Least favorite thing about being an artist?

[Orablanco Account 3,706]

Kind of personal, but when I'm not making art or creating something, I feel like I'm failing to meet some sort of output quota.

 

That, and drawing hands.

[Ridley Wolf 291]

Looking at piece of art that I just finished and seeing a small mistake that I missed.

Whenever I look at it afterwards, all I can see is the mistake.

 

This pretty much sums it up:

[CuriousPony 156]

I definitely don't appreciate when others constantly ask me to draw things for them. I don't mind doing it occasionally, but I don't want it to be all I draw. I wanna draw what I wanna draw. 

 

Getting commissions is great, but unfortunately it stresses me out quite a bit. I'm always worried about it not being perfect, or accidentally making the complete opposite of what someone wanted. And working on commissions I'm not excited about is so hard... I feel like it's unfair for those who commission me. I should be more passionate about their commissions because they're passionate about them, and they expect me to do as well as I can, which can be a bit tricky when I find what I'm drawing boring. 

 

Also, the back and forth between people who say my art is awesome and the facts that show most others don't care much is depressing. A select few like what I do, but otherwise, I'm largely ignored. I know there are a bunch of artists who are better than me. And sometimes I wonder if doing art other than drawing would be better for me, but my friends only talk about my drawing. 

 

 

Also, even more so, it's saddening how most of society doesn't care too much about art. All my talents are in the fine and performing arts. Ever single one. And that makes it really hard to do what I love and make any money from it at all, much less make a living from it. 

[Guest]

I had a friend who said "It would look so much better if you did -this-" and I'm like "no I want it this way, that's how I made it." and then he called me lazy and wasting my art etc. Bitch it's my drawing, I can make it how I want it! thank you >.<

 

But I do stop some drawings early because I know they wont be anything like what I had in my head anyway v.v

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

being extremely creative. its incredibly challenging to create an original character design

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

I'm an extremely slow and meticulous artist so my least favorite thing is not having enough time do create anything. I almost never draw or paint or sculpt anymore because I just can't fit it in. 

Since I work almost exclusively in traditional methods, the cleanup is also a pain. 

[Magic Rasin 180]

For me it's anatomy. Whether it be a head looking too round or a leg looking shorter than the other, I can never get anatomy right the first time.

[GeekySonic 1,150]

What do I dislike about being an artist? Being an artist. It's just something that I've always wanted to be, and something I know that I shouldn't.

 

Any art that I make is terrible. I kept thinking, well, if I keep it up, I'll get better. But I don't. I'm just not naturally creative like artists are.

 

My parents told me that I have a trait of just giving up something if I'm not automatically great at it, but they have no idea how many years I've been singing, dancing, acting, writing, and drawing.

 

All these things that I think I will be happy doing. But I never am. Doing them makes me hate myself for even considering it.

[Dream Solstice 25]

My least favorite thing is BEING TOO AWESOME!!  

 

No. No. No. I'm kidding it's got to be getting stuck on drawings you really want to get done, but you just can't do anything right with your hands. 

[CT-1138 3,180]

My least favorite thing is that nobody takes you seriously. 

 

"Oh, you go to art school? That's nice. Have fun living with your parents the rest of your life." 

 

Well fuck you too, buddy! 

[Tealeaf 126]

My absolute, least favorite thing about being an artist is that sometimes, pretty much as soon as you're done with a piece, you no longer feel good about what you created. I know that it's a completely natural part of the process because it's really just because you've made improvements in your ability throughout the course of your drawing, but it's still pretty unfortunate. 

[HereComesTom 2,232]

I'm more a programmer than an artist, but I do some pixelart---especially for my game.

 

The pixelart is okay-to-good, but what I don't like about being an artist (when I wear my artist "hat", so to speak) is actually the environment that artists create for themselves, and it's not so much criticism as the political attitudes:  a lot of art sites are liberal, and I'm a conservative.  So I feel like I can't really be myself or speak freely about things that are important to me because I'll get called a Bible-thumper, or a bigot, or a hater, or something like that---like people will judge me and make assumptions about my beliefs, attitudes, and motivations, without really getting to know them first.  This is probably a liberal-ish thing to say, but there's actually a lot of ignorance out there about conservatives.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Being nagged about finishing art. I'm a pixel artist; I make my own bases and hand draw manes, tails and cutiemarks. What I hate is people going on at me about having to wait for their art. Look, I've got other things to do besides sit online all day. I have a job and a social life; I fit in art around it. So yeah, be patient and wait and believe me, you'll get your art cuz I always fill requests.

[Luminance 2,181]

I've been having issues with my ideals being executed onto paper and digital. I feel so anxious and worried that it may not turn out the way I've imagine. I hope that I can change to benefit myself to create.

