree with and what you don't, after all, you are are the artist/creator, not them. Even the most aggressive and nasty "critique" can be helpful, but the artist himself must be able to filter what actually is helpful and what isn't.

To me, perhaps what makes a great artist is his understanding of the world and of art (and the love for the art), the deeper the understanding is, the better the artist. A passionate artist who understand the art and who experiences life deeply, will create passionate, vibrant art full of feeling and love.

Therefore, I'd say a great artist must not only like to create art, but also have a love and interest in researching/experiencing the art of others (which over time grants one a good artistic sense/taste). As well as a general fascination with the world and all of its wonders.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
Yes. Like with everything on the internet, you gotta have spam filters ;3
unsent
11 years, 10 months ago
Right let's see, Thick hide? Uncheck, Ignoring that voice?  Uncheck, Everything else? Uncheck. >.<

To be an artist you must also have the means and motivation. I lack those, therefore I also don't need, and lack everything else.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
The first step is not to tell yourself you can't do it.
unsent
11 years, 10 months ago
I don't do that. Everyone else does.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
But you just did in your first reply.
unsent
11 years, 10 months ago
Shut up, I'm a hypocrite. xD

And occasionally I do it, yes. But mostly it's other people. When a lot of people say it sucks, it usually makes you want to think that too.
AlexReynard
11 years, 10 months ago
Great article. I agree with pretty much all of it. It's like you reached into my head and pulled out the path I took regarding criticism.

I would add, kinda cynically, that one of the biggest single things that make a 'great' artist is quantity. I've had people send me fanfics of my stories that are every bit as good as what I write. But they don't get the same size audience I do. Why? I'm convinced it has everything to do with the fact that I'm able to poop out a new story every several months or so, along with a handful of drawings. Whereas some of the people every bit as good or better than me, only have a few submissions in their galleries. One of the comments I get the most when I put out a new novel is, "That was great! Do a sequel!!" Which is nice, but infuriating. 'Could you maybe spend a little time appreciating what I just gave you!? FOR FREE!?' I feel like yelling. People want a steady supply of what they want. I've seen a person's fandom slip away after they stopped doing what they were most famous for. Your advice is perfectly spot-on for becoming good at what you do, but being good and being popular are unfortunately, two different things. :/
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
Yeah, getting popular (as in getting many watchers and such) is something else entirely.

The cliché of the starving artist does not come from nothing. If every artist that is good (there are many) would make money as he'd deserve that would debunk that cliché instantly.
MoonstarWolf
11 years, 10 months ago
i love this this is the kind of pep talk i would of wanted someone to tell me cuz im still an amature artist and look at artists like
Lando
Lando
and think wow can i ever be as good as him...i always think no but its good cuz being someone else is not a way to find ones true art.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
Just because there are so many better artists that does not mean you can't have your own slice of the cake. And in time you will get better.
EroKord
11 years, 10 months ago
- Don't write in the comments of a picture things like "It sucks, but I post it anyway." Don't devalue your own stuff. People will do that for you anyway. At least don't do it on every picture you post. Sometimes it is okay, if you really blew it.

Even though it's true, I gotta stop doing this... I agree with the own worst critic part because I honestly have been like "Wow! This is really good" at someone else's art, then later when I'm REALLY looking at it I see a lot of the flaws that if I had done them, I likely would have just deleted and started from scratch. And despite those flaws, i still enjoy the piece as much as I did when I fav'd it. If I could look at my art and not see all those little flaws I might be happier with it, but I wouldn't grow. So I'm happy to be unhappy with my work, lol.

- Post not only your good, but also your bad stuff (within reason). Not only will it show people that everyone has a good and bad times, sometimes they still enjoy it or you can get good critique on it.[/quote]

I try to do this, but I still throw out about 80% of the art I do before it gets to a line stage. I really should save everything before I delete it and upload it in a bundle as scraps of the week, for the reason you mention. Getting critique on pieces I'm unhappy with to learn how to do them better.

 -Grow a thick hide. Seriously. Getting all worked up by things somebody wrote on the web is probably the most waste of your time you can do. It can be difficult (especially for repeated, longer lasting or very offensive personal attacks).

Personal attacks might bug me, but I usually know if the attack is personal they're likely a sad and stupid individual, and I LOVE critique, so I'm fairly good on this part. I know I'm bad, so I want to be told WHAT is bad, so I can grow.

I don't really post anywhere but here and don't plan to, even though it might help. I just ask for critique on everything I post.
SenGrisane
11 years, 10 months ago
Work on that voice in your head ^^
Upload more :P
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