I know this has probably been done before and has been written so much more eloquently (and if you have done an article very similar to this - please excuse me), but I figured I should give my own perspective on them, how I work, and how I can be guilty or have been guilty in the past, and what annoys me most about them. Recognising our faults is one step to getting better, after all. The Seven Deadly Sins of Art: Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride.
Lust: This is the one I portrayed above in the accompanying art piece. And - much as I love me some One Piece and a few other series here and there - getting into anime and manga didn't really help me on this one. I don't believe I haven't seen a single series that didn't have fanservice of some kind (and that's just the series itself, let alone the doujinshii/fan-art/fanfiction that's created afterwards). Some of my earlier manga drawings of women - they'd have boobs with each one the size of her head (which, I find, I also drew strangely large) and eyelashes like spiders' legs (with said eyes half-closed in what I thought was an alluring look). Now, fanservice is all well and good, and in general I see nothing wrong with it, but when it's shoehorned in (which I often did way back) or when it's all your characters seem to do ... it can just look awful. Unless, of course, you're writing for a H-game, but I doubt people really play those type of H-games for the gripping plot (just for gripping their - yeah, I'm not going to complete that sentence).
Greed/Gluttony: I stuck these two together, because from an art perspective I see them as very similar. On DeviantART, so many people judge their success as an artist on how many favourites or watchers or pageviews they get. I'm not saying that traditional and original pieces don't get love on DA (because they do) but fan-art is by far the most popular thing on that site because that's what a lot of DA users visit for or search for. So, what do people do when they don't get a lot of pageviews or faves? They go promote themselves.
Now, that's a natural thing to do - nobody will know you unless you get your name out there, and I have viewed galleries that deserve a lot more attention than they're given. However, it's how some artists do it that annoys me and several others - like commenting 'VIEW MY GALLERY!!! LOOKATMELOOKATMELOOKATMELOOKATME' on random artists' pages (especially if said artist is popular), or plugging their gallery or their work on every post they make on a forum (having it in your profile's website-field or signature doesn't count) or on every comment they post on YouTube.
I was guilty of this as a kid when MatMice webpages and AOL forums were all the rage, but I quickly learnt how it pissed people off - many threads would be posted just promoting the same DeviantART or page over and over again by the same user. Those people weren't looking for feedback (other than 'omg so kewl'), they were just looking for pageviews and perhaps attracting the attention of those 'random favers'.
I have a web counter on my blog, so I realise how much I must sound like a hypocrite to you, dear reader. But I don't judge my success as an artist based on those little green numbers - I listen to the feedback I get. Many favourites and many pageviews do not a brilliant artist make.
Secondly, those sites and users who cry, moan and groan for donations or free subscriptions or even free art (not ask, not put a discreet PayPal button on their navigation bar, not 'I'm running into some troubled times, if you want to still see this site up, I'd really appreciate a couple of bucks', not 'Do you take requests?' but cry, moan and groan and stamp their foot if they don't get it). If people want to donate or give you a DA subscription or draw you some line-art, they will. Don't feel like you're entitled to them - it's their money, they have a right to spend it how they see fit. In the case of other artists, it's their drawing-time. If they donate or do a piece of artwork for you, awesome. If they don't, it's not the end of the world. Really. I've never done this personally and never will, as it really annoys me when people do.
Sloth: Laaaaziness. I honestly think every artist has felt lazy when faced with a certain art piece at some point, and I've been guilty of this too (sometimes my lineart's been shoddy when I could have taken some time out to be more steady with my hand, I could have taken more time out on shading ... my main issue is I can get impatient and I want to see the thing completed). However, we artists must suffer, taking years and years and years out to develop our style and work on our craft. It's only relatively recently I've got back into anatomy and still life, I know many people who don't because they don't want to deal with 'that boring stuff'. I was told, by the guy who interviewed me for my college course, that I must practise still-life more. I did, and I feel the quality of my other artwork improved greatly because of it.
