Ageism in the Art Community || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY 

I hate ageism in the art community with every fiber of my being, it seriously annoys me soo much. Age does not equal skill because people have absolutely no idea when the artist has started their journey.

I'm a 39 year old beginner and so far I've been too afraid to even mention my age in any of my online art profiles. I'm constantly mad at myself for not starting sooner because anime art is what I've wanted to do since High School, but I put it on the backburner to focus on work and relationships, all of which ended up not going so well. I feel guilty that I'm not better and in the world of OCs and fanart and other things I don't quite understand yet, I feel like I'd get laughed out of the community, or that everyone would think I'm some kind of creeper even though I'm drawing the same stuff they are. I've improved so much in the one year I've been drawing that I've really surprised myself, but the fact that I feel like both the oldest AND newest person doing this really does sting a bit. I'm not nearly deep enough into the art community yet for this to be an issue, but its been in the back of my mind that it might come up as I interact with other artists more and more. Thanks for making this video, this is something that's really been bothering me lately.

As a whole, society (at least western. I cannot speak on every country in existence obviously) has this "prodigy bias" where someone needs to be very good, very young. Someone starting late will have the problem of people saying they "missed their opportunity." And the age at which someone needs to flourish gets younger and younger. Edit: Some replies and friends of mine who are Korean and Swedish told me that it's pretty common everywhere. As an Asian american, I know its really common in our households to want children to start succeeding immediately.

I'm not even an adult yet, but I can still relate to the adult part. I'm 16 and started drawing recently, but a lot of my friends, family members and people that I admire started wayyy before. At first it didn't bother me that much, because I thought I was making progress. But then people compared my art to my friend's, and they couldn't believe I was the same age as them yet my art looked like "shitty kid fanart". It's kinda hard for me to draw now and I can't even feel proud anymore when finishing a piece, even though I enjoyed it in the beginning.

I had someone compliment me about my art until they asked my age and went ,” oh thats normal for your age “, as if all the effort and skill put into my work means nothing because im older. every compliment i was given by this person was thrown out the window once it turns out im not a child. why cant people compliment others for their skill, and avoid bringing up age at all? society is so obsessed with adding “12 year old is a olympics winning skater” or “15 year old is the new kim jung gi”. we are raising our society to be obsessed with age and associating it with our own value, instead of seeing the value we do have whatever age we are.

I’ve used ageism against myself a lot. Like “oh I just turned 15, this 14 year old draws 10x better than me” yada yada.

it's crazy how people expect minors to know how to manage money and such whilst giving them no opportunities to figure out how to do it.

As an artist who is more in the middle between "young" and "old", like I am over 18 but younger than 25. I sometimes feel bad because my art might not seem as impressive as what my peers can make, especially when I notice similarities to the art mistakes I made when I was 16 and those that I make now. To me, my experience with ageism is more about thinking: Wow this artist is great! But they're 14-17 and they seem to draw better than I do now... No I should just follow them, it's inspiring to see what people make, despite their age!

I was immediately drawn to the title/thumbnail and clicked -- because I feel like it's just been and underlying deep culture of the online artist community, and something I think I need to change (so thank you for talking about it!). I fortunately, started drawing art when I was really young, so I would receive compliments that I was good for my age and stuff like that (context, I'm 17 now, I've been posting art online since I was 10-11). Ageism has affected me too, I remember when I was 13, writing in my diary that I hated the fact that my birthday was soon, because that means people having higher expectations of my art. Of course, I'm grateful for all the compliments I received, but I absolutely hate reading comments that would compare their art to mine regarding their age. Or just any self degrading compliment at all (but that's another issue itself). I've been practicing art for at least half of my life, so of course it would be normal if my art level to be better than someone older that has just started. I wish people would look at the artist's journey, and that we worked hard to get to the level we are -- rather just associating the age and level, assuming they were just "naturally gifted", "prodigies" even, because we work hard too, we've been through the same struggles as you too, maybe just a bit earlier on in life. And there's nothing wrong starting late too.

I'm 17 years old and a digital artist. I know I'm still really young but I have mutuals on Instagram who are 14 and have a skill level that rivals mine. I'm really proud of them and I'll let them know via comments and story reshares/retweets but at the same time I feel incredibly self-consious about my age and skill-level. Feelings ranging from art insecurities and even thinking I'm too old already. Younger artists are getting better and better and I sometimes feel like I'm not improving fast enough to be able to keep up with them. Just like you said in your video there is this unwritten standard for what skill level you should be at at a certain age. I'm trying to convert my insecurity into motivation to improve as much as I can in a healthy way, but I'd be lying if I said I never feel insecure when I find out an incredibly talented artist is 4 years younger than I am.

As a younger artist (minor), I find that i'm pressuring myself to become better and better, becoming frustrated when my art isn't at the level I want it to be, and wanting to create and start publishing my (future) webcomic ASAP before I hit my bday, just so that I can wow people with the fact that i'm "Oh so young but amazing at art". It sounds bad (because it is), but it's just the way it has been for some time. It's just not as impressive when you are older. My art skills now are "impressive" but those same skills on an adult are just... below average. I know it's really bad but it's just a constant stress looming over, almost like a race against time (Note: my birthday is not far and it's really stressing me out tbh). Anyone else...?

