Please Never Say This To An Artist.

I was going to talk about personal growth today, but I’m going to throw that out of the window because I am feeling especially petty about something in the moment and I think everyone needs to hear what I have to say about this particular topic.

I’m not one to name names but it makes me really angry when people think I owe anybody my art. I mean, unless you’ve paid me for a commissioned painting or my art print, I really do not and need not have to put up with whatever passive-aggressive thing someone has to say about my work, that I worked on for days at a time, perfecting every little detail.

No. I can accept people not liking my style of work, but when people say things like ‘I expected better art from you’, it really is the last straw for me because, hey, art is supposed to be subjective, and what I make is solely for myself. Whether somebody likes what I make or not is up to them, entirely. I can’t help it if people don’t like the kind of art I make.

But there’s this thing we all need to practice called if-you-don’t-have-anything-nice-to-say-then-don’t-say-anything-at-all. It really is that simple. No need to subject the hard working artist to passive-aggressive comments that are honestly not even offensive, but really just very, very infuriating. Artists don’t owe you their work, unless you’ve specifically paid for an artwork. And even then, I think it’s better to just be nice to artists in general because as an artist myself, I know how difficult it can get.

The artist is probably more disappointed in their work than you are when you decide to leave a comment saying ‘this is not up to your usual standards’. Artists are just human beings and they have bad days too! Its pretty rude to leave a comment that is not even anywhere near the lines of what can be considered as constructive criticism. But here’s the thing: don’t say anything at all if it’s nothing nice in the first place!

I can promise you that no artist in the world wants to hear something along the lines of ‘you could have done better’.

We are just growing. We are just learning. Every single day!

And it is honestly so disheartening to hear things like that because it ends up invalidating all the long hours that we have put into making something that we are actually proud of.

Never try to take that away from an artist.

Yours truly,
The Shubhster. Xx

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Featured Image by Gemma Evans on Unsplash