The “Create For Yourself” Fallacy

I do agree with you, particularly I just want to have discussions with people haha. I like to draw my characters and posts stories it makes me happy when people want discuss and make theories or analyses of my work. I personally think it's cool. I create the stories for myself but it does feel kind of lonely when there's no one around to discuss my work with and no one who'll give a reaction. I guess it's just that I really like to discuss and analyze literary works with others a lot so I always want someone who I can discuss at length with my own stories.

And another reason I want attention for my work is because I want it to have a monetary outlet XD, which I feel like if someone told me to draw for myself in that case I'd smack them upside the head. I enjoy doing this and that's why I want to make money from this. I know some people are fine keeping it as a hobby but for me, I want to have more time to myself doing the things I love instead of having it taken away by a day job, and the only way for that to happen is if I could use the things I love to keep myself afloat.

I find the people who dismissively say "create for yourself" come from a place where they made what they wanted and it worked out perfectly, so they just assume everyone else will be just as successful. Like those youtube stars who are like "ya I'm 19 and a millionaire, so can you!" and it's like no dummy, you're 19 and you have no freakin idea how you're viral and neither do we.

And then I'll also hear artists say "Create for yourself" who are like "I took a year off of art and I started making what I want, which is this * insert wildly popular fanart-y thing here *, and then weirdly I got all these followers! Can you believe it?" and it's like...no duh honey.

I find that the internet can't seem to figure out when I want advice and when I want someone to just share with my misery, so I tend not to post my misery anymore because the way the internet is set up is just...an advice machine. Even if people don't have advice really, and so they pull for the only thing they can think of which is sometimes "have you tried creating for yourself?" and it's like effffffff.

I agree a lot with the OP. And i seen a lot of that here and in other communities.

I don't create for myself. The entire story is already on my head, with far better mental graphics that anything my awful skills could come with. I create to share/make a living. The version in my head is far superior than the version i can make.

I know art is more seen as "entertainment/culture", so maybe it doesn't have the same value you will give to a doctor, lawyer, engineer or whatever, but people don't expect those professionals to work for free, but DO expect that from artists.

"Are you accepting FREE commisions? i want you to draw my OC's" and such. Never someone will ask "are you accepting FREE medical exams/defend me in court/build a house"?

This is why having other artist friends is so important. When I post something on social media, usually I'll only get a few likes from some close friends.

And you what? Those three likes feel really dang good, and can make me feel better about throwing art up into the void of the internet, because my friends liked it.

I do feel like it's sometimes hard to differentiate between someone who's saying "my work gets zero response, and this makes me feel discouraged from posting more art" and "my work isn't getting the response I feel it deserves".
Very different problem, there.

Creating for yourself means having an audience of yourself.

It's entirely possible to create for yourself. But once you begin showing your work to others, you can never go back to that. That's how it was in my case, at least. Solution: don't show your work to anyone ever :"")

For many years, I was writing and drawing only for myself, never showing my work to anyone (I didn't exactly have friends and preferred my family to not see it because reasons). I was completely satisfied with it - I created to please myself only. But once I began thinking of posting my art online, and started actually doing it... oooh boy.

I started looking at my art in terms of "what could make people like it? what's the appeal of it?" I concluded that there was no appeal to my art, and that if it wasn't my work, but someone else's and I saw it online, I would've ignored it completely. It was good enough for something I created - but apparently, since it was ignored, it was not good enough for others.

For a while, this has pushed me to improve my art, but in a long run proved completely destructive and led to perpetual artblock. I'm an extremely unpopular artist, I consider it a success if I get 5 likes on anything. And yet, I still feel like I have to make good art, so people will see it and like it, so I can finally become known. When I take time off posting art, I feel guilty because how can I become known if I post once every 3 months? It's all so tiring honestly.

I'm in the zone where I still largely, create work for myself to a certain extent. Sure I create comics & stuff, but I dont go around regularly polling my audiences & people to see what they want- the comics I create, I pretty much already have charted and they will end the way I want it to end...and then I'll move on to the next project that I want to do.

Even when doing standalone pieces/projects- it's pretty much me creating what I want. Sometimes I may get some insight on a few things(like color) but for the most part, I already have it figured out. I'm grateful that I do have people that like my stuff...I dont think I'll ever get away from the "creating for myself" unless I start doing commissions.

I 10000% relate to the mindset of CREATING for the self, but SHARING for externally oriented reasons. I make my comic for myself. It is very much tailored to what I want to read. But I post it for positive responses. And posting gives me so much stress, that some days I'm seriously tempted to just make my comic in secret without ever posting another page.

This is a very personal thing, and obviously different people feel differently. But that's how I feel about it. Separate motivations for making vs sharing.

my thought is........"why not both?"

i create for myself AND others.

I create stories i love and share them with people and i enjoy when they enjoy it.

Not going to read the thread because I don't feel like it.

I half agree, but it depends on the person. As someone who's had their drawings ignored by friends and family when trying to show it off, and someone who's assignments have been ignored by teachers (I was in a shit school, but I was also a brat) as a child, I can empathize with the frustration. Although as I've grown up I've learned that no one owes you their time, just like no one has a right to your time. Getting ignored for your hard work is just another facet of life, throwing a fit will only push people away more or get you a bad rep.
Not saying anyone here is throwing a fit, I'm just saying as a general analysis thing.

Personally I don't post for attention, just to archive my work, if I'm going to make something I may as well immortalize it on the internet. People can follow if they want, but attention isn't my intention, it's a bonus feature. Feedback is like a surprise present, full on detailed reviews is like when I forget it's my birthday and I walk into my surprise birthday party.
Although my mindset doesn't reflect everyone's, many people do post their work to show it off or to get feedback, and get disheartened with their efforts go unnoticed. Ain't nothing wrong with that, everyone is different.

As for the "create for yourself" thing, I guess it could interpreted differently depending on your outlook, like the "glass half full vs. glass half empty" thing. Also it depends on what it's in response to. If I'm trying to do emergency commissions because I'm about to be homeless and lose my pets to animal control, and I get that in response, it is super insulting. Of course no one is obligated to support me, but low-key telling me to stop trying to survive is unnecessary and rude.
If it's in response to me being ignored when posting something, I won't be mad because I don't feel I have the right to be as someone asking for another person's time.
This is just how I would respond, though! Not telling anyone how to feel, or what to do.

i have watched and read a lot of varying kinds of media so i know what i like. what i want is to write i story i would enjoy and be passionate about so that i can tell the kind of story that would mean a lot to me to someone else. its why i only write a bare bones outline with key story beats and character arcs and just rp out the rest like i'm playing a solo game of dnd. rule of cool is king but not at the expense of believably. i have to set up my cool moments not just whip it out like a drunken frat boy

We are all dealing with screaming into the void. personally, I genuinely find it helpful to focus on the idea of creating for myself first. It reduces anxiety for me. It doesn't mean I don't also care about attention and appreciate anyone else feeling anguish over that topic. I'm just communicating what works for me, usually. It's not intended to be patronizing, or insulting. I actually think of it more about having a growth mindset and as an aspect of internal motivation. (edit: which is potentially a valid thing to suggest someone think about if they are struggling with motivation as a response to lack of attention, which they very often are)

We're also none of us mind readers, and it is often hard to know what to say to help someone. Different people need to hear different things, and for some, there's nothing you can say.