Snobs suck-up to their social superiors while simultaneously displaying an arrogant disdain towards people they perceive as being their social inferiors.  Snobbery exists in all areas of life, but can be particularly harsh in the art world.  This is different from people simply having varied tastes regarding personal likes and dislikes.  Snobbery is often used by some as a method to establish their superiority over others while improving their own position in a perceived pecking order, not to mention attempting to hide their own personal inadequacies by highlighting and/or inventing weaknesses in others.

Even when we know this, we can still feel hurt and discouraged.  It's a big bad world out there, so we must all grow a fairly thick skin to deal with it.  Remember, when putting ourselves out there, we're effectively painting a target on ourselves (and our artwork).  I'm not saying that's how things should be, I'm just saying that's the harsh reality of how things actually are.

Don't get me wrong, not all cliques and groups are based on snobbery.  In fact, many are not.  Many groups are simply the result of people wishing to associate and share with people similar to themselves, and to promote the products they like to use.  This is simply human nature.

While the approval of others is always nice, if the need for approval is the sole thing that motivates someone, he/she will be especially vulnerable to snobs, cliques, and critics.

***

Let's take the example of digital painting, 3D renders, and postwork to 3D renders:

There are people that consider any use of 3D models to be cheating - digital art is only 'proper' art if you started from scratch with a blank screen in a paint program.

There are people that consider any form of postwork on a 3D render to be cheating - retouching your render is somehow unfair on people who don't/can't do so... and/or may somehow be considered proof that your rendering skills are inferior in some way.

There are people that consider a lack of postwork to be the sign of inadequate skills to turn a 3D render into 'proper' art.


Obviously just my own personal opinion, but as far as I'm concerned, all of these examples demonstrate a snobbery that does absolutely nothing to encourage an artist to progress, experiment, and evolve.  

***

Rather than keeping each skillset in isolation, a synergy of all skills will usually produce the best results in the shortest time.

A synergy of anything and everything at your disposal to get the results you want is the logical way to evolve and progress your art.

The synergy of all your skills will make you a more rounded artist, helping you discover and establish your own artistic style.

***

Irrespective of how basic or advanced our art might appear to others, there's absolutely nothing wrong with whatever we do, so long as we're satisfied & happy with it ourselves.   It's our hobby after all, and if it gives us what we want from it, then that's truly great.

But for some, that's not enough.  Some need something more but might be unsure where to start.  To make matters worse, friends might say the renders are good enough without any postwork and discourage experimentation.  This could be because -

* - the renders really are so awesome that simply nothing compares to them.
or
* - the renders are average, but if we improve, we'll start to stand apart from the crowd and spring out from the pigeonhole others have assumed us to be in.  

Whatever category we fall into is almost irrelevant, as something still needs to change if we're not happy with our output.

***

Not tooled-up?  Yes, Photoshop is still the best image editing program out there but it's got a pricetag to match.  That said, all is not lost, the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is 100% free and perfectly capable of being used to produce professional results.   [link]

YouTube is our friend - if we want to learn how to do something, chances are there'll be a tutorial about it on YouTube.

Also, you don't need to feel limited to postwork being only "painting" - once you've rendered an image, or even several renders to be combined together, you can treat it the exact same as you would a photograph... worth bearing in mind when looking for tutorials on stuff to try out - photo effects and retouching are every bit as valid to 3D renders as any painting technique.

I feel my personal journey has a long way to go yet, but I find each step along the way both fun and rewarding.  While I can't guarantee it'll work for everyone without varying amounts of effort (no pain no gain etc etc), it sure works for me, and I'd fully encourage anyone to take the plunge and start experimenting.

But don't just take my word for it, all the pros do it too