So this morning I was brought into awareness of *TomPreston's recent journal [link] through one of the people on my watch list `mangapunksai .
I read both her journal and Preston's and I seriously felt the need to put in my 2 cents into the fray.
I didn't want to clog up eithers journals with a rant that would probably span 3 fucking pages, so I've simply decided to break down Preston's journal  and give my opinion on each segment.

Let's start with the title of the journal which really is quite an eye catcher 'Sins of an Artist'.
Alright then, I kinda figured out where this was going. I knew that this was once again going to start with his art or whatever, so I click the link and get on with reading the journal.

I've been under fire recently for having the audacity to admit publicly that improving my art has never been, and never was, an ultimate goal of mine. Apparently that's like committing some sort of mortal sin in the art community. I've had trouble expressing myself about it too, because brushing off improvement for improvement sake makes me look like I'm uncaring, egocentric, and stubborn. But after a recent post I was given much more clarity in understanding the issue and I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

In the recent exchange I was basically told this: "If doing what you love isn't about dedicating your life to improving your art, you aren't an artist."

I personally don't think any one person's art goal is to improve per say. Most people would say something like 'My goal in art is to be a CGI artist!' or ' When I grow up I want to be an Animator!' something like that. Time and time again it has been told by professionals in the industry that improvement in one's self, business ethics, and skill goes hand in hand with reaching that goal. This can be said about Doctors, Vets, Engineers, Writers, ANYTHING that you want to do in life. Because you always imagine you want to be a great doctor, not a mediocre one, and you know that in order to get there you have to improve yourself in that field. Learn new things beyond the classrooms in college. Of course they don't actively think that they need to improve, but they know subconsciously that that is one of the things necessary to get to that dream goal.
Preston...you are not coming under fire because you have stated that improvement is not your ultimate goal. It mainly comes from the fact that time and time again you have said 'Give me proper critiques' or 'redline this for me so I can improve', and when people do those very things for you, you relapse and get pissy, mean, and whiney, and bring down the block brick on a lot of individuals who try to help you. Then you have the audacity to make comics telling people that using the paper texture in their comics is lazy, when others have told you similar things and you simply brush it off. What other people also began to notice about you is that you only seem to take critiques from someone if the deviant in question is not only a good artist, but a more popular one at that. This is especially a slap in the face to many people who took the time to critique your work, because you in an essence tell them that 'I want critiques, but only from someone who is more popular than me. Even though you all bring up the same points as that popular person did.'
As for "If doing what you love isn't about dedicating your life to improving your art, you aren't an artist." No Preston. That is not what we've been trying to tell you. What we are trying to say is that if you don't try to make improvements from time to time, you will stagnate, or worse regress and for an artist that is the most uncomfortable and depressing thing that can ever happen to ANYONE of any field. Not just art.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but making art has never been solely about the technical expertise. Even in college, outside the handful of foundation courses you take in freshman year, perfection of the craft is often secondary to concepts and ideas and your ability to evoke feelings and emotions in your audience.

Of course art is not solely about technical expertise. If that was the case than a lot of people, me included would not really enjoy much of art at all. Foundation year in college is there to build up that technical skill so it in turn can help with the emotional part of your art. I have seen time and time again where people are masters at observational, and technical drawings, yet when it comes to trying to make up their own ideas it's sloppy and mediocre at best, horrid at worst. The same is said for doing cartoons all the time and neglecting the real stuff. By doing too much of either one you end up hurting yourself in the end. Balance is key. Also no one ever reaches perfection in their craft. People are telling you to do more technical skills because they can see that in your most recent work it is sorely needing some freshening up.

However, sometimes I think we place far too much importance on the technical side of things. It's very well and good to offer feedback to an artist you think will help them improve, but it's another thing entirely if you take their stubbornness or slow-to-change attitude to heart, become personally offended by it, and retaliate with trolling and tumblr blogs about them.

