I have almost that exact same situation. My dad keeps telling me I could/should draw weapons and stuff for the military and do all that technical shi7 which I have no idea about...*sigh*

Well, I guess I'm glad that I don't have that parental 'push'.

My mom never bought me supplies, but she took me to Micheal's and made suggestions whenever I bought my own. She helped me learn how to do some really cool stuff with watercolors and pencils, and always made suggestions whenever she saw me doing art. She homeschooled me through high school, so whenever she had a few free hours and I had no assignments, she'd sit with me on the living room floor and help me experiment with things. Now I can do the same stuff my brother does with his acrylics with water colors, while spending about half the money. She never helped me when drawing anime, instead showing me how to draw buildings and stuff from nature. We used to take photography trips around town, then sketch and paint from the pictures after they developed. We even broke into an abandoned building downtown one time. It was exciting and awesome. Then she started doing drugs and my parents got divorced, and I haven't seen her in a couple years.

My dad never really did much except yell at me to get my crap cleaned up. He bought me my first tablet, this giant off-brand thing that took up half my desk. He also brought home a huge cubicle desk that was big enough for me to store all my art and school stuff in, put my computer and scanner on, and do art on. He worked as a computer tech for a long time, and brought home all kinds of neat stuff for me to play with (plexiglass sheets, giant rolls of paper from the office, light boards made from laptop back lights). He never worked with me, but he made sure I had what I needed to do my work comfortably. The biggest compliment he gave was recently, when he said "Oh, the new tablet you bought is really working for you, huh?"

^^^
Wow, your Dad sounds like the tsundere type. Like he totally doesn't say he supports you but but he gives you everything you need.

@ Kisa
That's because art communities generally look down on manga. I don't know if you guys have noticed in other art forums but generally speaking, when you talk to other artists out there who do not draw manga or anime style, they tend to tell budding artists not to draw manga or anime style. :\ As far as I'm concerned, learn what you can where you can and whatever style you want to.

I tell budding artists not to start off drawing manga "style" because they usually get caught up in the style rather than the basics.

My parents support me. They arent hanging around me when i draw, but if they see a picture im working on, they usually say that it looks nice/ good etc. My parents are teachers, but my mom was actually pretty good at knitting and embroidery. She did the Mona Lisa as an embroidery....

CF: I started with manga style, but i didnt get caught up in the style XD

no she isn't, and silly goose if I know I never asked what she thought about it because I never showed her.

Hm well my mom endorses my art since it's a maternal thing to support and constitute an emotional relationship with your son as a mother. My dad doesn't, which is weird because both me and me oldest brother were inspired by him. In the inception he was all for it but as it progress just as with my eldest brother he sorta became distant to my artistic life. He wants me to at least be an engineer or architect. Now he wants me to be a journalist for the way I write for my age. Which is pretty average lol. But what I think he's getting at is everything is art sort of like how the Chinese believe everything is Kung Fu. Being succesful in any field requires creativity. If I can make an impress on others mind with an idea and let them sit and think about what I drew is my calling in life. Art just seems like the logical way to go, I sort of feel like going into fine art because of this now. Just hit me while listening to my eldest brother who is like a extremely deep thinker. So in short my mom supports it because she is motherly my dad doesn't because he wants me to do bigger things and use my mind for other subjects. Art just seems coherent to what I want to do with myself.

Totally agree with this.

It doesn't lead to a dead end though i must say. I started off with anime and eventually I started learning about light hitting objects and natural movement that I could draw realism. Kinda backwards. But it is much slower route.

I get crit from my parents when I ask for it. And as long as I get good grades, they're fine with it. But all my friends are like "Meh, why do you want to do that for" The only artist in the family was my uncle, and he died in a motorcycle accident beforeI was ever born. Soooo : /

My Father can draw a pretty good hello kitty.

If you are serious, I honestly want to be a part of your family.

My mom WAS a really good artist...then she quit for track. I have only 1 drawing left from her and it's a set of eyes.

Apparently I earned my mom's 'talents' to draw.

I don't feel so special now. =/

Earned, or inherited?