Illustrator Advises Not to Seek Approval to Stay Motivated
Do you care about other people’s opinions or not? For example, you create music, edit videos, or do anything that people can look at and think, “Great job” or “That’s awful.” Well, an illustrator with over 10 years of experience says you can’t keep your motivation to draw based on others’ opinions.
Illustrator Advises Not to Seek Approval to Stay Motivated
An illustrator profile with 40,000 followers posted two tweets that went viral because of their message. Here’s what he said:
“I’ve been drawing for 10 years and I affirm: trying to stay motivated to draw based on other people’s evaluation is a hard road, and probably 99% of people end up giving up.”
In another tweet, he added:
“I’m not saying seeking others’ approval is wrong. It’s just a difficult path, but it exists. However, when the goal is to ‘get good at drawing’ and you seek external recognition, there are many unpredictable factors beyond artistic skill, and that makes many people quit.”
Looking at his profile, you’ll find some of his illustrations like the one below.
But his advice also depends on what social networks allow—whether they’ll actually show your art. Recently, another illustrator discovered the “secret” to going viral. The veteran’s advice sparked the following reactions:
I almost gave up once because of this, so I totally get it. If you draw for yourself, you don’t lose heart.
I think this also applies to game development. I stayed motivated for seven years because I made games I personally found fun.
True. I got obsessed with feedback and spent two years without drawing or writing. Seeing evaluation metrics as numbers is a trap.
I know a famous painter who collapsed because of this: Van Gogh.
I draw what I like, and there’s always a close follower who enjoys my posts. That’s enough for me. Thanks, I love you all☺️. If there were no reactions, I’d be sad… but if I keep going, someone will react.
Exactly. In the end, those who go crazy for their own creation are the ones who win.
I always put others’ evaluation first, so I’m already broken.
For sure. I used to be a commercial (adult content) author, and even posting on Twitter sometimes didn’t get more than 10 likes. That drives anyone crazy, so I took a break to protect myself.
Besides being a hard road, many become obsessed with approval and start plagiarizing.
I think almost every artist started because they had at least one good experience with art (at least for me). It’s natural to think: “If I improve, they’ll praise me more, right?” But when you realize almost no one notices, you lose motivation. It’s a trap.
So true. In middle and high school, I drew thinking of others’ opinions and ended up quitting. If motivation doesn’t come from within, your hand won’t move.
Even if you don’t quit, you might turn into a monster seeking approval without realizing it.
If you don’t treat others’ evaluation as just a bonus in hobby work, you end up not knowing what you really want to do. I hope creators make genuine works, not out of obligation.
I relate a lot… I started sending work to magazines, drawing only fan art of popular franchises. When the internet made likes visible, I had a breakdown. After 5 years, mental reset: I now draw only what I love (my favorites) and I’m enjoying it so much.
Of course I’m happy when people enjoy a piece, but on social media you need to “grow” the account and there’s a lot of luck. So I think if it reaches someone who likes it, that’s already a win.
This applies to anything. If you don’t have that passion of “I must create this!”, you give up. Even bad erotic manga that still succeed follow this logic: nothing beats love for what you do.
It goes beyond drawing. Those who depend on others’ approval end up becoming a “vengeful spirit” of it.
What do you think of his advice?