Why are artists insecure when it comes to their comic/art?

[Fuzzyman818]

Well, in my general opinion, artists have a tendency to compare themselves to other artists and their work. It can have both positive and negative impact on how the perceive their art style/artwork in general. On one hand, it's great the they try so hard to emulate their favorite art style and maybe even shape it into something of their own creation. But on the other hand, there is the problem of secretly comparing your work to another. It's never good to try to copy another style outright. Especially if you are a perfectionist. I try to take influence from other art works and maybe mold it into something that I can work with.

[VibrantFox]

I'd imagine it's a consequence of art and general creative work being so personal to a lot of folks. You put your heart and soul into making something, sharing parts of yourself, you ideas and ideals so when it comes time to present that to a general public obviously there's going to be concern over how it's received as well as it meeting personal standards in terms of quality or appearance

It's also why many are defensive about how it's treated or handled by others by way of theft or being mocked. No one wants bad things to happen to the stuff they've made even if you can't control the general public and honestly I think a vast number of folks have experienced those emotions whether in their early youth just drawing personally or at school and dealing with the reactions of family, friends, classmates, teachers or just other strangers or at a later point in life.

If anything it irks me how often creative communities are mocked for being so sensitive about their work than folks bothering to share a shred of empathy and maybe put themselves in the shoes of those kinds of folks or attempting to understand the different perspective.

As a whole tho i don't think it's surprising that so many people have so many different views and opinions about things so indecisiveness both of the individual as well as a very large group of folks is normal regardless of field or background but the emotional ties is just kind of intrinsic i think for most people, myself included. So maybe to some it's some "haha funny" but I think it's just a human thing.

[darthmongoose]

Art is hard. It's a skill that takes years to master. Then on top of that, it exists in this weird place, where to do it well, you need to express very personal things and be vulnerable and put all of your heart and soul into it... but then also it's kind of a product released to the public for consumption and its performance is rated on how much people discuss it, and that inevitably feels like a judgement of you as a person to some extent.

Putting a piece of art into the world is a bit like being on trial. It takes a lot of guts, and for a lot of people, it's a scary experience. It's hard to find an audience without caring at all about what your audience will think... but if you worry too much about what your audience thinks, your work might be contrived, or you might just get so worried you never make anything.

Finding the balance is key. Artists have to find their personal sweet spot of having enough humility and desire to appeal to people to adjust and improve, but enough confidence to know when to stick to their vision when it's truly important and get stuff out there.

[cherrystark]

I echo what a lot of people have said. I think the internet also puts a lot of pressure on people to take their hobby and make it into a full-time career. You also add people trying to establish themselves as "experts" and pushing "their" way as the supreme way to succeed. If you are brand new, you are going to feel bad about yourself.

I know it's trendy to diagnose yourself with "imposter syndrome" but people have to stop doing that. No one is judging you as hard as you judge yourself. Sure, your comic/novel might fail. Let's be honest. It probably will, but that shouldn't stop you from trying again. It shouldn't stop you from writing/drawing.

I know as a writer, it's scary as heck to get your work out there. A lot of people like to write or doodle but they don't do anything more than that. You're taking a huge leap of faith putting your work out there, so why take the time to wallow in insecurity?

[LunarScyphozoa]

Probably because it’s like taking your heart and putting it for display to be seen as a product, especially when you’re surrounded by people more successful than you.

[Chocolate]

This comment hit a wall. Lmaooooo I feel so vulnerable right now.

[AmysGames]

That's not really true lots of groups are generally insecure, they just show it in different ways and in different communities. This is an art/writing community so you're going to see art/writing insecurities. Go to a different community you'll see the insecurities for that thing.

I mean this is true, but I'm also way more self-conscious about my art/writing than I am for any of my other hobbies, so I'm inclined to agree with OP on this one, haha.

But yeah, I agree that it's because of how much of yourself you tend to put into your art. If people don't like the story you're trying to tell, it feels more like a personal attack, which can be a tough feeling to shake.

[GodbreakerComic]

What a toxic post. Lame.

[BoomerZ]

I don't think it's art is general but anything you need approval of others to do a good job at it. Stand up comedians and actors are in the same boat. And the approval is subjective. If you are a boat builder and your boat sinks, you are a bad boat builder. Art doesn't have that. It 100% subjective and what you think is AWESOME can just be ok or even bad to others. And that takes courage to put it out there. And then fortitude to not be crushed if the audience hates it. Finally self evaluation of oneself to maybe understand you aren't that good and need more practice.

