I’ve always gone through life believing that you can like someone’s work, without actually liking them as a person. And by contrast, I believe it’s also possible to like an individual, and yet not be a fan of their output. Some people, however, seem to find this difficult to understand, or even think it makes me hypocritical. To me, however, it makes complete sense.

It’s true that there are definitely artists out there who are mainly geared towards one specific fan base, one franchise, one idea. They know what they like, or what their audience like, and they stick to it and do it well. If that’s how you work, that’s great — more power to you. Art should be a fun and enjoyable pursuit.

However, I tend to find it’s a lot more commonplace now for artists to have fingers in multiple pies. They have multiple different series on the go, each focused on a different concept and catering to a different audience. Their interests are as diverse as their art, and they want to be able to share their passion for multiple different franchises, concepts, characters, ideas.

Years ago, following these artists used to give me a sense of guilt. Generally, when I get to know an artist as a person and start following them closely, talking to them, even befriending them, I feel an obligation to get to know their entire output. After all, if I’m only seeing part of what they do, and not getting to at least know about the other stuff, am I not ignoring a key part of their creativity? And, if so, how can I really say I know them? Is it not like I’m ignoring a part of what makes them who they are? That guilt made me not want to follow many artists even when I discovered I had liked many of their works, simply because I didn’t like everything.

In recent years, however, I’ve had an epiphany. What I realized, is that liking everything isn’t really humanly possible. No individual is a member of every single fan base in existence, after all — everyone has their own tastes, likes and dislikes, and that’s what makes us individual. And the same is true of artists. If I don’t like, or care about, something an artist does, even though I love many other things by an artist — that doesn’t mean I don’t like the artist, or that I’m uncaring, or a bad friend. It simply means, I’m not the intended audience for that particular work — and that’s okay.

To use a real-life example, there’s an artist I follow who does really creative works involving various Nintendo characters. This artist has conceptualized a few original OCs of their own with unique backstories and designs, but with a clear lineage to the original franchise. However, they also occasionally draw characters performing vore — something I find hugely distasteful. I like them for their Nintendo art, but when I see the other stuff, I remove it from my feed and mentally ignore it. But I don’t hate them for doing it. It’s one of their interests; it caters for a different audience; and it wasn’t meant for me. And I understand that.

Am I supposed to hate people because I don’t necessarily like everything they do? Does the fact I like a particular work by a particular person betray the fact that I may not like that individual as a person because of things unrelated to their art? I don’t believe so. For me, separation of art and artist is a key part of what makes people human. And so, I’ve decided going forward, I’m not going to make any apologies for what I like and don’t like. And I’m not going to feel guilty if I don’t bother reading something one of my friends has been working on, or if I discover I don’t know a lot about some of their characters, stories, or worlds — but I will still put in the effort to learn; I’ll still keep encouraging them; and I’ll still feel happy for them, for the simple fact they’re doing something that they’re passionate about. Because in the end, that’s what matters. It isn’t about me, it’s about showing support for what — and who — you love. And who of us can say we truly understand love?