Life Lessons for Creative/Critical People

[MaestroUGC]

Just some simple tenants that I think people would do better to know if you ever plan on engaging in any creative activity and sharing it with the world.

Life Lessons for Creative People

No. 1: Nobody is obligated to like anything you do ever.
No. 2: "Art" is a very broad term; as such whatever you choose to define as "art", another may choose to define as "garbage".
No. 3: Talent and skill are important for any art form, but just keep in mind there will always be someone better or more popular than you. Regardless of how skilled or talented they may or may not be.
No. 4: Some people will just outright not like you or your work, despite it being popular or respected. Suck it up and move on.
No. 5: You may have made something, but once you put it out into the public you have no more right to it than the people who judge it. As such don't get upset when people interpret and judge you work in ways you never intended, you are not the greatest authority of how you work should be interpreted.
No. 6: Time spent making something doesn't does not equal overall quality of the work. Just because it took you a lot of time and effort doesn't automatically make it "good".
No. 7: Making something in an "ironic" sense does not exclude your work from any judgment nor save it from unfavorable interpretations. Even works made in parody and jest have to stand against artistic judgment.
No. 8: If you make something and can willfully acknowledge its faults as a work of art, this does not give you freedom of criticism from people who would agree with your assessment. Nor does it protect you from any other faults people may find.
No. 9: Criticism is part of the creative process, and the negative criticism will be more vocal and precise in their assessment of your work than the positive praise. It's up to you to filter what is constructive out of the blind praise or criticism, ignoring all criticism does not help you grow as an artist.
No. 10: Art is a very selfish thing; you want to keep your creations to yourself but so does everyone else. By publicly saying "I made something" you cease being the sole owner of your creation and share it with the world. As such you have to be willing to let go of your creations and move on to something new. And at the end of the day the best reason you can have for making something is because you want to make it, and don't let anyone try to take that away from you.

On the flip side, there are a few tenants to keep in mind if you choose to judge and criticize any art out there.

Life Lessons for the Critical

No. 1: If you can't verbalize or otherwise express proper criticism towards a work, don't. Simply saying "I like it" or "It sucks" without being able to say why are empty words and will likely be ignored.
No. 2: Check your personal feeling about the creator at the door. Judge a piece of art by its own merits, not by the artist.
No. 3: Judgments made on an entire artist's catalogue/oeuvre are a more appropriate place to pass judgment on the artist himself, but only in regards to the quality of his work. Leave idle gossip to the magazines.
No. 4: Criticism is there to help both the artist grow and the people understand why art is highly regarded. Your job is as much to educate as it is to analyze.
No. 5: Words are powerful, so choose them carefully when making an assessment. That doesn't mean soften the blow of your criticism, nor does it mean assault the work or the creator because you feel vindictive. If you can't offer something meaningful in your criticism, then don't criticize.

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Was this because I said "being able to play something makes it easier to write for, hence why (some of) your virtuoso arrangements are simply unplayable?"
Or whatever I said, I'm too lazy to go get the quote.

[MaestroUGC]

This is just something I've wanted to write up for a while, and I think it's good advice other people could follow, considering most of us here have desires to pursue the arts in some form or fashion. I realized a long time ago not everybody is going to like what I do, so I shouldn't worry or stress over it.

[Oasis]

Just to clarify number 1 for the life lessons for critical, are you saying to provide detail of your criticism instead of saying it is good or it is bad?
Edit: Thanks!

[MaestroUGC]

Yes.

[Maelstrom]

I will deem this an excellent post with as vague language as is possible.