40 Times People Spotted Such Delusional Artists They Just Had To Shame Them In This Online Group (New Pics)
I remember sitting in art class as a child and just having the best time creating my little masterpieces. An oil pastel depiction of trees reflected on a river in the forest, a rainbow fish with gold outlines, a small sculpture that was intended to be a Christmas ornament, drawings of my childhood home and watercolor paintings of a farm in the country. Making art is so relaxing and exhilarating, and it’s a great way for kids to get in touch with their creative side. However, one thing I knew even as a small child was that I’m not cut out to be an artist. I’m just not that great.
Sure, if you put your mind to something, you can always improve, and I’m not in the business of squashing anyone’s dreams. But sometimes, if a skill really does not come naturally to you, it’s okay to move on and find something else you can actually do well. Unfortunately, there are some people out there who are a bit too persistent in their artistic endeavors…
Allow me to introduce you to the Delusional Artists subreddit. We’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the group down below, which is dedicated to shaming artists who lack self-awareness and sometimes simple logic as well, so you too can enjoy the work of these knock-off van Goghs, Picassos and Monets. Keep reading to also find an interview we were lucky enough to receive from artist Jill Arwen Posadas to hear her thoughts on the topic. Be sure to upvote the pics of pieces you think the artists should be paying their customers to take, and then if you’re interested in seeing even more of these masterpieces, you can find Bored Panda’s last article on the same subreddit right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
Not An Artist But A Designer Company, But Still... How Is This Worth $380???
The Delusional Artists subreddit was created in April, 2013, and it has blossomed into quite the impressive art gallery since then. It currently has 514k members, or “pieces of art available” as they call them, and members are constantly uploading artwork they spot online and in person by artists who might need to have a reality check. There are several topics that commonly come up in the group, including “deluded artist”, “meta'', “high price”, “aBsTrAcT”, “arrogant artist”, and simply “bad art”.
The titles are relatively self-explanatory, of course, but they give some indication of what the most common examples of delusional artists entail. For example, it is not uncommon to find a piece being sold online, perhaps on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, that does not look like it took very much skill to create… That’s fine if an artist wants to give away their work for free, but when a marker drawing that looks like it was done by a 7-year-old is being listed for $400? That’s the perfect piece to be shared on Delusional Artists.
Luxembourg Artist Ripped Off Photos, Won A €1,500 Prize, Selling His Painting As Original Work For €6500 Euro And Hired An Attorney To Deal With This Matter
Met A Guy At A Bar Who Told Me He Was An Artist And Then Said He Wanted To Draw Me
Stop Slow Children?
Complete Horizon Lines Are For Losers
What A Stunning Piece Of Work
To gain some insight on this topic from an artist, we reached out to Jill Arwen Posadas, a professional painter who specializes in depicting monsters. First, we asked Jill if she believes anyone can be an artist. “Honestly, I think anyone can be an artist,” she told Bored Panda. “That is, everyone has it in them to have ideas and to find creative ways to express or communicate those ideas, which is what I think an artist is.”
“I guess the question for this article is whether anyone can become a career artist, or, the term I know is ‘practicing artist’,” Jill explained. “For this, I'd say it takes more than just having ideas. You'd have to really commit and really work hard to hone your skills, and there's just no shortcut to that. And when I say commit, as in, you're still going to push on and continue to create even when things get hard. For example, people don't like your work, you're not able to sell, that kind of thing. Not everyone is able to commit or is willing to work hard.”
Handmade “Shirt” On Depop
Only $295! Custom Ugg Boots With Random Pieces Of Denim Glued On Top
For Just The Low Low Price Of $50
We also asked Jill what she thinks qualifies someone as a “delusional artist”. “I feel a little weird answering this question because I'm pretty sure there are people out there who would call me a delusional artist,” Jill told Bored Panda. She noted a personal example of how one of her past pieces might have looked like it could earn a spot on this list, but even if it wasn’t her best work, she was not on Facebook Marketplace attempting to sell that piece for $600. “I guess, it could be said that all artists are delusional in one way or another,” she noted.
“For this article, we might define a delusional artist as someone who didn't exactly commit or work hard as I mentioned in my previous answer,” Jill told Bored Panda. “Thinking that they could put in the barest minimum (or maybe even zero) effort and maybe (I say this delicately) make some easy money by selling their work for maybe a lot more than it might be worth. Delusional as in ‘they think their work is worth that much’.”
Jill explained that she might not deem these artists as delusional, but instead, “Either they are relatively inexperienced, or, maybe they are up to something shady.”
