Putting your work out there (and having it ripped to shreds)

I mentioned awhile back that I did the art for a zombie story which was produced for inclusion in an all-indie all-horror anthology called Skin Crawling Comics. Well, we got an article on Bleeding Cool! Except, uh, it's defeatist in tone, because it doesn't look like we're gonna reach our goal. Here's the article and a couple of the posts:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/front-page-comic-news/74075-you-can-t-scare-apathy-even-if-you-can-scare-world.html

...You might notice Yours Truly posted a piece of art in the comments thread which was quickly responded to by a couple of comments insinuating it was "rapey." Sheesh! Based on a picture of a bunch of zombies about to chow down on some fresh meat!

This is the latest in a series of rough critiques I've had on the internet, most of which related to work I was paid for (and that the client was happy with). Very frustrating, especially since I try not to show stuff off that I'm not totally happy with.

But what can you do? You have to have a pretty thick skin, I guess, and be able to filter out the accurate critiques ("her legs are too long" or "the skin is green") from the baseless ones ("the dainty pinkies look like shit" or "this sketch is too sketchy"). So I'll keep putting work out there, and I'll read every response I get and try to figure out what makes sense and what doesn't.

But if you're gonna be a professional artist and put your work out for people to respond to... Gird your loins and prepare for the worst. Because you might be in love with something, but the nameless, faceless, unruly mob of the Internet feels it deserves to be ripped to shreds....!

But anyway - here's some art! It's the Unstoppable Stopwatch!