It is so insane to be reading SO MANY comments from under 18 kids saying "yeah I feel that my art isnt good enough and I'm too old." This is such a sad outcome/result of growing up on social media (in addition to other issues with it). I'm 30 and social media wasn't a norm until I was in college so we kind of had our own bubble. People spend too much time comparing themselves to others instead of enjoying the process of their art journey and growing with it. It baffles me how young kids are in a rush to be "good" and reach social media "milestones" because some of the most revered professional artists started seriously drawing at 17 or older and went to school to learn how to draw or whatever so you have a long way to go. Many professional older adult artists talk about constantly learning and evolving your art so why do you think you HAVE to be established by a certain age? A great example is Ryan Lang who works for Marvel and is super well known. He didn't devout himself to art at age 10 and posted online or whatever. He started at 25 when he went to an art college. Let kids be kids and let them have fun exploring art, ya know? Also don't shit on adults when you don't know their life story which may have impacted their time to practice art or why they pursued other careers and decided to go into art.

I'm currently 18 and honestly, this issue had always been a problem for me. I began drawing when I was 9 and now that I'm 18, I've always had people telling me that my art style is unusual for my age. I'm a cartoonist and I just couldn't bring myself to do realism or anime, even if I'm given some references. I love drawing cartoons because I find it much simpler and fun to draw, but even so, I always get comments like "You're already 18 you should draw more maturely now" or "cartoons are for kids, why not try anime?". It made me struggle a lot as an artist because it made me believe for a very long time that I need to stick to a specific art style so that I can be recognized as an artist. It really drained my motivation to draw and forced me to be inconsistent with my art style, believing that "if I just do this then I won't be criticized anymore", it was very harmful and it almost made me quit art as a whole. But I was lucky to have friends who continuously encouraged me to keep on drawing and now I'm actually more confident with my art. This video is such a relief for me and I'm glad that more people are talking about it.

People act like they should somehow be better than minors just because they have more years to hone their crafts but skill and ability to learn has an impact. For some famous young artist I have noticed them stating that their parent/s are artist I mean people don't find it weird when children can speak multiple languages

As an older artist I frequently feel that my art is not good enough...ashamed and envious that, for example, a much younger person's skill is so much better...it came to a point that I don't like to speak about my age and feel under pressure to be better. usually it ends in me loosing motivation to create anything for a long time (few days, a week or sometimes even months). thank you for touching this topic ☺️ love your art 💜

Something that wasn't brought up for older artists that I know happens in the community is when younger artists see an older artists work that is "worse" then theirs and they automatically assume that they must be a beginner. I'm in college for animation and a classmate of mine was super proud of a artwork she did so she posted it up online, and all the comments on her post were all 13-14 year old kids saying "I can tell you're a beginner, but you're doing good just keep practicing." And it absolutely crushed her because shes been drawing for almost all 20 years of her life but since her artwork isn't as good as these teen "prodigy's" shes still labeled as a beginner and because of that she lost a lot of motivation in herself.

Ngl as a 20-something year old artist, seeing the talent on some of these teens and tweens make me sweaty. I always feel like I should be better at this age but projecting these feelings onto young artists is some downright assholery

i'm 24 as well and i'm ngl, i have to actively avoid looking at the profiles of artists on Twitter because theyre almost ALWAYS teens and it makes me feel horrible about myself. i try to keep in mind the difference in resources we had growing up, as well as my own personal difficulties and the difference that financial privilege makes, but even still i can't seem to stop being down on myself about it and it's to the point where i don't post anything i draw anymore because i'm just embarrassed of my age. :( thank you for the video and your work is beautiful!

I started drawing at 30 and I'm not even a year in. While sometimes I can see that I'm improving it hurts to think that "I should've started sooner" or "Why bother getting better when everyone else is already way better than me" or even "I'm too old to be drawing like this." It.. makes it hard to keep going. I feel so behind of where I could or 'should' be at my age and it's hard to ask for help when I'm afraid of people looking down on me or thinking I'm weird for only starting now. I post what I do online because I feel like I have to in order to keep a record of where I've been and where I might be one day with my art but.. It's hard to deny that I often just want to give up and give in to those thoughts. I constantly think about quitting. I cry for hours sometimes when I try to draw because I feel like a failure. Because I feel like I'm not getting better faster or I'm making mistakes 'someone of my age' shouldn't. Or that I'm drawing stuff 'someone of my age' shouldn't. It doesn't help that the bar for 'old' gets younger and younger and I feel even more ancient now than ever. I STILL wonder if my effort is worth it.

My experience with young artists has been... interesting? I've been scammed/bombarded so many times by young artists in fandoms that I kinda just try not to interact with them anymore. God forbid the number of times they've asked me to draw gross fetish art for them when they shouldn't even be looking at that stuff. I had a kid as young as 11 years old try to convince me to draw kill art of their own sibling. I understand where you're coming from, but I personally will never work with young artists again.

while i do think its shitty that minors get excluded a lot in community projects like zines exclusively bc of their age, I also think that the adults running those kinds of projects are ok if they just don't want to involve minors in their projects, even if it is sfw. At the end of the day it's their projects and if they don't feel comfortable involving minors in it I think that's fine. Curating their online experience y'know? And there will always be other zines that don't have issues with minors joining. Hell i think its perfectly OK if this kind of scenario is in reverse too, I've even seen some zines run by minors where they don't allow adults to contribute to it for the same reason.

