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divisive journal #2
4 years ago
what is it that compels artists to bomb their gallery without a single thought towards those who have been longtime fans, and like the artist's old material just as much as the new?
what is it that compels artists to lose their shit at the prospect of their art being reposted (with proper credit and sourcing) to other sites that only increase the artist's publicity in a positive light?
why do some artists insist on hiding their content to all but a select elite, via personal choice or through paywalls such as Patreon or SubscribeStar?
why do all these phenomenons occur disproportionally among talented artists vs artists who are not as talented?
heres a dose of reality:
unless you're Hunter Biden, you aren't going to earn a true living off your art, at most it'll be a decent side-hustle that might pay a bill or two each month. paywalling content is both an unrealistic way to earn money with your work, and does nothing but isolate your fanbase and shun those who legitimately like your work (or those who dont feel the need to pay a ransom to gain access to your content)
talented artists or those who draw niche subjects tend to be those who get popular, and thus tend to have their art reposted elsewhere on the internet. this is not derogatory in ANY sense, and unless the person doing the reposting is claiming ownership, this is a non-issue. take free publicity wherever you can get it. its proof people like your work and want others to see it. as an artist, this should not be a source of discontent, in fact it is nothing but a compliment...accept it like an adult.
most artists tend to grow more talented the longer they've been drawing, this makes their old content unappealing to them, ANYBODY who has ever drawn anything in their life knows this. however...you might think your old art is cringe...but somebody out there likes it, perhaps as equally as your current content. this being said, its generally rude to bomb your gallery for the purpose of getting rid of "old cringe". that "old cringe" helped you get to the point you are now, destroying rungs you've already climbed on the ladder of progress to me seems somewhat foolish, and also insults those who like your work.
all of these things happen to talented artists because they take their followers for granted; the popularity goes to their head, and all their followers become are tally marks on a chart that have no real meaning or importance; they are expendable (especially if they dont commission said artist or pay the ransom fees on Patreon or SubscibeStar) why should those who dont pay up see my content? i dont wish to have peasants viewing my work! dont even talk to me unless you're wanting a commission!
these are all reasons why i will never consider myself an "artist". im not an uptight salty asshole about my work, i actually wish more people would repost it, i try to be proactive about responding to comments by those who like my content, i will NEVER delete my old work no matter how cringy i think it is now, and i dont feel the need to earn money off my work, or paywall it with Patreon or SubscribeStar (probably the two worst things to EVER happen to the online art scene since the advent of the internet itself) because i know it wont support me.
also i think i speak for a lot of people when i say...there isnt enough hard drive space in the WORLD to save every single bit of content i've found on the internet and have liked...its unrealistic to expect everybody to save and archive everything (though that is becoming more and more important as censorship both on the state and local level continues to become acceptable online) its much easier for all parties involved to just keep your content uploaded...or (if you're lucky) have it reposted elsewhere once it gets deleted at the source
advice to future content makers:
if you ever find yourself being called an "artist", please dont act like one
what is it that compels artists to lose their shit at the prospect of their art being reposted (with proper credit and sourcing) to other sites that only increase the artist's publicity in a positive light?
why do some artists insist on hiding their content to all but a select elite, via personal choice or through paywalls such as Patreon or SubscribeStar?
why do all these phenomenons occur disproportionally among talented artists vs artists who are not as talented?
heres a dose of reality:
unless you're Hunter Biden, you aren't going to earn a true living off your art, at most it'll be a decent side-hustle that might pay a bill or two each month. paywalling content is both an unrealistic way to earn money with your work, and does nothing but isolate your fanbase and shun those who legitimately like your work (or those who dont feel the need to pay a ransom to gain access to your content)
talented artists or those who draw niche subjects tend to be those who get popular, and thus tend to have their art reposted elsewhere on the internet. this is not derogatory in ANY sense, and unless the person doing the reposting is claiming ownership, this is a non-issue. take free publicity wherever you can get it. its proof people like your work and want others to see it. as an artist, this should not be a source of discontent, in fact it is nothing but a compliment...accept it like an adult.
