Long time no post. Computer death caused me to disappear. But while gone, I've continued doing more traditional art. And much like with my digital art and comic I share it one my social media. And here's where I hit upon this argument, not for the first time, but now I'm old enough and confident to call it rubbish.
When I share something I've worked hard on, tag it properly so it can be seen by others who are interested, particularly fanwork, and get no response, it can be very disheartening. There's only so long I can look at my work and go, well maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I need to keep improving before I start wondering if something else is going on. We've all looked at work from other popular artists and wondered why they get hundred of notes and we're getting none, right?
But when I get frustrated by the lack of response and try to talk about it, I'm invariably met with at least one person, usually more, telling me "you should be creating for yourself, not for the response you get". I'm sure lots of you have got the same response any time you've felt bad about the response you get too. And while this is usually meant with a good heart to help cheer us up, it's offensive to me in the same way many people find being called talented offensive.
I find it particularly rude coming from other creatives. Now, I don't know about you others, but for me and most creatives I know, we create all the time. We're writing and doing art or imagining doing so all the time, it's always on our minds. We doodle and create stories and sometimes do full pieces just because we want to. We are constantly creating for ourselves. We create for ourselves, we share for the response. If we just created just for ourselves, you'd never see it.
I like to compare it to sharing a sketchbook. Imagine sharing your sketchbook, handing it over to a table of friends and going "here check our what I did" and getting absolutely ignored.
Now, just to be clear, I'm not saying your self worth is in any way linked to your numbers in anyway. I acknowledge fully that is a damaging mindset.
What I'm saying is that answering people's frustration (and it usually is just frustration at putting hours of work in and loving something only to be ignored, please just imagine that if you're not a creator) by telling people they should just create for themselves and not care what other people think doesn't help in anyway. I'm not putting hours, sometimes days of work into one piece for the response but I'm saying it would be nice just to be acknowledged. That's all. Imagine doing an assignment at school you actually put effort into, only for it to be handed back without a mark because the teacher didn't even look at it, they had so many other papers to look at, sorry but never mind, you should learn for yourself, right?
So what's you guy's opinion on "create for yourself" and how to deal with the frustration of no response?
Edit: Please note, I'm not just talking about comics I'm talking about everything people put effort into and don't get any response to, and I am not looking for advice for myself.