To be honest I was always jealous of younger people having better drawing skills than mine but I developed a habit. Whenever I find someone who is better at drawing at me, I'll study HOW they drew and apply it to mine to see if it'll improve or not.

Dear celestia , Thank you so much for addressing this issue . I am 17 and I started drawing around a year ago . I constantly compare my art to those who are the same age as me or younger than me . It sometimes feels disheartening knowing that if I started earlier I would be at the same level of skill as them .

I am 44 now. I started working as an artist when I was 17 -lying a bit about my age to get paid for the first few months- and yeah, ageism is a horrible thing on both ends, and funnily enough, I get it still on both ends! People who are only a few years older than me, who knew me when I was starting, still talk to me as if I was a newbie with no idea of what I am doing, while people younger than me -some of whom directly benefited from something I did- insist I am completely out of touch and have no idea what I am talking about (Although, granted, in the ONLINE community? I am a complete noob). So your video was really nice to put everything in perspective. I had already subscribed to you, but I am now 100% satisfied with my choice! (Edited to correct a very amusing typo!)

So I have this art friend that’s a few years younger than I am (I’m currently 18). I found her on instagram like 2 years ago and at that time she didn’t have her age stated anywhere. Her art was AMAZING, so I, because I was a dumb ass, just assumed she was like 5 years older than me. So, we started writing and bla bla bla, and then a few days after we first messaged each other she changed her profile to say 13 years old. And at that point I was like „oh shit“, first of all from then on whenever we talked about something more personal like school life etc I always told her she didn’t need to tell me anything (gotta be honest I felt kinda creepy being older than her ngl, so I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with sharing stuff about herself) but at the same time, as soon as I read her age my mind immediately went „she’s so young and SO much better than I am“ and that made me feel very very bad. Next I thought 2 things: first of all, she said she started taking drawing seriously when she was 7, so at that point she has been drawing for 6 years. I on the other hand started when I was 12/13ish, so I was drawing for about 3 years. Which made me feel a bit better about myself ngl. But because of that I realised that this kind of thinking is just stupid. Of course someone who’s been drawing for longer is gonna be better at it and that in no way means you are worse than the other person. So from then on I started to try not to compare myself to other artists as much, instead I try to compare me to myself by looking back at my old art every few months. I think this is a lot healthier and that way I can simply enjoy being friends with other artists without feeling bad about my own art. Didn’t expect this to be this long, sorry :O

it’s honestly scary how ‘old’ is defined in social media. in real life, someone in their twenties would still be considered young, but in the online art community, even a 16 year old would be considered old and held to a really high standard.

I've never heard of ageism, but now i realize how much it affects me Seriously, thank you so much for talking about this. (Happy valentines day btw! I love your art and you sm you deserve so many more subs IMO lol)

Finally someone adressed this problem, i stopped drawing exactly because i felt the need to live up to some stupid ""internet standards"" and tbat my art isn't good enough for my age. It's just so toxic when people rate the art based on the user's age.

as a 20+ year old artist, i agree a majority of this, however i still feel like there should be no problem with adults not wanting to work with minors. it shouldnt matter what reason one has for not wanting to work with minors, even if it is due to bad previous experiences, if one doesnt wanna work with minors, that should be valid, too.

I'm 49. I'm happy to be from the generation that pioneered the anime/manga art form and it fills me with so much happiness to see younger artists pushing the medium forward.

As a person who was until very recently a younger artist, I felt not being taken seriously so frequently. That's why I often hid my age lol.

i got bullied on a roblox drawing game for drawing in a cutesy style and the person bullying me thought i was an older person and told me i "should be mature" "people who draw like this are mentally ill" and when i told them i was a child they retaliated and took back their words. Its hilarious how people will bully older people just for drawing in a cutesy style

I haven't suffered from the hands of ageism yet, just the fact I'm never going to be popular enough for hate comments or critiques.

I was actually told by a friend of mine, who was being asked to do some work for cheap/free but demanded payment (as he should), the person who was asking them for the free/cheap work said "well I'll just go find a minor who will 100% do it for cheaper or free!" which pissed me off. I'm an older artist, but I don't think that age should be a factor in payment. If a 12 year old artist asks for 60 bucks for a drawing, then they should get it. Period. I remember being low-balled as a teen all the time, I asked for 20 for a full colored drawing as a teen, and people would often tell me that I'm not good enough for 20, or that I'm too young for that.

You know what I hate? Being a middle age artist who is really good, and young artists use my existence to berate themselves. So often I share my work and it’s followed up with comments like, “time for me to quit art 💀” “why do I even bother” “I’ll never be that good” I hate it. I have been working on art longer then most of these young artists have been alive. It’s so unfair of them to compare themselves to anyone let alone someone who’s been studying art that long. I just want to have my career and share my art with other artists and people who like art, I don’t care your skill level. I don’t want to watch children and amateurs emotionally self harming themselves using something I made. Please take care of yourselves and be kind to yourself. It’s really not ok!

