i love paintings that look as if they have ghosts in them
Prepare for a rant on art, my friends. This is something that's been annoying me (tldr at bottom, which probably describes what I mean better than the main rant)
For a moment I'd like to forget about the idea that art is subjective: let's say there is a foolproof way to factually define whether a piece of art is "good" or "bad," high quality or low quality, appealing or unappealing. Let's pretend art is objective.
That... doesn't change much. Not about my argument, anyway.
All the time, I see people getting upset — almost personally offended, even — just by the fact that someone is, apparently, bad at drawing. And then I see people respond to that with the fact that it's just their style. I don't disagree that the quality of art is subjective, that people can have their own styles, but people seem to cling to the idea like it's the only defense they have for their art being "bad." Even people who believe in the subjectivity of art will rush to defend themselves, to insist that their art cannot factually be bad, like that's the most heinous thing possible.
Tell me, though: what exactly IS the problem with an artist being "bad" at drawing? Who does it hurt? Who does it, at the very least, disrespect?
Don't get me wrong: giving tips and criticism and helping people can be great (if done supportively and respectfully of course, without belittling) — it can be a great journey to improve one's art, and I don't want to downplay that — but someone may not actually WANT to improve on a technical level. Maybe they only want to make art that's appealing to themselves, and maybe they don't need to know the fundamentals or anatomy or colour theory or character design to be able to entertain themselves, to have fun with it. Maybe they're just doodling because they like to doodle. Y'know?
I don't know how this post will come off. Maybe someone will think it means not to give criticism, maybe someone will think I'm just repeating the idea that art is subjective, but what I really mean with this is:
(TLDR aswell): We shouldn't act as if someone's a bad person because they can't draw. If you don't like how someone's art looks, if it's unrealistic and messy and there's poor colour theory and shitty anatomy, and they clearly aren't doing anything to improve it.... just move on. Yes, it's just their style. No, that doesn't mean they're "good" at it. No, they don't need to be good at it in the first place.