kradeelav | (no subject)

what completely and utterly turned me off from patreon (and linking any hobby art to monentary-anything other than direct pre-orders for a single book/item that might not even pay for itself) was that you can't just pivot to drawing A New Thing you enjoy drawing. for the sake of You enjoying it.

i think at this point everyone's pretty aware of how faustian-bound creatives are to whoever's ultimately paying for the art which is why so much creative work these days looks like absolute shit pieces of slop because as soon as trends fart in one direction everyone's chasing for that smidge of advantage in order to court a larger (usually bottom-quality) audience (aka more monaaaaayyy)

but specifically there's also the other rope around your neck where let's say you were known for something you previously enjoyed drawing. and it just... died on you. or you got a new hyperfixation. whatever. you now want to draw something Different.

man anything monetary is going to dearly outright punish you for that. people have outright goldfish brains and are so entitled to their attitude of 'i wanna see specifically x forevahhhh' and forget artists are humans as well. (i also saw how kindle authors will drop pen names as soon as one pen name isn't earning X amount in a quarter let alone different pen names for specific niche genres Just To get that extra bit of audience numbers when it's like... hell no i don't give a shit about the Brand. fuck you. fuck that.)

there's so many other issues with patreon ofc but that really was the horse kick to the brain that made me claw out of that whole ecosystem like a rabid badger. i'd rather have a dayjob that obliviously, blindly (and consistently) paid for my random-ass interests than being enslaved with the thing i was supposedly into making.

(jaded manager rants after the work day, more at eleven)

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meningioma

oh god yeah, having to draw the FOTM literally all day every day must be tiring if you truly enjoy drawing. i think the whole twitter rat race is built on people who dont enjoy drawing tbdesu. like its just people trying to be the next cutesexyrobutts and make a gorillion drawing genshin on patreon. i just cant see how you can enjoy drawing but then simultaneously chase every trend at the same time...unless you draw one of those things that will always be popular or get popular on your OCs alone...much to think about.

kradeelav

fr fr you get it - and i think it's really interesting how you say the trend-chasers must not enjoy drawing because honestly, after some thinking, i agree? it'd be soul-sucking to draw that much only for it to get fleeting attention (let alone actual affection), versus being proud of the thing for the thing's sake ten years later.

vsitante

GAWD I FEEL THIS JOURNAL A LOT LMAOOOOOOO. I've talked about this to a few people and I only think maybe one or two people weren't offended by the "oopsie wait, we weren't supposed to say it out loud?!" 8) See also: all the artists who immediately make fanart seconds after a new Thing drops and you're like okay well, enjoy the carpal tunnel, I guess, how the HELL ARE YOU THAT FAST

(I say as if I don't have a substar, but I'm pretty upfront on "well this is whatever I want, so join or not lol"

also wtf ewwww @ the kindle authors thing. I mean, I only have two pennames but it's...just sfw vs nsfw. feel like that's normal lmao, especially in comics.

"enjoy the carpal tunnel" lmao XD and yeah, it's nuts how fast some people are, both with the technical drawing and the ideating. i have no idea how they come up with the compositions that quickly.

synecdoches

In my experience, social media places a lot of pressure on anyone calling themselves an "artist" to create visibly, quickly, in volume, at maximum quality. Some people manage to streamline their process so they can meet these impossible standards, but inevitably, there's a dramatic drop in originality from one piece to the next. Even if the piece shows technical skill, it's often clear there isn't passion in it.

I work slowly, and I rarely make a "polished" piece. The social media pressure to Be An Artist wiped out my desire to draw anything. It's hard to know sometimes if it will ever come back. (And I never even tried to profit off my art. It was just the pressure to beg for clout.)

spot on observations to everything said there ... i really love how you worded that "streamline" funneling because i really can think of so many artists who've metaphorically shrunk themselves with their creativity in that regard to reshape themselves as a more efficient assembly line. at what cost, indeed...

i hope the seed comes back for you. time has a way of healing that.

queenlua

i remember reading updates from a wildlife artist i admire when she was switching from acrylic-based work to oil-based work... same subject matter, same general vibe, but you could tell from the tenor of her posts that she was pretty anxious on a "will this work out, will my oil paintings be bad, will anyone buy this" level...

and that was, y'know, a relatively small change, for a trad artist with pieces in a local gallery who didn't really use any social media outside of a mailing list. can't imagine how much more stressful she would've found it if stuff was tied to Direct Rapid Tailored Feedback That Is Patreon or whatever

(also her oil work was STUNNING once she got going & you could also tell from the tenor of her posts she was really enjoying the challenge/possibilities of changing to the new medium... shame she felt so anxious over it)

creative careers seem so tricky outside-looking-in hahaha; i would not cope will with that sort of thing!

gosh i love hearing that artists like her still exist via ye olde mailing list... like an endangered species that's even more vital for the history...

not that surprised since oils have a personality of their own XD i bet there's programming languages like that out there too.

and yeahhhh creative careers can be a hot mess of instability x) there's tried and true ways to mitigate that of course, though unfortunately years of experience is kinda needed to get a sense of the potholes.

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