Other Art "level"

[Phadia]

Soo, I guess it's come to my attention lately, that every artist I know (including myself) ranks their art with other people's.
"Wow! I wish I could draw like that!"
"Lol. I'm not that good. It's just a hobby."
"Why is your art so much better than mine??"

And I guess I just want to talk about that!

Because, I know, for myself... it's exhausting. I see someone else's art, then look at mine and go "Omg... my 'art' sucks. Why do I even try?"
But...
One thing I also noticed.... is, at the very moment I feel that way, someone else feels like that about my art!

I've had people tell me that they wish they could draw like me. And usually, my inner me goes, "Bruh. Who're you kidding?!"

But I guess I realized tonight, that we, as artists, are just.... like that! Even if we were literally the best and most famous artist in the world, we'd still likely look at our art and find it less desirable than someone else's.
And that's just sad.
Because it's not about the 'level'. Sure, I'm sure each and every one of you reading this would like to improve and 'level up'.
Or at least, it shouldn't be able level...

Art should be about the enjoyment!

I know, at least for me, my art is putting a face to my OC's. Telling a story. Expressing a feeling I can't express with a word.
And maybe it's a level 1. Or a level -1.
But it's still something. It's a project that I've worked on. Maybe I worked my butt off doing it. Or maybe it was a quick sketch. Maybe I loved doing each and every part. Or maybe I only liked the end result. Or vice versa! Maybe it's a vast improvement over my last work. Or maybe it's a step backwards.

But it's still art.
It's something that only I created! Nobody else in the world went through the exact same process and yielded the exact same result.

It's something special!

So, to everyone else out there...
I guess I just wanted to talk.
Spread some encouragement!

Because if you're worried about your 'level', then know you're not alone!
But also know that your art is something special and unique to you.
Even if it's not the best, it's certainly not the worst!

I guess what I'm wanting to say in the long-winded rambly thing.... is that art really doesn't (or shouldn't) have a level, because it's something unique that shouldn't be compared.
Comparing your art to someone else's is like... comparing apples and oranges.

And even if somebody's art is actually "better" than yours, then so what?
Chances are, there will always be someone better. And someone worse!
But what does it matter in the long run?

So yeah... I'm sorry if this was super confusing or boring. It's after midnight where I live, and I'm dead tired lol.
I just want to share.
Try to make people feel better. Try to remind myself not to worry about the 'level'. ^^ Open some discussion, hee hee.

 

[TripTripleTimes]

I think for artists, whether they are a professional, a hobbyist, or a beginner, I think it's healthy wanting to get better. The process of getting excellent and feeling satisfied with our own work is slow going and tedious. I think we all know, or at least understand, that the result of improvement does not come fast. It is difficult to grasp when we are at the moment of improvement and then search for the said improvements soon after, but when all along, the improvements we were making at the moment are just small steps that will eventually paint a bigger picture. I'm like off topic here, but what I'm trying to say it, yeah, I understand the "My drawing sucks" and the "I really love their style! OMG, copy and paste your skills over to me, please" mentality. I really love drawings and I only consider it a hobby, but still, I always am hoping that my art and style will improve. Even so, as I wait and continue to improve my art, I'll have fun. I think that's the important thing for artists. Having fun.

On that note, I think artists should enjoy where they have come from. I understand that it's natural to compare yourself to others and see how their art compares to you, but yeah, apples to oranges. People grow differently. Some learn differently, some do things differently, resources, time, availability, support, influence, education, all those aspects of life influence on an artist's ability to grow. It's good to have influences from all sorts of artists, but to beat oneself over because their art doesn't compare to someone's else is not a way to find improvement. It's just stunning everything. If the artist wants to compare themself with someone, I think it's best if they compare themself with their past and see how far they have come.

Well, I haven't done this kind of a spiel in a looong time. I do this late night word vomit too, man. idk y, nothing makes sense hahahaha.

 

[Phadia]

TripTripleTimes
Yeah, no, I agree with you wholeheartedly! There's nothing wrong with a healthy will to excel.
I guess I was saying that a lot of artists not only have a healthy desire to get better, but a crippling self deprecation of their own art.
You made some really good points, ha ha.
Don't you love late night word vomits?
I'm stealing your term now.

 

[Emmi]

I have never experienced that. Ever. I'm an artist myself, and I find this true, even though I have never felt it. What type of art do I do? Well, I usually do all sorts of things. I usually draw, sketch, and paint random pieces, sometimes OCs, but sometimes not. Many different artists compare themselves to others. I find this ridiculous, in my opinion. But, some people do. I came across many artist friends, who I can relate to, and get better with. I even have an artist crush. Yes, we all have a desire to get better. But, I personally don't rank my art with other people's. In my opinion, it's unhealthy. My so called "best friend", who is an artist as well, ranked her art with mine. And, frankly, she isn't my "best friend" anymore, because she started to become a manipulative bitch. She started to call her art better than everyone else's, and complain about others', even though the same criticism applies to her. "Why's her forehead too big!?" Bitch, your character's forehead looks like fucking Megamind. In my experience with this friend, she was blinded by ranking others' art with her's. It isn't a sin to want to get farther, but if you get to the point where you stop drawing or doing anything art related, or become an asshole over ranking others' art with yours, then we have a problem.

