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Revised TOS, and no longer taking trades [for now].
12 years ago
General
Howdy, folks.
I've been thinking on this for a while, and I've decided I don't want to take trades anymore (at least, for the time being... I'm swamped with career-work at the moment.) I struggle to turn down anyone - regardless of ability, regardless of my interest, regardless of my free time - and I've decided it is, at this point in time, more trouble than it's worth. Right now, I don't need the distraction of additional and unrelated work when I'm trying to buckle down and create my own. I also don't want to ever discourage another artist, and I'm loathe to hold my work over another by judging who is "good" enough to trade with. I don't know how to be more discriminating without potentially offending. There's so much gray area when it comes to trades. What is an "equal" amount of work for both parties? Is it measured by effort, or by the type of work done? Is it measured by physical artwork size? By experience and ability?
Quite honestly, I'm also a little lackluster from trying to find fellow deer-artists (and don't get me wrong - some people have done an absolutely exquisite job drawing my character!) I have quite an appreciation for other people's styles, and I realize style causes understandable variation from how *I* would draw her. In general, I'm just overwhelmingly happy to see ANY work of my deer babb, and I truly love seeing her from another person's eyes.
(Note: This is not, in any way, referring to or written with any person in mind - only feelings and experiences built up over the years that I've had my deer self. Promise!) However, it can be disappointing to put a lot of work into a trade, and to produce work that you feel is your best, only to receive something where there is a distinct lack of attention paid to colors, anatomy, species, ect. Again, as it's difficult to judge what is an "even" trade, I'm often reluctant to voice my feelings towards finished trade pieces for fear of offending. How do I know that that artist didn't try their best, and perhaps I'm just being unfairly judgmental? (And, heck - deer are hard to draw. I don't hold that against anyone!)
I would like to put a hold on trades for now and potentially re-open then later on; hopefully, this serves as some explanation of why I have a long-term closure. I love doing trades. I love doing furry work. I do! But I'd like it to be enjoyable, as it is a hobby for me. I don't think I can do my best work while split between furry-art and my concept/visdev art, so hopefully I will find a happy medium in future.
TL;DR I don't know how to say "no" to trades and I'm really busy currently, so I'm closing them while I attend to important job-related matters.
Additionally, I have cleaned up my profile and gallery recently; my Terms of Service are now revised, I've tried to streamline my profile as best I can, and my less-favorite works are in scraps.
Cheers!
I've been thinking on this for a while, and I've decided I don't want to take trades anymore (at least, for the time being... I'm swamped with career-work at the moment.) I struggle to turn down anyone - regardless of ability, regardless of my interest, regardless of my free time - and I've decided it is, at this point in time, more trouble than it's worth. Right now, I don't need the distraction of additional and unrelated work when I'm trying to buckle down and create my own. I also don't want to ever discourage another artist, and I'm loathe to hold my work over another by judging who is "good" enough to trade with. I don't know how to be more discriminating without potentially offending. There's so much gray area when it comes to trades. What is an "equal" amount of work for both parties? Is it measured by effort, or by the type of work done? Is it measured by physical artwork size? By experience and ability?
Quite honestly, I'm also a little lackluster from trying to find fellow deer-artists (and don't get me wrong - some people have done an absolutely exquisite job drawing my character!) I have quite an appreciation for other people's styles, and I realize style causes understandable variation from how *I* would draw her. In general, I'm just overwhelmingly happy to see ANY work of my deer babb, and I truly love seeing her from another person's eyes.
(Note: This is not, in any way, referring to or written with any person in mind - only feelings and experiences built up over the years that I've had my deer self. Promise!) However, it can be disappointing to put a lot of work into a trade, and to produce work that you feel is your best, only to receive something where there is a distinct lack of attention paid to colors, anatomy, species, ect. Again, as it's difficult to judge what is an "even" trade, I'm often reluctant to voice my feelings towards finished trade pieces for fear of offending. How do I know that that artist didn't try their best, and perhaps I'm just being unfairly judgmental? (And, heck - deer are hard to draw. I don't hold that against anyone!)
I would like to put a hold on trades for now and potentially re-open then later on; hopefully, this serves as some explanation of why I have a long-term closure. I love doing trades. I love doing furry work. I do! But I'd like it to be enjoyable, as it is a hobby for me. I don't think I can do my best work while split between furry-art and my concept/visdev art, so hopefully I will find a happy medium in future.
TL;DR I don't know how to say "no" to trades and I'm really busy currently, so I'm closing them while I attend to important job-related matters.
Additionally, I have cleaned up my profile and gallery recently; my Terms of Service are now revised, I've tried to streamline my profile as best I can, and my less-favorite works are in scraps.
Cheers!
And have a similar problem with kandi trades more then I do with Art trades anymore. Kandi trades I will get really really disappointing trades that are sometimes people not even trying or being super greedy and it really really hurts. So I understand.
I know I'm not the best artist in the world, but I do try to look at real life references of animals if they exist while drawing any species to be honest.
I'm sorry you have that problem with your kandi trades! Do you feel that folks just don't appreciate how much time goes into making them (and maybe that's why they ask for so much)?
I always try to offer an 'out' for folks; if they don't like or aren't totally drawing hoofers, I don't want to force them into it - and while I'd most like art of my fursona, my other characters are always an alternate option. Surprisingly, though, everyone I can remember trading with has preferred to continue the trade, even if it's not something they are confident drawing.
I guess so, yeah. I mean... I can look back and remember all of these things for the pieces that I've traded and what I got back for them and sometimes it's just really hard.
But it's usually the people that I trade for kandi... Very rarely is it actually when I trade kandi for art is it an unfair trade which makes very little sense really considering.
I sometimes wonder if the reason most folks want to trade is for the end result. Ultimately, of course, I suppose it is all about what you're getting out of it, but I'd like to think that the fun is in finding an equal amount of work for both parties, and creating something the other will really enjoy. I like pleasing others, and no matter how different, I love feeling as though both parties have put in equal work to make something awesome.
Perhaps some folks have a different perception of their own work and ability? Perhaps our own work is not as good as we think it is? It's hard to tell, because only I know how much work goes into what I do, so, naturally, I value it more.
(Can you tell I really hate risking hurt feelings? Aha.)
I've done a few trades where the other person just...never got back to me and...yeah...This has happened too many times but I feel like an a-hole not saying yest that I do them sometimes...
Trades are so risky.. :(
Trades really are a gamble. You never know quite what the outcome is going to be (and sometimes, that's the fun of it... but not always.) People have totally different ways of working, too - some folks are really fast or really slow, some people bring their work to totally different levels of completion, and sometimes, your trade partner will create something that is entirely different from the parameters that you set or what you were told you would receive.
Mostly, though, I just feel upset when I get a trade and feel as though my ref sheet has more or less been ignored. That probably bothers me the most.