How do you handle negative feedback?

I've had some humdingers over the last 20 years or so. Some are just trolls, those are relatively easy to shrug off because the intention behind them is so transparent. But not all are intentionally rude. Those are harder to shake.
When someone clearly just doesn't grasp the subtle rules of being sociable and goes straight to their most direct thoughts, that can be useful, but also the most hurtful. Most of the time they don't even know they're being so awful. Usually I'll ignore them, but go through an internal rage cycle for several days while I try to work out how to deal with the situation socially in the future (inevitably assuming the responsibility for the other person being an asshole, but that's a me thing that I'm trying to work on), but usually end up at my only option being to work harder out of spite.
I remember this one time many years ago someone commented on a drawing I was really proud of, saying that the woman I drew looked like a man. I don't think they meant to be rude, but they were just bafflingly clueless on how to interact with other humans, and I took it far too personally. I don't think I ever responded to them, but I ended up doing this months long deep dive on gender anatomy and drilling it over and over and over until I had it absolutely locked.
I was hurt, and that gave me drive.
I want to be clear, I am in no way saying that being so cluelessly direct and having an egregious lack of tact is at all positive. It's a failure, plain and simple. But you can turn that negative garbage into something motivating. It's all in how you spin it.

I'm used to it as a writer. At least, in the comic medium (and YouTube medium as well). For some reason, I get slightly agitated when I'm writing a novel, but when a friend tells me "this sucks" I take it like a man. I think it's because novels are the one thing that I can never quite get down. I know a relative has been pressuring me to do it so I wouldn't have to rely on artists and they're RIGHT... but...

MAN That Stick Figure Isekai was a huge blessing. I'll eat a cactus if it means thanking God.

But seriously, as a comic writer, I've taken some heavy hits which helped me develop. I'm open to any feedback no matter what. Whether it be insulting or whether it be someone trying to hurt my feelings (even if they're using slurs!), I want to get to the bottom of why they're feeling negatively about the product. After all, I'm not writing That Stick Figure Isekai just for me.

I'm writing That Stick Figure Isekai for...

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Another reason for this mentality was that my illness (when it was at its peak) would make me criticize people harshly because I just get so hateful so I can understand WHY people are being so rude. I remember criticizing my favorite YouTuber on his work because the rain was so bad and my head was just inflamed (I couldn't use words right) and the dude outright kicked me and thought I was some nobody (even though we've gotten friendly for quite a while). We're cool now after I explained everything, but I didn't care for his mentality.

The person on the other side of the screen could be going through some stuff that prevents them from functioning correctly.

I think this is something every writer should always keep in mind.

Once you do, you should take every hit online and improve.

The best way to respond to art criticism in art world is: not to respond at all. But, to remember what was criticized, why and if the critic is someone who’s opinion is valued and trusted, to try seeing it through their eyes, so you as an artist can improve. Critic in art is crucial, especially constructive critic, that helps the artist grow. Sometimes it could be beneficial to discus some aspect with the critic, but that is about it.

On the other hand, not all criticism in art is made equal or comes from the qualified or valued critics. A lot of people who are unqualified to judge come into position of criticizing the art piece and voicing their opinions (fans and non-fans of all ages, over the internet and off, journalists that aren’t specialized in art but still write about it, artists from one field jumping into criticism of other field without full understanding of it, etc.). When you get a critique akin to “this sucks”, Sometimes, it's really just an amateur you're dealing with. Such criticism is best welcomed with shrugging of your shoulders and turning to sip another sip of coffee, because it means absolutely nothing and the world is still turning without a hitch.

before i had a habit of taking everything to heart and thus responding pretty poorly or becoming very defensive so...bad

nowadasy tho I've come to just take everything with abbig ol grain of salt and weigh what i feel is most valuable. asking myself questions like "is this a useful critique or just someone spouting bs" "was this criticism/critique invited or asked for" "how much do i value this persons input" and so on have helped a lot. that and ive just kind of hit a point where unless its someone whose got full grasp of my personal situation what my goals or ambitions are or what my workflow is etc then im just gonna nod smile and move on

plus theres teh fact that advice or feedback isn't one size fits all so again its not always going to be worth it to absorb every little thing someone says to you so it helps to know how to take what you need and whats of value and just leave the rest

