"While this would be wonderful, it sadly isn't true at all. Check out any history book from any time period, and we see fantastically talented people being pricks to each other." Yep. I agree 100%. Thinking that true artists wouldn't be vainglorious dolts is living in la-la land. I haven't met or read about an artist yet who hasn't criticized other people's works in some way. In fact, some of the more famous artists of our time were complete self-absorbed narcissists who couldn't take criticism, but felt compelled to dish it out. Not all, obviously, but many