Artistic Insignificance

[bingus_baby]

This is something that has weighed on me for so long, and I've mostly gotten over it, but every now and then it hits again.

As an artist, I love making art! I've recently learned to love making art for myself without the intent or drive to post it. Truly self indulgent works! But one thing I've noticed is that when I do occasionally show off a piece to an IRL, it never resonates with anyone. In particular, I notice my art friends showing each others' works and giggling together, complimenting them, etc. But me personally, when I show off a piece it gets a polite smile, and a "That's cute!" Usually no more or less than that. I've never gotten hate comments, but I also don't get positive comments too often. (Those few who did tho, you're invited to my birthday party :kiss:) I'll show an illustration I did to a family member, get a polite smile, and that's all. Oh, but when I trace a logo in Illustrator?? It's like I'm the second coming of Christ ;;;;

What I'm not sayings is "I'm sad, drop a like" I'm saying that... My artwork doesn't resonate! At all!! Good or bad, it never makes the viewer feel anything!! I think that... says something about me as a person, but I still want to know why I guess? My teachers never really gave feedback that addresses something to broad, just "bad anatomy" or "bad rendering" (less vague than that ofc) and how to fix those technical things. And I feel like other students have gotten more content driven feedback, rather than the technical feedback I usually receive. I would assume because there's no content to comment on?

I've also never been good at making emotional artwork, mostly just drawing a character I like being cute. Does anyone else feel this way? It felt like a deep enough conversation that would be fun for MelonLand.

This is lowkey an embarrassing thing to post sort of? ;v; I want to reiterate that I'm not fishing for compliments! What I am fishing for tho, is other artists who have had the same struggle, please share what helped you!!!

[Junebug]

So I don't write a lot but I do write fanfiction. And something I've learned is that my fanfiction is inherently unpopular. It can't be faulted for grammar errors or spelling mistakes, although some of my paragraphs are a bit laborious to read through. But aside from what I think are flaws on the basis of craft, I know that what I write will never be popular. It is simply the case that what I express is not very appealing to most fanfiction readers. Fanfic readers are interested in ships, familiar story premises, and set ups that enable certain scenarios to play out. I write quiet character moments, brief fighting scenes, and too many descriptions of trees. And my references are obscure: not many people know who Sir Thomas Browne is nor in my fandom care at all about the history of cryptography. I know that even if I fix my prose on the things that I think hold it back, the very content of what I write, that comes from me, will only be of interest to the few people who have stuck with this story so far.

There is a trap for artists of all stripes out there. It comes from a normal human need for validation, to have someone acknowledge what we created and to tell us we did a good job with it. There is a kind of romanticism that comes from being told you're a "true artist," that you have the magic power to create something wonderful that most people don't have. It's an image of oneself getting admiration and prestige for it. The internet is very good at enabling this fantasy. You can even quantify your prestige by counting likes and kudos, and seeing how many reposts you get or how many comments were left for you. This can be a pretty bad addiction and it's very common among the fan artists, since people who create visual art are usually treated like gods in a way writers usually aren't. And since people naturally compare each other, the gap between themselves and the popular artists can be quite painful.

I say don't play this game at all. Find your intrinsic reason for creativity and get your feedback from a few people who actually matter, instead of chasing popularity. Because nobody can really give you a reason for why you draw.

I've also never been good at making emotional artwork, mostly just drawing a character I like being cute.

Is emotional artwork something you want to do? Why? How can you draw something emotional if you don't have an emotion to express with it? After all, you said yourself that you mostly draw a character you like being cute. That sounds to me like what you really want to express. So if you only draw what looks cute everyone else will only think it's cute. Are you just looking for people's reactions? Because nobody owes you the response you wish they'd give you, they'll simply respond the way they really feel if they see the work you put out. So honestly, there's two choices from what I see.

1. Draw what you really want to draw while understanding that you have no control over what people will take from it.

2. Draw what everyone else would like, so that you can get people reacting to it the way you want them to.

[bingus_baby]

get your feedback from a few people who actually matter, instead of chasing popularity. Because nobody can really give you a reason for why you draw.

That was kinda the root for my post, that I felt like I wasn't getting that feedback from the people who truly matter. Idc about internet points anymore, I just want to see someone be genuinely happy to see my work.

But thanks for the feedback tho!

[Junebug]

@bingus_baby Maybe you can become acquaintances of the people whose work you admire, then. It would at least be a start.

