Mmmh. Well Red, the point of most artists is to improve to a time where they feel they can make money off their art. However, many become unsuccessful because they beat themselves down. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with your art as is. Your style is what defines you, and it's what I like about your art... In addition to the nice, fat outie you have as well, but I digress.

I'd say not to drop Red altogether, but if you plan on (oh god, here comes a pun) expanding to Pokemon, then go for it. But just don't do it because someone can spend weeks on a painting of a wolf and make it look like a real wolf.

*Grins and belly-hugs ya.* Have a good day after you read this! :3

Hah, I'm not going to go that far. I want to be good, but I know nobody is perfect. But I believe on my current track, success is not going to come, or not anything beyond a snail pace.

Nice pun

I've been thinking, and yes, I don't drop Red. ^^ My plan is a second account with a new OC, though the name of the character is undecided.. if it will be anything other then Red. Which would be boring and make things a little confusing.

Well... You could make it... Blue. *Snicker.* More Pokemon humor! XD

It's not the content that matters, it's the quality and composition of the work. The tritest seeds can make for popular art with the correct execution.

You shouldn't be worrying about favorites, anyway. It's not important at all in the long run, so instead focus on the quality of your work, not the subject matter.

Why would dropping backgrounds affect favorites, anyway? A decent context can make a scene shine with the fury of a thousand suns. Degrading back into coloured voids is not something that would make your work better.

Think about what you are doing before you start taking shortcuts to the stars. Is your intention to be good, or popular?

One path is easier, but ultimately shallow and empty. Being good can lead to being popular, but not in an exploitative way. It's pretty much the difference between Stanley Kubrick and Michael Bay.

My problem is.. with late quality improvements, popularity has actually dropped while less known artists who put far less time into their work are profiting far more, and faster. It is demotivating to know that. It might not apply to others, but this is not particularly about them.

Admittedly a background could be nice, but I've come to the terms that people just want to see the big bodies. A complicated plan isn't what my fanbase is getting up for. Or most of them. Perhaps a background will still work, but I'm not putting an hour into that alone. You could say I want my time's worth.

You're right there.. though popularity I've seen becomes with being good in some form, so either path loops with eachother.

Also, sketches are generally popular, if not more, then my actual work lately.

Popularity will not make you good. It will make you stagnate. It will force you into drawing the same derivative junk over and over with no real progress made - if you want to be a good artist, you want to stay away from this crowdpleasing stuff as much as possible.

You have a LONG way to go as an artist. Granted, every artist is like this, but threatening to remove context and scene from your drawings in order to be able to pump out more fetishistic crap is depressing. If anything you should be working on putting MORE backgrounds, MORE scenes, and MORE context into your art. You should be working on your technique and your form, striving to be ever more complex and nuanced in whatever work you want to create. Even if it isn't a masterpiece it's still something you can be proud of - something that drawing what is effectively pornography can never do.

Want to be really popular? Find your muse. Find something unique and interesting that you want to explore that can be enjoyed on many levels - not just the base way. Ignore the crowds, they don't know what art is.[/] Fanbases? Pah, a necessary evil when it comes to telling stories and weaving art, since they can spread the word. You don't need a fanbase to be a good artist. Your character is your unique voice, so it should reflect that in your art.

But for heaven's sake, don't slice up your artistic integrity just for a bigger number on a website.

See your point, but I rely on the public to critique.. as that's all I know. Very rarely now people comment that I can tell apart from a yes-man. I do not get proper critique, because requesting for it does not work, and I'm not one to get up in people's faces.

I knew that about having a long way to go... but I'm surprised you think of it as fetishy crap. You're probably right in the general context, but I stand behind my plea of not actually trying to turn people on. (As in, I don't try and force it.. but it's inevitable someone will get it on around here)

To be honest.. my heart is in this too, it is not just a ploy for fame. An OC change was on the cards for a while now, and while it's not exactly going to be a change, I'm planning to have 2 accounts to avoid sacrifice. I believe I can be both.

