The Most Demotivating thing you have ever been told

[Inspector_Spinda]

"You're STILL drawing that children's stuff?"

omg I'm sorry. That's exhausting I know how you feel

[Inspector_Spinda]

I honestly have never been told anything strictly demotivating, because I don't usually share my comic with people I know. I guess the worst is when people don't say anything when they're a friend and you show them.

Personally whatever people say doesn't matter too much to me, but I do go through moods when I'm in a better or worse headspace about my work. I will suddenly develop crazy anxiety about how things were all a waste of time and I'll never really grow my following. Then it passes, and after a few weeks or months that feeling comes back.

[Kann]

"Maybe your art will be famous after you die?"

[Azifri]

Art related:

Someone looking at my art: "oh, you have talent for that".

How silly of me, why did I take all that time off from work or stay at home for vacation, trying to improve my art, when it was all a natural talent.

[LadyN]

oh, you have talent for that

That alone just pisses me off.

[malwdark]

I got that question for a friend years ago and the next time he asked what I was doing I answered 'Still drawing those comic you hate' He laughed and told it sounded like a good life-motto.

[malwdark]

For real? An illustration teacher against guidelines and references? That sound like she doesn't knows how to do her work. I don't know any illustrator who doesn't use references. Its totally normal.

[jamontoast98]

I'm sorry you had to go through that, hurts when people you are close with make comments like that. Keep going!

I guess I've been really lucky because most of the criticism I've received in the past has been fair. If I think it won't help me then I just don't read it.

Now I think of it, I remember this one Discord troll. I was talking about going on an art class, and he pulled up one of my artworks that I had posted there almost a year ago, and said "I'll tell you how to improve this shit, but only if you promise not to go to the art class" (he was banned shortly after)
And like, why do people do this? What was his end goal? Was he just trying to bring me down? Was he sad with himself or did he think it was funny? It reminded me that people like that exist in the world. But at the same time, you have so many people who will genuinely love and care for your work. If you focus on them, then the criticism doesn't seem so bad!

[steffiemusings]

I had to draw something for my work and one of my colleagues said it looks childish. It's a pic of someone lying in the hammock with palm trees.

I was once told my characters are boring and the only thing interesting about them would be them having powers.

[sartinjacqueline05]

Yeah. It really sucks having a teacher who literally bullies you when you're trying your best. I had a scientific illustration teacher in college and she expected everything to be done HER way and 100% perfect. I made this really nice painting of some wolves and did my damn best at everything and still failed the class. Hope i never see that teacher again. On the other hand there was this prof I had who was pretty intimidating and I wasn't a huge fan of him. But he was the one who taught me what gesturing was and my characters are alot easier to to draw thanks to him. luckily not all art teachers are bad. Sometimes they just think teaching art means teaching it their way and if they don't see what THEY want to see, they put the student on the spot. Its not fun i know. What's important is knowing that you are as good as you believe you are. Don't let stuck up teachers who think they know everying about art pick on you.

[ivynchua87]

I only started posting my story last month, but I've been writing bits and pieces of it way before. In my family, I initially only told one person, my younger sister. After a few weeks, I eventually told my other siblings. Their reactions were better than expected except for the eldest.

One time, while I was typing away on my laptop, the eldest comes up to me and says, "What are you doing? Why are you so busy with writing your book? It's not like you're ever gonna be an author."

It shocked me that my own sibling would say that, and not a relative. IDK. Maybe it's because we're Asian, but because of what happened, I have yet to tell my parents about my writing. Sigh. I can already imagine their reactions.

[lilithfairenwrites]

One positive review I got for one of my magical-girl novels on another site praised it for its depth...

...for a magical-girl story.

Really, anything that reminds me that I'm writing in a genre that people stereotype as shallow and immature—except for the stories that are all about sexualizing, fetishizing, and infantilizing the people said genre was created to entertain and empower for the amusement of men.

[Llyrel]

Yeah, well, her stance on references was... weird .. like, she _would have us copy a bunch of photo portraits and reference sheets on how to draw faces (the only useful thing she ever did, as that's how I finally learned to draw male faces), but... that was it, basically. To her, those were simple exercises to learn how to draw a face. When it came to drawing a full illustration, she'd go on and on about how we shouldn't use a reference because apparently those two reference sheets she gave us (which only showed a male and a female face from the front and from a three quarter view) were enough to understand how the whole human body (and landscapes and animals and everything else) works ._.

