"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden. "
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Whilst observing this natural expansion of boundaries by myself i understand a lot why other artist struggle with that, as the behavior of their "Fans" changes also, not in a bad way - but no or only rare feedback slows down the motivation to create or publish any more.
Some artists refuse to publish anymore on the web and some avoid the communities that once helped them to grow in popularity.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
Sir Winston Churchill
So you must either be stuck in the style that made you popular (referring to the names above) "giving in to the demand" or learn a "don´t care attitude but be still nice" and step ahead the ladder of progress to get a better artist.
This is in fact no easy decision and working as illustrator makes it not easier as well, while a fine artist can have "phases" or whatever they call it, the popular art shapes an artist on demand -thats the sad part about an otherwise "dream job", a little more acceptance would be desirable.
Sure one can put up different portfolios for either category, but that won´t change a "body of work", thats what i count important when going through portfolios, the ability to bring a unique signature into different styles and techniques.
Below i have put together the most extreme style contradictions of my work, to motivate others that its always important to stay true to yourself regardless of what you do.
One could argument that being in online art communities brings comments and appreciation and even art appreciators to the artists, that is true, but after 8 years of having my work in online art galleries its safe to say that statistically only 1 percent of the viewers give a comment and only 5-10 % are giving a favorite or a good rating, thats fact and makes it hard for emerging artists to learn anything.
