It’s such a strange feeling when something comes into your life like a movie or an artist or a band that just feels like it’s made from the same stuff you are, it immediately becomes part of how you define yourself and it’s everything you see yourself as at that point in your life and everything that you aspire to be and it’s such a bizarre sensation when you discover something and you immediately feel it fill a hole inside you that you didn’t know was there
Okay, so…pretty frequently I see people wondering why some artists are as popular as they are when they’re “not actually good at art” or whatever. Speaking as someone who has had these thoughts as well, insofar as I can tell, possible factors in artistic popularity (at least fandom-wise) are as follows:
1. Prodigious technical skills, based on a traditional interpretation of the term “skill”. Aesthetically-pleasing, well-made art. Stellar craftsmanship. Et cetera. This is not strictly necessary, however, if you have one or more of these in addition to even decent technical skills: 2. Niche appeal. A unique style, a favorite character/ship a fraction of the fandom is passionate about, or a skill few other people have acquired (like animation, for instance). 3. Powerful concept. Not just making pretty doodles, but art with a narrative or a wealth of extra details or thought-provoking features. 4. Wow value. I think this really only works in combination with a really good concept, but if you can really power through something huge and impressive that other people wouldn’t generally have the dedication for, they tend to sit up and take notice. 5. Prolific creation. Making a lot of stuff keeps people interested, even if all of it isn’t super-wow-awesome. 6. Being nice to people doesn’t hurt.
This isn’t meant to be a guide to popularity–rather, next time you’re like “why is that person’s art so popular? I think they suck”, you might consider these points and maybe ease off a bit. The artist, after all, is just doing what they enjoy. You may think everyone who likes their stuff is having some kind of mass hallucination, but that’s their business.
Every time I see people like “cats are evil and will never love you” I’m like bro cats are adorable losers, they rub against you and head butt into your hand when you pet them and they make a dumb vibrating noise when they’re happy and chase after moving lights and shoelaces and tuck their feet under their bodies to become a fucking cat loaf cats are great ok.
you never have to force yourself to change to “prove your abuser wrong” about whatever they said or implied about you. your traits or even flaws are never justification for the abuse you endured.
the end goal of recovering from abuse is not proving them wrong, being more successful than them, or anything of the sort if you don’t want to and/or can’t do any of the above. it’s living without the person(s) who hurt you, and being safe and happy doing whatever you feel the right path is for you.
you are strong and deserving of happiness on your own terms.
I-want-my-IWTV 