Now, if I really don't feel up to doing a certain task on a certain piece or if I'm tired or if there's an unrelated-something huge on my mind - I put it down or quit GIMP and go and work on something else for a while until the next day when I can come back to it. I get really impatient at times, and that doesn't really do my art any favours. The best thing, I feel, for me to do is just give myself a break from the piece until I can give the piece the time and attention it deserves.
Wrath: I find this mainly when we get responses to our work that we dislike. I'm going to quote something I wrote in response to kilderok's DA News Article:
"I know it's the 'nets, and on the 'nets (and IRL) you're going to get a load of varied responses to your work (and it's impossible to please everybody) so it definitely helps to get used to all kinds of comments and reviews. However, we're only human, and to have something we worked hard on insulted and torn to bits (especially in the way trolls usually do it) - it's perfectly natural to be hurt or offended.
Although I totally agree with 'you shouldn't respond to trolls, or if you do be polite about it, defend your position without throwing expletives at them and thank them for stopping by anyway' (nothing pisses them off more than the latter response, because you're not giving the reaction they looked for), a lot of people seem to think that if you feel offended by those comments, you have a 'thin skin'. Not true - we're only human and although we can control how we respond to these people, it's still natural to feel upset."
So, yes ... I do understand if one gets upset at a flame or you feel hurt - of course you would, if you worked hard on a piece. However, on the internet, we have an advantage over face-to-face communication - we can control how we react. If you're seriously angry over that comment or whatever, just get up and walk away from the keyboard until you've calmed down enough to respond without dropping F-bombs in it. Telling them to go eff themselves up the a isn't going to do anything good, it's not going to scare people or make them sorry for writing such a thing - it just makes you look like a jerk. The same really goes if someone says something against an artist you like - nobody likes obsessive fangirls/fanboys tearing each others' throats out, unless they've turned up to laugh at the flamewar.
Now, I'm pretty lucky in that I haven't been flamed often. I have been, but it hasn't happened often. I tend to steer clear of internet drama and internet fighting, too - so if I get a comment or a response that's snarky or snappy or just downright rude, I just thank them for their time anyway or politely correct them if they got the wrong idea (even if I'm seething inside).
Envy: The one I'm most guilty of. *raises hand* Envy of other people's work. I've seen some amazing artists both in museums and on the internet, and I cast an eye over my own work and think "I can't hold a candle to that". When I'm having a bad day, it's even "Who am I kidding, thinking I'm any good?" or "Maybe I should just give up now".
No. Bad Polyrhythm. Bad. And if you think that too, bad reader. Bad reader. As kilderok said, giving up is not allowed.
People's strengths in art can differ vastly. I know some brilliant animators (both Flash and clay-mation). Some of my classmates in sixth-form were great at 3D and textiles. Some people are like human photocopiers in that they can draw from a still-life image perfectly. Every artist has his or her own strength and style, and employers and commissioners look for the certain style they want (which can be any style at all). And besides ... nobody's going to get better if they give up.
So there.
But I still get bad days.
Pride: Just like how too much Wrath can make you look like a jerk, so can too much Pride. It's good to be confident in your work. It really, really is. But when you have an ego the size of Russia, you scream at everyone who offers you the slightest bit of criticism (or stick your fingers in your ears and mutter LALALA I'M NOT LISTENING) and you think your art's the best thing since sliced bread ... we may have a problem here.
There is no such thing as the 'perfect artist'. If you ask a hundred people who their favourite artist is or who they think is the most skilled in the art world, you may get fifty or more different answers. The thing about art is that there's always, always room to improve (no matter how many comments you get praising you) and the reviews that give you constructive criticism are the most valuable.
And ... wow, that was a long post, but I've been meaning to write this for a few months now. Hopefully it was a good read or somewhat informative, and if I've given you something to think about, that's great. If not, well, that's great too.
Now to find another topic or theme to go rant on ...
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