Dealing with art critics

Submitted by  Teoh Yi Chie on  November 12, 2016 - 8:37 pm

Yesterday, I was watching one of Holly Exley's Youtube videos and she was talking about a negative comment she has received from a supposedly older guy artist. The guy basically said that he has paintbrushes older than her and that she does not have the authority to give anyone advice.

That negative comment is the most ignorant thing I've ever read.

Thank goodness the Youtube community and her fans, me included, think otherwise. You can check out the comments on that Youtube page to see how much encouragement she has received after posting the video.

People follow you because of YOU

Here's the thing about you putting your work and yourself out there online, on your blog, Youtube or whatever page you have. People follow you because of YOU! You can be giving the same advice as other artists but your fans will want to heard it from you because they want your perspective. Different artists have different views, opinions and that's normal. What's worst is not doing whatever you think you want to do because someone else has already done it.

Ignore negative comments if they can't help you improve

When you see a negative comment, see if you can use that comment to improve yourself. If not, just ignore that comment because it's useless. Things like "your art is not nice", "you can't draw as nice as so and so" are what I consider to be useless comments. It's not worth it to be upset because the person who made those comments would just go on with their lives in the next minute and you would be the one thinking about what's wrong with your life. Don't overthink. It's not worth your time and effort. Do something fun instead. Make more art.

Many of the comments on Holly's video page are quite insightful and I want to highlight them here.

I think there's always someone more qualified out there, someone better than us, but when people ask you for advice, they ask because they want your point of view, they want your answers, not the other's answers. - Federica Bado

I'd say everyone's journey is different, and as long as you don't say you're the absolute master or act arrogant (which you do neither), it's perfectly fine to offer advice, because you're just generously sharing your experience, which is a lot more than a lot of other professionals can say about themselves.- Chizuruchibi

Never ever ever listen to anyone tell you that you can't achieve what you think that you can or you that you don't have a valid voice about something you love and have worked upon with dedication. - Lindy Moo

I would much prefer to watch a passionate young woman with tremendous talent, inspire and support her growing community than ever listen to some dude with an inflated ego. - Spike

Advice is an individual input, perspective, his or her experience (beginners or advanced)and how they dealt with a problem. It's very personal. We all should benefit from all types of advice no matter where they are professionally and then make our own mind of what to accept as a good advice or bad and learn from it. Imagine if there was only one person sharing their advice and their art, what a boring world it would be! - Sofia Nair Morna

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. - Anton Ego from Ratatouille

And here are more articles on dealing with critics:
If You Don't Have Haters, You're Doing It Wrong
Pet Peeves