The Dark Side of Digital Art Communities

It is likely that you are a member of at least one digital art community of some sort. This could be dedicated places such as deviantART or GFXartist, or just forums (and sub-forums) or blogs you frequent. Whatever kind of place you prefer, you use it as a place to display your work, criticize other people’s works, discuss techniques and exchange knowledge. Also, because you’re a human being and your main weakness is an unholy fear of being alone, you of course enjoy the social aspect of it all. But there is a dark side to being a member of any digital art community, a horrible, terrible, hideous side…

Being a member becomes more important than creating.

This is something I have noticed in daily life, but I think especially applies to us amateurs, enthusiasts and beginners. Because we are weak and vulnerable. We have aspirations and goals, and we are little pieces of non-toxic clay ready to be shaped by our environments. See, while the benefits of being part of a group can be great, it also comes with social obligations. And when those social obligations get in the way of you making what you want to make, you’re in trouble. Anytime anything gets in the way of you making what you want to make you are in trouble. Remember this. What can get in the way? Well, I’m going to be blunt here and say you crave attention. Most likely the good kind of attention. There are some freaks out there who love negative attention, but let’s ignore Amy Winehouse for now. Especially if you’re an up-and-coming digital artist, attention is your friend. So, what if one of your works becomes popular in a particular community, what if it’s a hit? Most likely you will be more inclined to make those kinds of works. What if that particular work is not your favorite? What if it’s a medium you don’t really enjoy working in? You got yourself quite a conflict.

Besides your weak psyche, another problem is that these kinds of places usually only offer two kinds of criticism: Unending praise, or utter condemnation and personal attacks.. The condemnation is usually just trolling, and you should ignore it. It’s useless, but unless your confidence is incredibly low, not a real problem. No, the real issue is the unending praise. The sense of community means people like you, and when they like you they don’t want to hurt you or say anything bad about you or your work. What happens next? You get an unrealistic view of the quality of your work. When you get criticism from another source that is not as positive you get scared and retreat back to the safety of the almighty bubble that is your community, or your group of friends within that community.  You will be stuck there. You will not grow, you will stagnate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if your work started to resemble the work of the other people in the bubble more and more.

And that sucks. You don’t want that. You want to be original, you want to make things the way you want to make them.

It doesn’t have to be like that, be aware of what being part of the community can do to you. Reap the benefits without succumbing to the dark side. Don’t get caught up in groupthink, go your own way.