Really? It's awesome.

(blushes) W-Well, any of my black and white pieces - do you want this or this to stay in my gallery?

Why not keep them both as examples of graphite penmanship?

Either way, my next post will have to be color! X3 It doesn't look good in a gallery having too many black-and-white pieces at once; people don't click on them as often...

Nice patterns, must be tricky to work them into the folds appropriately. Also how you worked your signature in

I can't help but imagine him to be on a kind of bazaar, negotiating a price for the cloth, and not being happy with how it goes. Or is it just me?

Also, you think B&W pieces scare people off? Some of my most viewed art is graphite, although they are also Blotch re-creations, so I guess the design it was based on that did the trick, and not so much my own skills. I still think pure graphite pieces have something noble and elegant about them. I rather take them than the most colorful digital pic from some assembly line.

I fucked it up in some places... I'm starting to be aware of how people see my work, and it's dangerous to just have a sigil without at some point including your name, in case they're new. I may start including a small signature in future, to help people look me up...

That sounds about right! I like the idea of a bazaar... or maybe give him a fez and put him in a souk? ^u^
Probably the fact that you tagged it "Blotch." The tags are your friend, my man. You see that pen-and-ink sketch Rukis just posted? In contrast to her other digital pics, it floored me. It's just - it exists on the paper, and will stay there. Traditional art has power to it.
Flimsy graphite black and white doesn't scare people off, it bores them. That's even worse. Without a lot of black or some color to this, in the thumbnail it doesn't pop out, it doesn't look like much of anything...

I've also been lazy about signing my work properly, and will do it more consistently from now on. It would help to connect one's artist account to the pic, would it get distributed elsewhere. Although I personally wouldn't worry too much about the question of copyright. It's a bit like when an amateur writer asked a pro, who was worried his freshly written manuscript might get stolen and someone else gets rich with it. The pro was simply laughing, saying that anyone who goes through the trouble of getting a manuscript published with a real publisher goes through more punishment than stealing would deserve XD And it would get especially interesting for the thief if the publisher wants to sign a multi-book deal.

Hm...for some reason I imagine that lion with a Jamaican accent. Maybe it's the beads in his mane? I'm sure we can think of more stereotypes to outfit him with XD

It's true that graphite pieces make for rather plain thumbnails. Although I'm not so much concerned with people bored at my gallery. If I enjoyed creating a pic, all the rest is secondary to me. I do enjoy getting comments and attention, would be dishonest to say otherwise (and I also wouldn't need to post anything online, wouldn't I care about such), but bartering for audience is a fickle thing.

I once encountered an account here who collected in less than three months over 1.500 watchers. He had like 50 pics of digitally drawn porn, rather simple and not very sophisticated, but slick designed. That does the trick apparently, and we both do it wrong, judging by that. I wonder if that's also the reason I have slightly more page views than you, despite your account being two years older than mine

The connection of piece to artist is my main concern, more than protection. "Who'd want to steal it?" X3 Yeah, copyright isn't my issue... usually you can even get some drama when you catch artists stealing your shit. Though if you're like Canisalbus and people steal your sketches and sell them, it can be very infuriating very quickly.

I've had "Electric Avenue" stuck in my head all day, that comment didn't help X3 Lions with locks in their mane, that's something to draw... ^u^ We can always go for the Jack Sparrow reference, those never get old.

Exactly! You're lucky to not want to rely on them for a living. ^^ But my dreams have higher stakes, and I need to know what the public likes. >,< Attention is always good!

Wait... (checks) WTF? Wow... I need to step up my game! Not to humiliate you, but this is mortifying. (I've a friend whose account is about your age, and just hit a thousand watchers last month.) Perhaps people are searching for "Blotch" in the tags - that's good, because I have a Blotch pastiche coming up ready to post... Tags are your friend, but you of course know that. Anything I tag with a fetish gets ten times as many views, is the way this site works. You understand the system, I'm just trying to draw things and hoping they get big. Dayum...