The answer to this is easy for me. I don't deal with it.
Ha because I don't have any. Because I'm you know... awesome.
(Or because I don't really have any feedback)

Seriously though? I guess it depends on the type as said below. If someone is super negative and isn't even constructive, then I would try to learn from the points that are valid and say screw the rest. If they don't have the insight and ability to be decent it's not worth the energy. But I would not let them be wasted entirely and would learn something if there is a chance.

If it's polite but it just seems that you're getting ripped apart, ask yourself what level you are on, and what level they are upholding you to. If you are open to learning then growth can be had. And a true author has to go through more edits and rewrites than is fun. So maybe that's just where you are in the process.

And lastly, nothing Is black or white, so I guess how to deal with feedback for me would be based partly on what kind.

to sum it all up though, I personally try not to take things personal and if I do, I try to overcome my discomfort or annoyance or whatever emotion, by strengthening myself or by being better, so it no longer holds true. And If I can I will use their feedback against them- I mean use their feedback to reach my goal of growth.

phew.

fun secret on the character limit is brackets (these < > )and 20 random letters

Learn what I can from it, and then vent privately about the rest to friends.

If it's less of a constructive criticism that would benefit your skills at art and writing and more of a Negative feedback then ignore it. These negative feedback just wants your attention and wants to waste your time.

If you wish to piss them off, then continue to ignore as if they don't exist. They'll be more annoyed and angrier than you'll ever be and that's delicious than candies.

This doesn't only happen in spaces in art or comics but also could happen in real life and find ways to deal with negativity or people who lash at you especially when working in retails.

One negative comment can really destroy your day when other customers were nice to you. It isn't always your fault but you have entitled people that come across you and the best way to deal with things is hold your ground and don't lash out back.

In my opinion, "Negative feedback" can be a necessary evil from time-to-time. I'll give you a light bulb analogy.

Let's say you have this lightbulb operates positive and negative. If you switch that lightbulb maximum positive, the light would be too overwhelmingly bright that it could blind you or if you switch it maximum negative, it'll be too dark to see. You need a balance that satisfies you. It could be 50%... it could 60-40%... as long as YOU are satisfied on the power of this lightbulb. Where there is darkness, there is light but only YOU can control how much YOU want.

Heyo! I'm the writer of a small little comic I'm making called Cross

I find that the hardest feedback is no feedback at all. Negative feedback, while may sting a little, is nothing like that aching feeling of not having your webcomic read lol.

I think the best way of dealing with negative feedback is to learn genuine criticism from harsh trolling. Sometimes people are just bitter and want to take it out on other people. As long as you're happy with your creation and are constantly improving, these criticism can do nothing but fuel you more to keep going and prove 'em wrong!

Pick out what is useful and leave out the rest

Treat it like "gathering data" as much as you can. I know it's really hard in early days where you might not have made a lot of comics or novels, so the one or few you have are like "MY BABY!", but it's pretty likely that your comic or novel won't be the only one you ever make.
In the industry, rewrites are very common. In my day job, I help make these kids books with a narrative and activities, and the first one, the final draft for the text was draft 42, I'm not even kidding. It went through that many rounds of edits and so much feedback from so many people. Working on it really helped me get used to criticism, especially because everyone was having to do the same; the authour, the designer, the illustrator, all of us had to work iteratively and never assume anything was the "final version" or completely safe from being cut.

