Does Anyone Else Feel Like a Hack?
Nyghtfall3D
Posts: 813
Does anyone else feel like a hack when someone compliments you on elements of your renders you didn't create?
Post edited by Nyghtfall3D on
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Nope.
LOL, oh yeah. that is why I try to stay as far as I can from click and render. It gives me a little more satisfaction knowing i did something more than just push the figures around and hit the render button.
I've never done the click and render thing, but I'm tired of getting feedback on details of my work that aren't mine and feeling compelled to clarify where I got them.
Years ago, I used to provide a complete list of every item used as a way of crediting content creators. I called them "Production Credits". Over time, the lists got so long and redundant that I discontinued the practice.
I put a lot of effort into changing everything. I don't use the textures as-is, nor shapes; I create my own morphs and make many other changes.
Why?
Because if I don't, what I'm creating is someone elses art; at least that is how I see it.
not at all
You put the picture together. Your choices whether good or bad are yours.
No more than if someone complimented me on my cooking even though I hadn't grown the vegetables or slaughtered the cow.
Great points. Thanks! :)
If Richard Avedon can get critical acclaim for a picture of Nastassja Kinski lying naked on a floor with a snake... all three of which were very definitely not made by Richard Avedon... I don't see why someone can't take artistic credit for posing a couple of CG figures.
A photographer didn't make the camera, nor lights, nor the models or subjects being shot, but they absolutely can and do take credit for the image. I don't see how that's any different, as @Cybersox pointed out :)
Doing 3D denders using Daz Studio is similar to photography. You just have alot more control of the elemets.
Just think of it as virtual photography. (Unless you create your own 3D models and materials)
I do, but I feel better after I tell the person who commented that I didn't make that particular thing. They almost never care and still like my image, so any issues are just in my own head.
edit: I know this will probably start a bit of a kerfuffle, but I do not think our work is as much like photography as everyone else seems to because many artists DO create everything in an image themselves. We are usually given the benefit of the doubt by those who aren't familiar with 3D, and are assumed to have made everything ourselves.
I feel a lot less guilty when I see how stupid YouTube commenters are on other people's videos using Game cinematics and Creative commons music!
At least I put more work into mine and actually say what I use in my channel description if not sometimes on the video itself too!
I am not even criticising using edited game cinematics and music but many comments suggest viewers believe the uploader made it all themselves and are never corrected and people asking what games are never told either!
I often think people think I am using footage too.
Many? Maybe? But most do no - certainly not most Daz Studio users and 3D artists. Even PAs who create a TON of content almost never create EVERYTHING in their scenes. Animators rarely create EVERYTHING in their scenes either- in fact, I'd say the amount of people who DO create every single thing in their scenes is a small fraction compared to those who do not.
Edit - I just realized you were referring to "artists in general" - in which case, yeah, many artists do create everything in an image. But even with traditional artists you also get "pipeline" images - where the pencils were done by one person, inks/line work done by another person, and the color work done by yet another person. But yeah, I can see how a lot of people, particularly those not familiar with 3D art, would assume that everything in an image is created by one person.
it depends on the CG circles you move in
certainly a lot of Blender Artists do model everything in a scene themselves as do many Max and Maya users
but again there are ones who don't too and the two groups bicker over the art aspect too
certainly many use assets such as Quixel Megascans too as well as even DAZ assets
Nope!
we have this dead horse question here since the beginning
now only ask if its art or not
and you can beat the next dead horse
again and again and ......
I rarely use anything "out of the box" and usually do tons of artistic post work, so no. I did feel a bit weird once when someone complimented me on a tattoo but I had made the creative decision to use it, so I felt OK about it. People get compliments about real tattoos all the time and it's not like they tattooed themselves... And if someone compliments me by saying "I love your shoes!" I say thanks, even though I bought them, didn't make them. But even if you asked every single Daz customer to do an artistic creative promo of the exact same character, you would not get two that were alike, so each person is adding their own artistic spin to the use of any asset.
Something like this Nyghtfall?
That little voice in your head is just as valid as any other little voice in your head.
You know, like the one that warns you that you *COULD* be in danger and so your alert level increases- your awareness expands and you straighten up and pay better attention.
That is a proper survival mechanism - designed to wake you out of a daze and help preserve your life. lol
The are-you-a-hack? voice is doing the same thing. EVERY artist has it and it will NEVER go away (for good).
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It's a warning that your art is becoming a craft and you are (probably) stagnant.
