The Ignorant Teapot Calling the Kettle Black
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There will come a time in your life when you share your art with someone who is trained in art, never created their own art, but has the guts to scoff and tell you that what you’ve created is completely wrong. Ouch! Nope, it doesn’t feel good…at first. Then you come to realize that they aren’t even ambitious enough to create their own work and live up to their words, so they would rather cut down yours.
Say for instance you are a musician and you created a new song. You didn’t go to school for music. Everything you do is self taught. So no, you’re not the next Mozart, but you are creating original art that is all your own. Well, you decide to share it with an acquaintance…a 17 year old bratty band nerd that is mainly focused on partying and figuring out who she can cheat on next. You play your song and before the first note comes out she says “omg, are you going to drop the bass?” After the third note she comments that you are doing it all the wrong way. “You have to wait for the crescendo, then drop the bass.” In your head you think “Who said anything about dropping the bass? Is this a high school thing?” But then you pick up on something of importance. What’s this? A crescendo? Tell me more? She goes on to explain a crescendo, “it’s a gradual increase in loudness or intensity,” demonstrating that she knows a bit about music. Ok, this is great feedback, you love constructive criticism. So you ask her if she’ll play some of her music for you to get an idea of what she means. But she says “oh, I’m not that good, I don’t make my own music.” You are in shock and ask again, “You don’t make your own music?” “Nope,” she mutters. Here she is down playing your original music without giving it 20 seconds of air time and she’s never even created a song of her own?? That’s like me criticizing someone for using the rule of thirds when I’ve never taken a photo in my life.
Don’t let stuff like this bring you down. Laugh at the ignorant teapot for calling the kettle black and not having the guts to create it’s own art. If the art means something to you, then by all means, create it. Accept constructive criticism from someone experienced, it’s the best thing you can do to improve your art. But be sure to ignore the trolls of the world that only want to make you as miserable as them.
