So I used to make fun of this guy for using the same face over and over. And you know what? Kudos on this made for actually taking the criticism and breaking out of his rut.
This is also terrifying and I hate it.
āKudos for actually taking the criticism and breaking out of his rut.ā
Except it wasnāt criticism, it was constant daily harassment. Look,Ā Iāve been making comics for the internet for 10 years. I made comics for BuzzFeed for about two years, but people love to focus on those comics for some reason. They were simpler and quicker because I needed to publish at least one thing a day. And I loved it! I learned a lot!
At some point when I was getting really popular, Reddit and Tumblr decided theyād had enough and launched a targeted campaign against me. Tried to doxx me multiple times. Sent death threats. 4Chan threads started popping up for the sole purpose of spreading rumors that Iām a pedophile. All because I was making ālazyā comics and getting a salary for it.
Also, itās always the same 10 or so comics that got posted as proof of my laziness. I made 1,008 comics at BuzzFeed (I counted). I worked really hard for my extremely mediocre salary.
Now that Iāve left BuzzFeed and donāt have deadlines anymore, I can spend more time on comics and only draw things Iām passionate about (like my dick). But make no mistakeāif you like my stuff now, itās because I pushed myself so hard as BuzzFeed. Iām not better now because of theĀ ācriticismā I got from trolls on the internet. Donāt fucking take credit for that.
Is all criticism from trolls or is there any way of providing you with constructive criticism? Do you even care to hear it or would you prefer people keep it to themselves?
Not trying to be a troll myself, just curious.Ā
I will answer this question for you: No, unless you are someone who an artist knows well, is on friendly terms with and the artist has asked you specifically for advice.
Artists know other artists. If I'm having trouble with something specific, I can actively say "who do I know that does this really well?" and immediately come up with a shortlist of names belonging to people who I 1)trust to be honest and helpful and provide me with actual solutions to the problem I'm having, 2) know what they're talking about, 3) are at least somewhat familiar with my workload and process and 4) have time for my questions. If my issue is more involved, I will even offer to pay them for their time!
Most artists will not take unsolicited advice from random people on Tumblr or in their comments, and they shouldn't! You have no way of knowing if the person giving you critique has any experience, has any insight into what might work better, has any familiarity with anything about how you work, and so on. You also don't know anything about them personally, so you really can't trust that someone has genuinely good intentions towards you and isn't just fucking with you--that even if you did everything they said they wouldn't just move the goalposts until you finally realised that their goal wasn't to help you improve, it was to waste your time and jerk you around for as long as they could get away with.
Also, you never want to give people who consume your work the idea that they have power over the decisions you make, because then you set yourself up for caving to audience whim in a time and place where collective hate-reading is a thing that people do.
That's not to say that your readers shouldn't call you out if you say something shitty or racist or genuinely harmful, but that is an entirely different situation from constantly being hounded by a group of assholes who are all saying 'you're doing it wrong, do it a different way because I say so, and if you don't I'm going to tell everyone that you just can't take criticism!' Fuck that.
Good on Adam for having clear boundaries and being able to articulate them so succinctly.
This is what happened to me too. When I was on DeviantArt, I posted my comic āSo, Youāre A Cartoonistā on an almost daily basis. I got TONS of criticism, which I tried to listen to and follow. I was told my backgrounds were lacking, so I added more backgrounds even though the comics and jokes didnāt need them. I was told the format was too repetitive, despite the fact that a 4 panel structure made posting daily easier. I was told my jokes were too tame, so I tried making edgier jokes despite not being comfortable telling jokes like that.
Every time I adjusted my art to fit the needs of some random critic, more would just take itās place. Nothing I did was EVER good enough, and I eventually ended up burning myself out trying to accommodate everyone. I was getting hundreds upon hundreds of comments a day, and what did I get for listening to the feedback? Branded as āunable to handle criticismā by those whom I missed or didnāt listen to. It didnāt matter that I listened to feedback, because the second I didnāt listen to one person or they felt slighted by me for whatever reason, it was all over 4chan and SomethingAwful and the trolling intensified. Itās physically impossible to listen to hundreds of criticism and adjust our work to them all equally, yet weāre treated like thatās a fundamental aspect of our job.
This doesnāt even begin to scratch the surface of why random criticism from online fans is kinda useless. The best type of criticism happens DURING the making of the work, when you still have time to change the art and adjust things easily. Once the work is completed and put out there, itās not viable to go back and change things because youāre got other projects to work on and you canāt get hung up on whatās been done. There are deadlines to meet after all. But fans can only realistically comment on final works of art. They canāt usually comment on the behind the scenes process and influence the art in any meaningful way.
My longest paying gig was a 2 year stint drawing āthe Brentalfloss Comic.ā It was weekly, and I got scripts sent to me. I would draw up the comic, send it back, get notes on it, change things, and make adjustments. It was rough, but it worked because I was getting feedback BEFORE I finished making the comic. And it yielded some of the best work Iāve ever done. But when people criticize my work, they conveniently ignore those 378 comics. Strange...
Also, speaking personally here... the best type of feedback I could get is someone telling me what I did RIGHT. Not mindless āpraise,ā mind you... but what did you LIKE in my art? What did I do that you ENJOYED? I know what I did wrong. I drew it, after all. I donāt need the negative pointed out, because I know eventually I will overcome it. But I need positivity. I need people to tell me why I should keep making the art I do. If all an artist ever gets back is negativity and harsh criticism, theyāll quickly fall into depression and despair because theyāll feel their work is never good enough. So why bother? If every work of art is just going to spur more negativity, why bother making new work?
The biggest lie social media has instilled in us is that your ability to reach out and contact the creators of your favorite works is a āright.ā Itās not. And if a creator doesnāt want your feedback or doesnāt listen to your criticisms, you are not being ācensored.ā Artists are not obligated to waste their precious time dealing with your personal beefs. Especially if youāre not paying them. lol
Stay outta my posts Andrew