[Ghostweaver 116]

When it comes to drawing, it's my perfectionism. It's almost crippling - I have a lot of room to improve as an artist, particularly with posing and perspective, and I'm such a perfectionist that often when I start drawing something knowing I'll never get the kind of result I want or imagine I let myself get defeated before I get anywhere. Even though I understand that practice is the only way to improve, I get into a really self-defeating mindset of "you'll never get there."

As a photographer starting up a teeny tiny new business venture alongside my dayjob (and as somebody who studied photography in school), I'm moreso frustrated by the amount of people who expect free work or discounts just because they know me. Any of my creative, entrepreneurial friends, I always pay in full and with a generous tip on top with the understanding that their work is a source of income for them. I find it outrageous that a friend would actually try to take advantage of any artist in their life.

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

Well, first thing i hate about being an Artist is the obvious, People who hate you or even troll you, just because you draw something, that they dont like. Like Mlp for example.

 

Second thing is, People asking you for drawings. I mean, thanks that you want a drawing from me, really. 

But it really stresses me out sometimes, also its bad, if you are currently working on something, that takes a lot of time and then a bunch of People ask you, to do something for them...and then i dont know what to do...should i work on my own project and just say no to everyone? Wouldnt that be rude?

 

Third, if you dont are that extremely good, then your art gets mostly ignored. Like Seriously...i get one like for one drawing basically...and sometimes i dont get anything.

And on Derpibooru, most of my Works get downvoted, which lead to scores up to -35. Well...sorry for my art...i tried...

 

I get a few favorites as well, so..i shouldnt complain that much, its just that my motivation is not really there anymore.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Supergirl Rarity

[Midnight Solace 5,129]

The least favourite thing about being an artist for me is getting bad comments on my art. It doesn't matter though. My art sucks compared to all the other art out there.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,274]

The fact that I am terrible at it all.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

As a writer, I have grown weary of readers DEMANDING I go back to something I wrote years ago and make a sequel.

[TBD 17,228]

So much ideas...so little time.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

Probably the fact that it takes time to get to where you want, as in how good you are. Can’t just happen overnight unfortunately. 

[ShadOBabe 18,984]

EDIT: Oh frick, I misread the title... LEAST? Hm...

Well at least on DeviantArt, amassing even a small number of "fans" can suck. You're doing this for yourself, but you feel like you have to deliver. And some dumb people will DEMAND you deliver.

Edited December 21, 2019 by JingLBabe

[Splashee 28,537]

Perfection. Being an artist and seeing your bar as high as the things you looked up to as little, without any knowledge how they got there. It is more frustrating to find out how they did after you have spent countless hours trying to get there yourself, and seeing you did it all for the right or wrong reasons:

 

You did it right, but they didn't even see it. They did something that accidentally created the thing you wanted to do.
You did it wrong, and the way to make it right is either there, or you still have to discover it.

 

I have spend many years doing nothing, just to see if I can avoid falling into these traps. You can always train to become a better artist, by just drawing or whatever. But doing it with the things you want to do, without knowing how to, is kinda the worst thing about being an artist.

[Rainbow Cloud 16,290]

I don't think it really classifies as art as it was just image manipulations made using various bits of official art rather than original work but I used to make banners and graphics for people on another site in the past and athough I enjoyed making things for people as it made them happy and it was nice to be generous my least favourite things where that it became really demanding to keep up with it over time and I never really felt what I did was that good and wasn't really worthy.

[Clawdeen 12,109]

As a college art student one of the frustrating aspects is find inspiration in some of the school projects forced upon me.If I’m not inspired or motivated my work won’t turn out as good as it would of if I was feeling inspired. 

Seeing that somethings wrong with a piece yet being unsure of how to fix it. Or seeing something is wrong with a piece, knowing exactly what needs to be done to fix it yet for some reason it’s still not turning out right.

Portaot drawing will always be one of the most stressful things. Drawing the classmate right in front of you praying they don’t get offended with how it turns out.

Charcoal gets everywhere. How’d it even get on my face or on that object all the way across the room

I own an all white senior cat who is completely fascinated by me doing art. She lays in bed most of the time but as soon as I’m working on something there she is. Waiting for the second I look away to touch something. By touch I mean lay on. She loves laying on my sketches. I have a hard enough time getting charcoal off of my hands. I can’t imagine getting off of my cat. Or paint or whatever I’m using that could be messy that she wants to lay on. 

I value constructive criticism so I can improve. However I don’t value being told it sucks or it’s stupid looking. Not only because it’s rude but it’s extremely unhelpful.