Am I naive to post my drawings online?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm interested in drawing and learning how to draw. But I'm not the most talented of artists and I know that when I compare my art with the art I admire.

Is it naïve of me to post my art online?

I know I'll either get insults or ignored but... I enjoy drawing and I put a lot of work into it so I'd like to show it off.

Post your art in the Arts/Literature section. Why not?

I bet it's better than you think it is.

The majority of artists that I've ever known are their own worst critics - we often reserve our harshest judgements for our own work, whatever the medium. People who simply don't like your taste in styles or choice of subjects, you should just ignore - they won't like your art no matter how well executed it is. People who insult you over it, you should definitely ignore! - if they can't criticise your work more constructively than that, it's often the case that they don't have much appreciation for how diverse art can be, or are just jealous that you're better at it than they are.

On the other hand; kindly advice about how to improve your handling of materials or composition should always be welcomed, and if you find a few people who's opinions you trust, even invited. Even if you feel that their advice doesn't fit what you were trying to achieve, you'll have learned something about how a piece affects the viewer's feelings, which you might be able to use in another work.

So I'd say put your work out there - but always remember that it's much easier to be a critic than it is to be an artist!

Thanks for this.

Kraftie - I'm not really sure how to post onto this site. I've tried on another site and already got a few likes! So maybe.

Trog - I think you're right. I've noticed people being their own worst critics. But I've also noticed people liking things to be polite? So who I really need is the people who know how to give a 'sandwich critique' (I like.../you could work on.../but this is really good...) or similar. But right now until my self esteem is higher, the polite people are quite useful to me in terms of gaining confidence.

Constructive critique is useful, rude critique is really damaging but I need to learn not to take it to heart. Also not to interpret lack of response as negative - I have this issue in general.

Also, I think it's because I'm used to my writing. I often wonder why new writers feel so bad, often at workshops they really are their own worst critics and I thought I didn't have that in anything. But this is me coming back to art as an adult and... it really is hard seeing how I'm in my 30s and not as good as other people. I need to remember, age has nothing to do with it, I'm a relative 'newbie' and that's ok, by putting things out there I can improve and I can also show where I am at the moment.