I took pottery classes as a kid. There were two groups based on age. I was a few months too young for the older group, but I requested to join that one because I wanted to learn all the techniques. The younger group didn’t have lessons in the same way, just fun activities. Despite agreeing to this, the person that managed the younger group felt the need to constantly keep an eye on me. They kept interfering with what I was doing and talking down to me like I was stupid. It was infuriating. It's often assumed that kids just want to mess around, but I actually wanted to learn and develop a skill. I took a break from art, but decided to take a course later on. There were times when I felt out of place due to being older than the others and I regret not sticking with art. I do feel self-conscious about my age, which I know is silly really. It's just a feeling you get from the general culture around art.

I'm a 14 year old artist, and I CANNOT name how many times I have been excluded from any project. Most of the time, I made free art for random strangers online, and yet people STILL are like "Oh, you're 14? Never mind. You'll probably make me some scribbly crayon art lol." When in reality I spend hours working to try and make the best art I can- It's why I stopped making people art. It really filled my head with thoughts that I wasn't good enough, I shouldn't be making art at all. You shouldn't do what you love- even if you make no profit off of it, ect ect. It can really affect somebodies mental state, so I really hope that the art community starts improving on this. I sketch for myself now..

Also I forgot to share my solution to the problem: I stopped posting art regularily. Fuck social media, I honestly don‘t care anymore. Social media is the reason this all kinda came into existence with all the comparisons. We compare our looks, our possessions, our social circle, our skills, how many books we‘ve read, how many followers and likes we got, how often we can afford to travel somewhere… it‘s sick. I unfollowed all (to me) toxic accounts and try to avoid the explore feeds

I’m a young artist but most of my friends have been drawing since they were like 2 and I only started 2 or 3 years ago, I get jealous of my friends because I can’t even draw proper eyes yet their making whole high quality animations and the hatful comments I get about my art on the internet kinda hurt. Thanks for bringing more attention to this topic I’m so glad it’s getting recognized!

everyone starts somewhere. and everyone grows and learns at a different pace. no reason to judge based on age alone

Honestly..I'm 16. Id say my art is kinda above average. It crushes my entire being when a 12 yr old or 13 can draw so well. And I'm not talking about like better for their age (which it is) but better than my years of practice in total. Literally professional level art. I always wondered where i went wrong and why I'm never at their level. I've cried nights because i truly did give it my all...and it just makes me feel worthless seeing a child do so much better than me. I'm happy for them obviously, but there's a pain in me. I can only imagine how adults feel when they see kids with absolutely amazing art..

I feel like there's this constant stream of "you should be better than this" no matter where you are in your art journey. No matter how good you are, or how new you are, or how hard you work, or how much you improve, it doesn't matter - a vast quantity of people will crawl out of the sewer and bellow "NOT GOOD ENOUGH." This is bullshit. Don't listen to those people. For perspective, I'm 52, and my art is still shit. I have spent many, many years studying art... and virtually no time sketching or painting or drawing. I've recently (less than a year ago) committed to doing a one-hour sketching stream every single week, and since then I've improved dramatically. But I still suck. If you're 14 and you draw really well, I'll bet you draw a lot. You have probably worked really hard. Good job. I wish I drew a lot when I was your age.

I’m turning 18 this year and whenever I see these hyper realistic drawings by 13 year olds, I ask myself why I’m not at that skill level yet. Since I’ve started drawing at age 5. But every time I remember that I only started taking art seriously a few years ago. And that my art in general lacks personality, because I lack personality. Which is something I have no control over. So yea, sometimes I feel bad when I see younger artist on a higher skill level, but these feelings are always fleeting.

I'm 23 this year and I started exactly a year ago, although I'm not too old, I can understand the older beginners, especially when we always wanted to try but never dare or just got frustrated out of it. Now the resources available online are an opportunity for every new artists. Both old and young have their advantages and they all deserve to have a fine experience with the art community

Its not just access to tablets/digital equipment that younger artists has an edge on older artists. They have an easier access to art materials due to online shopping either through their parents or if they are old enough, they can buy materials themselves online. I grew up in the province and the capital was at least 8hours drive away. The fancy materials were in the capital/big cities. At most the crayon available in my town was the standard small box, 16 at most if its available. The color pencils I got were not name brands and easily broke or dried out. When I reached my teens I slowly stopped doing art so now in my 30s my skills either stayed stagnant or gotten worse

When i was 16 I got my first commission for a logo for a danish RU-vidr, there was a lot of problems with the whole thing as we didn’t set a price for the commission as it was my first. But she did something that deeply hurt me and made me drop drawing for a few years. She told me “this isn’t what I expected I will only pay you 50kr for this, as you are young. Hope you learn and do better in the future I’m not really gonna use the logo much anyway” 50kr = around 9/10$ she said she talked to her graphic designer friends and said my art wasn’t worth more then 10$ for something she would use for commercial use. I genuinely almost stopped drawing for 3 years, and it hurt my growth in art a lot. Thing that hurt the most is how she tried to value my art, as her opinion is of course the only real opinion.

I think it's ludicrous to expect a 15 or 16 year old kid to be some master ready to work in the industry. Age doesn't matter when it comes to art and there are so many more important factors like work ethic. Even terrible artists can make a decent living these days if they know how to market and stuff like that. By contrast it's absurd to think every older artist will have a great work ethic or the skills needed to succeed.

