>brainstorm for original idea or concept
>everybody comment how it's a rip off of <something>

>Design character off top of head
>Don't like it cos it looks like someone you hate.

>Sit down and try to draw something portfolio worthy.
>Turns out like shit in comparison with random sketches.

>Be vorked

>The sketch looks better than the lineart

>Trying to assemble professional portfolio
>The best art (the ones that took the most time and effort) are odd porn (ie not suitable for public viewing)

>>41873
>>41875
ARGH!

>Spend an hour drawing something cool
>Zoom out to see the finished product
>See glaring mistake
>Have to erase %70 of it and start again

>>41880
>the next attempt doesn't look as good as the first, even without the error

>>41875

I can draw porn only when it's based on my roleplays, and never in any other context. But I get weird if someone asks me to post the RP transcripts publicly along with it. I dunno why.

Ever since I noticed the super-stylization and sameface going on with a lot of professional manga/comic artists' work, it's been hard to give them a fair chance.

Which I regret, because for all I know, their work could, in fact, be fucking awesome, so dismissing them simply because their women have pencil waists or giant teacup-sized eyes wouldn't be fair.

>look little sister's drawings
>they are way better than the ones I made when I was her age
>tells me it's because she learned a lot from me when we spent time drawing together

> Draw cartoon cheesecake
> Release it anonymously into the wilds of the internet
> Turns up on Paheal

>>42109
>>41781
>>41784
>>41875
>this

>want to practice/fill portfolio
>feel like I am wasting time
>start looking for work instead
>look at portfolios quality
>repeat
BAH!

>Write comic
>Draw it and ink it and scan it and edit it
>Spend two hours type-setting it because you no longer find the joke to be funny

>want to draw porn
>nope, don't want people to recognize my style or find out I'm into that.
>well, maybe I'll do nonsexual, cute stuff.
>no, if you do that, then if your stuff gets popular, you'll have to commit to it. Else if you so much as draw a boob, suddenly your Mr. Rogers persona goes out the window among the soccer mom types and the water cooler joke will be you're a socially maladjusted pervert.
>well.... uh... I...
>okay, how about I try and emulate other peoples or franchises styles and produce fan comics?
>no, because then you'll be tempted to tell stories deeper than three panel gags and eventually fuck it up writing checks your storytelling and art can't cash. Do you WANT internet notoriety as a Tryhard?!
>I really do not. ;.;
>welp, back to paint.net. To draw alone.

>>42091
Manly tears.

>>42109
Dude, I've seen that happen... except the guy signed it and it wasn't even too cheesecakey. He said he didn't know how to feel about it. XD

>>42118
>old project
>all jokes are outdated and they were the main thing going for the comic
>okay.jpg

>>42119
lol pretty much most of it
>no, if you do that, then if your stuff gets popular, you'll have to commit to it. Else if you so much as draw a boob, suddenly your Mr. Rogers persona goes out the window
And the more you deny the porn interest, the more heartbreaking it can be to the fans when it comes to the light, I tell ya. Well probably more depending on how fucked up goes the porn and how cute you drew.

>Open up for commissions
>Get none
Yeah... I guess not advertising and being well know would do it.

HELLSTROEM! I know you are posted over at the other end of the internet but I had to say, you're brilliant and I missed your antics.

>>42122
Thanks Dan - warms my heart :)
I find tossing out ten drawings per hour does something to my skills, which is why internet drawfaggotry is such a beneficial bit of training.
You have to tell a story in no time flat, and still be clear enough that people can read your arts.
Also
>>42119
^this

>drawing something
>almost done
>wrong layer
>restart
>halfway done
>still wrong layer

>>42109
> Draw cartoon smut
> Release it anonymously into the wilds of the internet
> It DOESN'T up on Paheal

>Start drawing cartoon smut.
>Never finish.
>All files lost.
>Let everyone down.

>>42196
>Draw cartoon smut
>Release it anonymously into the wilds of my kitchen garbage
>My MOM finds it

>draw cartoon smut
>get paid for it
>swagger

>>42199
>Draw cartoon smut
>computer borks
>need to send it to get fixed AND get backup done
>well shit

>if you dont practice youll never get better
>if it doesnt get better you get discouraged
>if you get discouraged you dont practice
>if you dont practice youll never get better

>Go to drawing discussion boards
>Realize it only leads to more art-related self hate and chances to be discouraged by looking at another person's art or work ethic
>Vow to only worry about my own work and not bother myself with the progress and complaints of other artists
>Still looking at and posting in this thread

>>42203
>>42204
>look at others' work over X time period
>genuine improvement, mostly
>look at own work over same period
>almost no change
>in fact it's probably worse

>>42205
Hello, me.