It’s “Rustic”
For The Parents Who Want Their Babies To Look Like They're Smeared With Diarrhea :)
Hoping This Is A Joke
“The former I would say are inexperienced because maybe they haven't had enough exposure to more art or the art world,” Jill explained. “I'm not saying I myself have seen it all or know everything -- I'm just saying that maybe if the artists who made the portraits that maybe could've been made better, had been exposed to other, ‘better’ portraits, then maybe those artists would have known that maybe they should've waited until their work had developed more, before promoting it and offering it to others.”
“The latter whom I described as might be doing something shady? These would be the people who I mentioned might be just out to make some easy money by selling something quick and easy. I say ‘people’ because I think calling them ‘artists’ might be, to put it gently, a misnomer,” Jill noted.
"Cloud Like Mirror"
Apparently Trisha Paytas Has A Poshmark Store — Only $400!
I'm Hoping These Are A Joke But They Jumpscared Me When I Was Checking Marketplace
We also asked Jill what she personally thinks are the most important factors that make someone an artist. “I still think the most important factors that make an artist are having ideas or a ‘message’, and finding creative ways to express or share or communicate that message or those ideas,” she told Bored Panda.
“But you also have to work super, super, super hard to express yourself the very best way that you can,” Jill continued. “Whether you study to do this or you teach yourself, you have to put in the hours and the work. No matter the medium, traditional or digital, no matter the form, painting, sculpture, even poetry, music, cooking -- it involves hours and hours and hours of practice. And not giving up no matter what. That's what makes an artist.”
Harvey Weinstein’s “Girlfriend” Is Selling Her Paintings For 5k
"Trump Rally," Featuring A Strangely Putin-Looking Fpotus And... A Full Cast Of Jeff Dunham's Puppets In The Audience? Take It Home For $300
What A Steal
“Maybe ‘delusional artists’ as we define them in this article need to ask themselves why they are doing what they're doing,” Jill pointed out. “Are they making art to express an idea? Become better at what they're doing/develop their skills/hone their technique? Or get a kick out of the idea that they can put two lines together and sell it as non-rep (i.e. abstract) art/put a rock on a string and sell it as conceptual art? Like, ‘I put one over somebody and got paid for it too’?”
“I'm not saying no artist should ever make something for money,” Jill added. “Artists should get paid fairly for their work. Nor am I saying that non-representational art like single stroke paintings or conceptual art (like found object art) don't deserve the price tags that they have in galleries -- because you don't know how long the artist had to work to make that single stroke (not to mention the materials, etc), and you don't know the skill or the ideation involved in making the installation/choosing the found object art.”
“But what I am saying and what I would say to the ‘artists’ is to get out there and study,” Jill told Bored Panda. “Get more of the right exposure, grow and develop as an artist more. And to their ‘potential collectors’, well, I can't tell you what to do with your money but ‘buyer beware’.”
If you’d like to check out some of Jill’s wonderful art, be sure to visit her website right here.
This Artist Is Onto Something $50 For Recycled Fan
Complete The Cloud Set With This “Coffee Table”
This Cat Tree, Which Is Actually A Piece Of Drift Wood, Could Be Yours For The Low Low Price Of 3k!!!
I’m sure you’ve heard the idea that “we’re all our own greatest critics” before, but clearly that’s not always true. Sometimes, we are delusional about our abilities, and we need strangers on Reddit to fill the role of our greatest critics for us. (Thanks, Delusional Artists!) So what is it about these artists that makes them so detached from reality? Well, perhaps nobody has ever been honest with them about the quality of their work. If mom and dad were always incredibly encouraging, and friends never had the heart to steer them towards a different career path, it’s not unreasonable for them to assume that their work is worth something. Plus, we all know art is subjective, so it can be very hard to explain exactly why a piece should be worth $5 instead of $500.
CEO Of Game Studio Passes Ai Generated Art As His Own And Wins A Competition, And His Fb Contacts Are Eating It Up
I find this story rather facinating about the future of art and the possibilities of AI
AI art AS A TOOL, I.e used for generating references and such, would be fine if the source material wasn't stolen. However, AI "artists" are invading spaces made for traditional and digital artists and claiming that they're putting in the same effort because they "spent so long finetuning their image!" It has it's place but people need to be honest when they've just been lazy and used an AI image generator instead of pushing legitimate artists from the spaces we've created for ourselves.
Load More Replies...This issue was not the image being created in AI. It was submitting this work in a competition with out informing the judges that it was an AI generated image. Even if the rules don't specify No AI images, it should be understood if you have any shred of critical thinking skills. This is like paying someone to create a painting for you and then submitting this painting to an art competition.
In his defence, he actually DID mention the use in word and speech. He actively told them what tool he used, but the jury probably didn't know what Midjourney actually is. That does not excuse what he has done or the consequences but... yeah...
