By Anonymous - 29/01/2012 19:09 - United States

Today, it's my girlfriend's birthday. I presented her with an oil painting of her that I'd been working on for over a month, and she started to cry. I thought it was because she liked it, until she asked if she really looks that ugly and disproportionate in real life. FML
I agree, your life sucks 30 989
You deserved it 3 873

Same thing different taste

Comments

thinkPlNK 0

if that's the way she reacted, then now we know she's ugly on the inside too.

fmlluver1415 6

12- that's not true she probably felt sad cuz she felt that's how he viewed her... never know

thinkPlNK 0

16 - i understand your point of view :) but unless OP is an artist, she shouldn't have expected it to come out perfect. if i truly was offended, i wouldn't cry in front of my boyfriend about it. especially after he took all that time to make it. it's always the thought that counts :)

bamagrl410 31

Yea, to me this says she's more insecure & concerned about her appearance than the fact that her boyfriend took a month getting a gift ready for her. Looks aren't everything.

Hit it on the head. Look, I'm an artist. I'd even consider myself to be a GOOD artist (seeing as I'm currently working on an official, paying, *contracted* gig to illustrate a graphic novel, I don't think that's an overestimation). But no matter how great I am at anatomy, facial expressions, shading, color contrasts, and all those other little things, I would not attempt an oil painting. I do some great works in watercolor, but oil is not my forte. Oil paintings are, usually, quite 'choppy'- large brush strokes and un-blended colors streaking together, creating lots of hills and valleys in the texture of the paint. They don't capture ultrafine details, and it's easy to make a shape not turn out how you want it to. I can do amazing things with black ink on paper; give me oil paints, and I could give you something resembling a toddler's tantrum. Assuming the BF is an artist, the girlfriend should KNOW how much effort goes into a a single picture, how long it takes, which makes this so much worse. (example: 1 single panel on 1 page of the graphic novel I'm collaborating on, Takes an hour or more just to do the *ROUGH PENCIL*. And after rough pencil comes cleanup & detail, then comes inking, then comes shading, and then you fill in everything else. All of a sudden that 1 panel has taken me 6 hours to draw. And there's 4 more just on that one page.) Art takes time, practice and effort, which no one seems to really understand unless they're in some way artistic too. No matter what the damn thing looks like, you cannot look at a painting and not appreciate the sheer amount of man-hours that went into creating it. Well, you can, but it just makes you look like a person who's so ignorant even the blondes think you're retarded. TL;DR Drawing is hard. Painting is harder. Oils are damn near impossible to work with unless you really know what you're doing (and even then, abstract is the way to go). They're tricky to work with and don't always come out the way you want, but no matter how they do come out, you spent hours of your time working on it and only the most uncouth of individuals would react with such a shallow response of 'Oh my god it looks ugly DO YOU THINK I'M UGLY?!?!?'

Wow, i don't know if i want to read all that

Longest fml comment ever. Haha, but it made sense and I enjoyed reading it so thank you for not making that huge comment completely pointless. And I agree, drawing is hard, and painting is definitely harder.

MerrikBarbarian 9

Piping in as another artist, painting isn't really harder persay, just uses a different skill set. I draw a lot but my painting often comes out better then my drawings. I use acrylics though, not oils. Oils take forever to work with! You can do amazing detailed work in them (a friend of mine does), but holy shit expect to dedicate months to it!

lebronesque73091 12

You either must not know her that well, or you aren't as artistic as you thought.

kaylamahoney90 12

I would have done a different painting.

It's the thought that counts right? Your girlfriend needs to stop bitching... unless you're a horrible artist.

xXxIracebethxXx 14

Even if he is a horrible artist, she should be appreciative that the boyfriend worked on the piece for over a month.

Kinder93_fml 3

I agree. My boyfriend isn't an artist, he doesn't claim to be at all and accepts that he sucks at drawing / painting. But for my 18th birthday he gave me a handmade card that he'd put so much effort and thought into. It wasn't the best looking one, sure, but it's the love and care that goes into the card. And I honestly loved it, I've still got it too. Alright the painting may have been not as amazing as she was hoping for, but she should at least appreciate that he did it for her because it's deffo the thought that counts.

MustangGirl72 9

She should be happy you took the time and energy to paint something for her. Even if it did make her look ugly and disproportionate.

And money. If I remember correctly oil paints are expensive

A100893 30

He could use the excuse that he was painting in a funhouse mirror 'style.'

BadPandaEye 6

I agree, some guys these days would not even think to do that in the first place. I would really appreciate it if my boyfriend painted me a portrait :) Although I would laugh my ass off if he shows up with a Picasso version of me. lol

I'd say it's something to laugh at when they're old and turning to dust. :P

SukiIzumi 8

To hear that about something you really worked hard on, that really sucks. Sorry op

perdix 29

Don't quit your day job! I hope you were smart enough to admit you're a shitty artist. FYL if you are ******* an ugly, misshapen troll who thinks she's "normal."

WearingHats 14

Don't knock it 'til you try it.

You first have to know that oil painting is really hard, even for professional artists and geniuses, second, if an artist decides to do a painting for a girl then she must be magnificently beautiful, so don't hate

"Actually I sort of toned it down from your actual disportional features..."

I'm sure Leonardo da Vinci got asked that same question by Mona Lisa 500 years ago.

Mister_Triangle 21

Some people speculate that the Mona Lisa Is self-portrait. And I'm sure we've all looked in a mirror and thought we were ugly