>>42206
Dear me,

Walk over to those insecurities and PUNCH them in the FACE.

Sincerely,
me

p.s. lose the beard for fuck's sake

>>42207
>lose the beard
Quite frankly how DARE you.

> Be working on illustration
> Experiencing both Desire to finish the drawing, and Hatred of the same drawing
> Both increasing at the same rate
> Which will max out first? Place your bets!

<- Strip part 2 related

>Need to draw, even if it's just fanart.
>Make progress.
>Totally erase it later because the style was off or some other reason.

Alternatively.

>Want to draw.
>Waste time on internet instead.
>I really need to draw.
>Why aren't I drawing?!

I have drawn so many porn in the past month I nearly gorgot how to draw clothes and poses that aren't spreading legs... :/ I'm not even that good at drawing porn yet.
fuck

>>42216
I get that second one alot.
I mostly get over it by using my "its-for-my-future!" logic, that goes as follows.
>Want to be a kickass Pixar animator.
>But first I need to learn to animate and get contacts.
>But I need to go to a good school for that.
>But I need a kickass portfolio for that.
>But I need to be better at art in general for that.
>But I need to keep practising and drawing alot for that.
>But I can't practise and draw alot if I can't finish this one drawing.
>So get off the internet and get to drawing, for fucks sake.

Y'know, I might end up making a comic of that.
If at least to prove to myself I can pull out two pages with the works and still have a job at the same time.

>>42217
Porn might actually be a good way to master anatomy. I found drawing a lot of naked people, sexually or otherwise, made drawing clothing on them a hell of a lot easier because I could figure out where the folds would be and so on.

>have horrible ability drawing humans, takes you days to draw one sketch and even then it looks horrible
>drawing buildings/landscapes takes you minutes and always look amazing

>>42248

You do have to be careful using too much porn as reference though. If you're using nothing as porn for a reference then after a while porn poses start to creep into your non-porn work.

>>42316
See: greg land.

>>42316
I've used nude models as reference for porn, but I don't use porn as an actual reference. I'm familiar with Greg Land (although I had been told he flat-out traced porn references) and his work is definitely not something I want to emulate.

Yeah, porn is good to reference for making porn and not much else. Even then the camera work isn't always quality, so you might get some weird shots that don't translate well into a drawing. But, let's face it, if you are wanting to draw a POV shot of somebody being penetrated, porn is probably going to be your only resource.

I hate artists with massive egos. Don't get me wrong, self-esteem is great. Not enough people are proud of their work. But the thing about Leonardo DaVinci was that he didn't go around telling everyone he was a triple threat that everyone was gonna be jealous of and would take the world by storm. His skills said everything for him.

>>41781
My friend was complaining about this too. She draws a lot of anime guys in suits or Victorian costumes, and had to convince a commenter on dA that not every picture of an anime guy in a Victorian suit was Black Butler fanart.

>>42314
>exact opposite problem

Quick, Fusion Dance!

>>42314
>>42428
Get someone who can write, but can't draw, and we have a kickass comic.

>"hey man how does my pic look
>"eh its a lot better than what i can draw"
>i didnt fucking ask how well you could draw i asked how my pic looked

>>42109

Mine tunrs up on pay to view sites

>>42442
>>others stealing your work and making others pay to see it
>>you get none of the money

Pretty sure that's illegal and that you have the right to at least send them a cease and desist letter asking them to pull it. That's a dick move by them, and I'm sorry that happened.

>>42453

No, its very bad art

>>42454
It's still your art. You deserve any money people want to pay for it.

>read too much manga
>naturally draw compositions that read better from right to left

>>Artist: "hey, I'm taking free requests, suggest any [insert fandom here] pairing you want me to draw"
>>a bunch of people request the most popular pairing, which the artist hates
>>artist draws a picture of the two characters pissed off at each other, followed by text about how much they hate the pairing

Why draw something if you don't like it? You have the power to turn down a request if you so choose. It's not like they're paying you.

