Does knowing the artist change how you perceive his/her work?

Yeah... oftentimes if an artist has a shitty attitude, it comes through in their artwork in some way or another. If an artist has a crappy attitude, I'm not likely to stick around for their art. I have a former classmate who I see around at several AA's and they're quite popular, but knowing them as a person I just cannot get into their art. I wish I was kidding when I say they can't go more than 2 sentences without bragging about themselves, and it's grating. So I just avoid their booth if I see them at cons lest I get caught in another forced conversation about how much money they're making and how successful they are.

But as others have mentioned, a good and genuine attitude has helped me meet awesome artists too, and I enjoy following the work of people I can get along with. :> As far as posting personal stuff goes, it doesn't bother me so long as it's not random shite that would be better posted on instagram or nonstop self-indulgent complaining. But like, if you wanna post awesome art and throw in a picture of your cat once in a while I'm not gonna freak out.

As for me, I try to be as nice, helpful and genuine as possible. And while I don't use social media as my own personal journal, I'm honest about some of the challenges and struggles I face when it's relevant to my artwork. In any case, I'd be sad if someone met me in person at an AA and thought I was a dick D: If anything, I'm probably MORE friendly irl because I get crazy anxiety at cons and have to put on my cheery customer service face so people won't know I'm actually a terrified tiny child in a woman suit.

I can definitely enjoy their art even if they're terrible in person, I just probably avoid them in twitter, tumblr or any other more personal sites and just buy their stuff. Haven't met people like that so far in webcomics field. The fact HP Lovecraft had some pretty terrible thoughts in his head (one of his main fear was that black people will partner with white women and stain his civilization so yeah... it's awful), doesn't stop me from loving those stories because he's one damn good writer.

If person is nice and not too spammy I'll go easier on their stuff and if they're my friend there's also a possibility we have possibly talked about our comics/art to each other in this prayer-circle kind of way so I see their stuff more from the perspective they see it. I love it when it happens.

I for one don't avoid interaction/revealing stuff that much, at least on twitter, because, it's kinda made for that stuff. But I keep it only on twitter. I also have separate tumblr accounts for art and personal stuff so people can pick up their poison. I don't think it's necessary to hide yourself but don't let it get in the way of your craft. I do keep political stuff and most of my opinions to myself when they're about something more serious than a song or movie. That stuff is just dangerous.

I think it's difficult if you use a variety of social media to not be so invisible on the Internet, and I use the net desperately to show my nerd side as much as I can, cause I'm a big muscular bald guy and people are always standofish around me (which is tremendously upsetting) . But I agree somewhat, if a creator acts like a douche I'd avoid their work, but I have no fear of this, I'm bloody lovely

I've let it bother me way back, but nowadays, unless they're genuinely terrible, I let it go. It's kinda hard not to run into some aspect of a creator you don't like in this new age of social media, where everything is in the open.

I just choose to be fair about it, I guess, artists are just people after all.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, the long answer is this:
I'm able to see when my best friend has a terrible artday, I can see it in her lines and the way she colours.
It's weird since I thought of her as a god when I only was her fan, I thought she had the best linework et cetera, hahaa!
But when you get to know a person, you also get to know their work. What the thought's behind it and all.

However, there's some artists I follow up close of which personalities I can not stand.
They're awesome of getting their way through and I admire them for that. However, as soon as they get criticism they start to act butthurt even though it's a criticism grounded on the best foundation.
They're an amazing artist and they could use the advices given to up their game a little.

And it's so difficult for me, because I enjoy their stuff and want to have it, but I feel terrible for supporting them when they act like they do (and they were very, very rude to my friend so I'm getting a little biased here, even though I try to stay outside the whole thing because it's their issue, not mine).

In general, yes, knowing a little about a creator will change how I view their work, but I have yet to meet an artist who has turned me completely off their stories just by being themselves. Granted I don't know any fellow artists very well and perhaps if I had a bad experience with one I would hold a grudge, but over all knowing more about creators makes me want to help them more and show them some appreciation. It gives me a better idea of who is sitting on the other end of the line waiting for feedback.

I'm quite active on this forum, as are many creators on this site, but first and foremost I see you people here as peers, not audience members who need protecting from the real me. I wouldn't post half of the things I write here on Twitter or Facebook or Tapastic' main area because it wouldn't be appropriate, and though I understand that readers from the main site can access these thoughts just as easily as any of you I'm willing to take whatever risks come along with that for the sake of having a group of people that I can help with their work (and whose work I thoroughly enjoy) and who will also support me in turn.

Maybe it's just me but these forums don't seem to have garnered much interest from the pure 'readers' of the site. It feels more like a creator's corner and it's a wonderful thing to be a part of. I don't have anyone else to talk to about this stuff- no one in my life does this, most don't even know that I do- so where would I find comfort and support if I didn't reach out to you?

If one of my readers feels alienated or disturbed because I'm Kate and I live near Manchester and play games and shoot shit in the Crossed Keys pub when my friends are in town then that's too bad. I don't want to offend anyone but then I don't want to have to police myself in order to protect people who don't even know me. Whatever happened to 'be yourself, don't worry about what other's think'?