most artists tend to grow more talented the longer they've been drawing, this makes their old content unappealing to them, ANYBODY who has ever drawn anything in their life knows this. however...you might think your old art is cringe...but somebody out there likes it, perhaps as equally as your current content. this being said, its generally rude to bomb your gallery for the purpose of getting rid of "old cringe". that "old cringe" helped you get to the point you are now, destroying rungs you've already climbed on the ladder of progress to me seems somewhat foolish, and also insults those who like your work.
all of these things happen to talented artists because they take their followers for granted; the popularity goes to their head, and all their followers become are tally marks on a chart that have no real meaning or importance; they are expendable (especially if they dont commission said artist or pay the ransom fees on Patreon or SubscibeStar) why should those who dont pay up see my content? i dont wish to have peasants viewing my work! dont even talk to me unless you're wanting a commission!
these are all reasons why i will never consider myself an "artist". im not an uptight salty asshole about my work, i actually wish more people would repost it, i try to be proactive about responding to comments by those who like my content, i will NEVER delete my old work no matter how cringy i think it is now, and i dont feel the need to earn money off my work, or paywall it with Patreon or SubscribeStar (probably the two worst things to EVER happen to the online art scene since the advent of the internet itself) because i know it wont support me.
also i think i speak for a lot of people when i say...there isnt enough hard drive space in the WORLD to save every single bit of content i've found on the internet and have liked...its unrealistic to expect everybody to save and archive everything (though that is becoming more and more important as censorship both on the state and local level continues to become acceptable online) its much easier for all parties involved to just keep your content uploaded...or (if you're lucky) have it reposted elsewhere once it gets deleted at the source
advice to future content makers:
if you ever find yourself being called an "artist", please dont act like one
re: reposting - It's a mixed bag. I agree that there's no way to control what leaks where, someone will eventually repost this or that. The issue is that very often the reposted work gets more attention than its source, so in fact in such situation the artist is at loss, especially when the reposter is a lazy bum and doesn't bother to properly credit! The viewers tend to be lazy as well and don't dig deeper, unless they are really, really curious. That happens uncomfortably often.
re: paywalls - because we all need money? Sometimes it's the final solution, I'm sure it wouldn't work well in my case since I have constant influx of commissions anyway, but sometimes there's really no other choice but to squeeze cash out of patron stuff. It's the same reason games offer microtransactions, they exist to earn a little extra to support themselves. And uh, you already bought multiple commissions so I'm kinda surprised about this point here - you also PAID for content! x'D
re: talented vs non-talented - because artists who worked hard to get where they are, built themselves a fanbase large enough to do that. This doesn't really require further explanation.
re: " you aren't going to earn a true living off your art" - don't speak for all of us who work professionally, please. The world is large, economies vary from country to country. Yes, some of us struggle, but some of us actually earn decent pay off our work. No matter if it's freelancing or legally registered - it's a job like any other.
re: "im not an uptight salty asshole about my work" - you're still salty tho and I'm salty about you being salty about things you just don't understand/have no rights to. Will you ever chill? xD Honestly, all you've been doing lately was nothing but complaining like an old man to VERY uncomfortable levels of word choice and that's genuinely kinda concerning... Is... everything okay...?
ALL of this, especially on deleting old art. Rude to fuckin' WHO?? If my own art ends up embarrassing me that bad, I have every right to delete MY ART from MY GALLERY. Especially if I can SEE BY THE STATS that it's a piece with low/no views and/or isn't popular to begin with.
For all you know, that person could be deleting it because they wanna redraw it later. I didn't have the original up, but I included it in a side-by-side with the modern redraw of my headworld take of the Death Guardian from Azurik: Rise of Perathia.
If it bothers him that bad, he needs to save it. I have a good handful of saved FNAF fanart of Springtrap and FNAF 1 Bonnie, artist name included in the file name. Yeesh. Commenting on it to SHOW you like it is even better, or just faving it, or... Something.
Pardon my ramble. 😅😅😅
yeah i know thats the most likely response to journals like this...that i should have saved it while i had the chance...they arent wrong, but at the same time, its unrealistic to expect people to download every single thing they like on the internet...without a proper archive like FA has, often nobody knows when somebody might bomb their gallery (Kayoll on DA was a good example...he poofed in 2013 and it took until 2018 for his gallery to get purged >.< nobody was expecting the account to become active again for this purpose after 5 years of being untouched...)