Constructive Criticism

I like to draw girls.  Years ago, when I started drawing, I really struggled with the female form, and I worked way harder on it then the male form, then hormones kicked in and I was like "girls are fucking awesome" and I just kept drawing them.  I dig old pinup stuff, like 40's and 50's style, and I like sort of hyper-stylized cartoony stuff, the influence of both of which I think you can see a lot of in my stuff.

I have gotten the expected, and fair criticisms about objectification and impossible proportion and just the usual "eh, it's not for me."  One thing I DIDN'T think I'd ever get criticized for was not drawing super skinny women.  I'm not talking obese, but I like boobs and hips, so I don't exactly draw waifs.

Years ago, when I was in college, the group of friends I hung out with included this awkward older woman (maybe 35 at the time, but it's weirder when you remember we were early 20's) who sort of shared our interest in artwork, animation, cartooning, and all that stuff.  She eventually started dating one of my friends and even before that, she was always hanging around with him.  So we saw a lot of her, is what I'm saying.

I was drawing a lot then, really working on getting better and trying to find my own style and doing my comic strip for the college paper.  One day I was sitting on the couch drawing, and she happened to be sitting next to me while we were all watching TV, she looked over at the girl I was drawing, and was like "ugh, that's just not good," which was a little insulting.

"Why?" I asked.  At the time, I thought it WAS pretty good.

"There should be a gap between her thighs, and she's just too fat," she replied matter of factly.

I was kind of taken aback because, again, I just never thought I'd get flak from a woman about not drawing a skinny woman.  Especially from a frumpy fan of sweatshirts who certainly didn't have a gap between her thighs.  (Of all the specific things to comment on, by the way..."thigh gap."  Sigh.  As if anyone not high-fiving a fellow douchebag while browsing the Chive could even give a shit about that.  My god.  But I digress.)

I remember looking at the sketch, and kind of thinking, but that's how this character looks, she's NOT super thin, kind of shrugging to myself, and to my credit, continuing to work on the revolting gapless blob.  I'm sure I still have the drawing, buried in one of a hundred old sketchbooks, if I can find it, I'll edit the post to include it.

Anyway, a while later, she made another comment on another drawing, but by that point, we'd sort of had it out over other things and she decided she didn't really care to be around me anymore, so she and the guy she liked usually hung out elsewhere, so while it was strange that she broke the silence to once again say I drew women too fat, it was sort of her last word on the subject.

It did always stick with me, though, and it pops into my head way more often than I'd like to admit when I'm drawing.  I don't think I've ever let it change how I draw or anything, but of all the criticism I've gotten, constructive or otherwise, what a weird thing to have rattling around in your head about your art.

Pictured: A big gross cow-pig, apparently.