Then, on the other side, there are artists and creators on Twitter who air their dirty laundry online all the time with no regard whatsoever for who will see it- readers, family, employers, colleagues, whoever- and there's celebrities, actors, business people and YouTube bloggers who regurgitate whatever they feel on everyone anywhere. Why? Who knows. And yeah, it makes me cringe sometimes, but not everyone does it and what's more it doesn't seem to change a thing.

TLDR; Where you draw the line is up to you. I try not to judge anyone too harshly for the things I read and see on here unless someone's being downright shitty in which case they can reap what they sow.

For me I'd prefer to know at least a little about the artist, that doesn't mean a picture of themselves or where they live, but each time they
upload a new work, I wanna know how what they've been up to, for example, has the work been a pain to create or what the work means.

But yeah even if the artist is a pro I would unfollow because they aren't nice (or their work has turned a different way)
And I wouldn't really want to follow an artist where all they post is just constant random crap or moaning about stuff.

Well for me it's all about professionalism, but still having some fun of course.
I don't post anything personal on any social media, it's all art stuff. I think sneak peaks and polls are my favourite thing to post as people get involved.

About the comic con thing, I'd only went to one and there were alot of cool artists. I had a table there one time and it was really busy. And I'm used to sitting alone constantly so it was really overwhelming so I might of come across rude. I had my friend helping at my table doing all the talking and money stuff (so sorry ;_;) I had some of my fans of Two Faced come, I made an effort to be nice and give them discount for coming to see me.

Yep. I have a hard time supporting artists with really bad attitudes or are not very nice to their followers/commission buyers. I especially can't stand those "I'm better than everyone" "you'll never be as good as me" etc types. At that point, they have clearly shown that they are 100% NOT better than everyone else, ah-ha. But then there's a huge difference between always being mean bc eliticism/they're jerks for the sake of being jerks, to just not having a good day (when people apologize genuinely later, they I can forgive) I try to keep an open mind generally, check out their story, check out others' stories, and just figure out who I should avoid and who I can be okay with visiting or liking their work from time to time

I know of only 3 artists that are really horrible people and I just ignore them the best I can for my own sanity (I personally have never had a problem with them, and I'd like to keep it that way)

It certainly does for me. I once idolized a certain artist because of his style so as usual i dig around his DA gallery to see more but i saw a lot of his selfies there and it degraded my admiration for him, it also doesnt help that i was following his group and discover he was a lazy guy.

I certainly didnt want to feel that way but yeah, it cant be helped

In extreme cases like with Bill Cosby and all the nasty things that have come to light about his person regarding rape culture, yeah I speak for everybody when I say that absolutely NOBODY is going to be able to appreciate his comedy or his hit TV show The Cosby Show knowing what a creepy disturbing piece of work he really was all these years.

In other often lesser cases, there's the school of thought that you should simply divorce the creator from his/her work. Also, sometimes the creator has a bad day or is going through a rough less than glamourous patch in their lives for various reasons. Doesn't mean that the creator is like that all of the time.

It depends on the artists behavior, if he is the serious type that over thinks the series while working I wouldn't like the show anymore cuz I would always be getting high expectations and then it would crash down when I think that after all his planning its only this he can come up with, so I prefer laid back artists that still get their work done nicely.

Well I came across an artist in a convention and he was horribly rude to me which contrasted to most other people there who were friendly. I ignored it because I was still interested in his comic back then and thought nothing of it, but then his work just got worse and worse and worse. His comic devolved into all the characters being assholes, him mocking his own fanbase in and out of the comic and finally I gave up reading it because the plot went no where, the characters were unlikable and he had the audacity to show some fucked up x rated stuff in his work I really did not want to see. Let me remind you his fanbase was mostly 13 year olds. He clearly hated them but they kept forgiving him.

Let's just say some people might be right when they say you get to know an author through their work.

As much as I wish it didn't it does.

I usually find their art repulsive to some degree, and would try to avoid any personal contact. But I never let it affect my life. Some of my friends still dwell about some unanswered questions, and no replies to fanarts they did, etc. That creates a chain effect and sometimes I can see it rubbing on my friends personality; as in I find them acting somewhat how they were treated.

I would try not to engage much with artists I find repulsive and never ever act on someones else opinions of an artist. Never.

Pretty much what I believe

This is really sweet :c omg

I think being an artist is like being like any part of the entertainment world, we share the sides we don't mind sharing, and try and keep the rest under lock and key- for the most part anyway. It would just seem to be more beneficial for a creator to share just enough to create a positive image for themselves and leave the rest to their audiences imagination, whether what the audience is imagining is realistic or not.

When you see the nasty sides of a person, it's hard to tell how much of that is the main trait for their personality, it's easy to doubt if they're genuine even if it's just a bad day and it can change the way they are viewed from then on... So yeah, I definitely think it's better to have a divide between work and personal lives, for the sake of the creators sense of self and their audience as well.

Depends on what we're talking about and to what extent... I often try to "separate the art and artist", but at a certain point that just becomes impossible. If they're really rude and a huge jerk to others, really bigoted in some way, ect... that would make me way less likely to want to read it. Or at least less likely to support them financially.