Things NOT to say to an art major/artists in general.
- You’re so lucky you don’t have to buy textbooks!
- You’re a really good drawer.
- Can you draw me?
- Did you draw that? (No, I’m just running my pencil over someone else’s drawing for fun)
- That’s so good, it looks traced!
- Did you trace that?
- Design my tattoo! (This is what tattoo artists are there for)
- Draw this thing for me!
- *pretty much expecting/demanding any art for free*
- I can’t even draw a straight line. (Neither can I. There are these things called “rulers”)
- Can you teach me to draw?
- Was that freehand?
- I wish I was born with artistic talent. (Saying things like this discredits all the effort we actually put in to developing our skills.)
- *TOUCHING THE ART*
So basically…
Don’t compliment us ever…?
(???)
These aren’t compliments, they’re disrespectful to the artist and the amount of hard work they put in. We’re not circus animals. For many of us this is our profession.
Example of a compliment: “oh I love this! The colours you used are great! I love your style! Do you take commissions?”
What you see up there? Not a compliment.
Granted, some of the ones in the original post I don’t find so offensive like “can you teach me to draw?”, though it is (like anything) annoying when asked ten times over
But yeah, show the artist you appreciate them, not that you’re looking at their work like some sort of cheap magic trick.