>>42480
Taking free requests is, quite honestly, one of the worst things an online artist can do. People begin to view the person's work as having little value since they can get it so easily. The benefits are practically 0 for the artist (unless you are so desperate for attention that a "thanks nice work" is worth the effort and time), and if the artist ever goes from requests to commissions, people will view him as a sell-out and would probably be less willing to commission him than if he had only done comms from the beginning (either out of a fuck that sell-out or the idea that he will break down and draw for free again).

Basically, charge early and, as long as you are halfway decent, charge high.

>>42485
I see where you're coming from, but doing requests is really fun, especially when you only take requests you are personally quite fond of.

>>42486
True, but I'm of the belief that for many artists the ideas they're most fond of are the ones they've come up with themselves.

>>42485
I offer free requests for two reasons.

a) I don't believe I'm good enough to charge money for my art yet.
b) my parents are convinced Paypal can snoop into your personal info and therefore have refused to allow me to sign up for it. The closest I've gotten to payment on anything is getting inexpensive Steam games gifted to me in exchange, or a hat in Team Fortress 2, or something.

>>42488
If you ever decide to charge money as an evolution of doing requests, just be ready that some people could very likely get upset (I was with you when you sucked and now you are trying to charge me?, why did you give them free stuff and not me?, what a sell-out!, I only liked your work because you fulfilled my requests for free). Not everybody is that way of course and some artists will happen to have better luck there than others, but it is definitely something to consider.

At the very least, if you feel you must do free requests, be very selective and only do a small number. Make people work for it and don't be afraid to tell somebody that you don't like their idea and refuse to draw it. People have a much harder time going from free to paying than from not getting anything to paying.

Also, that feel when you give somebody a free sketch request and they commission somebody else to color it.

I'm not sure if good feel or bad feel.

>>42492

>>42493
It is an odd feeling, no? On the one hand, it is nice to know the pic was liked. On the other, I always view the drawing as the more impressive/difficult part, so somebody else being paid for the coloring but the artist not getting paid for the sketchwork feels... odd, I guess. I mean, it is great to see it colored in the end, but... It just reaffirms my belief that requests are generally a bad idea.

>>42492
That's a thing?
Gooooddd that's gotta suck.

>>42496
All the more reason that requests=bad. But hey, at least I know I coulda charged had I wanted to? lol

I guess my low self-esteem is such that I can't see myself ever willingly getting paid by anyone. The one time I asked, my friend wouldn't stop laughing at the idea of it (she wanted a tattoo and I suggested a fee of maybe $5). But I think that's a bigger issue than just art.

>>42499
Seriously. Don't draw for other people for free, unless it is like your close family or something. Otherwise you will just get taken advantage of or other people will use your art for their own financial benefit or to boost their own reputation or notoriety. Plus, the more you give, the less people appreciate it and therefore the less they are willing to do for it if you ever do get the confidence to charge, as is the case with anything including art.

If you REALLY want to do stuff for free online, do so anonymously in a community where you won't be recognized, or do so very rarely and selectively.

>>42501
People barely if ever ask me to draw for them, though, hence the insecurity. They barely even look at it.

>>42502
Keep at it. I'm not some great artist or anything, but I used to be complete garbage, drawing crude scribbles in MSPaint and crying about how all my stuff sucked. But, if you keep with it and seriously work at it, at some point people will take notice in a positive way. Relatively unknown artists with recently developed skill who have high insecurities about their work are the easiest to be taken advantage of, so keep your guard up and don't let the thrill of attention cloud your judgment.

Also, random commenters who see a work they like and instantly claim it's fanart of their character or of their fanfic or use a drawing someone else did of their character without asking permission really piss me off.

>20 and unemplyed
>drawing skills are not too bad but could be improved hugely if I knew what to focus on
>don't know what to do with my life
>only know I don't want a "normal" job and want to make money with drawing

>>42510
draw in your private life, McJob until you're good enough to make lots of money.

>>getting really envious of people who get a lot of notes/likes on Tumblr and dA because you have no other way of gauging whether your work is "good" or not

>>42519
That's kinda tricky though, porn-related stuff gets popular by default, quality notwithstanding.
I suppose you're a bit better off gauging by comparing your old stuff, seeing what you learned to do better since then, keeping improving on your rhythm.

>>42519
Sites like deviantart are often popularity contests. Yes, good people tend to become popular over time regardless, but some shit artists get a lot of followers due to niche (read: fetish) art or catering to various communities. Some decent artists get elevated to god status through a combination of decent (not god-tier) art and circumstance. I see people going apeshit and paying a just decent artist tons of money for a fairly bland pic and then acting like it is the best thing they've ever seen, simply because it was drawn by artist "X", who by average DA user definition is fucking fantastic.