No Tom we don't. Look around this website and you will see just how obsessed we are with technical drawings. Almost everything you see is a picture that evokes the emotional side of art. However you will also see some that has a harmony with the technical and emotional side of art. No one has an issue with people who take a long time to improve. That's okay not everyone can improve at the same pace. However with you, when people tell you that this is what you need to work on, you get mad, you block them, you argue that they are wrong or that they are looking at it from the wrong perspective, makes journals complaining about it, etc. Of course if you do that people will take offense to that. Wouldn't you? Since you do that constantly of course people from all over the place are going to be making fun of or complaining about you. The issue you have now is not a problem with slow to improve people. It's people like you who have a bad attitude towards those who are trying to help you.

I make comics because I like telling stories. I like to see people laugh at my character's foibles. I like to build their suspense, and hit them with twists and turns. I want them to feel sad or happy during key events. I want my audience to enjoy what I produce. That has been, and always WILL be, my overall key goal as a cartoonist.

You don't make stories Preston. You make what is in essence gag-a-day comics. You Alex Ze Pirate series had a chance at becoming a story, but again, you resort to making it a gag-a-day sort of deal. You can't please everyone in the crowd Preston. People will love one thing or hate another. However when people who dislike your stuff kindly tell you things that would honestly make them enjoy it more, and you block them...that's kind of an ass hole thing to do don't you think?

Now then, despite me saying improvement is not an ultimate goal for me, I still recognize it as something to keep in mind in the back of my head. Many people have told me that artists change their styles gradually over time (which is true), but those same people seem to disregard this when it comes to me because I am not changing fast enough for their liking. To many of these people, my lack of change within the span of a few DAYS is enough to throw a giant hissy fit over. Since SYAC is a near-daily comic series, I can understand people thinking I'm stagnating, but I know I am growing gradually and that the results will show for themselves eventually.

Don't try to victimize yourself for pity points Preston. Like I said earlier it's not that you are slow to improve that pisses people off, it's that piss poor attitude you have when someone gives you a critique on your work and again, your outright refusal for you to improve. You've even told me at some point that because you are not in search for a job, you don't need to improve at all. This isn't something that you think about subconsciously, this is something you have stated multiple times to me and other people that you DON'T want to improve, and that the more that people tell you to, the more you resist.

While there are a lot of similarities (such a lack of a background, but honestly that's not really important for this particular series), it should be pretty obvious that I've improved. It's still cartoony, it's still simple and basic, but the lineart is smoother, the characters more iconic, and the shadow tones less grey and muddy. Is there a lot to still improve upon? Of course there is. Have I not improved at all since I started? That's absurd.

This is why I heartily resent people bringing out complaints that I'm committing some sort of mortal sin for not dedicating my entire life towards being the best comic artist ever. You can offer me advice and suggestions, but do not expect me to grow by leaps and bounds overnight. I listen to every criticism, comment, feedback, and complaint that I get and while I might have a bad attitude about some of that, it does sink in.

There will always be something to improve on. Smoother lines, more expressions, better shading? Great. Awesome. Magnificent. Now it's time to jump over the next hurdle.
Why do you resent people still telling you to improve your comics Preston? What you said right there...I simply cannot wrap my head around that. Shouldn't you want to be the best you CAN  be in your craft? How can you love something and want to stagnate? Perhaps you shouldn't call yourself a professional then Preston. That is the opinion of someone who we like to call a Hobbyist. There is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist. They like to do it for fun, and that's okay. Also, change the word 'complaints' to critiques, because that's what your referring to isn't it. No one is asking you to be like Jesus and improve tenfold over night. This seems to be the excuse a lot of people like you tend to use in defense to all the criticism they get. Like I've said a bazillion times in this journal it's your piss poor attitude that gets you hated. Not your slow improvement.
Also you don't listen to every criticism, comment, feedback, and complaints. You only listen to your asskissers or people who have the same view points as you. Everyone else who critiques you( with the exception of more popular artists) you either block, ignore, or argue with them, and having a bad attitude with that reflects poorly on you as a person.

To sum things up:
1. Improvement for improvement sake is not my ultimate goal, never has been.
2. I acknowledge that I will improve, but gradually over time and not overnight.
3. You can offer feedback and criticism.
4. I am under no obligations to follow your feedback and criticism if I feel it doesn't help me towards my goal.

Peace.

Let me rephrase that list for you:

1. I don't need to improve because I'm more popular than you and I have a job.
2. I do whatever I want, how I want, when I want, so fuck off I don't need to listen to you.
3. See number 2
4. see number 2