...Yet, as we were drawing, she'd tell us how Picasso used to draw these super realistic portraits when he was younger using PHOTOS as references. Like... wut? So one of the greatest artists of all times can get away with using photo references, but if an art student does it, it's a nope? XD

[jcmraz]

Maybe I'm weird. I'd be sad sure but that would be a motivating thing if I can get them to tell me why they thought it was boring. It can be hard to get real critique. What am I doing wrong so I can make it better? People don't want to hurt your feelings though. Other than that I figure it's just not a story for them and that's fine. But I'm always prepared to make my work better and I can't always see what I need to do from the inside.

[Llyrel]

Sometimes they just think teaching art means teaching it their way and if they don't see what THEY want to see, they put the student on the spot. Its not fun i know.

This! For some reason this kind of attitude seems to be fairly common among a lot of art teachers, sadly thankfully it seems like the newer generations are not like that, so there's hope for the future, I guess!

Also argh, sorry about your experience with your scientific illustration teacher I had a similar experience in Uni with an exam, so I feel you. But yep, thankfully not all teachers are like that, lol!

I also used to have a rather intimidating teacher during my first year in high school... he'd criticize all my drawings and then tell me to sit aside and watch him as he corrected it. And then he'd basically redo the whole thing from scratch :'D one time he got so excited about it that he actually asked me to bring the drawing the next time so that he could finish it XD buuuut... you know what? But the end of the year, I ended up really appreciating his method: sure, he was weird and it was annoying to be pushed aside and all that, but watching him work teached me a lot more than being simply told what to do would probably have. By the end of the year, my art skills improved immensely and, looking back at my first drawings, I could definitely see why my teacher would criticize them.

Alsoooo... aaaw, thank you for your sweet words! <3

[Psychobott]

I'm sorry you had to go through that. Personal opinion, your friend is toxic and sounds like that person who'd stab you in the back.

I don't remember getting demotivated by insults or degradation. It's probably just because of my personality. I tend to disregard stuff that doesn't give importance or constructive criticism. And another reason, I'm forgetful af. But a recent comment did linger in my mind. It was when someone consecutively threw negative comments on my early chapters. Something around:
"What the hell is going on with this story?"
"What's the point of this?"
"blahblahblah"

Anyways, to all of you guys in here or whoever reads this, you are great. Not even sugarcoating. Don't let anyone compare you to others, since we are diverse and everyone is unique in their own way.

[DaphnePanda]

That's a great response. Hope you don't mind if I use that XD

[byelacey]

that my women aren't "feminine" enough-looking

i didn't make them for you!

[konori]

When I failed a job interview at a very new (and small) local games company, the feedback I got from someone I knew working there was that my illustration work needed to be at the level of Granblue Fantasy, and that it's much harder for women to get jobs at a games company so I had to work much harder.

Well, I felt worthless after that, and I was depressed for a couple of months. I got out of it when I posted an episode of my comic and was reminded that people do appreciate my work despite its flaws.

[thel3tterm]

I'm pretty saddened by how many similar experiences many of you have had, but I'm glad to know that all of you have kept creating anyway! (Spite can make for an excellent motivator.)

I wouldn't call this the MOST demotivating experience I've ever had, but this is the first one that jumps into memory.

Some years ago, friend found out through another friend that I was writing a book. I wasn't all that interested in sharing the details with him, as he could be pretty opinionated and harsh about pretty much everything.

"So, can you tell me what it's about?"
"Just some fantasy and sci-fi stuff. You probably wouldn't be interested."
"Oh come on, talk to me about it."
"Eh, I'd rather not right now."
"Oh, well how about I talk about a book that I've been reading, and then you tell me about yours."
"Whatever."
He proceeded to spend about 45 minutes (I kept checking the clock, actually) talking about this extremely depressing novel he was reading (A Little Life, specifically), before then asking me to talk about my work again.
I got about two sentences in before he suggested that I find an editor and promptly changed the subject.

I was mostly angry at how rude the whole exchange was, but it was also a bit of a hit to my self confidence when I was already struggling and feeling pretty bad about my work at the time.