A lot of people on deviantart aren't the best judge of art quality when it comes to grading the huge sea of decent-to-good quality artists that fill the site. Most can distinguish between shitty gradeschool art and pro quality, but for most anything in between is judged on other factors. The only real way they have to judge their quality is through the popularity of the artist or how e-famous they are. You can tell this by looking through such an artist's gallery and noticing that even their lazy, lower-quality pics get similar reception to their better work.

Acting like you're hot shit in the art world doesn't hurt, either.

>Draw stuff for my friends for free because they're my friends
>Lots of them are writers or RPers, so there is a big bank of characters I've probably read about to draw
>One of my friends says they will pay me to draw something
>I tell them I'm not wholly comfortable with charging my friends for my work
>She forces me to accept payment by being so insistent about it
>Pays me way more than I would accept for a normal drawing, especially with conversion rates
>I tell her, she doesn't care, tells me to just fucking draw the stuff

And that's how I paid for my video games for a while.

>>42540
That's how I got most of my Steam games (and a good number of Team Fortress 2 items). People liked my art enough to pay me, and even though it was mostly people who were already friends of mine, I was still very appreciative of it.

I think the most expensive one I got was Assassin's Creed II when it went down to $20, and a friend of mine bought it for me in exchange for a drawing and the possibility I'd Livestream it. Sadly the framerate is really high, so no Livestream, and I have no idea how to play a stealth game.

>really complicated tattoos

>really complicated tattoos

>>character in a series is custom-tailored for certain fetishes
>>artist draws Rule 34 of another character, completely changing them to fit that fetish instead

>>"I'm a way better artist than you but I'm not going to upload anything I draw to the internet to prove it"

>See an artist get paid money to draw something he/she almost certainly would have drawn on his/her own anyway

...Uh, I guess I missed the point of commissioning or something.

>>42634
Well, at least for me, I'd commission someone based on what they like and what they specialize in drawing.

>>42634
What, you'd try to hire one to draw stuff he wouldn't?

There's a difference between paying someone to apply their style and flair to new characters or new ideas and paying them to do what could just as easily amount to cleaning up and old sketch they had previously drawn.

>>42637
What if the person's a friend of yours and you feel you owe them a fiver or wanna help them out if they're low on money?

>>42638
That's a totally different story. As an artist, I'd just feel guilty having some stranger pay me a lot to draw a bland idea of something I would have just drawn on my own anyway.

>>42634
>>42635
>>42636
>>42637
>>42638
>>42639
I spoke about this with a friend, and he and I came to a conclusion that it depends on how many and what kind of commissions you get. Like if you're just starting out and commissions are your only source of income, you're greatful for any attention you get. More experienced people can afford to be more picky.

>>42645
Sure, maybe they can afford to, but that pretty much defines artistic and creative stagnation. More experienced should mean you are able and willing to do more, not less.

>>42646
That defines what the artist wants/cares to do. Not to mention going to an artist for what he doesn't do is counterproductive. You'll get better results if you ask for what he does better and is interested in. It doesn't make that much sense going to Rob Zombie asking him why doesn't he make a bolero.

>>42647
I see your point, and I get it and agree to an extent. Maybe I don't give the best opinions since almost as a rule I do not commission other artists, but if somebody were willing to pay me a fair price for drawing a character/style/theme I've never drawn before, I see no reason not to draw whatever he/she wants.

But hey, if the commissioner is really happy with what they get, so be it.

>>It doesn't make that much sense going to Rob Zombie asking him why doesn't he make a bolero.
>>dat mental image

>>42648
>>42649
Hey, not saying Rob Zombie -couldn't- make a decent bolero if he decided, but unless it made sense like for a movie or something and he were up for it, the logical thing would be looking for a guy famous for some good ones.

>>42654
I wouldn't be surprised. I just have this mental image of him squinting over a sewing machine or threading a needle with this intense look on his face and a dummy with a half-finished bolero on it in the background. I don't know whether it should be the most metal bolero ever, or the most un-Rob Zombie-esque bolero ever. Whichever's funnier.

A little more on topic though, a couple of my teachers were frustrating me because they were sort of railing on self-taught hobby artists a bit, people who don't intend to be professional artists, but are good enough at doing commissions on the side to make up for times when money might be tight in their main job. And I don't get why that's a bad thing. For some, yeah, they're good at art, but they don't want to do it as a career, like how some people are, I dunno, accountants or stock brokers and they have a band on weekends.