In Argentina we've got an animator that started like on his late 30's at animation and ended up being a director in cartoon network for their anniversary

I really agree with these points you are making, as someone who is still young I was worried that “if I don’t improve by the time I’m __ years old I’m a failure” for a long while, which is probably the mindset of a lot of people. Thank you for making this video

I usually think I’m a bad artist because I’m 19 but my brother is younger than me and he’s “better”, and I’m always scared people will be like “she can’t be that old and draw like this” but what you said completely makes sense

I remember holding *myself* at the “30 year old worse at art than those younger” when I was 13.. I know this isn't related to the ageism in community but I still struggle with that ughh I keep dropping art and then picking it back up feeling it's never good enough I'm anxious over that right now in fact, I'm half a year away from turning 18 but I just can't accept what my art looks like this long into life. I realise that makes no sense but I can't help it Another thing is, I hate how I only draw 10-15 drawings per year That's all my lack of motivation lets me draw

I didn’t start taking art seriously until I was 15 so I’ve always had to deal with a lot of jealousy of how good other artists my age or younger are. Now that I’m almost 23 I feel like I know both sides of the coin, but still feel that jealousy often. This video is interesting to watch just to try to understand myself, not only other people

Art is a right, not a privilege. I don't care if you learn to draw at 50 or 5! Art is for everyone regardless of their identity and there's never a deadline for when you can't learn

i'm almost 26, and had a huge artistic block after i turned 18. I started again now about two years ago and i am always told i'm too old and untalented to do this. To hell with them, i love this

I'd like to point out that it's perfectly reasonable for companies (and even individuals) to avoid hiring literal kids. They are under no moral obligation to give any and every artist "a chance" in name of "fairness" when it's a simple fact that teenagers are not adults and as such are usually not as responsible (plus, no company should be hiring children in the first place). This is not ageism, and it's not dunking on kids, it's just the truth. we've all been there 🤷🏻‍♀️ As for "exclusion from communities," here's good reasons there's usually a bit of a social divide between adults and children. I've witnessed several discord channels being ruined by allowing kids in/not age-segregating (again, obviously "not all kids," but it is not anybody's duty to gamble when chances are stacked against them), and ofc many a kid has been sexually exploited by adults in these spaces (this is much less of a problem on social media sites that aren't heavily chat-based) :/ so, it's complicated

Those if us who grew up drawing, or were always encouraged since we could hold a pencil, really need to understand that drawing isn't JUST TALENT; we started and never stopped, we aren't better than anyone else for starting first. Adults are expected to always be better or good at things, and anyone who's coming of age knows it's a SHAM! I have no clue what I'm doing; I'm rolling with the punches. Some punches are easier for me than for other people, and sometimes it's hard to understand why they can't do what I can do. That is, until I realize they've lived a completely different life from me.

I loved this video. As a 30 year old artist whose about to start her own RU-vid journey, this was really inspiring to listen to.

While younger artists do have more resources, the art industry has also become more difficult to get into as well as more competitive. Back then since there were very few digital artists they could more easily get studio jobs

"Older artists should be at a higher skill level" ooof I feel that. I'm a 27 year old hobbyist artist and while I think my art is decent, I sometimes feel like I should be better at art at my age, especially as someone who's been drawing in some or other way since I was a toddler and never stopped (not counting some periods of not drawing anything for months) but I've admittedly mostly drawn just for fun and rarely actually properly studied Art Basics stuff for more than a week or so. I feel like there's this attitude that it's somehow "embarrassing" to not draw (or make other creative works) at a somewhat "professional" level (whatever that means) whenever you reach a certain age

I've caught myself getting extremely sad from seeing many younger artists posting professional level work. I started getting more serious at 13 and I'm now 21, so seeing how good they are at an age I was still working to get there is demotivating. Even artists that start more late, I see their progress in only 2 or 3 years and think "wow, what the fuck have I been doing for 9 years?" Thankfully I don't let those feelings make me mistreat others and I usually do like to interact with artists much much better than me. But those feelings are so hard to get rid of. Sometimes I think if I had posted my art sooner, I would of learned and progressed further than where I'm at now. And probably would have made some great friends too.

I'm a 28 year old artist--turning 29 this year--who has been drawing since I could pick up a pencil and I've definitely witnessed so much over the years toward young and old artists alike. Things like say when a young artist shares their work and says they're 14 for example having their comments with things like "wow this makes me feel awful since you're so good and way younger" and like... I get feeling maybe a little down on yourself but that's definitely not something to tell anyone. Any kind of "compliment" that puts someone else down in the process isn't a compliment in my opinion. It's such a horrid way to go about things and like both sides as you've pointed out really are guilty to doing this quite a lot. Like oh goodness the amount of "you're 20+ why are you in fandom? go do your taxes" kind of insults toward people who happen to be older drawing fanart is just so vile. Like why aren't we happy there's more beautiful art out there in the world? I think it's really hecking cool younger artists have so many resources now so it helps foster creativity and make more artists in the process. And honestly age doesn't equate artistic skill. Heck, when I studied graphic design back in 2011-2013 I had a typography teacher who admitted to not being able to draw a stick figure but he was a professional designer and just showcases how kind of artistic fields are open for all different skills and skill levels. It's so sucky and annoying how ageism takes place and I'll admit to feeling self conscious with my age and being older despite actually coming to a point I'm quite pleased with my growth but I can't help but think about how much older I am and while I certainly haven't had it directed at me quite so much I've had friends who have been told by teens to focus on having children rather than doing what she likes. I'm sorry... what? I'm still shaken by that because what the heck? She's only in her early 30s but this kid half her age told her such a rude thing. Like why not just not start fights and say stuff like that? Ageism is ugly. It's so gross.

the art is amazing :D

On top of art, writers, both original and fanfic writers, get crap due to age too. I mainly write over drawing due to a disability limiting my hands, so I see this a lot in various writing spaces. What's worse is that fanfic writers over their early twenties get picked on for being "too old" when a lot us made those fan spaces they post at in the first place. I even see this in fandoms for media meant for an older audience that kids shouldn't even be seeing!