Also as a note, this is not new. Artist of all types, throughout history, were literally lower on the social scale than prostitutes. Actors also. They were considered bottom of the barrel. Comics artist specially have always been looked down on in the art world. Actors have had a very short 100 year window of being looked up to, and that is actually fading fast. What you as an artist is going through is as old as time.

[Kelheor]

"Well, that's a cute hobby, but... ", " Boys shouldn't be drawing, it's girly", "Is this a self-insert ", "So are you making any money with it", "oh, so you're a pervert", " haha look at them doodling some shit again ", "so are you gay?", "for how long will you daydream about this stuff?", "you can't make a career out of it", "you think you're a Da Vinci or something", " pfft yeah no one needs that", "ugh is this the best you can do", "wow that's ugly", " find something useful to do".
Mmmm, yeah.

[Kelheor]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[Chocolate]

Sadly people looked down on the art community, even though the artists are great at their craft. It’s not valued in our society.

[abigaillmartin]

Sadly this is accurate I get these kind of comments all the time. “Stop your drawing” “Focus on something that will sustain you” “are your characters gay?” “I can’t even draw stick figures, you’re gonna be rich and famous”

Surprisingly the last comment bothered me because it sets me too high of expectations or something. They glorify our craft yet our society undermines it. It makes me sad. Really sad.

But you know why I keep drawing? Because I love to do it and I love writing and if I love it that’s all that matters!

[thepenmonster]

1. Constant stream of bullshit from other artists.

2. Constant stream of bullshit from art teachers.

3. Constant stream of bullshit from readers.

4. Constant stream of bullshit from society.

5. Constant stream of bullshit from capitalism.

Tallest Poppy and alla that.

[abigaillmartin]

Amen to that dude. All of it.

[Chocolate]

Lmaooooooooo you can’t pleased anyone

[XiuLyn_12]

In my personal experience, I'm always conflicted about which style to adopt. It's between the style I like and am comfortable with, or fusing with an art style that's popular and liked by most people.

With that, I'm always insecure about my art/comic. Part of me wants to please people. But even if my art style is inspired by famous artists, I still don't think it's good enough. Maybe my personality plays a part in this insecurity too.

(Recently, I received hate comments for the first time. One of my posts caught the attention of many people. I expected some hate, but I got more than I expected. Most complain about my style. I realized most are trolls, but it still made me wonder if there was something wrong with my art style).

[Lensing]

I´m not insecure, I know what I suck at and try to level up on it.

Insecurity always depends on your personal goals how you want something to be and what
you are happy with. Everyone sucks big time at a lot of things.

Learning to draw is a hard skill to learn. Charles Schultz was happy with the attached drawing
and he was very successful with it. I would think I suck because that´s not my vision of what I want my drawings
to look like.

On the other hand I jump on stage with my band and sing to an audience
and pretend that I can sing and a classical singer would probably hang themselves
in the dressing room with my vocal abilities. I don´t care, this is how I want to sound like,
take it or go home

My point is, everyone has their own vision about everything. Maybe insecurity means
that you are not close to the skill level you want to reach. You can
1) Give up
2) Work on it
3) Accept it

[Kelheor]

@Chocolate I mean, it's not really about if someone is great in what they do. As people above said (and they already mentioned all the great points), it's just very personal and artists, sharing the piece of their soul, are meeting a lot of comparison and expectations. Of course, no one must like what we do. But when you're creating something to make yourself or other people happy, it's tough to deal with the fact a lot of people either won't like it, would say you need to do better in any way, be it becoming a "better artist" or making money or becoming popular. The idea of creating, creating happiness with something you like to do becomes a background and insecurities flow in. So while it is a problem of disrespect, if you took away the foil of artists being disrespected for their craft (which is, of course, an existing problem), I think it's more of a problem of a human being looked down at for them expressing their feelings the best way they know how.
(Of course, not all the insecurities are outsiders inflicted, but it's overall a pretty deep topic )

[DanielRKM]

Last week, my Google news algorithm threw an article at me titled "6 Subtle Signs You're a High Achiever with Low Self-Worth" and I just thought...

...is this one of those subtle signs?