Let me preface by saying that this situation is entirely ridiculous, and I recognize that. I'm a grown woman who ought to be above being hurt by the equivalent of playground taunts. But sometimes the only way to get things off my chest is to rant. So bear with me, please.

Once in a blue moon, when my website traffic peaks, I like to take a look at where the pageviews are coming from. This helps me to see what forms of advertising are worthwhile in pursuing, and what additional audiences I ought to be reaching out to.

Occasionally, though, it turns out the traffic isn't coming because someone heard something nice about my work. Sometimes, it's the exact opposite...traffic peaks because someone refers to my work as "crap", "poorly done", "unnatural", or "a blatant ripoff". The traffic is a result of viewers intending to see this "crap" for themselves so that they, too, may join in, offering up their own negative comments and opinions towards my sub-par artwork.

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. I can respect this. There will always be people who enjoy my art, and others who dislike it, and those with no opinion who ignore it completely. That's fine. But what isn't so fine is when someone decides to take a piece of my work and openly discuss with another group of people that I have never met "how much it sucks", to be blunt. No helpful critique, mind you... just blatant dislike, presumably under the impression that I won't physically come across their words myself.

I could childishly retort, "Well, let's see YOU do better!" but let's face it...a majority of people probably would do better. But, the fact is, I love art, and I always have. I love to see it, and I love to make it. It saddens me that some think I ought to give up and quit rather than practice and better myself. But what would be the point in living if we all gave up doing what we love simply because not everyone thinks it's good enough? I can look back over my own drawings and can literally see the levels of improvement that have come with repeated practice over the last two years. If I were to give up now, that improvement would stop, and without practice, would eventually dwindle down to nothing. If I can see the improvement, why would I want to stop? Just because some nameless face on the internet said I ought to?

I'm sorry, nameless face. But that's just not a good enough reason for me.