zomg u is cant draw me gud pikturs! u shud quit now bcuz u cant draw and i dont tink u can ever will draw gud!! give it up!! u SUCK at art11! sop drawing u r bad!!1

     The above was an exaggerated conversation that I have seen. More than a few times. The artists in question were just starting out, showing off their early works, which weren’t bad but not great, and you’d think the “art lovers” would offer advice on how to improve. You’d think these “art lovers” would understand that people weren’t born drawing.

     Holy Divine Beings no! The artist wasn’t instantly good, therefore they must be punished! How dare they try to get advice? Getting help from “art lovers,” most of whom can barely draw themselves, shouldn’t be allowed to anyone unless they’re already good!

     I’ve seen good, well known artists, who may be heroes to the beginning ones, tear them down. They didn’t instantly draw as well as they did, therefore there’s no place for them to do art! The established artists seem to be the most effective at tearing new ones down. I have seen few doing what they should, defending the new ones from this onslaught of criticism.

     Good artists started out bad. Some were worse than others, but they all started out bad. Whether they started out with stick figures or something else, they had to work at it to get better. This work took time, effort, and most of all, ignoring the idiots.

     I tried my hand at drawing over the weekend. It sucks. Good art takes effort and thought and not something that anyone can just crank out in a couple minutes. After it was finished, I went and got a few of my friends to comment on it. They pointed out flaws, and you know what? I redid it.

     It sucks to put so much effort into something, then realizing (to no fault of my friends) that it’s not so great. However, without the comments, I would have given someone a mediocre drawing, so I’m glad I asked for them.

     I’m not saying that you shouldn’t comment on the art, but don’t tear it to shreds if you don’t like it. We can’t like everything and everything can’t be good, but we can try to make the bad things better. Constructive criticism can mean the difference between more mediocrity and improvement.

     zomg u suck at art and that drawing SUCKS!!! This is not constructive criticism. It offers no suggestion to improvement other than to make it have less fail. This is bad. Do not do this. This helps nothing.

     “The eye is too big and the arms are disproportionate,” or “if you work on your shading, it will look better.” This is constructive criticism. The first quote is more indirect, pointing out problems with unstated but obvious solutions. The second may not be as obvious; that something lacking that the artist can’t identify but a fresh eye can.

     Now that this issue is out of the way, the beginning artists have issues too.

     Don’t let a few people who don’t like your work stop you. The non-artistic art lovers that tell you to stop probably haven’t tried to draw themselves, and are probably much worse at it than you are. Ignore them, you didn’t stop walking when you tripped, did you?

     As for the established artists who try and tear down your work, also ignore them. They’ve forgotten what it was like and have become so pompous that they no longer care. If anything, they don’t want another artist taking away attention from their “masterpieces.”

     Why let one person’s whining stop you from doing what you like?

     The Dragon of Criticism, Raltz Klamar