How To Stay Positive When You Get Negative Criticism
I tacked my drawings to the wall. Here I go. It was time for my one-on-one critique with my instructor.
My heart beat faster as he stared at my art. His eyes landed on my favorite drawing, the colorful one of my hair. A pastel piece, covered with rainbow powder.
“This drawing is toxic,” he said, pointing right to it.
My heart sank. Out of everything I worked on, this was the piece I was looking forward to showing him. And I felt like he tore it in two, right before my eyes.
What should we do when our art is criticized? Here is how to stay positive when you get negative criticism.
1) Remember, art is subjective
After the critique of my “toxic drawing,” I hid that piece in my cardboard box for months.
Definition of Toxic: Very bad, unpleasant, harmful.
“It must be a very bad drawing, if he says so,” I thought.
My instructor was someone I respected in the art field, I trusted him.
But that makes it harder to hold onto how you feel when you get negative feedback.
One day I took a risk. I pulled my pastel drawing out of the box. I finally found the courage to show it to a different teacher.
“This piece is bold. Do more like this.” My eyes became saucers.
So my drawing wasn’t toxic, after all?
No, I had it backwards. The drawing wasn’t toxic, his words were.
That’s the thing about art — everyone sees something different. One person can think something is beautiful, another person could hate it.
Don’t hide your art because of one person’s opinion. If I hadn’t shown my drawing again, maybe it would’ve just stayed in the box.
2) People have different tastes
“I’d really like to see you do something different, something happy.”
First I rolled my eyes. “Why does art need to be happy all the time?” I don’t want to just paint pretty pictures. I want to evoke emotions. I’m perfectly happy painting “unhappy.”
I kinda felt like the little character in the book, Sonny Follows His Heart. Sonny was a guitar who loved playing the blues. Every day he looked forward to it. And then came the critics.
“Why don’t you do something different? Don’t you get tired of playing the blues?”
Sonny questioned himself. Maybe they were right? So he followed the opinions of others. And what do you think happened? Well, the title might be a giveaway. He decided to go with his own heart.
I think I’m like Sonny. Maybe you are too.
If you’d like to see that book, you can go here! Yep, it’s a plug. I can’t help it.
It’s my dad’s art and my mom’s words.
The point is, everybody has different tastes, when we’re talking about any kind of art. Some people want to feel at peace when they look at art, and others want something dark and edgy.
One day I actually cracked my mind open a little bit. I thought, “Maybe I could paint a happy picture. I could at least try.” And then I made this oil painting.
3) Ask yourself, “Is there something I can learn from this?”
When someone gives a negative critique, there may be something small we can take from it. Some truth tucked inside their words.
In one art class, I asked the teacher’s assistant how my clay piece looked. She told me all the things that were wrong with it. So I tried fixing it.
The next week, I asked her again, “Is this any better?”
She looked at it and told me, “No. You don’t listen.”
I felt like a piece of clay that had been smooshed. What she said wasn’t constructive.
Some people seem to focus on what is negative, the wrong things. Giving her opinion on me as a person was not helpful, and yet, I did learn something.
I learned the value of starting with something positive. And if a person has trouble finding something positive to say at all, I need to find someone else for critique.
Also, if something is said to you by more than one person, again and again, you might want to think about what they’re saying.
4) Consider who is giving you a critique
In 2002, my friend Pamela waited in line to enter her drawing into the Minnesota State Fair. As she stood at a table to fill out paperwork, a worker from the building glanced at her piece.
“Why are you even bothering to enter that?” he said.
Her art was not accepted. And after that experience, she didn’t enter another juried show for fourteen years.
“His mean comment kept me from trying again. His words were like fertilizer to the self-doubt I already was feeding myself. Don’t feed your self-doubt.”
How did she overcome his critique? This is key. She did it by creating more art.
People will say what they want, “My kid could’ve painted that.”
Their words just topple out of their mouths with no thought to how they are being received. It’s easy to make judgments when you’re not the one doing the work.
Perhaps they don’t know what it’s like being an artist. Maybe they never held a paintbrush or a piece of charcoal, waiting to see what appears before their eyes.
Consider who is giving you a critique. Is it a teacher, a friend, a stranger passing by?
Artists have a lot of power.
Be careful with your power, don’t give it to the wrong person.
Remember, they are only human.
Vincent Van Gogh was told by a gallery owner, “Your work is uncouth and amateurish. You are not an artist.”
But that didn’t stop Vincent from painting.
And now his paintings are worth millions of dollars.
And speaking of people who were wrong about their critiques:
Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because, his editor said, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
Modeling agencies told Marilyn Monroe to consider becoming a secretary.
Stephen King threw away his first book, Carrie, after it was rejected thirty times. His wife then took it out of the trash, and convinced him to re-submit it.
What about you?
What’s one negative comment you’ve received?
Was it hard to bounce back after that comment?
What’s the most encouraging thing someone told you?
Share in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.
Writing is just one thing I do.
If I’m not behind my camera, I’m probably messing with charcoal or paint.
Join my email list to hear about my upcoming art shows and projects. You’ll also get to see my 1-minute time lapse of this charcoal drawing below, Followed.
Want to see more of my art? Check out my Website
