So, today I drew a little cartoon for a co-worker who was having a bad day. It didn't go over too well- he tore it up and tossed it. Him being a giant jerkface aside, I can't stand when art is defaced. From my 5-minute doodle, to, say, a mural or something.

In my opinion, art is something that is very personal. When someone thinks so little of it that they alter it in some way or even destroy it, I find it extremely disrespectful.

Anyone else have feelings on the subject?

I agree with you. I can easily ignore all insults upon me without getting mad, but when someone insults something I created, that's just too far.

For example, this one girl at school decided that she wanted to draw happy faces all over my artwork while I was drawing it. It went on for a few days. That was about a month ago and I still won't talk to her.

People are so disrepectful.

Yikes... that's no fun. I sympathize with you, it's difficult to watch someone tear apart your attempts to cheer them up, whether verbally, or physically as you've described.

I agree completely. I treasure my artwork. I've been collecting all my drawings for a good... 5 years now. I couldn't stand losing that work, even though the quality is horrid compared to my art now, I still look back on them to see how I've improved.

Wow. I don't think I'd ever speak to that guy again. Bad day or not, that doesn't give you the right to rip up the work of someone who was just trying to cheer you up.

Anyway, that guy aside, I agree. I had a teacher in high school who used to draw right on top of my drawings when he wanted something fixed. It used to drive me up the wall and I finally asked him to stop doing it and just tell me what he thought I should change. I know he was just trying to teach me, but unless the artist specifically asks someone else to draw directly on their artwork, it's not cool (especially when it's in a media that can't easily be removed!).

As for actually RIPPING UP someone else's work.. That's just asking for firey death.

Like others here; I do expect others to appreciate what I've taken time to create. If they don't like it, they should at least respect it as a creation.

Punch the bastard in the face.

oh my god. I would had seriously clawed out his eyes for doing that.

the same to the other people who defaces others' artwork.

Wow...that would have killed me. Kick that man right in the shin. While I don't expect everyone to like what I draw, I hope that people will at least respect it.

Oh my goodness :s Art means the world to me xD I've never had someone destroy a picture I made for them before tho :o That's very harsh. Art that you draw on a piece of paper comes directly from your heart and your imagination. For someone to destroy a piece of art of mine or say something mean about it, it would just destroy me :x

wow... um...
I dunno, I'm kind of indifferent to having my art ripped up... I've done it so many times to myself I don't think I have a soul for that kind of thing anymore. I used to get reall angry over it.
Once I left my cartooning book on the sidewalk to play basketball. I came back and it was in the bushes and three of my favorite cartoons had been ripped right out. Bastard could have asked if he/she could have them. BASTARD.
And sometimes last year I had my sketchbook on the table and I'd come back and one of my friends had drawn on the characters. But that was more funny than angering... until he did it in ink one day.
I dunno, as long as I can draw it again, that's fine. I figure by the time I get to redrawing, I'll be more practiced than I was before.

omg Green tangerine, that just brought back an unhappy memory of high school!
One time I drew something in art class (it only took like 15 minutes, but it came out well-- for my skill level at the time) and this girl at my table took it from me and ripped it in 2! I can't remember why... but I cried! (then again, I cry at everything ever. The overture of 1812 makes me cry.) but yeah!!
as far as verbal insults... it actually depends on the person that's insulting my work. If it's my sister, then I just scoff at her and look down my nose condescendingly at her. (or, sometimes, cry. haha!!)
If it's someone who's better than me, I swallow my pride and act cordial and ask for pointers. (That's only happened maybe once.. usually when people are better than me, they're nice about those things.)
When it's someone whose work is worse than mine, I get really pissy and tune them out.

But yeah, art is really sacred to me. The thought of my art being destroyed chills me to the core.
Like when I was moving out of my freshman dorm, by mistake I hit a painting of mine against a wall or something (it was 30"x40") and some of the paint chipped off and I freaked! but that was partially because painting took over my life last year.

maybe she was jealous...hmm 1812. piano guy on a boat? good movie

i want some of the drawings i gave to people back.
good thing i only do digital art now, i can back it all up!

Diss my art, I'm cool with that. I developed a thick skin over the years I'm used to it.

Been to art school... teachers can be very blunt sometimes. I'm one of the old old members of DD... and when it started, you get your shit critiqued, you get pretty blunt and offensive shit sometimes... like... "HEY MY LITTLE 5 YEAR OLD SISTER CAN DRAW BETTER THAN THAT!!!" or... "HEY! YOU ARE A WASTE OF INTERNET SPACE! THIS IS THE STUPIDEST MOST CLICHE SHIT I EVER READ! JUST KILL YOURSELF ASSHOLE!!!"


A funny one I remember particularly for lack of vocabulary:

"You draw like shit. I mean bad shit. not good shit. And oh... Eminem sux." (reference to my idolization of eminem during my teen years)

Well, critique is one thing (although neither of the examples you gave are actually critiques, just childish flames). Even verbal bashing of art is one thing. But physically taking an image and ripping it into shreds is quite another thing. :p

that's why that was the old DD. we take little tolerance with flames now.

Oh, I understand. It just irks me when someone says things like that ("DIS SUX U SHUD GO DIE IN A FIER OK" ) and then tries to pass it off as a critique when the artist gets annoyed. :p

the art in my sketchbook is so sacred to me that when me and my friends were being chased by a helicopter (for being in an off-limitss bird sacutary...which is really just a fun feild) my sketch book fell out of my back pack while i was running and i went back to get it.....while a HELICOPTER was chasing us!! talk about scary....;;;

Critiquing is fine. It happens, it helps, and if you're planning on a career in art, you have to prepare for the fact that it will occur a great deal. However ripping something up literally is just ridiculous.

