The reasons.

Okay, in my last post I hinted that my reasons for participating in this blog would be laid out in a separate post. This is that post.

Okay... for starters. I am the nice one on this site. I try to be polite, even in criticism, refrain from unwarranted personal attacks, and in general am the diplomatic arm of things. My friends, especially rinku, do not always fit this mold. Hence I was brought in to cover that part of things.

Do note mistake their blunt mannerisms (or caustic in rinkus case) as being the product of a seething cauldron of hate against ryuu, they aren't, that's just how they are (rinkus actually very nice once you get to know him in fact).

But this post isn't about them or defending them, they don't need me to white-knight for them, or to gather an army of white-knights on their behalf, they can handle themselves. No this post is about me.

I am here because, though I focused more on his art and his reaction to criticism in general, I do not care for his opinions on LGBT people, nor his high and mighty way of conducting himself in general. This is a personal opinion. Do I really know him all that well? No. But I'd bet that you yourselves also form sometimes unfavorable opinions of people you are also equally unfamilliar with beyond a certain point, so you'd be hypocritical to argue against my actions on those grounds.

I however decided to focus on his work as an artist. Yes he is an amateur. So am I, what is your point? He posts his work on a public forum where anyone might see it, and indeed even welcomes attention and viewers... until someone decides they don't really like it. This offends me as an artist in that I am entirely self taught. I had the mandatory high school art class, didn't learn all that much from it, dropped out of art for awhile until I decided to have another go at it.
And I sketched, sketched, sketched, and found it sucked. I went showed my work to people and asked people I knew to be good artists how it was. they thought I could really benefit from learning proper form and technique. Also they thought it sucked too.

Did I whine about being an amateur? Or that I was just starting, or that I had not attended art school? No. No I didn't I took all criticism more detailed then an unhelpful "it sucks, and thus you suck" under consideration, got ahold of some art technique manuals online and from used bookstores and TAUGHT MY OWN DAMNED SELF HOW TO DRAW. I used printer paper when I couldnt get sketch paper, never whined about how I was learning as I went. And I still often feel that I have miles and miles ahead of me. But I have not once whined about being a self taught amateur who hadn't or couldn't attend art school. I did not once treat all criticism of my technique as anathema (oh I sulked, who wouldn't).

I have perceived ryuu to have done this (that is to say, treated criticism of his art as criticism of himself). Many, countless artists on DA have, but here was someone I felt could actually do better then what they were if they actually put effort into a proper self-education on how to draw. And yet he whines about art school, and being an amateur, and various other things. Yes I felt the need to speak up on it. Then I moved on. And yet here we are again.