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SOME. Not all. SOME.

It seems that every art-related place I visit (art class, deviantART, whatever), there are always the people who will look down on you if they see you drawing anime. They have this condescending (is that the right word?) look about them, as if they think they're superior to you because of your drawing style.

Now, I can understand the people that draw things like this and artists have a problem with it.

What I don't understand is how somebody can look at this and say that the artist has no talent. Um, what?

Once again, I'm not suggesting that ALL non-anime artists hate anime. But if you are one of those people who thinks you're superior to the average anime artist, speak up. If not, go ahead and tell us your opinion anyway!

P.S. Yes, I do draw anime. I won't put up my dA account unless people want me to because, frankly, my work is awful. I am trying to improve, however, and hopefully I'll actually be able to post my work on other websites without embarrassing myself.
It's because of a few things:

1. Anime has become a very generic thing and everyone and their dog is drawing anime. People are sick of it. Everywhere you look there's anime.

2. A lot of people consider anyone, not just anime artists but anyone, who does not have a personal style to be uncreative. Basically if you look at a picture and the first thing that comes to your mind is "anime", then the person who drew it is not creative.

3. Anime is associated with kids and teens and thus seen as immature and childish.

4. A huge amount of anime artists have no knowledge of the foundations and are not really that good to begin with.

5. A lot of anime artists are more interested in polish than anything else, and they make zero effort to actually learn anything at all about drawing -- they just copy other anime artists and read tutorials on DA and are generally pretty immature when they are given critiques.

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ninitan
It's because of a few things:

1. Anime has become a very generic thing and everyone and their dog is drawing anime. People are sick of it. Everywhere you look there's anime.


I don't understand why it's okay to hate something because it's become popular. I see everyone and their dog with an iPhone these days, does that mean I should hate iPhones?

ninitan
2. A lot of people consider anyone, not just anime artists but anyone, who does not have a personal style to be uncreative. Basically if you look at a picture and the first thing that comes to your mind is "anime", then the person who drew it is not creative.


If someone were to do this amazing, well thought-out drawing in realism, it would be great, but if they were to draw it in an anime style that makes it uncreative? It's not the style/medium that matters, it's the thought that was put into the piece.

ninitan
3. Anime is associated with kids and teens and thus seen as immature and childish.


Okay, this one I can agree with. I'm 16 and got hooked on anime when I was 8 or 9.

ninitan
4. A huge amount of anime artists have no knowledge of the foundations and are not really that good to begin with.


Yeah, this one I can agree with too. I have decided today to go back to the basics, learn basic anatomy, etc. And I have art class next semester, which should help as well.

As for "not really that good to begin with", I believe that anyone can be a great artist if they work at it hard enough.

ninitan
5. A lot of anime artists are more interested in polish than anything else, and they make zero effort to actually learn anything at all about drawing -- they just copy other anime artists and read tutorials on DA and are generally pretty immature when they are given critiques.


In their defense, part of learning to draw anime is by looking at other artists' work, emulating it, and then branching out into your own style once you have the basics down. We become artists because there is some artist out there that has inspired us, so what's wrong with taking a leaf from their book, as long as it doesn't turn into plagiarism?

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Speaking for myself here:

I don't have a problem with anime as a style, just people that use it as an excuse to act whiny and butthurt over nothing. Also, it gets old to see a cute big-eyed 12 year-olds stand around doing nothing. It's pretty (sometimes), but boring. If I wanted to see children standing outside doing nothing, I'd open a window and look at my neighbors' kids who, for some reason, never seem to have homework. I'm generalizing for the sake of discussion, I know all anime doesn't look the same, but I do get tired of random eye-candy.
Melody Niwa
I don't understand why it's okay to hate something because it's become popular. I see everyone and their dog with an iPhone these days, does that mean I should hate iPhones?

Never said I agreed with it. Just telling you some reasons why it happens.

Quote:
If someone were to do this amazing, well thought-out drawing in realism, it would be great, but if they were to draw it in an anime style that makes it uncreative? It's not the style/medium that matters, it's the thought that was put into the piece.

It's actually the artist's skill that matters, not the thought that was put into the piece. But regardless, I never said that either. Did you notice my sig? I draw anime too.

Quote:
As for "not really that good to begin with", I believe that anyone can be a great artist if they work at it hard enough.

Absolutely. The problem is that many anime artists don't work hard -- they settle for being okay at it because so many fans will pay for their stuff or fave it or whatever it is they want.