A 'pastiche' in the sense of the musical term, as in a potpourri? Or in the literary sense, as in persiflage? Or in the artistic sense, as in a...pastiche?? Jeebus, have some mercy with a rugged mountain man who doesn't know nearly as much ten-dollar words as you XD But I would like to see a take on Blotch's art from you, and mercilessly compare it to my attempts of capturing their grandeur ;)

I'm not sure if I "understand" the system, I just like to draw. And I start every drawing with the fervor and fierceness like I'm about to die and HAVE to leave behind one great masterpiece...even though I'm FAR from being a master, and therefore won't produce a masterpiece any time soon. Sometimes I think I should practice more, do sketches, scribble pages full and throw them away, and try all kinds of things. But instead I draw like my life depends on it. I would say it makes for nice results so far, but I also wonder if I would improve more if I would approach it differently. I guess this comes from my time when I was writing; when many pros recommend to start with short stories and coffee-shop-ringbook-filling-like-pretentious-fucks-do, I was like "fuck that" and immediately wrote novels. And almost nothing else, to he honest.

One thing is, though, that every pic since I made a certain step of improvement has brought me a few watchers, which is a feeling of satisfaction. And this is where I feel a dilemma: one part of me says I should only answer to the invisible and blasé gods of art, who despise human applaud and drink the blood of lonely and desperate artists (which is all artists, in the end, since creating art is 'that shameful thing you do alone and behind closed doors', not unlike another pastime, hehe XD). Another parts says, draw pron and cater to the unwashed masses, for they will cheer for you, until...they stop and cheer for another artist, and leave you in the dust (I'm on the roll when it comes to cheesy proclamations today, apparently).

In the artistic sense, that's sort of implied because we're talking about an artwork here. I can't tell you how much your command of English impresses me.
_{(Given that this is your second language, my jaw is on the floor, that you can understand what I'm saying. What kind of language education do you expect from a country where teachers have to pay out-of-pocket for their own supplies? I took seven years of spanish class and the only things I remember are the horrible insults! The very idea of being taught a second language, and learning it well enough to speak it fluently with a native speaker, is just unbelievable to me. :applause:)}

Maybe that's where I'm failing... I just started painting again last night, and the stress has broken my head, I can't be as playful as I once was with my art... maybe I should try that frame of mind instead and see where it leads? ^u^" I feel like I would improve if I approached it differently, too...
XD I can see the logic in both arguments, but you have it backwards - the ringbook filling is what turns them into pretentious fucks, because they start seeing bon mots as an end in itself rather than a means to a story. You could benefit from that exercise, because you've absorbed enough novels to know how to write one right off the bat - and you have the strength of will to benefit from those exercises without becoming a pretentious fuck.
You are the king of cheese today, I don't mind. X3

Pretty damn accurate! I want to be more serious and more artsy and have people comment on my colors and shapes, but they love porn. And no, porn isn't a "celebrity of the moment" profession (well, not on here it's not) and I'm not too worried about that.

*Bows down to the applause* But, in all honesty, those two meanings were the only words I knew which dict.cc told me. I still don't know what a "pastiche" is, and since it's approaching 90 degrees in my room, I can't be arsed to do more research. Other than that, language seems easy to me...just like drawing XD It helps that I have good memory; it's certainly not what they call "photographic", since I would forget what I had for breakfast, weren't it always the same, but if I ever encounter a little detail or fact, I have the tendency of being able to pull it from the shelves when later an occasion arrives. That definitely helps.

That teachers have to pay out of their own pocket for teaching supplies is a usual thing here as well, sadly. At least teacher is one of the best paid jobs in my country, as it should be. They are only, I don't know, shaping the goddamn future of the country? How a government can have them in low regard is beyond me and worse sabotage on it's own future than anything else. If the US government would spend less on the military, and more on education, less people would resort to joining the military- oh, WAIT XD

Having people comment on the subtle layers of your art would be something I would be happy for you, although such an high-brow approach is rather rare...in general, and here on FA as well, since the majority of people have a single reason for coming here. And I don't blame them, was the same for me. I discovered FA, and furry in general, by image searching for Kovu, and one of the first results was him and Simba in non-canonical action. What looked disturbing to me at first, became an addiction

The kind of appreciation you're looking for would rather happen from people who are equally educated like you, I imagine? That would be rather the fine-arts area, I believe. Other than that, I don't really have any advice besides what I've heard years ago about writing: worry not so much if others like what you write (or create in any art form), but create what you like yourself. Even if it makes rarely anyone else happy, at least it makes you happy (still a bit on the cheese train, but dammit, it's true...)