To be honest, I'd just try to improve the quality of your work. Trying for popularity is a bad idea in the long run. Especially when your work is one note.

I can give critique. I'd say that you need to learn technique, and as I usually do I recommend http://johnkcurriculum.blogspot.com/ to learn your forms and your structure - to have a more solid grasp on constructing pictures. It's a good starting point, but as you progress you might want to supplement your learning with traditional art books etc.

Do life drawing. From photographs or real life it doesn't matter, just do it. And do a variety of acting pieces, not just "now this guy is fat/inflated" (Practically all your work is this, it's time to step outside of fetishes to more interesting actions) but everyday actions transcribed into acting on paper. Practice expressions. Really push them, caricature them. Even in the most subtle actions a drawn figure must be larger than life so it can read.

Once you've nailed down the techniques John K and Preston Blair and life drawing exposes to you, then ask me again and I'll see where you can improve. Otherwise without discipline, you cannot improve at all!

So yes, just ask me for critique sometimes and I'll provide it :P.

Hmm... well... I don't think I can follow that road.

My style tends to be leaning towards semi-realistic, or as far as Pokemon, blimps, feasible morbid obesity, teenagers coming up with and building ludicrously complex devices and magic can be. Unless there's other stuff on that site then cartoon character forms.

My goal was to be a talented and popular expansion artist , so it's only natural my gallery would be "now this guy is fat/inflated" .. it still is my goal too. I have the windfall of friends, or enough anyway, so "popularity" is achieved, but considering that the people willing to take a second to push a hyperlink saying "Add to Favourites" peaked a few months ago, and has plummeted since. (With an anomaly in the colored version of Pudgy Pirate, but that's still not too high)

I appreciate you took all of that time to talk.. but.. I think I'm still taking this opportunity. I'm following fame, but also my heart's desire in what I wish to draw. Be happy I'm not planning on throwing everything I've done to date aside. ^^; And instead, having this second account. Which I still need to figure out things as little as what it'll be called.

Your stuff isn't "semi realistic" because "semi realistic" is a meaningless phrase. If you want to strive for realism, do life drawing and stop regurgitating the same thing over and over again. If you want to caricature life, or do cartoons, then you need to learn how to do cartoon structure, because semi realism without caricature is just bad drawing. Trying to get a balance between a naturalistic figure and a caricature requires knowledge of both sides. Forget style. "Style" is something an artist adopts for a particular piece, not their entire work (or periods of experimentation; some artists adopted several styles over their entire life simply because it got boring sticking to one). I'm sorry to hear that you value attention over technique, since you could be a good artist if you worked at it and stopped forcing yourself to be in the same rut over style and content. It's simply very sad that you put so much creedence in people pushing a button and not your integrity as an artist. A real shame.

I think you're making a little big of a deal of it. Which is depressing alone.

Never said I value attention over technique. I'd be just annoyed at overrated artists.. to myself, ofcourse, I wouldn't pull any stunts.
I -have- been working throughout my time drawing art. I came from this (http://the-fat-red-dragon.deviantart.com/art/Self-portrait-83036879) for instance. That would be 2 years ago, tomorrow.

Isn't it possible someone can care so much about a counter and still keep integrity? I personally think so. It's a little obsessive admittedly, but everyone has their thing. Many I've witnessed because they kept trying to force it on -me- ..

Also that particular picture stands as the first furry drawing I ever did.

It's a waste of energy to obsess over a counter. Now go study professional cartoonists like Preston Blair and fine artists. It's more rewarding to do something if you do it well. Improvement will lead to spiritual fulfillment. Develop your critical eye. Practice a variety of things, not just your one limited schtick. Don't make excuses. Try every day to push yourself further and better.

You think those artists are overrated? Then be better than them. Rise up above them. Be professional.

It's probably best to stop trying. You already almost made me cry (That'd actually be a pretty large achievement should it happen) and now I'm just irritated.

