I don't know how many people this reflects... But I do not understand how some artists could find it insulting or annoying that someone thinks something so trivial as "this reminds me of..." I mean, if the viewer has a sense of familiarity, that means they are more liable to be impressed and more attentive. But someone told me "it makes us think you're calling it uncreative."
What?
No matter who you are, you cannot be so unique as to avoid some similarity. I mean, Charles Darwin wasn't the only person who formulated that style of evolution that we know best today. He was just the first to publish and copyright it. That, I can understand possibly being a tad annoying, but just being
similar? Come now, we may be unique individuals, but are we not friends with people of similar mind? Is it annoying for you to be like someone else? I really don't think so.
I am a writer, an artist of literature. I would find it absolutely lovely to be compared to greats such as Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost or Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)! Once again, I don't know how many people this applies to, but I just cannot fathom where that upset comes from. Somebody saying your art or your character reminds them of another is calling the artist uncreative... That just seems like drawing things out of thin air.
We are human beings. We are imperfect from the word go, so what if it's not
perfectly unique? You made it. You put
your heart and soul into it. That is enough to make it unique enough. In real life, we see people with similar haircuts, clothing, interests, and so on; do we get mad at them for being similar? Certainly we want to stand out, certainly we want to be unique. But we can't be
perfectly unique. And that is what I find erroneous about being bothered that someone says your character is similar.
For years now, I have had Sytex this same way. But he's not the only blue and white dragon to exist. A good example of a very similar dragon to Sytex is
Byzil the Dragoness. (Also seen
here.) I have seen this dragoness everywhere, and she is striking to Sytex, yet I have had Sytex in the works before I ever knew of this character's existence. If
I were the artist, would I be upset if someone pointed that out? No. I respect the fact that the character reminds them of another, I would probably smile and wave it by with no animosity, maybe find some interest in the other character. It's not like I go pointing out similarities all the time, but damn.
It's just that we can't be absolutely unique. We are imperfect, and therefore, will have something that is like someone else. There are seven
billion people on Earth. That is seven billion minds to compete against, the extreme majority of those minds never meeting. It doesn't matter - someone in the world is going to be like you, think the same, maybe even look alike or have the same name. Speaking of which, have you ever met someone with a similar name? Same name? Did you get peeved or act like your parents are uncreative because you share a name?
I really don't understand. That's my reasoning and my output feelings on it.
Topic: Rants: Everyday Venting (Read 224580 times)