[dim]

Is emotional artwork something you want to do? Why? How can you draw something emotional if you don't have an emotion to express with it? After all, you said yourself that you mostly draw a character you like being cute. That sounds to me like what you really want to express. So if you only draw what looks cute everyone else will only think it's cute.

     this sums up largely what came to mind on my side as well, while reading the original post. i expected that your art was the kind you @bingus_baby would refer to as 'emotional', since you were looking for it to resonate with the viewer. i'm gathering that you would characterize your art as 'just a cute character', but then i don't understand either what other 'resonance' you were expecting it would generate with the person you're displaying it to?
     in case what you really meant is just that you're hoping for more in-depth feedback (say, on the content - why did they think it was 'cute'?), i think the best you can do in this regard (with friends, and likely not so much with teachers) is learn the best ways to ask the people around you for more detailed opinions.
     'what did you like about it?' harmless nudge for more detail might do the trick if they're just a bit clueless about the importance of the 'cute little character' to you!
     'cute? what makes you say that?:)' - with the risk of sounding a bit awkward.
     'yeah, thanks! i'm excited about finishing it! it took a lot of work! what do you think about it?' shows excitement and repeats the question harmlessly, nudging them to understand you care about this and to think more about their answer.
     use my exact phrasings with a grain of salt - i'm known for semi-alien, overly-meta approaches to conversation.
     
     speaking of meta: for me, when it comes to 'the dearest people in my life', i also highly recommend just expressing your need in a genuine way. 'thanks! tell me more :D it really matters to me, i wish you would tell me what you think of it!' is a solid first try. and, if they had been a 'repeat offender' and you want to make sure whether they are just not understanding what you want from these conversations, or simply cannot provide more _{(see next paragraph)}, i'd be even more forthcoming: 'hey sometimes i feel a bit let down when i show people i really care about my art and they don't have much to say. why do you think that is? what you think about my stuff really matters to me, so i want to know.' again, i'm not suggesting you copy my phrasings word-for-word; i'm merely illustrating.

     something else i think you ought to consider, back on the 'resonating' and 'emotional art' part, is that no matter how much the people you're showing your art to matter to you in your life context and for all intents and purposes, that doesn't mean they are the right people to fulfill all of your needs; say, some of my dearest friends i do not share my poetry with, because i know they don't read nor care for poetry and would have no satisfactory input or 'reaction' to give.
     it is unfortunate, sure, but if i do write something i think ought to resonate with a part i know exists in such a friend of mine, i will make sure to tell them what made me share it with them, in detail, and explain what of it i thought they may find neat. this could spark the conversation i'm looking for - or, of course, it could still not. oh well!

     edit: oh, and if your art looks like just a cute character, don't shy away from explaining why they're meaningful to you, or what made you draw them, or draw them a specific way, which parts were challenging to you or got you excited about the piece, etc.; that might generate more conversation with those you care about and who care about you but can't see much to speak of directly in your art, as well.

[Melooon]

There are good responses here and I agree with Junebug's assessment that you might need to think about what it is you want from your work, and dims advice on telling family you'd like to talk about your work more (they may not know how to do this)!

I'd add that if your making things for yourself thats one thing, but if you're working for an audience (whether its the wider world or just friends) then you're taking on the role of a performer, and you've gotta figure out what your audience wants. Family will value something very different from your friends, and your friends will value very different things from a teacher, and a teacher will be totally different from what might be meaningful to people online. Each is a different world, so for each world you adapt your art to speak to that worlds audience.

People tend to think there are two poles of "just be yourself" and "this was made to be popular" ~ but thats not how it works. Art is give-and-take, you give some of yourself and you take some of the audience, and your audience takes some of you and gives you some of itself.

I dunno exactly how that relates to your experiences, so maybe you already try, but it never hurts to meet people where they are.