One thing I'll add to the conversation that's vastly understated, privilege plays a massive role in your skill as an artist, and how much labor you'll need to advance. The more money and financial security you're surrounded by growing up, the easier it is to spec all of your time and focus into improvement. But if you're struggling in a broken home, fighting to make ends meet, being held back from opportunities by systemic racism/discrimination, or even having to work with a mental/physical disability, you'll find that each hour of work will net you less gain than someone born of the perfect climate of circumstances. And it may very well take you until 30 to achieve what some few 13 year old's could.

I’m really happy to see more light shed on this, I’m 21 and still learning a lot about digital artworks, I know so many of my peers are younger and sometimes, it’s hard to not feel jealous since a 15 yr old is out there with over 3k followers or more drawing shit I wouldn’t even know how to do, I know it sounds rude but like. When I was 15, I wasn’t really online much, I didn’t have digital art since I didn’t have the equipment for it, I did mainly traditional and it’s just. Agghhhh. I know it’s a bad mindset to have in general as an artist, I’d never say anything to them, I’d say something kind and support them, but deep inside, it’s just hard to not think that way sometimes, ya know? Anyways, love the video! Thanks for spreading more light with these feelings, they’re normal when you don’t say something about it, just allow yourself to feel and move on and support them with kind words

The part about "older people should draw adult things" hits really hard. I am 18 now and I really love drawing pokemon and generally having a simple art style. You don't know how many times I was told I am childish and I should draw more "intense" stuff like anime art (which is too complex for me) and things similar to what the market and industry wants. It hurts and unmotivates, but I try not to bother as much as I used to. It still hurts tho..

ive started drawing at about 14-15, and seeing some people start at like 7 sometimes makes me think that it would have been better earlier but then i see how people who started later on, like 25, and see the hate they get and??? its so weird and it kinda makes me glad i started when i did, cuz the hate seems so out of nowhere its honestly such a weird issue

The one thing I will add as an older artist (30) who works on group projects or otherwise work with adults one of the biggest reasons we have an 18+ only rule is because we want an adult space to feel comfortable and free to talk about adult things and that dosn't always mean NSFW. When your space is flooded with 14-17 year olds the environment is very different often more chaotic and messy. That's not by default a bad thing and many can and do thrive in those spaces I've found over the many years of working that when you mix ages so drastically work flow becomes more difficult. Just like I would never actively seek to hang out with teenagers on my day off. I have nothing in common with kids. A lot of these projects become friend groups that spend vast amounts of time even off the clock with each other. It's not really appropriate for a 14 year old to hang out with a bunch of 29-35 year olds. I've also been on the flip side and been that 14 year old that WAS allowed in the group with the adults and that was...not really the best situation. While I wasn't groomed or exploited it was isolating and I often heard conversations between adults that I really shouldn't have heard. So I get why adults want to keep their spaces for adults. Having that random 14 year old in the discord server just around feels like there is a literally child in the room at an adults drinking party. No we arn't ripping our cloths off but it feels....weird.

I'm 35 and decided to learn to draw in 2016 and I haven't really drawn during the pandemic either so I'm really early on in my art journey. I think this topic is so important, but personally I don't mind the young artists that feel better than the adults because us millennials acted similarly towards the previous generations regarding typing on the computer keyboard, using T9 on cellphones and "my parents can't even set the clock on the VCR lol" attitude so I can relate with feeling proud of being good at something. I also feel glad for them that they can have a lot of time to grow in their art and that they can discover ways to use the digital medium in a way millennials can not since we grew a habit in how we do things based on what was available and stayed available while they could develop their methods without limitations and by that probably find better ways to do things and for that I don't mind learning from younger people. I feel like we were forced to be mature after 9/11 and the world totally changed so I hope these young artist can keep that youthful innocence longer than I could and I don't mind the "I'm better than you" attitude that comes with it at all. They have all their adult life to be wiser and more mature about it so I don't mind. :)

As someone nearing 30 and being out of anything full time art related, I only got a tablet and access to digital art 18 months ago after years of working traditionally. I took up doing a degree in Game art and have worked hard at getting myself to a place where I feel on a similar level to those who are younger than me. People around me don't judge me by my age, but instead by seeing how hard I work and judge based on that. Though respecting other people and talking to them in an adult manner, no matter their age, I have learnt a lot form others as well as being able to teach others things I know and have learnt. Mutual respect allows for growth on both sides. Though it took me a very long time to tell anyone I was older, (most people thought I was 20) due to perceptions of where my art should be. I still don't admit on my main social media my age.

