Stuff people have told you/asked you as an artist

that weird thing that's like??? "Your art is so good it makes me hate mine/makes me want to throw all my art away uugghughuuuuuuuu waaaa" like............................................thats not..............a compliment

and then the classic "I can't even draw a stick figure!!11!1"

edit: can't forget my mom telling me that my character caravan isn't sexy enough and needs a smaller waist and bigger tiddies, then when i told her no she then said i need to make a sexy female character and then have her get attacked and killed......................................................................................................................................................................................classic

I have some couple of stuffs like:

Friends: "When are you gonna draw a portrait of us?"

Mom: "Your drawings are demonic!" (Even though I draw human characters. Yeah that happened.) (She probably thinks I'm doing some kind of blasphemy because she's a devout catholic)

"You should just look for a different job!"

"You're just wasting your degree" or "Why don't you just get a work relevant to your degree?" (because my college degree was computer science)

Also I recently got a comment saying

"This is simply fantabulous ♡ Take a look at my stuffs too."

This isn't probably that bad but I feel like the person complimented me just because they want me to look at their art (I'm that cynical) and I don't even know this person. It feels like an indirect way of "follow for follow" kind of thing. I wouldn't mind doing that if you're asking me for a critic but aside from that I don't have much reason to do that.

I find this pretty hilarious because I think people who says get a job Disney/Marvel or any other mainstream companies are the ones who has extremely limited options.

nope I get the " You draw?" like you don't see it on my face book tumblr twitter blogger Deviant art and personal website.

I had a girl scream and cry I drew "sad" things. She refused to look at any of my work unless it was happy and if I show her anything that was even mildly dark, even if it was just colored dark she would freak out and turn away. And I usually used a lot of dark colors and moody scenery too. She was 17.

My dad thinks comics and animation are the same thing and would tell me to pitch comics to animation companies without understanding the difference between the two, one moves, one doesn't.

Well, I had lots of negative and positive things. Things like "cringe" "terrible" and then things like "awesome" and "fantastic". You know that's just the one word comment type stuff. But then I've had stuff like "can you draw this character in a car accident sleeping on an airbag?" and also had one person message me out of the blue and keep hounding me about drawing some sort of hentai comic with one of my characters and without me saying anything one way or another already had a pre-prepared rant about how I shouldn't ask for money (you want to use MY characters) and how because he'd do a little bit of help that was equal to being paid.

"Omg, you can draw? Can you draw me a picture?"

"Hey, you can draw right? Why don't you participate in this project?" No! Why should I?

"You should totally paint a bird for the mural since you're good at art!" I don't wanna!!!

"Did you really draw that!?" (-_-)

"Can you draw a body base for me?" Really?

"Omg, how did you draw that?" By practicing -_-

"Ooo, can you draw me in anime style?" If I feel like it...

"Ooh, did you draw that?" (yes, I totally got this from someone else and decided to finish the inking by myself)

"Can you draw me?" "What? Money? Pfft, I'm not going to PAY you, we're friends!" (not anymore)

"You are so good at drawing I hate mine, mine sucks, you are god, we shall build a cult around you and worship you!" (that's not an exaggeration, nope)

"Ugh, that looks horrible, I could do soooOOO much better than that!" (ok. i don't... care)

"Oh, you should make this one characters look like insert qualities here and have insert tragic backstory here and end up being the herooooooo" (Are you trying to sabotage my comic? Because doing that would be basically "career" (put in quotes because I don't have a career) suicide.

The really cool thing that's given me pause often is, "So you get these ideas for a painting/drawing just out of your head? How?"

It's quite surreal because I believe a lot of artists just have this constant faucet dripping deep inside, it's hard to place how you get your ideas in so many words. I have images of characters and designs and imaginary things on mind all the time but... some people don't have that kind of approach to creating. I mean, they definitely have visions, too, but I think maybe they're often too intimidated to try structuring it into reality, into some visual piece that represents their inner thoughts. That's what I get most, though, showing my art to family.

"Is that you?" (Gender, race, build doesn't matter)

"Did you draw that?" (Always while I'm in the middle of drawing the thing)

"Can you draw me as an one of your anime characters?"

"(Why)Are they naked?" Sometimes coupled with "Are they doing something naughty?"

"What are they doing? Why are they doing that? What's that thing?"

"Wow, that's good! My 6 year old -blank- draws really good too!"

"You should apply at Disney!" (Not bad, but impractical)

"Why are you charging so much? You won't sell your art like that."

"I can't even draw a stick figure."

"Can you design a tattoo for me?" (Then they never give me an idea of what they want)

"That looks like your ex." (Worst insult ever. Gender, race, build of character doesn't matter)

Oh goodness me, some of the things here! I have definitely had some of those said to me.

This is very -- very -- true. And to be honest, a lot of the big companies known for comics and art don't really tend to treat their people very well. Disney will chew you up and spit you out, or just have you as essentially indentured labor at their parks. It's especially awful because even the sketch artists who can draw you something have to draw completely on-model -- they have a very narrow selection of things they are even allowed to draw -- and cannot draw anything that is even remotely "inappropriate", regardless of whether or not it's innocent humor or even something that appeared in one of their own movies.

