Fragile Male Identity And "feminine Hobbies"

[insideontheoutside]

One of the main points in making art is because you can't NOT make art. Your art and creativity comes from inside and really you shouldn't be doing your own personal art to please anyone but yourself.

If you're trying to make a living off your artistic talent, unless you team up with a VERY good agent, you'll need to branch off into other creative fields like design. Contrary to some popular belief, comic book artists do not make a lot of money. If you're one that does fine art as well, you certainly can if you get known (aka James Jean) but there are a million and one comic book artists out there and it's a very hard industry to break into.

The bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere though. Get some confidence, hone your talent, and stop letting other people's judgment of you be a deal breaker.

[popweasel]

The bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere though. Get some confidence, hone your talent, and stop letting other people's judgment of you be a deal breaker.

Easier said than done! I know you would understand how it is.

[insideontheoutside]

Easier said than done! I know you would understand how it is.

It's not a, "happen overnight" thing for sure. But take a step to acknowledge that it's holding you back and making it all worse. Then change just a single way you look at it ... then when you feel confident with that change ... change one more ... until you have a more positive or even neutral attitude about it.

There were points in my life where I absolutely hated myself. But looking back, my attitude added exponentially to my misery every single time.

[japple]

One of the main points in making art is because you can't NOT make art. Your art and creativity comes from inside and really you shouldn't be doing your own personal art to please anyone but yourself.

If you're trying to make a living off your artistic talent, unless you team up with a VERY good agent, you'll need to branch off into other creative fields like design. Contrary to some popular belief, comic book artists do not make a lot of money. If you're one that does fine art as well, you certainly can if you get known (aka James Jean) but there are a million and one comic book artists out there and it's a very hard industry to break into.

The bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere though. Get some confidence, hone your talent, and stop letting other people's judgment of you be a deal breaker.

I love everything you say.

I have an agent, even with an agent they aren't great at making the deals or selling..they're mostly good at negotiating the deals once you tell them what you want to do or who you want to meet.  You can't get a good agent without doing some notable work first.  My agent turned me down twice before taking me.

I did comics and ended up making what a fast food employee would make.  Page rates are terrible, royalties are non-existent, and even thought I was lucky enough to get in on the mainstream book pubisher's rush to comics and got a couple big advances...this money was gone in the year it took to make a book.  I lasted all of two years and then realized I could make a lot more in animation or design.   I can make more money doing a display ad for a corporation in two days than a comic that took a month.   I guess it's selling out but I grew up poor so a bohemian artist's lifestyle isn't super appealing.   I read the Rozz Tox Manifesto: http://www.altx.com/manifestos/rozztox.html which inspired Matt Groening.

If you live in the US you live in a capitalist society so half of art is figuring out capitalism.

You must become less judgmental.  If you are too judgmental of others, you'll end up being too judgmental of yourself (unless you're a narcissist)   Just make stuff.  A LOT of stuff.

[popweasel]

It's not a, "happen overnight" thing for sure. But take a step to acknowledge that it's holding you back and making it all worse. Then change just a single way you look at it ... then when you feel confident with that change ... change one more ... until you have a more positive or even neutral attitude about it.

There were points in my life where I absolutely hated myself. But looking back, my attitude added exponentially to my misery every single time.

Thanks bro I guess it works that way

[JohnR]

You can PM your art to japple to be critiqued now you have enough posts.

[Dante]

To the original post;

I do feel this way sometimes, since I do have a few "feminine" hobbies. I watch some "girly" anime, I love to write, and I love books about vampires (as long as there's no romance or sex involved; but that's my asexuality kicking in there). Honestly, if anyone tries to give me crap about it, I just tell them that it doesn't matter to me what they think; I like what I like and I'm not going to give it up just because people consider it "girly". Besides, "masculine" and "feminine" are defined by society; if you want to be physically male, that may or may not have anything to do with masculine or feminine characteristics of your personality. Everyone's different; some men are masculine, some are feminine, and most are somewhere in between. I think you should do what you enjoy, and not let it get you down that people consider it "girly".

And, if it makes you feel any better, my very close friend (who is male) is masculine, but he also writes poetry. I understand what you mean, that since he's a guy they would think "He's just being creative," instead of, if he were a girl, "She's just being a girl."

It's all ultimately up to you, but I think you should continue doing what you enjoy, and just ignore the people who try to tell you that you're not a man because of it.