Load More Replies...I just recently read about it on multiple platforms. I am a digital artist and I do love AI generated art things. Most of them look so heckin fantastic, these shown above too. They are beautiful, no doubt about it. What pains me, is that it is implied that years of practice, hours of hard work and still being greatly underpaid, is worth nothing. Artists already have to fight for their place as it's already degraded as not being a 'serious profession' often enough... I'm not made for him or anyone using AI, I'm mad that he used it to gain personal profit. I'm mad that he thinks 'changing/selecting 900 options' equals hours if not days of detailed work from scratch.
The issue as I see it is Midjourney and other programs aren't creating these images, they're trained using thousands if not millions of existing artworks created by actual artists like you, and they're aggregating the results into a unique piece. Without the years of training, practice and work of real artists, none of these AI platforms would exist.
Load More Replies...I mean the AI art looks absolutely gorgeous and I love it, but he should have said that it was AI generated at the start! Not passed it off as his own
If it was a digital are competition I don't see it as "passing them off." This is the future of digital art. Much like dubstep is the current trend in digital music. You take a bunch of other artist's work, feed it into a program, enter in thr parameters, and let the AI pop out the image, just like a dj takes a bunch of other songs and samples, splices them together, and gets a new song. Ai art is thr future of art but it will.never be the only art. Just a way for the unartistic to bring their own art to life in a unique way.
The "unartistic" shouldn't be claiming that they have as much skill as actual artists, who spend years honing their skills to create the works THAT GET STOLEN to feed the AI generator. Sure, there's space for it as a tool but this guy entered a fine art competition and bragged that the weeks he spent selecting images is comparable to the years and months of work of actual artists. Even DJ's spend years learning and there is actually some skill in knowing how to do stuff like hype up a crowd and add originality to songs that have already been made. Most famous DJ's still have their own unique style, like Fatboy Slim sounds very different to Example. That's what's missing from AI art. If they want to win competitions they can hold their own and develop their own spaces but they really need to work on the theft thing.
Load More Replies...It is his own. No one else created or copyrighted it. He just created it through AI. if that violated the contest rules that was wrong. But if I didn't have any rules about it he didn't do anything wrong.
With how much effort that goes into these prompts, it could almost be easier to just paint the damn thing.
Is this really art? what is the message? Unless you are into vague fantasy and science fiction, these say nothing to me. Yes they are skilled, but just generalized principles of art arranged and rearranged. Fun, but not art.
It's a state fair!! People who exhibit at those bring farm animals, and homemade jams. They look at those and think, "how would that look behind the sofa?"
What AI was this because I need it- those look very pretty compared to some AI I've used to try and make things for moodbaords and when I'm bored
Other artists got very upset with him. But I find it fascinating that an AI managed to make something this pretty.
There's a Bored Panda I think on this one- I just read it. Just not sure if it was BP.
This was shown in the Digital Art category, which it absolutely is. The artist spent over 100+ hours refining prompts to achieve the final look, which is absolutely his legitimate vision and creation. You might not like the medium, but your ignorance of the artistry and skill involved in creating outstanding AI-assisted images does not mean this isn't art.
Was the AI created by him/his studio? If so, I think it's completely legit - it's his own work even if done with the help of a computer. If not, he should at least have credited the AI when entering.
No, he used Midjourney, and even if he did make the AI, it's not "legit." It is NOT his own work; He inputted a bunch of other artists' work into AI, mixed aspects of other artworks together and called it an original piece. Not art, not legit.
Load More Replies...I think this is great, like, it shows how much AI has improved. And honestly if the artist community is so butthurt about this then instead of saying this shouldn't be allowed how about we just make a separate category specifically for AI generated art
Is this a troll comment? He threw a bunch of words into Midjourney and put his name on the image it spat out and called it "original art." There was zero skill, talent or effort involved.
Load More Replies...Woman Makes These Atrocities And Sells Them. The Panda Bears Look Like They Have Seen Terrible, Terrible Things
That horse is terrifying! And does it have a penis? The bears seem to be melting - I can practically hear their screams!
Rip Bambi
When it comes to why these delusional artists upcharge their work so much, it might be because they have been taught that undercharging is very bad for artists. It sets a precedent that artwork is not worth very much money, and then customers expect to receive masterpieces at low prices. As artist Jack Baker notes on his site, offering prices that are too low undermines and damages the art industry. He says that when skilled artists don’t charge what they are worth, clients become less likely to pay the appropriate price for professional work. “These artists charging low rates are often ‘hobbyists’ meaning it doesn’t affect them in the way it would affect a professional, like myself, who uses this as their sole income,” Jack writes. It is possible that these delusional artists have misunderstood messages like this from professional artists, and they came to the conclusion that it’s better to charge too much than too little.
Only One Triad Left!
$1,200, Going Once
Does This Count?
I can see the fire and smell burned hair from across the ocean o.O ||| decorate and sell your stuff as you wish, but at least stay away from messing with electronics - especially the ones that are supposed to heat up!