People also don't consider contractual restriction and how Marvel, Disney, et cetera also reserve the right to completely throw you under a bus if you should say anything they don't like, even on your personal time or personal accounts; to claim anything you create while employed there as their own or tangle it up so badly you might as well not be able to use it; and to deny you residuals and royalties despite using your work. Usually it's the artist or writer that has to find this out and take it to them, and threaten legal action (or initiate legal action) before anything is done. It really is a reprehensible side of the industry.

As I work usually in more mature stuff most of the time, I get all kinds of crazy questions and things said to me. I've had people get really fascinated with the idea of me they've created in their heads as reality, which can get kind of scary sometimes! Naturally, I've had people ask me about how to draw anatomy that no book or course ever covers; I've done workshops and the like at conventions, too.

One of the most memorable times that a friend and I always laugh about is when we were presenting this workshop together. I had done a number of these anatomy workshops, and she's a really superb fellow artist. But we are always able to get each other laughing very easily, and sometimes we keep each other laughing. The workshop went overall very well, but as we were discussing human genitalia, I was going to take the male and she was going to address the female. We started joking with each other and had the class in stitches. We challenged each other to come up with the briefest, most concise ways to remember how to draw the parts, and I came up with "hot dog in a turtleneck" and hers was "you can cup it!"

It was a memorable workshop though, and I still have people today telling me they never forgot what they learned, so despite us being goofy, at least we did a good (?) job!

To bring it a bit more back to the original topic though, I've had all kinds of comments on my work. From people implying I'm a sex maniac (which I'm definitely not) to people assuming I don't get out much. And still others who assume I'm some sort of satanic sorcerer. I think life as an artist is the kind of life that invites strange, often distressingly odd, commentary...

"I wish I could draw like you. It's not fair." (They sulk for hours and make me feel like it's my fault they don't want to dedicate their lives to practicing art too, and like I was gifted with magic art dust at birth)

"Can you design my tattoo/decorate my kitchen/paint a portrait of my pet/child/etc...it will save on having to buy me a Christmas present and will be much cheaper for you!" Yeah, thanks, my time and materials are so cheap!

"Oh, you don't have to buy me a card. Just MAKE one!" (Yep because brainstorming, designing and printing a card just for you is SO much easier and cheaper)

"Did YOU draw that?!" (from various ppl over the years including my maths teacher, who then went on to conclude that 'artists are bad at maths' so he didn't think it was my art)

"I have this great idea for a book/game/comic/story and I'll let you illustrate it! I can pay you insert small pocket change for hours upon hours of work as well!" or "well, we're friends, so we can collaborate!" (ie I won't pay you at all and any earnings are theirs bc it's THEIR idea)

with an air of snobbery "I used to draw too, when I was a kid. I don't have time for that now".

"You should paint watercolour landscapes, they're more appealing"

"Oh, you made it on a computer. I thought you actually drew it."

Or my personal favourite: "You're SO lucky! I wish I could do art..."

My absolute favorite thing I've been asked is "did you draw that with your hands" which I assume was meant to be "did you draw that on your own"... I've been asked this a few times and it cracks me up every time, like what else would I have drawn with other than my hands?

That is pretty hilarious. I would mention the novelty painters who use various parts of their bodies to paint, but...I'm pretty sure the people asking you that question don't know about, say, Pricasso.

Questions like that just tempt smart-assed responses.

"No, I drew it with my mind. Haven't you ever heard of telekinesis?"

"No, I had help. I have a whole office of assistants. They're invisible gnomes. They're invisible because they're nudists, aside from the little pointy hats they all wear. They're actually quite shy."

(mostly positives)

Mom points at anime on TV, "isn't that the stuff you draw?"

Sis points at anime on TV, "that looks like your art style"

Mom: "You're good at drawing the cute stuff with the big eyes, right? And your sister is good at drawing the realistic stuff"

Mom: "You're drawing that for money, right? You shouldn't be wasting your time if it's free"

Sis/bro: "is that a commission lol" me: no (cries internally)

Sis: stop drawing furries das gross

Aunt: You wanna teach my daughter drawing? You're already teaching her classmate!

@Mocha @dojo @Bloomer I get that Disney thing too- coz EVERYBODY who knows how to draw should go work at Disney. They hire people off the street who like, know how to draw, everyday!

"You should draw portraits of people"- coz ALL MY LIFE I have been working towards the ultimate end goal of drawing pencil portraits to gain endless riches...

yer that would be me then!

I also get sick of "can you paint dinsney stuff on my kids wall?"

Well... This.

2

"Why're you wasting time doing things that don't earn money?" (Parents/relatives)
"You should take up art lessons."
"it's your style."
"Who'd that you're drawing?"
"Is that you?"

Basically haven't gotten much positive stuffs lately.

"Wow! You can be an artist when you grow up!!" <--- N years ago.