The Opinions Of Others

When you are a creator, or more specifically, anytime you create something, you pour a little bit of your soul into it. At least, that's how it can feel and it might explain why criticism can be so hard to take sometimes. More so when you are making art to show to people after spend many hours, days, weeks or months working on making is as perfect as can be.

Time over time I see artists posting about how they can read ten good, glowing, praising comments and be content with that, but then one negative comment comes along and they spiral into depression. You can never please all the people, all of the time, but with the internet it seems you're lucky if you don't get death threats for posting whatever it is you posted.

I've had people tell me I'm unfunny. That my voice sounds terrible. That I'm so unfunny and bad at what I do that I should die in a ditch and go to hell. From the disinterested, "meh" to more thorough dissections of my work, I've received plenty of negative comments, and will continue to get them as I create more. It's a fact of life. It's a fact of the internet. It should never stop you from making what you make though.

Here are some favorite quotes that I think all artists should keep in mind when it comes to people liking or not liking your work:
“Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible; and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien

"You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the World, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches." 

-Dita Von Teese

Just as a closing thought, two bits to think about here:

One, most Youtube commenters spend about 5 seconds on their post. Should you really spend more than 5 seconds thinking about whatever they said, good or bad? Second, there are people who didn't like Star Wars. Star Wars! Maybe they're a Star Trek fan, maybe they hate scifi, whatever, and they are entitled to their opinion. In the end though, Star Wars was a huge cultural phenomena still having an impact today, and it still has haters. So don't focus on the negative comments, focus on the positive ones. They will take you farther.