Types of Writers, Part 4- The Artiste

Today, we will examine the Artiste.


The Artiste sees their comic books, as transcending everything else in the medium. While the other books are complete garbage, the Artiste’s comic is a work of art. Everything within their comic combines into a beautiful tapestry of symbolism and storytelling . . . at least, in their own minds. Their perception of the quality of their work is independent of the actual quality, which may range from inspired to obtuse to mind-numbingly bad. The Artiste is characterized by extreme narcissism, arrogance, and a complete obliviousness to any and all flaws they or their works possess.

There are 3 types of The Artiste, classified by their reaction to criticism. The 3 types are: the Vindictive, the Passive Aggressive and the Patronizer.

The Vindictive will respond to any and all criticism to flames and vicious ad hominem attacks. Their work is perfect, and any criticism is seen as a personal insult, regardless of how mild the criticism was or how much the person brown nosed them before bringing it up. The Vindictive is like a 2-year old child throwing a tantrum, in that they rarely actually address legitimate points and show all the maturity of a toddler. The Vindictive may be sugary sweet to anyone willing to heap them with endless praise, but they are brutally aggressive to everyone else.

A non-comics example of the Vindictive would be Uwe Boll. Boll challenged his critics to a boxing match, so he’d have a reason to violently beat the spit out of them without worrying about jail time or lawsuits. However, most of the Vindictive Artistes stick to verbal assaults and only fantasize about the physical ones.

The Passive Aggressive, much like the Vindictive, holds all critics in utter disdain. They just happen to be slightly less vehement about it, preferring passive aggressive comments to calling their critics every swear word in the book. Expect their responses to be catty but less blatantly rude than their Vindictive counterparts.
 
The Patronizer, unlike the other two types, can actually be fairly friendly, but still incapable of noticing even the most glaring flaws of their work. They tend to be gently patronizing with as they explain why the critic is wrong, like a patient adult explaining something to a 4-year old. Whether this is more or less annoying than being flamed is a matter of personal taste.