>>42660
Uhm sorry to kill the joke, but I was referring to the musical style bolero... it was sorta the first one that came to mind. But with your description, that's actually pretty hilarious.

I guess your teachers might just be worried about the market? Either way, I wonder how many can actually hit the gold being a serious artist on their main job. From what I've seen, comic book artists (including the ones working for the Big Two) work pretty hard just to make a name, nevermind making big money.

>>42670
Ahh, I didn't know about that style, that's why. But thank you.

I dunno if it would necessarily be competition? My teachers are animators, but the friends I know who are hobby artists essentially just draw peoples' OC's on commission every once in awhile when they need an extra $5-10 for gas or a new video game. They're going to school to be doctors or scientists, art isn't their main passion.

>>teacher gives me smooth comic book style inking pen so I can practice varying line thickness
>>doodling a bit before class
>>"oh let me borrow that pen it looks super smooth I forgot to write my name on my homework"
>>mfw

>Have Gigs of rule34 saved as "references"
>barely look at them ever
>whenever I'm stuck and start looking through, i can never find the image i want
It's like a tub of legos i swear to god

>>42679
I created my own booru served up to me through XAMPP (gelbooru serves up an open source version of a limited version of the site's code), and made a Chrome plugin that lets me add any image to it directly through a context menu, with a popup for tagging purposes. Makes finding refs much easier.

>>42679
First, figure out which artists are worth emulating or not. I used to look up to certain artists when I was in middle school, who, at least at the time, had terrible anatomy, flat shading, etc.

At least how I organize my refs folder is as such:

--Males
--Females
--Non-gender-specific (perspective, proportions, poses, clothing folds, wings, etc.)
--Coloring/shading tutorials

>>42683
>>42681
>>42679
http://puu.sh/1DaeE

Organizing is definitely one of those things to do from the beginning. Once you have years of saved reference material, the thought of sorting it all is rather daunting.

Art teachers (well, certain art teachers) are the only ones I've ever met who have said, "if you turn everything in on time all year, and I don't like it, I can mark it as if you never turned it in". I've seen people fail classes because they did all the work and redid it and it was never good enough. Is this allowed, or...

>>42690
That's dumb. I've been interested in going back to college at some point to get an animation degree (I already have my "practical" degree), but goddamn I hope most art professors aren't like that.

>>42690
Similar stuff on design college, though not as severe I guess. Heard a lot of "there's no "recipe" for graphic design" and bullshit like that, and sometimes the orientation could be summed up as "needs to be about 20% cooler".

>>42719
>>42725
It was like that, at least for me. I got fed up and switched majors, but I'm still going to be doing art, at least on a personal/possibly commission level. I loved animation, and I'm okay with being told "your art sucks", but I can't deal with ambiguous-to-no critique. If you want me to change what I'm doing, tell me how.

That really sucks. You'd hope that teachers of all people could get past the nebulous artsy-fartsy stereotypes, especially in a technical and goal-oriented field such as animation. It isn't like they were teaching modern art or some shit.

>>42725
>>42719
>>42745
>>42746
>>42690
My art classes mostly consisted of the drawing teacher hiring a model, providing charcoal or conte or whatever we might be using, and having us do timed drawings. Sometimes he'd pull one of us aside and redline a picture if we were getting something wrong (although this was about capturing proportions and angles, so he didn't give us shit about stuff if we decided to do stuff that was more non-objective or had weird line quality or whatever) with an explanation of what was up.

Or at least the ones I went to. I didn't finish the degree and didn't bother with some of the other media classes--I was putting them off because I didn't give much of a shit. There were some more basic classes in the earlier Drawing classes, with the stuff like blowing up other people's work using grids, or doing still lifes, or that sort of thing. But year three (maybe even year 2.5) and later was all life drawing.

>>42747
We did some of the same things, but the teachers would just go "UGH IT'S WRONG DO IT AGAIN" or grab the charcoal from us and redraw it themselves without explaining what specifically was wrong.

>>42751
I guess some school hiring practices don't recognize that there is a huge difference between being simply good at something and being able to teach something, which is scary.

>>42753
It is. I noticed that explaining things is not terribly easy in general, so I have a lot of respect for someone who can do it well.