Thank you so much for this video, I feel like I've been able to reflect more and enlighten myself from the 20 mins I spent watching this and I am thankful for you making a commentary about this

i used to be so happy around 12 that my art was so good for my age because i practically started drawing a LOT since i was like 4, but then i went through the biggest art block of my life (around a little more then a year) because suddenly i thought i wasn’t good anymore? so now i’m here, at 14 (almost 15) and i’m so upset cause i see these younger artists that are literally 11 and draw so so much better than i ever did? so thankyou for making this video it made me feel sm better

When I was a young artist, I've seen a lot of fellow young artists that got so much acolade: several thousands of re-tweets, reblogs, likes etc. And I felt like the things I do were worthless because they didn't get any feedback(sometimes literally). When I became friends with several artists , they were really cool and I even participated in some projects with them. I really liked creating stories, and my dream was always to create a comic for my stories. So I tried and tried to do better( work harder). And I burnt out when I was no longer a young artist(19). I still want to create, but because I dealt with 6 years of the lack of any sort of feedback, and now, I think I know I can't do anything special. And now, I'm afraid to even start drawing again. Because I know I'll just be ignored again. Because whe I was young, I felt like feedback was everything and I kind of feel that that's the case even now. My skills are.. average I feel , but because I took a big break, I feel like they worsened. My art always made me happy, but no one else noticed it. So I feel I shouldn't resume my art, if that makes sense. That I should just focus on my career, stuff like that, and forget about my teenage hobbies.Even when I know I shouldn't think like that, because I still love my characters and want to, you know, finally write stories about them. (started digital art at 13y/o and now I'm 20, sorry if my English is bad)

And yet, when I was in my 20s, I busted my behind proving myself to be a serious artist. Now I’m 45 years old, and finally my behind-busting has paid off. 💜🌹⭐️

As a 32 year old getting back into art seriously for the last two years, it's a blessing that so many younger artists are coming up, but from what I experienced is a rebellious nature, which I understand fully. But as Celestia say, it's valid for us elders to feel like the youth has the opportunity and tools we really didn't. I try to build up the youth artist with tips I know. I feel that that criticism based on the age is not needed and very rude.

One thing I hate about doing commissions as a minor is the fact that I’m still experimenting with style and so I always feel like having different styles in different commissions is “unfair” to the client ( not to mention I have no idea how to price my art because the constant style change also constantly changes the quality )

I don't think it's wrong to exclude minors from large projects that involve money. It can often be scary to do business with a minor if any sort of unforeseen complications arise. A lot of adults on the internet aren't even comfortable talking with minors at all because let's face it, how many of those kids parents would accuse you have having bad intentions with their kid? To me, it's just about comfort. It's not as though minors will stay minors and face these restrictions forever. More opportunities will arise for them with time.

I'm 24 too(turning 25 this year) i remember feeling so self conscious when i decided to get back into drawing again. I just hate how some people just judge and belittle us just because of our age. its not right. I wouldn't want anyone do deal with that should they want to start drawing or getting back into it.

Aaa I really love the content you put out. It's clear that you put a lot of effort into researching, scripting, and producing these videos and I have mad respect for that 💖💖 I really hope you will grow and people would notice how quality your content. Lately it's rare to see well-researched and produced videos like this and I'm really glad I found your channel ^^

I loved this video, it addresses something I didn’t even realize it was happening and it’s effect on me. I’m a college student and not as good at art as my peers, and have felt so much pressure and have beaten myself up for not starting practicing sooner. It’s an awful feeling that sucks out the fun of the process that made me choose my career path in the first place.

First of all, I think your video is very well thought out (and for some reason your coloring process is really satisfying to watch). Maybe the ageism, especially towards older beginner artists or older artists who didn't progress that fast also has to do with this strange belief that you shouldn't choose art as a hobby unless you are really good at it. Or that - if you are an adult - creating art is a waste of time unless the product is something that people would pay for. (Of course there is nothing wrong with artists who want to make money with their work. But for some people it's just a hobby to relax, relieve stress or have fun.) Sometimes it feels that everything people do has to lead to profit/attention/likes otherwise it's a waste of time. I have a friend who always told me that he would never get into art because can only draw stick figures and learning how to draw "real good" would take him so much time and effort that it wouldn't be "worth it". But even he enjoys drawing some interesting wonky comic monsters and funny graffiti art during uni lessons, because creating something is fun in itself. It's just sad that people get discouraged to try something new and fun :(

I'm a 35 beginner artist. I haven't personally run into any issues with ageism that I know of (that doesn't stop me from being worried about putting my age out there) - but I get along well with people who are younger as well as older. I try to give minors the same energy and support that I would have liked to have as a minor - without judgment. I've paid and bought from many minors and they've been just as professional, or even more professional, than adults I've worked with. If you like and want someone's art, regardless of age, they need to be paid, regardless.

i found your channel a couple days ago & i've just been binging all your videos since, i feel like im learning so much from all your art tips videos & even for the ones unrelated to art, it feels like im learning just from watching your drawing process !! you're making me wanna be an art youtuber now lol

Your growing so fast- like yesterday you had like 9k and now 9.5k, you deserve it tho :)