[cynderthekitsune]

honestly i... kinda feel similar, i think.

a lot of my art doesn't really get a whole lot online, which is fine by me since i'm in places i trust a lot more than social media.
but at the same time, in general i kinda feel my own artwork doesn't usually hit a lot.

sometimes i take a big break between artworks since i'm usually pretty tired, or even exhausted - school exhausts me and my own real-life life isn't particularly interesting either.
i guess my art is more niche, which is fine i think. some people like it, and i think really it's quality over quantity - it goes both ways too.

i wanna make quality art (even if some may dismiss it), but i don't wanna overproduce crap. especially since i remembered a time where i thought my own art needed to be super popular, and from that alone it already felt exhausting. soo i don't really make a lot now, though i am online maybe a bit too much...

i think my art style and what i make overall aren't really meuseum-worthy but to be honest that's actually fine. though i sometimes doubt myself being an artist (or anything else really) cuz some people have strong opinions, to say the least.
i mean, i mostly doodle, but i don't really like doing a specific style - it's more just my own thing and i'm fine with that.

schools make it feel like i need to do amazing in realism, in painting, watercolour, all that; and social media makes it feel like i need to water down my art and make it look similar to everyone else's, but i don't like either of those.
in the real world, someone i know (since a little over a year ago now, see each other a fair bit), she noticed my art is quite varied; like, i don't really like staying on one specific thing, which really makes me feel better since i think repetition is really fatiquing in general.

eh, i dunno, really. but i hope this might make someone else feel less alone 

[Julikins]

Ah yes, the dreaded feeling of being overshadowed in some fashion or another... Same feelings resonate with me as well, sometimes a little too often.

What helps for me is to try and lift up other folks with content you enjoy, mainly because it boosts their reach some as well as maybe yours? Depending on the place though since some don't have the option to boost/reblog. Comment on other folks' works if you have a comment to leave. I try to not leave the typical one worded praises, but I know some do. I even try to retain some form of activity such as journals on Sheezy and general posts on Pillowfort (not surprised if folks don't know that one).

But even then, I still feel the dread of not getting any form of attention and wanting to go "please like my arts..." Doesn't help that I try to refrain from posting every single drawing I do. I limit it to ones I liked so much and definitely not post my sketches and such. It didn't help that my schooling days were less than stellar to talk about... Most of the artistic classmates were fairly snobby and/or got better recognition which really hit detrimentally to my mental health and self worth then. College wasn't much better especially since the art classes had the worst of the snooty bunch. Most of the classmates there had hardly any sort of critique to share when it came to the pieces I made. I guess it really fed into the antisocial demon I carry around to today.

I guess in someways, I did more on "there's a lot of people with the same experiences" than actual advice...

[Aurpheus]

I get that feeling, I used to draw much more cuz I felt like I had to stay somewhat relevant and it was stuff that I kinda got to like less and less to draw...
While I found people interested in my artwork and I got comments and stuff and I should've felt good about it, it wasn't me.
They only wanted art that was about something that I really didn't care / had fun making anymore.
I don't really have any advice about it ngl, I've kinda stopped posting my art cuz it didn't make me feel acomplished anymore.
It's not really a solution, it's more like fleeing ngl.
Like the previous post said, lifting up people and sharing the art you enjoy is a good enough thing for me, that's how I met some artists online that I enjoy.
I've only got an experience on drawing online though, I've never been to art school or anything so I might be saying a whole lot of nothing here, if that's so, sorry ! x3

[e-]

Hear me out:
Focus on getting your art--both process and result--to a place where the act of doing it is 100% satisfying to you. When you can say to yourself "Everything I have to gain from creating is here in the act of doing it" then any reaction from anyone is just icing on the cake!
As humans we have lots of psychic needs that can pull in opposite directions. The need to be creative, the need to selflessly provide for others, and the need for love/acceptance can easily get lumped together for an artist. But because these needs are opposing, they pull in opposite directions and none are fully satisfied.

But it doesn't have to be this way! Instead of trying to meet all these needs simultaneously, separate them into steps:

Step 1 : Make art that satisfies your internal desire to be creative. Recall your inner child and make what you would have fun making even if no one ever saw it. Do this right and nothing anyone says or doesn't say can rob you of what you got out of it.

Step 2 : Realize that a thing made purely for the satisfaction of doing it is an incredibly rare and valuable thing to give to the world. It's the whole reason people seek out and appreciate art: to see something made with authenticity and passion. The genuineness of it will it enrich the lives of others. Knowing this you can be confidant that what you are creating has a real value beyond you.

Step 3 : By providing something made with sincerity, others will be deeply grateful for you. You will find your way to love and appreciation.

This is not an easy thing to do. It requires a lot of discipline and faith in what you're doing. You'll have to put off the exterior rewards for awhile and accept that they will come later, after a lot thankless work. It's tough, but I really believe it's worth it in the end and the only lasting solution to this problem which almost everyone goes through.