The media has an unfortunate habit of wanting to turn the story of a work's creation into a narrative, where the author or artist becomes the "protagonist" of the story, and how much they were directly responsible for both the work that went in and every creative decision gets exaggerated, and then everyone who ever challenged them at all becomes a rival or antagonist. The "baddies" all say things like "POPPYCOCK! There's simply no way your story will work! Nobody has ever attempted such a thing!" and then the hero shows them all through their amazing idea and hard work! ....Except that's almost never what really happened. The creator probably had a bunch of people who gave them useful feedback and advice; the people who said negative things or raised issues probably weren't all antagonistic and trying to stop them, and they probably went through a very boring and un-dramatic series of tries rather than blasting out the perfect final version in one go to an uplifting montage. If you hold yourself up to these fictionalised versions of what a creator should be, then of course criticism feels like a sign that you are failing, or you'll read it as an attack from an antagonistic force.
The truth is, nearly every great creator gets advice and feedback and goes through multiple tries to refine their work. You haven't failed if you get told something could be a bit better.

Feedback is important because your guesses and gut instinct for what works might often be right, but they can't always be right, especially when you're still learning or are trying a new medium, format or genre. Even feedback from people with no idea how to create themselves can be useful.
Generally if the person giving feedback isn't experienced in the field of specifically what you're making, it's best to listen to and note down things they point out as problems, but to largely not bother too much about their suggestions for fixes. As the saying goes in UX design; "Users are good at spotting problems, but bad at giving solutions". So a lot of the time, a reader will correctly identify that your comic is hard to read, or that it's dragging a bit... but then their suggestion to fix it will be something bad like "change the dialogue font to Arial bold" and "Cut out this character I don't like by killing them off!" So for solutions, it's better to look for somebody who is having a bit more success or has a bit more experience at the thing you're trying to do and either read or watch resources they've made or ask them for advice, and they'll probably help you out like "Ah, I see, you should make your text a few points bigger and increase the space between the text and the edge of bubbles" and "This part of the story drags because the stuff the characters said and did didn't change anything about their situation. Can you add some consequences that will affect a future scene?" because they probably already solved those exact problems in one of their past works, or got some good advice from somebody else!

Sometimes you'll get useless advice. Maybe the person is giving their totally uninformed opinion like "I like purple so I think you should have more purple in your comic!" (welcome to the hell of "when the client asks for suggestions from their child. This is a thing that actually happens). Sometimes the person is an expert in a related field, or even is an expert in your field...but has been out of the loop for several years (a common issue with university tutors) and thinks their advice is good, but it's actually not like "Ah, you're making a comic, eh? You should put in some of those thought bubbles to show the character is thinking! How will the audience know they're thinking if it's not in a cloudy bubble!?" because this person is from an older generation and has not been exposed to manga and modern webcomics which have a design language influenced by it for internal monologue, so they don't realise adding cloudy thought balloons would just make your comic look a bit old fashioned. Then of course, as you build a following, you'll get more and more people who will criticise your work, but not directed at you but at others, often telling them why your work doesn't deserve to be popular (and extra fun points if the implication is "doesn't deserve to be more popular than their own work") but they want it to be seen by you because you're "unfairly popular" and must need taking down a peg. Bad advice can sometimes feel very justified, so it's good to seek out multiple opinions for all criticism and to look at your options. There are usually many ways you could solve an issue, so seek out a bunch and find one you like, or sometimes there really isn't an issue and the person complaining just isn't your audience.

This. Like the bosses I used to have who spouted shit like "don't tell me about the problem unless you also have the solution for me". Stupid, that. Not knowing the cure doesn't mean you can't see the disease.

(middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean, an iceberg occupies the same space as a ship)
"Man the lifeboats! We're going down!!"
"It's too late, Sir, the water's already washing over the decks."
"Damnation!!! How long have we been taking in water??"
"Four hours and fifty-five minutes, Sir."
"What??? And you knew all that time?? Why in God's name didn't you speak up???"
"Oh, that's because I didn't know how to fix it, Sir."

I don't often get negative feedback but I think I handled them okay? Usually, it's due to some readers needing an explanation because they struggle to follow along for whatever reason. My comic has 4 main characters so it doesn't focus on just one character, for a while, some readers assumed it was an anthology or that the story was just all over the place until it all came together in chapters 8 and 9 where shit finally hit the fan. Most people were able to follow along just fine though and hopefully, as the story progresses I won't be getting comments like that again.