I'm not saying ranking your art with others is "BAD" and "FROWNED UPON THE HUMAN RACE", since you can get better doing that, if you do it properly, but, just like TripTripleTimes mentioned, artists should be happy on where they are, so far. People excel, and succeed and different times. I compared my art style with my old style that was within this year. I was completely shocked by my growth, and how horrible my old art style was.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as "bad art". Everyone has their own style and ways of doing things. They're all "good art" as long as they tried their best. However, if they didn't put any effort into their work, then, we have a problem. Frankly, in my own point of view, there is no such thing as "levels", just how much people grow, and how fast they grow.


am i the only one who gets pissed when someone asks me if I'm drawing even though I'm clearly drawing? Like, bitch, what am I doing if I'm not writing?

 

[cl0ud]

im an artist.

 

[Cloche]

This speaks to me even as someone who's not an artist in any traditional sense of the word (I'm a programmer, more specifically a software/game dev). Within the entire industry an "impostor syndrome" and constant, unhealthy comparison with your peers/your role models/recognized masters of the craft is very common. It can be refreshing sometimes to just do a project for fun and not have a pissing contest with anyone over whose code or finished program is superior.

 

[xCelestex]

But I guess I realized tonight, that we, as artists, are just.... like that! Even if we were literally the best and most famous artist in the world, we'd still likely look at our art and find it less desirable than someone else's.
And that's just sad.
Because it's not about the 'level'. Sure, I'm sure each and every one of you reading this would like to improve and 'level up'.
Or at least, it shouldn't be able level...

Art should be about the enjoyment!

The thing that's so bittersweet about art is that it's so subjective. It's for whatever you want it to be (for just enjoyment or for a career, ect) and it's there to improve in any personal way you want. It's mainly about what you want to achieve. I've met many artists who are high-brow, making big money through art galleries, and will look and children drawings because they want their skills to "degrade" into a "purer form".

Artists are always looking at other artists to learn. If you're not learning then you'll never grow as an artists. I don't think it's sad, it's just a part of the art journey. It's the main thing I've learned from taking art school and doing it for so many years, ALWAYS be learning and looking at other artists.

I guess what I'm wanting to say in the long-winded rambly thing.... is that art really doesn't (or shouldn't) have a level, because it's something unique that shouldn't be compared.
Comparing your art to someone else's is like... comparing apples and oranges.

And even if somebody's art is actually "better" than yours, then so what?
Chances are, there will always be someone better. And someone worse!
But what does it matter in the long run?

I agree with this, that art shouldn't have a "level"/hierarchy, but it unfortunately does exist. I think the best thing for this is to just keep creating, be confident about your work and break down those barriers. I don't find any issue at all comparing an individual's work to others, because (as I said before) that's how your learn and you grow. In the end, it's all about how you take everything and go about things.

 

[Ivy-phoenix]

I can relate to this post so much! Beautifully put by the way

 

[_Line 213]

I guess what I'm wanting to say in the long-winded rambly thing.... is that art really doesn't (or shouldn't) have a level, because it's something unique that shouldn't be compared.
Comparing your art to someone else's is like... comparing apples and oranges.

Though I agree with the majority of this post, I do think that this summary in particular deserves a bit of clarification and opposing thought.

Generally, when we think of art, we think of a wholly subjective medium; however, there are still levels of technical understanding that have the ability to dictate the technical proficiency of an artist, and which are indeed comparable; these are elements such as the ability to convey spatial depth, the ability to draw consistently, the ability to communicate perspective, understanding of light and color, understanding of form and anatomy, and so on. Generally, hefty understandings of these sorts of things are greatly encouraged when it comes to learning art in a more serious or studious manner, because these are the elements that form the bedrock of the vast majority of art that people generally want to do, with the potential exception of abstract art which purposefully bucks these elements (and even then, one could argue that in order to buck said elements successfully and consistently, one should be capable of understanding them anyway; a lot of what we now consider to be "great" abstract artists have sketches created over the course of their careers or while they were still learning that prove that they had a firm handle on these basic elements).

Things such as style are, in essence, finding shortcuts, loopholes, and preferred directions when it comes to these specific technical aspects; though an artist could completely avoid learning these things for the sake of chasing something else or simply not bothering, I don't think that most serious artists would actually advise that, as these things are extremely important for learning how to draw in general. It would be like learning how to write without knowing the grammar and syntax of a language.

So, I think that it is still healthy and very much encouraged to compare one's basics to the basics of other artists--this is the very mentality that sits behind things like master studies, for instance. Without being able to notice flaws in one's own work and recognize and dissect how "more skilled" artists succeed where one's art fails, one's artistic improvement would become very slow. In this way, artistic comparison becomes very helpful, as the artist gains the ability to impartially view pieces of art next to each other (which in turn allows them to better critique not only their own work, but the work of their peers). The main thing that differentiates this sort of comparison from the "toxic" comparison mentioned in several other posts is one's ability to separate technicality from the way that one feels about their supposed difference in skill and / or inadequacy, which is its own mental battle.