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Creativity versus MOAR
14 years ago
Some people commented on my decennial picture how my art seems to keep evolving even after all this time. This really means a lot to me, since it's something I strive for. Others noted that my artistic output has tapered off to almost nothing in recent years. Yes, that's very true, and I believe these two trends are closely related.
Behind all this is my greatest fear for myself as an artist, which can also be one of my biggest pet peeves about other artists. I've seen many artists hone their style to a point where they can get pleasing results quickly and repeatably, and then their style just completely stops evolving. Perhaps they get into comic work where a steady style is crucial; or maybe they start churning out commissions and have no time or motivation left for personal artistic growth. There are even a few artists (whom I shall not point out by name) who I've seen slide backwards -- they have a really dynamic and intriguing style as they develop, but once the art becomes their day job they fall back into a flat, boring style.
If you ask me, this is the line where artistry ends and craftsmanship begins.
There's plenty of pressure to cross that line. What's the first thing anyone says when you post a picture they really like? "MOAR!!!1!" More of the same, please. And there could even be good money to be made there. Make a name for yourself as a top artist in a particular fetish, and the fans of that fetish will gladly pay you well for personalized art (within limits; I doubt there's many hardcore Marmaduke axilism fetishists with disposable income out there [we can hope not, anyway]).
A few caveats:
First, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with making a living on furry porn or other sorts of art. There's certainly much worse ways to make a buck, and it's really none of my business anyway. I'm just saying that when an artist dead-stops improving when they reach marketability, it's a damn shame.
Second, I don't want it to sound like I consider the filthy porno I make to be proper capital-a Art. Let's not kid ourselves; I draw cartoon animals with dicks and titties. That said, it does express my thoughts on sex and sexuality to some degree, and after ten years it's hard to scrape new ideas from the bottom of that barrel.
Finally, I realize that this line between artistry and craftsmanship could just be all in my head, and my steadfast determination to stay on one side of this imaginary line is doing nothing but crippling my output. Maybe one day I'll learn to just draw furry porn and not get all poncey about it.
Behind all this is my greatest fear for myself as an artist, which can also be one of my biggest pet peeves about other artists. I've seen many artists hone their style to a point where they can get pleasing results quickly and repeatably, and then their style just completely stops evolving. Perhaps they get into comic work where a steady style is crucial; or maybe they start churning out commissions and have no time or motivation left for personal artistic growth. There are even a few artists (whom I shall not point out by name) who I've seen slide backwards -- they have a really dynamic and intriguing style as they develop, but once the art becomes their day job they fall back into a flat, boring style.
If you ask me, this is the line where artistry ends and craftsmanship begins.
There's plenty of pressure to cross that line. What's the first thing anyone says when you post a picture they really like? "MOAR!!!1!" More of the same, please. And there could even be good money to be made there. Make a name for yourself as a top artist in a particular fetish, and the fans of that fetish will gladly pay you well for personalized art (within limits; I doubt there's many hardcore Marmaduke axilism fetishists with disposable income out there [we can hope not, anyway]).
A few caveats:
First, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with making a living on furry porn or other sorts of art. There's certainly much worse ways to make a buck, and it's really none of my business anyway. I'm just saying that when an artist dead-stops improving when they reach marketability, it's a damn shame.
Second, I don't want it to sound like I consider the filthy porno I make to be proper capital-a Art. Let's not kid ourselves; I draw cartoon animals with dicks and titties. That said, it does express my thoughts on sex and sexuality to some degree, and after ten years it's hard to scrape new ideas from the bottom of that barrel.
Finally, I realize that this line between artistry and craftsmanship could just be all in my head, and my steadfast determination to stay on one side of this imaginary line is doing nothing but crippling my output. Maybe one day I'll learn to just draw furry porn and not get all poncey about it.
I thought it was really cool seein' your site and your work over time. 8D
And there are tons of things this sorta idea applies to. When a cartoon starts off and people love it, it's great! But how do you keep it going good? Fans like something special about your work, but you can't keep it the same and never let it change, but if it's too different people will lose interest because the foundation's gone. And with art people might not be interested in changing after a certain point, and just crank out the same thing and people might find it old, some might love it no matter what.
I was pretty bummed when my friend pointed out that my style hadn't changed in recent years. When we were friends starting as artists we practiced lots of different styles and wanted to be open-ended. But I've been working on comics and the style sorta needs to be consistent with those. I can still do other styles outside of that, but I'm not as interested in changing things up as I used to. But then again, we were trying to find out styles back then. I found mine, and know I have a bunch, and I'll switch around a bit more when I do new comics too.
Then again I focused more on different mediums than art style - music, gaming, sewing, printing, sculpting, different materials - that was more fun than me than trying out different art styles. I get a bunch of new ideas about things to try each day, so I focus less on art style, so his main interest in me has not been as fulfilled lately. Maybe one day I'll stop getting a ton of new ideas. I think that's fine. At that point where you're kinda outta stuff, you should just draw for fun and enjoyment, if that's what you like doing. No one has to be compelled to keep improving and staying on top. I guess it's just best to be happy and be yourself and see how things go. I don't think anyone can sorta stay on top of their game forever. So best not to over-think it too much. It's good to listen to fans but best to listen to what you want first.
It doesn't have to be one or the other. Where exactly the balance is depends on the individual, but it doesn't need to be either all quality OR all quantity; it can be somewhere in between.
I'm biased in saying I'd love to see more art from you, because even if not everything you do is to my tastes, you do some fun stuff! But yeah. Biased.
sex is every bit as valid and important a part of our humanity as anything else (and it's probably more important than anything else). so, i say, creativity designed to appeal to our sexual nature is valuable, meaningful and important. who cares if it's called "porn" or "figure study". besides, if the Highest Court In The Land can't distinguish between pornography and art....
beauty is sexy. beauty is art.
There's no reason to stop evolving when pursuing commercial goals either; if by success you don't mean only money and short term fame but also peer respect and inspiration for younger artists then the most succesful commercial artists are definitely those who keep evolving and innovating all the time.
Better to do what you like how you like than try and please everyone, and end up getting burned out and doing NO work anymore because it feels like a job. And just because it involves naughty bits and bodily fluids doesn't mean it's not art.
I won't lie. Your arts give me a boner. But that's not to say some other kind of matterial wouldn't be welcomed!
(ps. where's the gay at?)
I think there's a distinction to be made between art and craft as well, but I think my definitions are quite the reverse. An illustration is a craft; a schematic, instructions, or a realistic representation of a thing does not necessarily have a particular style to it. It's functional, and the product of a craft is function. If the illustration is pornographic, then its function is to arouse the viewer. It need not reflect anything in particular about the illustrator to do this, and you actually see a lot of that happening now. There's a certain number of widely accepted, easily recognized forms that aren't especially unique out there.
When you start delving into art, the work begins to have style, that is to say it begins to really reflect something of the artist. You start being able to identify the piece as being done by so-and-so because of the particular way he or she handles their subject. That's just my thinking on the matter though.
If have an idea draw it before it fades.
If you like to draw then draw.
If you make others smile with your drawing then you can smile back.
Draw if you think its fun, like to show of, or just get ideas onto paper.
In the end, the only person who deside if you draw or not is yourself.
Just my small thouts, think on them or ignore me, that is your choise. ^^/
ps:
Making others smile and laugh makes the word better!
From:
- Rico Hand ( The stinker )