Press arrow keys/space/click to progress. The dates are from when I MODIFIED them, so they might be from much much earlier, but it's close enough :) If you feel bored or are up to it, please read this paragraph. Especially if you are a young artist, or need more motivation. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hey there. I'm Zara. I used to be "unikittyjhf." I'm an artist. Based on the fact that you found this, chances are that you are too. Maybe you don't like your current art style, or maybe you feel insecure or unmotivated. Well, when I first joined Scratch, I felt like so many people would tune in to me immediately. The tricky thing is, since Scratch actually isn't the most popular thing in the world, it's hard to actually find people who actually like your projects. Right? No! Although it was a lot slower than some other social media platforms, people will find your projects. But you have to be patient. It's hard. It's hard when you have to spend hours on art or a game, or whatever you're making, and have people either ignore it, consume it in a few seconds, or come at you. Now, what I'm NOT saying is that you shouldn't spend time on your creations. I'm saying that even though you might not get as much recognition, the right people will be able to see that it took a while. The right people will notice you. It's true. Now, I'm sure SO MANY PEOPLE have said this to you, but... You will improve in art. Just keep practicing. Why is that worth saying again? Because it just happens to be the key. You don't have to like my art or think it's cool to listen to what I'm saying. For what I know, you could be saying something like, "wow, that art is TERRIBLE." or "Ew, what even IS that?" or maybe even "My art is better." Are you wondering why I'm 100% okay with the fact that you would be INSULTING my art right now? Because I will improve. But, mainly because... "There's always someone who will be better than you at something, and someone who will always be worse at something than you are." You can't control that. Some people may take art lessons. They may have been drawing for years. But, they started the same way as you did. Heck, they probably even drew those weird childhood potato-people. Where their head is also their body. It's okay to not like your art. And it's okay to want to improve. It's okay to think that your art is better than it was before. But it's NOT OKAY to say that their art sucks, or yours is better. It's NOT OKAY to discourage someone about it. It won't be easy to stop people who will be aggressive and will hate what you do. The reason why is that they won't ever go away. But don't hate back- Try to spread love. It's hard to do that. It's hard to reply to someone who may have even said "your art sucks" with something along the lines of "hey, please leave me alone." or "that's not very kind, please leave.". I know it's hard to try to give them the benefit of the doubt. But imagine them now, in person, maybe they're hating because they actually feel bad about their own art style. Maybe they're jealous of how you have it all figured out. (Truth is, nobody has it figured out. But it sometimes comes up as an illusion that you do.) Maybe they're even jealous that you're happy. When you hate on someone like that, it's most commonly because they feel terrible about themselves. How would I know, anyway? Truth is, I used to actually hate on people, too. When nobody seemed to like me, I felt terrible. Hating made it feel better, but then I felt about twice as bad as I did before, knowing that I hurt someone, and they might now ever forget that. In the end, hating on others gradually made me feel worse and worse as time progressed. But what made it feel even WORSE was that lots of the people would take my imaginary sw0rd that I hurt them with, sharpened it, and st me right back. I'm NOT saying hating is good, or people should hate more. But I finally realized that hating could truly hurt people... BADLY.... when someone was kind, and said, "Hey, I know you feel bad right now, but hating hurts others bad as well. Please don't hate, and I know you'll feel a lot better." It took a bit, but eventually I realized that they weren't lying. I grew out of it, and now I even stand up for people who need it. It's okay to be angry- BUT PLEASE!! Don't take it out on people just trying to survive. We are all just trying to feel recognized when we make art, so lets look at it a different way. Instead of: I could never draw like that. How is that so good? My art is better. They're so perfect. Try: I'm still learning, I can also try some techniques that they tried. They must've spent a lot of time on this. I bet I could do that too, with enough practice. They're still learning. Maybe I can give them some tips! They might look like they're perfect, but everyone has their flaws. (Continued below)
(Continued from above) It's too bad that I don't usually listen to my own advice. But beating myself up isn't going to do anything. Guys, please be kind, okay? There's always going to be hate in the world, but even one person that can stand up to a bully can be enough. You don't have to listen to my advice though, I'm just another person on the internet, with feelings like you. But please try this. Next time you are about to bully someone, think about how this could really affect their life. Be kind. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. :) And thanks for listening to me all the way through :)
