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Art Fight Thoughts
a month ago
Since Art Fight is over, I kinda wanted to vomit my thoughts a bit haha. I mainly wanted to use Art Fight as a way to test my speed, since I 've been feeling very stagnant with my art lately, like I wasn't improving. This year I wasn't able to get as many attacks in like I did in 2021 (I only got 8 pieces out as opposed to like, the 20 I got out last time xD) BUT considering I was busy with work and other things this month (back in 2021 I'm pretty sure i had that entire month free lol) I don't think that's too bad? I also focused on making higher quality attacks rather than quantity, while still keeping within the same time limit I gave myself last time (less than 3-4 hours per piece, even got some animations out too!). So I'm happy with what I was able to get out in the short amount of time I had! :>
You can check out all of my Art Fight pieces and art I got here! https://artfight.net/~Seyumei (you'll need an account to view)
I ended up doing mostly revenges like last time haha. I did want to try attacking some artists I had admired for years first, but the childhood trauma of artists ignoring my giftart still haunts me to this day :'D so I opted to just giving back to people who did something nice for me in return. I also don't really like the AF culture of people only attacking popular/skilled artists in hopes to get clout/something back, so I didn't want that to affect my judgements at all.
Sadly I wasn't able to revenge everyone like I wanted to, but for those that I could, I mostly picked out characters that fit my vibes haha. I didn't realize how much "vibes" affected my speed and quality while drawing xD There were some characters I picked out to draw but I couldn't come up with a good idea or composition for them, and I ended up just giving up on the piece (if that was one of your characters, I'm sorry haha). But I figured the best I could do is just spill my love out for the pieces people did for me in the comments. xD
Even though I had fun overall and really enjoyed drawing for people without expectations or guidelines, unfortunately I think this is probably the last year I'll do Art Fight again. I feel like I've "outgrown" the community a bit (the vast majority of users seem to be on the younger side) so I just don't have the free time and speed anymore to keep up with the youngins xD Next year, I'm planning to go 💯 on the projects I've been planning for years, and I realized I should probably stop taking too many "side quests" if I ever want to get them done haha. If I crave art of my characters, I think I'll just stick to trading or commissioning like the old fashioned way (the art I'd ask for them would probably be against Art Fight TOS anyway LMAO😂) But still, I was really happy with all the the art I got! I used to get a lot of fanart back in the day, but nowadays it seems like no one draws fanart or giftart for anyone anymore without an ulterior motive (kinda understandable ngl), so seeing drawings of my boys from others made me feel very nostalgic. ;v;
But yeah, thats about all I wanted to say! Big thanks again to everyone who participated with me! :D
You can check out all of my Art Fight pieces and art I got here! https://artfight.net/~Seyumei (you'll need an account to view)
I ended up doing mostly revenges like last time haha. I did want to try attacking some artists I had admired for years first, but the childhood trauma of artists ignoring my giftart still haunts me to this day :'D so I opted to just giving back to people who did something nice for me in return. I also don't really like the AF culture of people only attacking popular/skilled artists in hopes to get clout/something back, so I didn't want that to affect my judgements at all.
Sadly I wasn't able to revenge everyone like I wanted to, but for those that I could, I mostly picked out characters that fit my vibes haha. I didn't realize how much "vibes" affected my speed and quality while drawing xD There were some characters I picked out to draw but I couldn't come up with a good idea or composition for them, and I ended up just giving up on the piece (if that was one of your characters, I'm sorry haha). But I figured the best I could do is just spill my love out for the pieces people did for me in the comments. xD
Even though I had fun overall and really enjoyed drawing for people without expectations or guidelines, unfortunately I think this is probably the last year I'll do Art Fight again. I feel like I've "outgrown" the community a bit (the vast majority of users seem to be on the younger side) so I just don't have the free time and speed anymore to keep up with the youngins xD Next year, I'm planning to go 💯 on the projects I've been planning for years, and I realized I should probably stop taking too many "side quests" if I ever want to get them done haha. If I crave art of my characters, I think I'll just stick to trading or commissioning like the old fashioned way (the art I'd ask for them would probably be against Art Fight TOS anyway LMAO😂) But still, I was really happy with all the the art I got! I used to get a lot of fanart back in the day, but nowadays it seems like no one draws fanart or giftart for anyone anymore without an ulterior motive (kinda understandable ngl), so seeing drawings of my boys from others made me feel very nostalgic. ;v;
But yeah, thats about all I wanted to say! Big thanks again to everyone who participated with me! :D
Horrible jokes aside, so glad to hear you had some fun on ArtFight! And yeah, "Follow the Fun" as I put it can make such a difference for sure!
Yeah it is tempting to join every year haha, but I think I still have to put my priorities first xD
I really wanted to draw your boys Sky and Keith, or at least one, but I'm just too tired and burnt out of a middle-aged adult. Just know that I love their story/dynamic/relationship.