Sitting still, doing the same (easy) thing over and over again.
You are not growing as an artist.
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Some artists, then, feel the need to challenge themselves and PUSH their art harder and achieve a new level of expressiveness, creativity and all the other artsy-fartsy words that go with it.
That voice is saying "Hey wake up, it's time to do more than what we've been doing!"
You should listen to that voice, it's asking you a fair question.
And...
Only you know the answer to that question.
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The reason only YOU know because it's a rabbit hole of endless artistic purity.
Whatever effort one artist makes, another artist can go beyond and claim THAT extra-ness makes their art more valid and pure.
I repeat.....
Whatever effort one artist makes, another artist can go beyond and claim THAT extra-ness makes their art more valid and pure.
And someone else comes along and makes the rabbit hole tunnel collapse on itself by asking to see the art and evaluating the art on its own merits - disregarding HOW it was made or with WHAT.
All they care about is how it makes them feel.
And that's the answer for you too.
How does your own art make you feel?
That's why you're hearing that little voice. The longer you ignore it, the louder it gets, unfortunately.
I try to see it, as a wild life photographer would see it. Since I'm (obviousley) not god, I didn't create any of it. My only question is, how to make it look best, or even better, how can give already existing things a new/advanced meaning?
As long it is not a pure click and render, it is o.k. for me.
I don't blame the OP though as even the most successful can have imposter syndrome.
In Australia we also have what is called tall poppy syndrome where others cut people down who are more successful than them.
Using myself as an example again (as it is the situation nearest to me) lots of people post the most disparaging things on my videos and they don't feel the need to share their portfolios on their channels and elsewhere, others have noted this in the art communities too, question these people and they are extremely vehement in their right to critique and the smugness that they recognise their own lack of talent so thoughtfully do not inflict their scribbles on others.
Their sole purpose they are so proud of is to put others in their place.
As Taylor Swift sang, Haters gonna hate
With regard to the OP's question: No, I don't feel like a hack.
What I do feel is: Astonishment that anyone has looked, and even more astonishment that anyone has gone further and felt interested enough to comment. Then possibly embarrasment that it wasn't a bit of my work they were commenting on. But astonishment would be the overwheming feeling.
Feelings of inadequacy are pretty universal, regardless of merit.
For me it starts with the definition of "artist"
Is an architect who only ever does the blueprints for the Average Joe Two Family House an artist?
Is the PA who makes a 3d model of such an house - sans interieur - an artist?
Is the painter, who paints a picture of this house an artist?
Is the photographer, who takes a photo of just this house an artist?
Am I, using that house for a render showing nothing else, an artist?
Is a person who throws 250g of butter against a wall inside of a museum an artist? (-> Fettecke)
The almighty internet gives me the following definition for "art":
1. the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
2. the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.
3. subjects of study primarily concerned with human creativity and social life, such as languages, literature, and history (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects)
4. a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice
So by the definition of "art" which of the above described people create "art" and would therefor be defined as "artists"?
I'm not an artist. I only do 3d pictures, without having any artistic intend... So I don't really bother if people think all that's shown in the picture is made by me. Sometimes it might, usually it isn't...
A story about "imposter syndrome" from Neil Gaiman:
He was invited to a gathering of distinguished writers, scientists, and other tops-in-their-field people, and was feeling like he didn't deserve to be classed along with all these people. He got into a conversation with someone else who was also named Neil, and also felt like he didn't belong. "I didn't do anything to make it happen, I just went where they told me to go."
So even Neil Armstrong had feelings of inadequacy.
Those traditional art is things of past or those days are gone when we used to create our own brushes and paint. We achieved new milestone, technology makes our life easier.
I don't care, I'm having a blast doing this stuff, art or not.
Even using pre-made content, there's still creativity involved in putting the elements together.
If you don't believe that, take a look at some of the truly horrible-looking images people can create using beautifully-made content.
For myself, I know that I don't have either the patience or the talent to produce beautiful models or to do everything 'from the ground up' (modeling, texturing, post-work) like some of the artists at places like DeviantArt or ArtStation. I'm not in that league and I know it (nor do I have the time). But I do take pleasure in knowing that I've created something that I find pleasing, even if my contribution to the end result was mostly limited to composition and lighting. As long as you're honest with yourself (and others) about what your part in the process was, then I think there's no reason to feel 'like a hack'.
And the most important thing is that you get pleasure from what you do. If that applies, then all other considerations are secondary.
Ah, so you've seen some of my stuff?