We hope you're enjoying this list of masterpieces from 'delusional artists' and that you're feeling inspired to pick up your own paintbrush and canvas. There is nothing wrong with making your own amateur creations, as long as you don't try to charge thousands of dollars for them online. Keep upvoting the pics you find most amusing, and then let us know in the comments if you've ever encountered any delusional artists. And then if you want to see even more of these pics, be sure to check out our last article featuring the Delusional Artists subreddit right here.
At The Bargain Price Of Just $3,800 You Could Be The Proud Owner Of An 8ft Tall Nightmare-Fuel Trash Mermaid
Finally Found One
"Goat"
My neighbor once had roots grow into their septic tank and it looked prettier than this.
310$ Is Definitely The Right Price
What In Satan's Hell Fire Is This
OhhHHHHhHHhhh I love horror stuff! Etsy has some really neat artists that make really cute horror dolls..A Widdle Mikey Myers and an ADORABLE Bubba Sawyer that I would cuddle the stuffin outta. il_680x540...6_fk4a.jpg
A Dinomite Bargain!
Earrings Are $43 But The Tetanus Is Free!
She Put Her Signature In Case It Appreciates In Value Someday
"Gilgalad Gives Galadriel The Last Of The Mallorn Seeds"
Interesting Take On Stranger Things
Antique Spiral Notebooks Increase The Value
Finally Found One In The Wild
Found On Mercari
Note: this post originally had 80 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
Maybe it's the artist in me ...maybe it's my tender heart....But CLEARLY some, if not many, of these projects were done by someone who was really trying, and spending their time trying to create something, just to be s**t on by snobs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think laughing at other peoples creative attempts is terrible. For shame bored panda....for shame.
Vast debate... but in my opinion those who are posted here, for the most part, are people who simply have no perspective or any objective appreciation of what they do and imagine themselves to be an "artist". That said, there are creations which are interesting graphically and technically but which are clearly not at all successful and are possibly a starting point but it stops there and certainly do not deserve to be offered for sale.
Load More Replies...I'm always afraid I'll see my own art on a list like this one day!! Luckily today was not that day
Looking around very a national gallery . Everyone was stepping over a row of bricks laying across the room. No it wasn't for a renovation it was an "art" installation!
LOL I know that exhibit well, was looking up and tripped on the bricks. Quickly put them back in place only to have my husband do the same thing. We then spent a while watching people doing the same thing. There was a guard in the room, wonder if her job was to make people “clean up” if the tried to leave without resetting the bricks.
Load More Replies...Such lack of awareness is actually rather scary. How can anyone genuinely believe "most" of this stuff is worth money? I'm honestly gobsmacked. I'm not laughing at all, it's not funny.
I guess it is like anything else. Things are worth what people are willing to pay.
Load More Replies...Most of these are delusional, but a couple are well done, it's just people go "Oh that's actual money you want for the thing you made?".
Got an artist near me who glues magazine cutout pictures on canvas and tries selling them on fb for over $250. She can't for the lifevof her work out why they don't sell.
Some art doesn't look like much and sells for an awful lot.
Load More Replies...Maybe it's the artist in me ...maybe it's my tender heart....But CLEARLY some, if not many, of these projects were done by someone who was really trying, and spending their time trying to create something, just to be s**t on by snobs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think laughing at other peoples creative attempts is terrible. For shame bored panda....for shame.
Vast debate... but in my opinion those who are posted here, for the most part, are people who simply have no perspective or any objective appreciation of what they do and imagine themselves to be an "artist". That said, there are creations which are interesting graphically and technically but which are clearly not at all successful and are possibly a starting point but it stops there and certainly do not deserve to be offered for sale.
Load More Replies...I'm always afraid I'll see my own art on a list like this one day!! Luckily today was not that day
Looking around very a national gallery . Everyone was stepping over a row of bricks laying across the room. No it wasn't for a renovation it was an "art" installation!
LOL I know that exhibit well, was looking up and tripped on the bricks. Quickly put them back in place only to have my husband do the same thing. We then spent a while watching people doing the same thing. There was a guard in the room, wonder if her job was to make people “clean up” if the tried to leave without resetting the bricks.
Load More Replies...Such lack of awareness is actually rather scary. How can anyone genuinely believe "most" of this stuff is worth money? I'm honestly gobsmacked. I'm not laughing at all, it's not funny.
I guess it is like anything else. Things are worth what people are willing to pay.
Load More Replies...Most of these are delusional, but a couple are well done, it's just people go "Oh that's actual money you want for the thing you made?".
Got an artist near me who glues magazine cutout pictures on canvas and tries selling them on fb for over $250. She can't for the lifevof her work out why they don't sell.
Some art doesn't look like much and sells for an awful lot.
Load More Replies...