Ah thats okay! I'm just glad you like them! <3 Lmao as someone who just joined the 30s club i feel that haha xD
I also relate to feeling like this would be my last until the following year after the next one since I kind of went overboard this year. Age differences I can see but I also feel like a kid stuck in an adult body so what could I add that doesn't feel like filler? At the end of the day though, I tend to focus more on having fun than getting enough points or getting an attack. I almost always end up getting surprised when I do get one honestly.
Yeah just looking around, it seemed like the vast majority were like 14-20 y.o.s. I mean I kinda look/act like a college kid still so I can prolly blend in fine xD but it still feels weird knowing how ancient you are compared to everyone else haha.
I understand you about artists ignoring followers or admirers. At some point they make me feel like a duck [watcher] waiting for the park goer [artist] to throw bread crumbs to us [art]. It's a turn off no matter how good their art is.
Today now you are in the position of the artists you admired in your childhood. In other words, now you have others looking up to you and your artwork. But you know to acknowledge, not to ignore. I respect you and artists like that more for it.
YESS thats exactly how I feel about it! Thats why I loved attacking more beginner/newer artists, because I know if I were in their position back then, I would've been over the moon haha. I'm also familiar with the pain of getting your hard work ignored by people you admire, so I wouldn't want them to experience that like I did.
Yeees, plus it brings more satisfaction knowing you might have made someones day or inspired them to keep up their work!
It was still enjoyable, though! I ended up focusing mostly on some friends of mine, as well as OCs I've had bookmarked for years. (Always forgot to actually draw them lol) and I got some good practice in~
Yeah i think its still a good way to just to have a reason to trade among friends haha. Thats probably the best way to enjoy the event xD
So yeah, you can be pretty happy about that! That is pretty good work!
I hope the whole vibe of less fanart/gift art and just art for the fun of it will be more like a phase. Honestly the internet and all the artists that connected and started interacting with each other are still so young in terms of the time.
Especially with how the use of the internet shifted in like the last ten years alone is still amazing and a bit frightening to me.
15 years ago i remember getting told everyone online is a bad person, so i had to keep my guard up. So (as a rebellious teenager) i obviously did not listen too much but was still cautious. And so it took maybe a handful years to find your own little community and learn the rules.
Then we got the vibe of just wanting to have fun cause damn suddenly so many people that actually share an interest etc. The communities were so strong.
Then social media stuff took off, then it got bad as it is today and i think a lot of young people learned from those how to act etc. And there everything is for profit, money is always such a big talk and so much "grind focus" is all around.
I feel that also infected the artist communities a lot because places like tumblr slowly deteriorated in unhealthy ways instead of just chaotic messy ones. And places like deviantart well.. they bought into the consumer mindset instead of the creators.
I think with time people will build their own little places again. Create because its fun and maybe , maybe maybe, tumblr (or another plattform that also follows the spirit of pure chaos in the way tumblr has/had) grows healthy again and then there is the community aspect more back again. :D
In the end the internet is really not that old (even if we all feel like it X'D).
(gosh sorry, i got rambly, but that just hit a nerve. I do hope you have a lot of fun with your projects :D I am excited to see more from you always)
That would be ideal! Though i think for a healthy community to grow, people need to get over seeing each other as competition first. That tends to happen a lot when a site gets too popular. :'D
Oh no worries, i ramble as well xD Thank you though!
This exactly is why I'm not participating anymore to Artfight much, lack of time aside. I've seen a popular artist get 600 attacks. Wild.
General community mindset is another reason. Some people genuinely don't even acknowledge you when you're not super duper HQ artist 1000/1000 skills attacking their OCs.
Some people will be mad and block you because they did not like the revenge you did for them. I've experienced this last year, this person has blocked me on all platforms. I don't think they understand that this is not an art trade site but art made for free and that no one is entitled to revenge a colored fullbody attack with a colored fullbody of their char...
I didn't know people did that wtf? I dont really understand what the point of the block even does? Is it so they cant attack you anymore?
I have never participated in Art Fight. I will say as a concept, it sounds like a lot of fun! Being able to draw for many artists and they draw for you would be awesome! However, the way I look at it, it seems very overwhelming. Now of course, you can choose who you wanna attack, and it's all in good fun. Though when you have so many choices, it can be hard to decide who you wanna draw.
I've also heard about how some artists only attack popular artists in hopes of getting attacked by them. I'm sorry, but if you only do Art Fight expecting everyone you attack to attack you back, then maybe you shouldn't be participating. Or when you make art for someone, but they don't respond, it's just plain rude. I hate it when artists don't respond to gift art they get.
I have a friend who did Art Fight this year, and she was able to draw an attack every single day! Mad respect for her. It's just not what I can do. Plus, with how many other projects I have (and how I can be slow and a perfectionist), I just don't know if I can do Art Fight. Maybe I'll see how I feel next year, but for now, I'd rather do 2-3 art trades every once in a while instead.
Yeah the community has its ups and downs, but if you know how it play it right, i think it can be a fun experience. My suggestions is to just keep it within a friend circle if possible (or people you know previously), sometimes straying outside if it can have mixed results haha.
I do also crave OC art like you but I fear that I'm going to have to lock in on my projects instead of dragging myself between side quests and such, haha
Yeah i think i'll just stick to commissioning/trading in that case haha