As for it's value, right now my genitals are more disposable than my hands.

I'm usually irritated when people screw up my drawings, but every time that's happened (and to be honest, it's been amazingly rare) it was because they had some kind of invisible gripe with me, or were simply prone to having their brain switch to 'off' mode. So the return grudge was justified, and I never trusted them ever again.

Critique, I never listen to unless it's been asked for, because... well... it's not exactly hard to spot that the hand on the page, doesn't look like a natural hand, and in the past people have just shut up and walked away when I actually asked for it, so yeah.
Guess being picky has it's benefits.

Once, I was drawing a picture on photoshop, and my mom called me, so I had to leave it on for a while. My brother drew a mustache and a monicle on my person, and I was pissed as hell :(

I hate it when someone messes with my artwork! It makes me wanna strangle them! *strangles brother*

Tatsu
the art in my sketchbook is so sacred to me that when me and my friends were being chased by a helicopter (for being in an off-limitss bird sacutary...which is really just a fun feild) my sketch book fell out of my back pack while i was running and i went back to get it.....while a HELICOPTER was chasing us!! talk about scary....;;;

haha omg that's really intense

:/ I also hate it when people run their fingers over a pencil drawing or other smearable creation...

Oh, and when people see you have a sketchbook, wrench it from you and flip through it like it's a gallery, making loud comments and refusing to return it. I usually pull it back and say, "Hey, would you like me stealing your diary and reading it outloud right in front of you!?"

Seriously...people...sketchbooks are private.

suzi
:/ I also hate it when people run their fingers over a pencil drawing or other smearable creation...

Oh, and when people see you have a sketchbook, wrench it from you and flip through it like it's a gallery, making loud comments and refusing to return it. I usually pull it back and say, "Hey, would you like me stealing your diary and reading it outloud right in front of you!?"

Seriously...people...sketchbooks are private.

I agree completely with everything she just said.

One of the first things we had to do in art school was take one of our favorite pictures from the sketchbook we made over the summer, and shred it.

It was a relief really.

It never helps to become too attatched to your old work. Once it's created, expect to do better. I've had work that I've spent days on, completely destroyed one way or another. A particularly heart breaking incident was when someone stole my thumb drive, with all of my finals on it.

That one hurt. Not so much that the art was destroyed, but the fact that it would take days to do it all over again.

My art is not sacred to me. It's just lines on paper, or lines on a screen. Sure, I can be proud of my work, but nothing will stop me from tearing it apart and starting over if I'm not satisfied. What is really important to me is my will to improve, and focusing on the past is not the way to promote progress.

Having that guy tear up your doodle was pretty shitty though. It's not nice to tear up acts of kindness, even if you are angry.

I'm pretty okay destroying my own drawings. But definitely not others destroying my drawings, I would feel insulted if someone does that to me. If it's destroyed, I could redraw it anytime and even try to do better than the original. I have no regrets even after destroying my own artworks as well.

O.O . . . I'm afraid there'd be a massacre of more than just one guy if that happened to me. O.o DAMN! I'm so sorry for you! *GLOMP of love* T-T

Art is like my life. I keep my color pencils with me. I keep a stack of paper wherever I go. and I ALWAYS have Boogey Dancing in my hand. I get vengeful and tyranny if someone was to do something bad to my art. >:E I am the worst person to upset when it comes to my art. Granted, I can handle a flame, and I can handle crit. But to physically abuse my art... that's a whole new turn.

Akumyo
One of the first things we had to do in art school was take one of our favorite pictures from the sketchbook we made over the summer, and shred it.

Yeah, people have been doing variations of that for years, it was big in the 60's I believe. Sometimes a lecturer will even get students to burn a favourite painting. Personally I think it's waste of good work, just for the sake of some silly and obvious thought exercise in not being "precious".

I've been doing artwork for years and I'm GLAD I have real physical records of what I've done to look back on and see where I've been. Trust me, you won't always have the "skill to do better" with you. I can't tell you the amount of people I've met that "used to do art" but quit years ago for various reasons (not enough time, illness or injury etc), and now have no record of what they ever did or could do, and because of time or physical inability they've lost any skill they might once have laid claim to.

Not only do they have nothing to show for their years doing art, but they don't even have good memories of what they did either... All they have is someone who remembers what they once were :(

How melodramatic :)
But I've seen it many times. So do be a bit precious. It's your way of making a mark on the world.

I've had people snatch my sketchbook from me before, and although I'm a really easy going guy, it still riled me up a bit. Mainly because, well, it's a sketchbook and my art in there isn't the best, it's not the final project. It's mainly process work and various anatomy studies and the like. People are especially immature when it comes to the anatomy studies as well, they act like sixth graders. "ZOMG! BOOBS!" "DUDE! You drew that guy naked?! GAAAAYY!"

Of the few things that raise my ire, people being disrespectful of the thing that I pour so much of my heart and soul into, is a major major one.

Just my li'l soapbox. ;D

-W

So, as a sidenote to this- the guy who tore up the picture in the first place went ballistic over something else and got fired, because the bosses couldn't handle him anymore!
Yay, slightly less tension at work!

Heh heh, serves him right >:D