Belittling one's own art - why do we do it?

[lorenith]

Young artists are quite weird, particularly in middle school (11-14yrs).

Often they are very very proud of their work when showing it say, to their teacher. But they are incredibly embarrassed by it when it comes to sharing with their peers. It doesn't help that this is a common age where ones perception is much better than ones ability to execute a drawing, which makes it all the more frustrating. (this is something that osculates throughout life perception vs ability, but it's apparently at it's most frustrating for middle schoolers) And on top of all of that people in that age range have very fragile egos relative to other age groups.

Which is probably why they are quite happy to post their stuff online, while at the same time lamenting how much they hate their art. They're in this weird head space where they're proud of their work, but also very embarrassed and aware of the flaws in it.

I think many whether they are young or not are also incorrectly hoping for some constructive critique, online it's really difficult to find it though because most people don't know how to critique in a constructive way. (This is setting aside issues like "it's my style" and the artist not being able to take critique).

I don't think that disliking ones work is a good reason not to post it, it opens up the chance to get outside feedback on it. And others may like it and tell you why. Or they may also dislike it and tell you why. I see it as an opportunity to learn if it is used in that way. (granted posting something you hate and then belittling it is not the proper way to post it if you want to learn something from it.)

[QT Melon]

I wouldn't say it's young artists. I believe it's new artists. Art can be started pretty much at any age so I've seen the same mistakes and problems by a 20 year old and 40 year old new to trying art.

[lorenith]

I was talking about out why young artists in particular act the way they do about their art. I'm not talking about mistakes or anything else, I'm talking about developmental psychology, in students who willingly signed up for an art elective.


Setting aside that belittling of ones art isn't a thing unique to new artists or young artists, I've seen some pretty great artists that have been making art for a good long time who constantly belittle their art. Some I think are fishing, but others seem to legitimately think their art is terrible.

And I don't think belittling of one art is a stage all artists go through, even in regards to the young ones. Some artists start up and they just run with it, and never have anything bad to say about it.

[QT Melon]

If you did a poll, most artists do not have great self esteem of their art since it is a reflection of self. The artist created it and are more likely to see it as flawed than other people in an overall sense.

People are not obligated to post their work. While I believe there is benefits to community feedback, not every person can provide necessary help that is needed.

Too often people who may not be experienced post a neat tutorial they found without understanding it fully and can contain false information.

It is like how some were trying to give specific advice on oil painting having never painted themselves. But that is for another discussion.

The point is not every piece of work needs to be posted if the artist is learning. If it is bad it is ok. You have to make a lot of bad art to learn how to make good art.

[Willow]

I would agree with this until they post the work. If you have body issues do you walk up naked to a crowd telling people how ugly you look? If you have bad breath, you stay away so that people won't smell it. If something you like doesn't look good you naturally do not show it because of esteem.

Yes and no. It sort of depends on what part of the body and the extent to which the issue exists.
Especially since most body issues don't just exist when the person is naked. Usually when someone has body issues, it's an overall psychological thing and wearing clothes usually doesn't help.

So I honestly cannot fathom posting work you generally do not like. I have a lot of work I do not post because it's something I generally find no value. There is no one I know that is holding a gun to my head threatening my life I refuse to post work I hate.

I can fathom it because I see people do it all the time. It's more prevalent on Tumblr these days than most other places I see. On most art sites I think people have resorted more to complaining about their art through journals.

[QT Melon]

People saying there is no value to their art and posting it saying it is garbage are fishing for compliments since no one is forced to post artwork online to social sharing sites. I am not sure if you have read the reasoning for why "I cannot fathom this" since you are picking it apart lacking the context of the statements.

That is completely different than posting artwork you have some issues with.

Example 1. Posting this piece of crap.
Example 2. Posting this doodle, there are some issues with it but still learning.

If one really thinks the art is crap, why post it. This is the issue the OP is specifically referring to on social sharing sites: not a classroom, or peer learning.

If someone dared pose the question to a person claiming the work is crap, drama would ensue.

[n1ghtmar3]

yeah i do this to myself so much,i see what ive done as not enough,sometimes i will do something multiple times ,hell with my comic i do it alot ,constant evolution,but sometimes i need to settle down ,which is oh so hard to do lol

[Dmitry]

I do this because it never looks like it does in my head, I strive really hard toward that goal and I will keep striving, but it's hard to put your soul into something that doesn't come out correctly. Also, I don't really like compliments. I like thoughtful critique. Compliments are empty and meaningless, they dont' help me grow as an artist. However, it's nice to know people like your work, but sometimes it gets overwhelming.

[lorenith]

People are not obligated to post their work.

Well it sure is a good thing that that isn't what I said at all. Rather, just because someone doesn't like their work or it isn't good isn't any reason to tell them not to post it. You've already decided that they can only possibly be fishing for comments when they do that so there isn't any point in me saying anything else on it.


As far as my talking about adolescents that wwretched got me started on, I'm failing to communicate there, or you're failing to understand the magnitude of difference between an adolescent and an adult when it comes to insecurities and development in general. I'm not interested in digging out any of my text books to help me more clearly discuss it so I'm just going to drop it and move away from this thread.

[xyloart]

I've definitely posted some of my less than stellar pieces without the intention of fishing for compliments. If I post a piece that is bad it's to get input as to how to get better.