I'll look over those artists, but in my -own- time. You have as much control of me as the request beggars. Don't tell me to do something NOW. If I want to, I will. That is how it's been for over a year, and that's how it is now. It's my problem if it fails. Don't get yourself caught up in it.

"Doing it well" is an opinion. I believe I do things well, even great, but that gets shot down during the week from lack of interest. I just draw something else, with a clear improvement somewhere along the lines, and believe that will do "well" unlike it's predecessor. That too, gets shot down.

Face it.. your values of art, while having good intentions, just don't match up with my wishes. Stop trying to force it on me like a breast expansionist wanting at my female OC's, or as I said before, a request beggar.

Oh, and sorry for apparent hard feelings. They're probably there.

.... I think I've got more acquaintances on my bad from asking for help then any other way. Ugh. No wonder why I never want to ask for help.

... my bad side. Ugh.

You said you were open for critique, but then you desperately cling onto some illusion of grandeur when confronted with suggestions for improvement. Why is this? Why do you compare me to some parasite that would only perpetuate stagnation? I have very little to gain from showing you a few teachers and techniques that the animation industry, one of the cornerstones of modern artistry, have relied upon for years. To say that the fault of the art lies solely in it's reception is an act of the highest hubris. To assume that your art is worthy of some consistent praise when it languishes in the unremarkable and banal is arrogant and damaging to you, the artist. In humbling yourself and opening up to those who have proven themselves before you, you will be free of this constant all devouring feeling of ill content and lost dues.

I am but a student in the world of art, trying to give a fellow artist assistance into a higher plane, possibly higher than I could concieve of to attain myself; Your comparison, your inferral that I am somehow a parasite is... unsettling.

I will bother you no more. But know this: Stay in those languid pools of arrogance and mediocrity at your own risk.

It languished in the unremarkable and banal when it was at it's peak of popularity, and the difference is not a couple of people. That argument falls flat.

I wish you could help me.. but.. sometimes I don't know what I'm fighting for.. it's also hard to ask for help.

- I've been rather independent all of my life, so the natural feeling is that I can still be to a degree.
- When I ask for help, the trend is that people tend to be more of an asshole then if I just forget it and got something wrong.
- Unofficially diagnosed with autism. A symptom is a fear of change. I can't say I don't have it.

Maybe we need to refocus here.

Another thing to add, is that for a long time now I've felt my only goal in life was to make people happy. At the cost of own enjoyment (to a degree) and well-being, I sit at a computer screen and offer my company and services, for as long as realistically possible.

Guess I still have some freedom.. for I still take breaks, have a little fun for myself.. but.. in the end, I've hardly drawn for myself at all.

I rather enjoy your stuff chief, so I'd say you're doing alright. ^^ There's always room for improvement for all artists or writers, such is life within our creative fields. Just keep on trucking, n' go from there I suppose. Nobody wants to see another big fat dragon vanish. :3

Aye, and that's why I thought of a second account. So I can have both.

I've never seen the need for alternate accounts when you want to draw other things. ^^ I doodle up all sorts of critters that aren't me, and up they go in the gallery! Its all good in the end chief. :3

True.. but the whole idea of this second account is.. well..everything changes. Character focus changes, for instance, Red won't even be there. Nobody will be. Except maybe Dirk and Jochum.. occasionally. And maybe there might be a crossover... but I still don't feel I should mix the two up in a single gallery. @ @

Whatever suits your fancy. ^^ You wouldn't be the first artist to have multiple accounts here just to keep things organized.

Yush. And some people just have extra accounts just because. I don't see why Starfig needs 3 or 4 when they're pretty much full of the same thing

Different folks, different strokes I guess. ^^

Seems so~

Seems so~

Bah.

i like how your doing things now. It's hard for me to explain but I think you should keep on your current track.

Eh.. you were a bit slow. I've already made plans, and set myself a target to open a new account for these proposed art changes, with some form of artwork tomorrow. Probably won't reach it but that's the target.

Both accounts will be ran.