(also, when looking through the older entries of your gallery, I noticed something; like you said, tags are important, although I personally would hesitate to use 'faggot' as a tag word when depicting homosexuality )

It's when you make something based on someone else's style, sort of making your decisions by comparison to them - it connotes slapdash-ness and playfulness and irony...
I envy you that! I can't remember a verb conjugation to save my life. Memory does certainly help!

Did I already send you that article... "Now, if 60% of Americans believe that Jesus will descend to destroy the planet, and 40% of them believe it will happen within their lifetime [sadly believable], think of how this affects their policies. At the bottom of their giving-a-shit list are the things that affect the future, like Education or the Environment. Why not drill up ALL the oil in the world, who are we saving it for? The unsaved? Those heathens can WALK." It's royally fucking us over - it's a death sentence in America right now to criticize the Israeli government's actions, because many of the religious groups over here believe that the antichrist has to be summoned by conflict in the middle east. When we went into Syria, the only news stations that even talked about it were the right-wing news stations, talking about how the Book of Revelations prophesizes the destruction of Damascus.

Ahheheheh... I don't remember why I joined up. At the time (2008 or 9, I'm young), I came into furrydom from my interest in transformation, and mostly knew furry things from webcomics. (It was a comic called "Concession" that gave me the courage to come out, and one called "Skin Deep" that I realized I was fantasizing about the male characters in... "Concession" is mostly notable for the most ridiculous plotlines this side of telenovelas. "Wait, so when I had sex with that hypersexual trans ten-year-old whose entire family died under mysterious circumstances not hours before - that wasn't my brain cancer controlling me, that was actually you controlling my mind with the ghost of your dead twin sister, as part of your nefarious plot to get revenge on your brother for killing your twin sister and framing you for it?" You really can make this stuff up, but I can't guarantee it's good. XD)
Non-canonical is the best kind of action <3

You don't have to be educated to appreciate art! Appreciating art isn't a process of learning, it's a process of forgetting, and going back to that stage when you were two and everything is the interplay of shapes and colors, before your brain starts saying "This is a chair and chairs look like this." Anyone can do it, it's just that education affords people more opportunities, and gives them a way to articulate their feelings...
But you're right in admitting that that's not the best. I'm trying to revive my old Deviantart for that purpose... Wish me luck!

Yep, I had just come out of catholic school, and was completely desensitized to that word... and I will admit sheepishly that that label's all my low self-esteem would permit me. Sorry about that!
The most eloquent explanation - in Howard Cruse's "Stuck Rubber Baby," as the narrator describes being gay in small town 1960s Alabama... "And if you're wondering why I was dating a girl even though I was a faggot, I'm just as confused as you were." His husband in the background interjects, "Tch! Be a good boy, Toland, and say 'gay,' not 'faggot.'"
"Well, I'm gay now, but I didn't feel gay back then, I felt like a faggot!"
First they call us that, then we call ourselves that, it's sort of sad. But it's the best explanation I have

I'm looking forward to your interpretation (would that be another term for it?) of Blotch

I remember that article you linked about the majority of US citizens firmly believing in a prophecy, like they're in a video game plot or something like that, where prophecies turn out to be right ALL the time. So the biggest military power with the most nukes believes in ancient prophecies and fairy tales...can you recommend me a planet close to our solar system where I can feel save?

That plot sounds so convoluted and illogical, they should watch out M. Night Shyamalan won't steal it XD

While I agree that anyone CAN appreciate art, independently from their education, I still believe that not everyone will choose to do so Would be an ideal world, a world where Michael Bay movies, Dan Brown books, and the Jerry Springer show have no following whatsoever. I would love to share such a world with artists like you. But, alas, for the most part we will have to resort either to simple enthusiasm, which is a great thing as well, or the eyes of the educated who have honed their natural taste. Good luck with the DA account, I wouldn't know what potential is in that.

I have an old DA account as well, but since all the nice furry things are here, I haven't logged in for years. Maybe it gets you more attention. There are surely less "competitors" with furry art (although surely enough), but, on the other hand, a lot more serious artists than here, who don't just achieve popularity from repetitive and, to phrase it carefully, "economically" drawn porn, like it is prevalent amongst the majority of our top popufurs...