I admit it is sort of sad that some art programs are veering towards only digital photography and not teaching students how to develop film, only Flash or Maya and not hand-drawn animation, not learning how to make prints and so on, not that digital stuff is any less good, but I sometimes wish I could learn the oldschool stuff too.

>draw fanart, get popular among the fandom
>upload some non-fanart of better quality than usual
>everyone seems to scroll past it

>>42798
Welcome to the internet, enjoy your stay.

>>42799
I'm not even new to this, but it still baffles me.

>>42800
People are more likely to look at art that is of a series they are big fans of, whats not to get?

If the series is the major draw for them then why should they care for the other stuff

>>42805
At least for me, I try to look through the person's other art and click the "Like" button or leave them a comment if they draw anything else well that I really like. Doesn't have to be a fandom I know anything about.

My experience with tumblr & statcounter is that a lot of people DO actually look at my original art when I post it, they trawl my blog for other original work and then start typing fandoms into the URL in hopes that I have drawn their favourite thing. And if I have, then they start hitting the heart button on those pictures instead of the picture that brought them there; you might be getting a lot more views than you think you are. People just don't tend to click the like button as much if it's not fandom work for some reason, even if they really like it. I've caught myself doing the same thing.

Also the discrepancy between fandom and original work can be explained by the fact that a lot more people who are NOT following you will find your fandom work by searching for like, "batman" or "naruto" or "homestuck" or whatever. They see it appearing on the tag page and don't investigate you further. You don't have a huge established fanbase for your original characters so of course there will be less notes, less people see it in the first place.

>>42823
Do you think drawing OC's more would increase the amount of people interested in them?

>>42824
Yes, of course. You can't expect that you can drop one picture of a character and everyone will instantly be enamoured with them. If you want to grab their interest--and more importantly, maintain it--you need to keep posting. This is how your fanart got popular too, you know! You drew some nice stuff for a subject and then kept drawing it, so you became known as the guy who draws nice fandom art. You can be the guy who has cool OCs with neat designs too.

I think it helps to have a story for them, and other characters they interact with. Some people seem to stop at a neat design and draw pinups of them repeatedly, sometimes with a vague excuse backstory, which is fine I guess but it's not interesting or easily relatable. The OCs people love a lot are the ones who have context; a world to live in, friends and enemies to bounce off of, hopes and fears. Every time you reveal a little bit more of who they are, people will get a little bit more attached.

They'll come if you want them to, just keep trying and don't get dissuaded by notes. (:

>>42825
I'm not in any way, shape, or form popular, though, not even with my fandom art. I don't know why. It just makes me feel downtrodden...not that I want to be immensely famous, but that I want to know a few people enjoy what I do and that I'm not just doing it for nothing. I can't do anything just for myself.

>>42826
(Barging in just now) I thought you were >>42798
>draw fanart, get popular among the fandom
guy?

>>42827
Different guy. Sorry about that.

DeviantArt seems rather bad about fake-fans or false attention. You get people who watch or fav your work just to lure you to their gallery, or people who seem to think that the very act of fav'ing a pic is accomplishing... something. What exactly that is I have no idea. Sometimes I think people favorite pics on there without even looking at them. You can upload some particular fanart of a character, gain watchers and a lot of views from it, only to later upload fanart of a less popular character (or, I guess an OC) to find it gets almost no attention (as in, your "fans" are just waiting for you to upload more fanart of their favorite show).

DeviantArt is a bad place for artistic development, to be honest. Most people are there to masturbate, circle-jerk, brag, or troll. Not many people give honest critique, and those that do could very likely just be trying to get a free request or receive praise in return, or if they bash the work they might just be idle trolls or putting you down to boost their own egos. Sure, there is some legit help to be had, but it can be difficult to sift through all the garbage and mixed signals.

>>42834
Well, I know I favorite and comment on someone's art if I see it reblogged on Tumblr, because the artist then directly knows about it, instead of getting 100 reblogs on Tumblr from someone else.

I have encountered a problem where nobody wants to commission me, but I don't know if it's because they think I owe them free drawings, they genuinely don't have money, or if it's because I don't have skills good enough to deserve money. And that last one scares me. What if, no matter how much I draw, I never do anything good enough to make it a career?

So this isn't exclusively art-related, but I find it ties into art on a regular basis.

I look at something super saturated or a ton of neon colors together (which seems to be the thing right now) and it hurts my eyes, and I'm not sure if it's because of the colors or because I seem to have a 24/7 headache, and I don't know the reason behind said headache.

