lily57•1mo ago

Hot take: art station pages need to stop hiding the process shots

I was browsing through a concept artist's portfolio from Seattle last night and noticed they only posted the final polished render. I had to dig through their Instagram to find the 3 rough blockout stages which actually taught me more than the finished piece. It got me thinking about how we present our work online and if showing only the final version really helps other artists learn. Anyone else prefer seeing the messy early versions instead of just the pretty end result?

3 comments

3 Comments

viola_lopez301mo ago

I mean, do you think artists hide the process shots because they're embarrassed about how rough it gets, or is it more about trying to look like they just magically knew what they were doing from the start?

daniel_gonzalez1mo ago

You know, I think there's something to that second part about wanting to look like it came together easily. There's this weird pressure in creative fields where people act like struggling with a piece means you're not a "real" artist. I've seen plenty of painters scrap whole sections and start over, but they only show the final polished version online. It almost feels like hiding the messy middle is a way to protect that illusion of natural talent. Maybe if more people showed the ugly stages, it would take some of that pressure off everyone.

elliotm571mo ago

@daniel_gonzalez nailed it, happens with cooking videos too where they skip all the burnt pans.