If anyone is serious about anything in the arts, she's going to get criticized. And she should. The truth is, artists need criticism. Otherwise we can't fully hone our skills. We need people to feed it to us.
Some people say that "writers get a thick skin." I'm not sure I believe that. With the arts--whether it's writing, animation, painting, or dance--we also need to keep ourselves vulnerable, because art is all about opening up to others. Often the best art is vulnerable, in that it lets others connect with the artist's mind and soul.
So artists need two things: they need criticism and they need to be vulnerable. This can lead to hurt feelings. But, generally speaking, those feelings are the artist's responsibility, not the critic's. The artist needs to learn to deal with them, because he will feel them over and over again throughout his career. He needs to learn to take criticism.
So when we ask for feedback, give it to us. People think they might help by not telling us what they don't like, but in long-run, they're hurting. They're hurting our art and our personal growth.
We need critics who aren't afraid of hurting our feelings. We need critics who are okay when our feelings are hurt.
