Why I'm leaving
9 years ago
I'm sorry if that previous journal caused any concern, that wasn't my intention.
To answer a few of the questions I've gotten in comments and notes:
Q. Are you quitting art?
A. NO, absolutely not.
Q. Are you coming back to FA?
A. Also, no.
Q. Will your art still be available on FA?
A. Yes, for the time being I don't see any reason to take it down.
Q. Where are you now?
A. You can find me on tumblr, twitter, or deviantart. I'm not gone, I'm just no longer here.
And then the question I've gotten the most, "why?"
I'm sorry to have to go, but furry art is non-sustainable for me. I've known for a long time that I've reached the top of whatever career I could eek out by doing furry art, and I'm tired of being paid next to nothing for my work. I was barely scraping by last year, working most commissions for about $3-4/hr, only barely supplementing that with conventions. Even then, I often didn't have money for basic needs... you know, like food? I didn't have money for food, and I still received constant complaints about my prices.
I am not willing to subject myself to that anymore, and I'm happy that I finally made that choice. For the first time in a long time I don't feel desperate.
So, to all of you who did support me all these years THANK YOU, but it's time for me to move on.
TL;DR - I've gotta go.
best wishes, take care, and thanks for all the art!
I admit I don't quite understand why you are leaving FA. You could still post personal art here if you are deciding not to take commissions..or do you feel that furry itself is non-lucrative for you and you are diving exclusively into other subject matter?
Whatever the case may be, I wish you luck with future endeavors. It was great having you here~
monkeycat
:(
Esp if you personally feel like you've reached the top of something~
Cheers to continuing your path! I'll give you a follow on tumblr.
edit: damn, your non-furry stuff is also really amazing! SO GLAD I'M FOLLOWING YOU NOW. O_O
Best of luck to you, going forwards!
Its why I asked you recently if you'd have done an icon for me and always always always made it a point to find you at furcons when I saw you. Hell, even being charged double your prices because of my overly complex characters was something that to me was worth it for the finished product in the end. Even still now I happily show off your work that you've done for me. It is truly a shame to see you go.
If there is such a point at which you do find yourself at a convention of some other interest down in the SoCal area, would there be any objection to meeting and commissioning there? Your art to me would be worth that.
--Mozdoc
Gl with move'n onto bigger better things! :3
Your best strategy is marry a real estate excecutive or senior partner in an investment firm ... let her support you. I think that may be how most famous "high arts" types succeeded.
It's not easy but I am freelancing, doing what I love, and more successful every day. To tell me that I am doomed to be unsuccessful and unhappy to the point that I had better marry rich? I'm not reaching for the moon here. I am skilled, and am becoming more skilled, and I have been working my ass off to support myself as completely self-employed for almost 8 years now. I have been doing this despite constant shitty remarks similar to this since I began. I pay my bills. I pay my rent. I've never accepted a hand out in my life and I pride myself on that.
You know... it took me a minute, while typing this up, to realize why this comment bothers me so much. You are trying to tell me that I've made a mistake by trying for something better. You're trying to tell me that I'll never make it, I'll fail, and I should just settle. You are wrong, and even if you wrote that comment thinking it would be funny, it came from a very ugly place.
Please don't ever say this to any artist friends you may have, it's just awful and so completely untrue.
But on the bright side, you're doing what you love and nobody can take that away from you. It has it's ups and downs, sure...but that's life in general - you have to roll with the punches and make changes when they're appropriate if you want to advance and carry on. Like with what you're doing with this particular choice you've made.
And like you, i'm DEFINITELY going to have to disagree with Saara. You're not rolling in money, and lets face it very few people are...but you're entirely independent and not dependent, and it's something to definitely take pride in. Like I said before, your an absolutely amazing artist, and I can't see anything but great things happening for you in the future. So keep doing what you're doing. Keep learning, keep evolving and keep pushing your limits.
Never settle. Settling is pretty much giving up, and you don't strike me as the 'settling' type. Keep doing you, 'cause the you that you are is pretty damn awesome!
Here's to you and your future endeavors, Bix!
but i can understand why you are leaving and i wish you good luck to your freelance career and that you still enjoy what you do. i'll be following you on DA for sure to see how you are doing and if you have any offers for commissions