/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

Why is drawing also to get a following on social platforms and befriending other artists, assuming you already are working hard and enjoying the craft itself, usually seen in negative light by a lot of people? I've seen artists I know becoming mutuals with more popular artists and getting up to a few thousands followers from 0 in just a year or less, so it's not like it's this impossible of a task, especially if sometimes you draw the occasional fan art of shit you like.

Yet when I tell people it's one of my initial small goals in an honest light and without shame, they start laughing at me and saying i'm delusional. Are they projecting their own failure on other people or what?