Criticism Hinders Appreciation.

Our secondary school art teacher was very critical, always looking for flaws in our artwork. He insisted on a high level of realism in our illustrations. We soon adopted his perspective and started noticing imperfections in everything we saw. Sometimes, we even made fun of other people’s hard work.

Unfortunately, this is the norm in our culture – to focus only on the negative aspects of things. People often ask me why my characters have oversized heads or yellow skin instead of brown, and why I don’t aim for realism in my drawings. Even when they compliment my work, they struggle to explain why they like it.

When we approach everything with a critical eye, we miss the beauty and storytelling that lies within them.