Quote:
In their defense, part of learning to draw anime is by looking at other artists' work, emulating it, and then branching out into your own style once you have the basics down. We become artists because there is some artist out there that has inspired us, so what's wrong with taking a leaf from their book, as long as it doesn't turn into plagiarism?

The basics isn't something that you learn from anime or any other style. The basics is a thing that you can only learn from studying real life and drawing realistically. THEN you can study your favorite artists/style.

Also, there's a difference between letting another artist be an influence and literally copying their style, which is what most anime artists do. Let's face it, it's almost all sameface samehair samepose when it comes to anime.

I spent years studying my favorite artists, but my work doesn't look like it was drawn by any of them and you probably couldn't tell who they are by looking at one of my drawings.

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I think it's guilt by association, for those anime artists who genuinely know what they're doing. I don't particularly like people who claim to draw 'Western-style' who don't draw very well either.

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ninitan
Melody Niwa
I don't understand why it's okay to hate something because it's become popular. I see everyone and their dog with an iPhone these days, does that mean I should hate iPhones?

Never said I agreed with it. Just telling you some reasons why it happens.

Quote:
If someone were to do this amazing, well thought-out drawing in realism, it would be great, but if they were to draw it in an anime style that makes it uncreative? It's not the style/medium that matters, it's the thought that was put into the piece.

It's actually the artist's skill that matters, not the thought that was put into the piece. But regardless, I never said that either. Did you notice my sig? I draw anime too.

Quote:
As for "not really that good to begin with", I believe that anyone can be a great artist if they work at it hard enough.

Absolutely. The problem is that many anime artists don't work hard -- they settle for being okay at it because so many fans will pay for their stuff or fave it or whatever it is they want.

Quote:
In their defense, part of learning to draw anime is by looking at other artists' work, emulating it, and then branching out into your own style once you have the basics down. We become artists because there is some artist out there that has inspired us, so what's wrong with taking a leaf from their book, as long as it doesn't turn into plagiarism?

The basics isn't something that you learn from anime or any other style. The basics is a thing that you can only learn from studying real life and drawing realistically. THEN you can study your favorite artists/style.

Also, there's a difference between letting another artist be an influence and literally copying their style, which is what most anime artists do. Let's face it, it's almost all sameface samehair samepose when it comes to anime.

I spent years studying my favorite artists, but my work doesn't look like it was drawn by any of them and you probably couldn't tell who they are by looking at one of my drawings.


I won't bother quoting the individual quotes this time and say that I pretty much agree with everything you said here.

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ninitan
Let's face it, it's almost all sameface samehair samepose when it comes to anime.

Mm, a reason why I don't really enjoy looking at some anime art. Some people seem to have just copy-pasted the same head and shoulders and then drawn over it. Literally.

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Cream Puffnut
ninitan
Let's face it, it's almost all sameface samehair samepose when it comes to anime.

Mm, a reason why I don't really enjoy looking at some anime art. Some people seem to have just copy-pasted the same head and shoulders and then drawn over it. Literally.


See now, THAT sort of art, if you can call it art, I just don't get. And I'm a person that enjoys looking at anime art. You can find me browsing DA for the stuff constantly.

But it's those artists that are all like "Well, some anime art really sucks, therefore I will show no respect for anime or anime artists in general." that bother me.
Because if you're young enough to be in class and "learning" art, you should not be preoccupied with style. Style comes naturally, through lots of hours of drawing and mark-making, through your observation and choices that you make, taking that observation and putting your interpretation down on paper. Style is absolutely not something you sit down one day and decide on.

Yes, style is fun. Yes, most people draw anime to start because it's easy (ie, the arm is a stick, not a form with complex muscles that you have to learn), it caters to "ideal" aesthetics, looks pretty and shiny, and it's ********' everywhere.

Really, if you want to be an artist, why the hell would you just want to be like 10,000 other people copying the same animu screencaps (because that's where a lot of anime-hating comes from)?

You can do literally ANYTHING with art once you have built your skills. Like, ******** ANYTHING. And that anything, I guarantee you, will be awesome, and will make you happier than you ever thought you could be, provided you've put the time and effort in to get there (which most anime artists don't, because like Nina said, they can sell mediocre work to teens because it's popular and shiny).

So I just don't understand wanting to imitate the same old generic stuff. There are a lot of anime artists who have a distinctive style within that umbrella, but in my opinion, 90% of it all looks the same and is just depressingly boring.

