art angst? well, kind of...

[ratcreature]

I just decided to be finished with my drawing of Bob and go ahead an post it (see my previous post). Considering how much time I spent on it, it kind of sucks, partly because I tried new (to me) things, like surface textures, gradients and such digital stuff. It's not horrid or anything (well at least I don't think so) but just now I had the urge to put some disclaimer thing in the notes, i.e. listing all the things I know that are wrong with it like "I know the lightening doesn't look like firelight and the shadows are all wrong for that! and that the various metal textures suck! and the wood too! and that the candle light is all wrong, that that one candlestick turned out a bit too small and the other candle a bit too large..."

But I suspect that kind of thing doesn't go over any better for art than it does for fanfic. I myself quite dislike it when an author tells me at length all the ways their story sucks, and often I won't read it then, and with art I'll probably still look, but inevitably my attention will be drawn to all that is wrong (in the artist's mind) with the drawing, so that doesn't improve its impact any, though depending on how the artists talks about it it can be interesting from a technical viewpoint. Obviously I could have just not posted, but I spent hours on it and it's not that bad.

Beyond just being sick of the drawing after spending many, many hours on it, part of the problem is of course that I lack the skills to correct what I see is wrong with the drawing. I mean, okay, the size issues of that candlestick I could have easily corrected had I noticed earlier, not just towards the end, but it is far easier to see that the lightening and shadows don't look like what you want than to create the effects you want. So I get the urge to say that I know of the problems to not appear stupid/inept/oblivious/whatever to technical issues and give a "better" impression (well in theory, even if the realization lacks), but it's not like that makes the drawing any better, and in fact may even influence perception of the drawing negatively. Though I'm not sure whether people mind notes like that for art as much as for fic.

Anyway, I compromised by dumping my disclaiming in an extra LJ entry afterwards. And out of curiosity, a poll:

[Poll #975503]

Comments

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Honestly, such disclaimers make me cranky. Because I want to say, "I liked this piece just fine, and now you're telling me my taste sucks!"

Of course, I do it with my fic, sometimes, so I am a horrible hypocrite.

(Also? None of the things you mentioned jumped out at me when I looked at the image; the one thing *I* noticed was that the VS catalog cover seemed to be colored in a different style from the rest of it.)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't mind hearing about an artist's/writer's concerns--I'm curious to find out about their creative process and sometimes wonder if they dislike the same things I dislike. I want to learn from them.

Having said this, though, I hate it when it becomes a pattern in an arist's/writer's work--when they rant about it every time their work is presented or published. (For example, I love the web comic Megatokyo, but I have almost stopped reading the writer's comments because he denigrates his own talent so much. And over the same small problems which I don't think detract from his work at all.)

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is something I have very strong opinions on.

I *hate* it when writers and artists tell me that their work sucks or lay out a list of everything that's wrong with it before I even have a chance to make up my mind. And BELIEVE me, this is the voice of the converted speaking. I've been there, done that. I did it for years. I am the most insecure artist that you could ever hope to meet. Once upon a time, I would not-infrequently preface my sales spiel for my comics at conventions by telling people at conventions by telling people everything that I thought was wrong wtih them.

But over time ... you know how sometimes, you'll look and see other people doing something that annoys you, and then you'll look very closely and critically at yourself and realize that you're doing it too, and want to kick yourself through the ceiling? That's exactly what happened to me. Not instantly, but slowly, and in large part through fandom, where SO MANY people seem to draw what basically amounts to a cloak of exaggerated and ostentatious modesty around themselves.

And I realized that by telling people who wanted to buy my books, or read my webcomic online, all its flaws and then STILL offering it up for sale/viewing, I was being a horrible hypocrite. And I was obliquely telling people, "Your opinion doesn't matter. Here's how I want you to feel about this. I'm having this creative crisis and I hate it, so I want you to hate it too. I want you to validate my feelings of artistic self-worthlessness. OR I want you to tell me that it doesn't suck and it's awesome, so I can bask in my artistic depression and still get my ego stroked!"

But we don't get to tell our readers how to think. And trying to do so will just make them feel manipulated and angry. When I see someone on ff.net put IN THEIR STORY DESCRIPTION something like "This is not my best effort" or "This is my first story and it isn't very good", then my first reaction is, "Thanks for the warning; I won't read it then. And if you feel THAT strongly about it, then why are you putting it out for people to read? Take it down, polish it up, get a beta, and bring it back when you feel it's worth reading."

If it's worth pointing out the problems in your work, then it's worth fixing them. By pointing them out to your viewers, you're basically saying, "Yes, I know there are all of these specific problems, but I can't be bothered to fix them." Is that REALLY the impression you want to leave them with? I TOTALLY understand, believe me, the fear that your readers/viewers will think less of you if THEY spot flaws in your work that you didn't. Believe me, I know, I know! You're afraid that your viewers will think you're inept if you don't point out the flaws in yuor perspective/coloring/shading/proportion/whatever. But think about it -- how much MORE inept will they think you are if you know all about the flaws but didn't bother fixing them?

And believe me. I speak as someone who has been there, done that and got the emo T-shirt.

(continued...)

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I sometimes like it when there is an author's/artist's note at the end, with a link. Like, "click here if you want to see my thoughts on this piece".

I don't like it when I click on something like that and all it is is what's wrong; I like them to be more commentary-licious, although they can definitely include what's wrong! Something like: "here's some stuff I tried, I don't think this worked, here's what I thought about this".

[http://users.livejournal.com/_abulafia/]

-- With the addendum that they don't put me off if I already know and like the artist's work, and they don't bother me if they're entertaining enough, in the case of fic, to suggest that I will like the author's style.