I think it's important to remember that young artist today have far more resources to learn from directly than artists who started in the age before the internet (or even before art RU-vid became a thing). I grew up on my little pony in 2014-2015 (I was like, 9 when I started watching people draw ponies or anime characters) and I watched art tutorials. Because I was NINE and had more free time than I knew what to do with, I'd draw like crazy NONSTOP and that just kept going until now, I turned 18 last year and I look at little kids today (I still consider myself a kid but like, in the way a fully grown adult would look at me and be like, 'born after 2000?? A BABY') They are zooming even faster than I did, because art videos are everywhere and entertainment is evolving like crazy. The most that artists had when they were kids (the older artists I look up to at least) was artist family, how to manga or comic art books, or like, tracing cartoons/comics/manga. Not to mention the free software that's out there now, and how advanced it is. If you've been doing digital art for forever, than you've had to relearn the same damn program 30 times because you've seen all the updates. Just try you're best to be proud of yourself for your own improvement. Like with working out, if you find the most muscular person on the internet and try to beat them out the gate, (even if they happen to be a fuckin ripped 12 year old I guess) than you will never be happy with the progress you do make. Focus on the one more push up you can do before being exhausted now, focus on the ten seconds you cut off your mile time, focus on the little things that seem easier for you to accomplish than they used to be. Not that it's a linear improvement, sometimes you just like, randomly suck again, but that happens to everyone. They just don't post or show off the days when everything they make sucks.

I started drawing at about 14, and i remember when i was about 19/20-ish, my friend circle was absolutely cooing over a then-16 year old artist and piling praise on her, while they were perfectly happy critiquing my art. And I asked why, because in my opinion, she had better art than me, and i needed more encouragement and support. They said it was because she was the baby of the group, but she had been drawing since she was 5 or 6, so she had 10 years of expierence to my 5-6. That hurt a lot, because she wasn't the baby in terms of experience.

Omg I love your art style. It's so crisp and clear but still very harmonic and cute! :D

Im incredibly impressed by the fact that you admit to things so often and I like to see that in a person Also the drawing is so cute I love it!

Ho! Just found your channel yesterday, your videos look super well made ^^ great vid btw, this is such an important topic to talk about!

Thank you for covering this topic! I'm an adult and I've been drawing all my life, but I'm constantly seeing both people my age and younger doing better than me at art. It's extremely hard to watch and I'm always heartbroken. But, I never think to insult young artists. I'm always very impressed, and I am glad that more resources are available to younger artists to get better faster. It's kind of bittersweet. I think if some kid insulted me for it though I would crumble like a house of cards haha ;D

Congrats on 10k! You totally deserve it :)

I think the best way to avoid ageism in the art community is not telling your age, I do this and it helps a lot, this is very good for older beginner artists who want to post their art but is to scared, try this and it will help

2:28 As an 18-year-old artist, I’ll be sure to treasure this time as much as I can! 😊

Ageism in art is problematic. It took me a long time to realise that other people had taken advantage of my "art requests" when I was 13. I couldn't exactly get paid online so I thought free art was the only thing I could do. At the same time, I find myself defending older beginner artists from people who shame them just because they're 30 drawing "refrigerator art". To be fair, I do criticise most of the art I see but I'd compare how long they've spent drawing/practicing art instead of their age. Who knows? Maybe that that art prodigy started at 5. Maybe that old man started at 40. We can't exactly judge them solely based on age because age the only factor to take into account. I acknowledge that younger artists pick up skills better than older ones but it gives no reason to discriminate against each other.

Theres also the availability of references and access to other inspiration-sparking motivators due to the expansion of the internet over the past few years. Poses of all perspectives, shapes, and sizes, are either photographed or drawn and referenced by artists wanting to take a piece of that artwork and implement it into something they made (I’m not referring to plagiarism, by this I mean referencing things such as color palettes, composition, perspectives, anatomical structure, etc.). References (photos) and videos, in my opinion, make it a thousand times easier for improvement to take place at an increasingly fast pace because literally anything you draw has in someway shape or form been photographed or drawn by somebody, so you can easily search it up and look at the structure of whatever you’re drawing, which makes you learn quickly from whatever you’re looking at. Older artists didn’t have a reference gallery as big as younger artists do now because the internet was still somewhat new so I argue that that plays a heavy part in why younger artists are ‘better’ than older artists when they were their age. It makes me upset to see people judging others’ art skills only based on how long they’ve survived on earth, its a very unfair way to weigh people’s validation and make them feel unwelcome. Being compared to others is never fun, especially when you’re being compared for something so out of your control like age. I hope this lessens and eventually stops as time goes and people realize they shouldn’t do this.

the fact this is so overlooked- im so glas youre covering this

As a 14 year old artist, this video was very empathetic for me. Thank you!

I love this video. It made my day since I'm in my mid 30's and I don't think I'm as good as some younger artist out there, but I just love to draw and really I just do it for myself really. I do like to watch artist young and old on RU-vid since it's nice to see how their tips and tricks to learn from.

I know this is an old video, but thank you for making it!! I'm an adult beginner and I would love to share my art online but I'm terrified of becoming the next "art lore" on tiktok or something. I'll probably wait until I'm a bit better, but I feel like if people saw my age and the art I make I'd get ripped to shreds and I'm just here to learn

I’m sure you’ve heard this a ton but your voice is so calming! Your videos are so nice to just have on in the background while drawing