Just my thoughts.

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Melody Niwa
See now, THAT sort of art, if you can call it art, I just don't get. And I'm a person that enjoys looking at anime art. You can find me browsing DA for the stuff constantly.

But it's those artists that are all like "Well, some anime art really sucks, therefore I will show no respect for anime or anime artists in general." that bother me.
Wells, there are some people who used to draw anime-style, then realise that it's hurting instead of helping them, so they drop all association with anime completely and sort of ferociously backpedal from it in everything that they say or do. Those people make me feel like they need a big-eyed, bobble-headed hug though.

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Some anime art can be very beautiful. What mostly ruins it is the attitude of most, not all, anime artists. Good or bad.Oh and the fandom.

Some artists that have talent just draw anime because it's popular. A lot of DA's most popular artists will put up crap knowing people are going to kiss their toes anyway. Never putting effort into anything serious like galleries, or even a comic. They've become popular on what is basically a social media site and will draw fan arts of actual comic artists and make money by selling key chains or what have you. Because the fandom eats it up.God forbid they put effort into making their own distict style of something and their fans don't eat it up like a picture of Naruto....

As for the fandom. My gawd I hate most of the fandom. And I use to be part of it. Westerners putting random Japanese words into sentences and drawing eyeballed work expecting to be praised. And then when they try to draw something original...well it looks like poo on a stick. then they don't want to improve because "anime isn't realistic so I don't have to draw perfectly, it's my style!"

And then they try to get into serious art colleges with nothing but anime because they feel they don't have to branch out...

They also obsess and ruin some fairly decent shows obsessing...Kuroshitsuji is a very well put together show (I love gothic aristocratic victorian and paranormal stuff) lord forbid I buy something from it because I'd be lumped in with the maniacs...

I could go on and on and on...I have a list of my own biases so maybe i'm not the best person to answer.


I went off topic a bit there... D:
I am one of the people who look down at others who draw anime, badly.

I get very annoyed when I'm looking at art schools and readying my portfolio, and all of a sudden another high school student shows up with a portfolio full of anime. It annoys that crap out of me because they think it's just as good as professional anime or from life art. One of the schools I'm applying to even has "do not submit any anime" written on their website. They go as far as to say: Do not submit any anime, because most of the time it isn't as good as you think it is...blah blah... Japan has enough anime artists who are good at their jobs. Paraphrasing, but I thought it was hilarious.

I only draw anime when I'm selling it on gaia, I would never dare put it into my admissions portfolio, those students are idiots and will not be accepted.

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Ms Spook
And then they try to get into serious art colleges with nothing but anime because they feel they don't have to branch out...


I'm ashamed to say that I was EXTREMELY close to doing that. I started the 11th grade this year dead set on going to a design school and becoming a graphic artist, even though I've only ever really drawn anime. Then I took a graphic design course and failed one of the major projects (which was a painting...I suck at painting), which made me realize that wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.

Now I plan to go into business, marketing in particular. I'll draw anime on the side as a hobby.

Shout-out to the teacher for saving my future! biggrin
Ms Spook
Some anime art can be very beautiful. What mostly ruins it is the attitude of most, not all, anime artists. Good or bad.Oh and the fandom.

Some artists that have talent just draw anime because it's popular. A lot of DA's most popular artists will put up crap knowing people are going to kiss their toes anyway. Never putting effort into anything serious like galleries, or even a comic. They've become popular on what is basically a social media site and will draw fan arts of actual comic artists and make money by selling key chains or what have you. Because the fandom eats it up.God forbid they put effort into making their own distict style of something and their fans don't eat it up like a picture of Naruto....

As for the fandom. My gawd I hate most of the fandom. And I use to be part of it. Westerners putting random Japanese words into sentences and drawing eyeballed work expecting to be praised. And then when they try to draw something original...well it looks like poo on a stick. then they don't want to improve because "anime isn't realistic so I don't have to draw perfectly, it's my style!"

And then they try to get into serious art colleges with nothing but anime because they feel they don't have to branch out...

They also obsess and ruin some fairly decent shows obsessing...Kuroshitsuji is a very well put together show (I love gothic aristocratic victorian and paranormal stuff) lord forbid I buy something from it because I'd be lumped in with the maniacs...

I could go on and on and on...I have a list of my own biases so maybe i'm not the best person to answer.


I went off topic a bit there... D:


Exactly how I feel, especially the art school part lol

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