fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3307 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3307 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11.

__________________________________________________

12.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 078 secrets from Secret Submission Post #473.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do think fanartists get less attention. I also think people can be extremely nasty to fanartists.

Both of these points, I agree with. From my observations over the years, fan artists only really get major attention if they do mashups (Brian Kesinger's recent riff on Calvin and Hobbes with Kylo Ren comes to mind), unoriginal nerd shirt designs, so-called "edgy" or "progessive" takes on stuff like Disney (especially the Disney Princesses. People will eat that shit up like crazy even if it's been done to death at this point), or super popular flavor of the month stuff.

And yeah, people can be nasty to them. It's one thing to not like the style or whatever of an artist. That's perfectly fine: art is subjective and I didn't draw fan art to get attention from people. And I'm not one of those artists who has tissue-thin skin when it comes to concrit, either. But when other fans start ripping into artists for not drawing said popular/fandom favorite stuff, or so-called "problematic" ships/characters, or even little minor details that were overlooked completely unintentionally? That's where I draw the line from legitimate concrit into bullying/nasty territory.

The biggest example of this in recent years is the Zamii debacle from the Steven Universe fandom. Whether or not Zamii was in the wrong with some of the stuff she drew is irrelevant at this point now, the fact that some young shitheel punks on the internet drove a girl to attempt suicide and harassed the show's crew over goddamn fan art was the last straw for me. I decided to stop drawing fan art in general after that to focus on my own characters and stories, and frankly, I've never been happier or more creatively free than I am these days.

Yeah, that's just grotesque. I hate that kind of mob mentality.

Good on you, for doing what makes you happy. Good luck!

AYRT

The mob mentality that's so prevalent these days was a huge reason why I've largely begun to disconnect from fandom as a whole: ceasing to do fan art as frequently as I used to is just the first step. I've been around long enough to know things are cyclical and what's old eventually becomes new again, but seeing artists get run out of the fandom town (or worse, having their livelihoods destroyed or threatened) is where I draw the line, especially if they're not doing certain things to intentionally piss people off.

(disclaimer, I also realize there's often more complex issues at work in some cases, but my points still stand)

And, thanks. It's been a huge risk so far making the switch from doing mostly fan art to mostly original works, but it's been really helpful for my anxiety so far. And it's kind of liberating letting my art be judged on its own merits rather than trying to please a fandom or trying to be noticed by fandom. My only regret is that I wish I'd made this choice sooner!

[ SECRET POST #3307 ]

Re: How do you feel about fanartists?

Re: How do you feel about fanartists?

Re: How do you feel about fanartists?