I told someone I couldn't accurately judge their color choices on something because I had one of said headaches, they responded with a rant about how I was selfish and making up maladies and nobody cared.

>>42881
Some people are a lot more sensitive to bright colours than others, especially when they are on a backlit screen.

If your headaches get worse when looking at bright things though you might need glasses/your prescription changed (this was why I got headaches all the time) or you might need to spend more time away from a computer screen.

>>42883
I wear glasses already, so I might try spending more time away from the computer. It's really only when I see bright colors used in tandem/crazy patterns, or when I use the 3D on the Nintendo 3DS for too long (which I've really only been doing for Luigi's Mansion anyways).

>>42851
Internet commissioners are fickle. A lot of it is based on fame - a popular, mediocre artist will probably sell more pics than a relatively unknown artist of the same or better quality. Some only base quality on popularity, while others like to say "See? Look at me! I spend $50 to get a pic from so-and-so! Aren't I cool?" For some, if they can't say that about your work on their normal art-browsing grounds, they won't bother to commission you, even if you are better and cheaper... That's just the way it is. If you really want to sell more, reference the "popular" artists when you do your pics, draw things the way they draw them, and maybe you will start to catch more attention.

>>42895
Possibly as a hack or a **** Jr.

>>42899
Dunno about that. A lot of animators make careers drawing like somebody else. And again, I'm talking about selling commissions, not progressing in your art. Drawing what is cool or beneficial does not always equal what people want to pay for. Browse DA and you will see skilled artists who get minimal attention, and then you will see people who sell pics for tons of money who just draw in generic hentai manga style (which again goes back to commissions, if you want easy money... draw porn, or at the very least suggestive stuff)

>>42906
Haha, I know that, though I don't know "generic hentai manga" styles. They sure don't seem to need knowledge of those for commissions.

>>42908
Hmm, maybe I worded that poorly, lol. Sure, there are plenty of artists who sell commissions of a multitude of themes and styles, but I'm sure you will find a number of artists on DA, HF, and so on who draw that weird forced-anime look with huge, poorly-attached boobs and wonky proportions who are able to sell plenty of $20+ one character pics.

Related: This is probably an unpopular opinion, but seeing photorealistic genitals on anime characters looks really weird to me. I'd rather see them simplified to match the character's style.

I'd rather be unpopular than copy-paste an artist I like's style. I do draw relatively similar to the art style of one of my favorite cartoons, but I incorporate other styles in as well. I think I'm doing my inspirations a disservice if I become popular simply by aping them.

>>42911
Ah, I see. Guilty as charged of enjoying some weird proportions and occasional huge boobs, haha.

Lately actual hentai illustrators have been putting a lot more physics and more-natural-yet-huge-looking boobs on their styles, but I'm so used to/nostalgic to the old school round, almost artificial-looking ones, that I don't know how much I'd mind the poorly attached ones. Though I definitely pay more attention to that now, can't help it.

>>42912
Yeah, sure, you want something unique to your art, of course that is good. But, in the short term, if your main concern is selling art, it is only logical to see the art that sells, figure out why it sells, and incorporate those details/themes/styles/whatevers into your own pics.

>>42919
I'm torn about this, is all. I do really feel morally wrong in a way honoring my favorite artists in anything more than a homage. But at the same time, I really want to start selling my art. I wouldn't be drawing porn, though. I have some prudish issues to work out first (I can look at porn, but I'm apprehensive about drawing it). I have run into a problem though where the only people interested expect me to work for free, which is really frustrating.

It's not so much boob physics as it is taking a highly detailed, photorealistic penis and slapping it on a very simplistic, cartoony anime character.

>>42921
Well, do what you're comfortable with. You can take stylistic elements here and there and take inspiration for ideas without having to full-on mimic them. And just as a note, unless you are really hard-up for ideas or an extremely giving person, don't draw for direct beggars under your art name when you are interested in taking commissions. Make requests a special thing. Some beggars will get what they want from you but are suddenly nowhere to be found once you start charging. Some might come back and pay, but, well, just be careful.

It can be a bit depressing when to see somebody pay another artist a good amount of money for a pic when you've decided to give him or her stuff for free.

Don't copy a more popular person's style. You might get short-term fame but long-time notoriety for being a hack, and your customers will not be commissioning you because they like YOU, they will commission you because you are the cheap Chinese bootleg to the popular artist's Gucci handbag. That is not a good position to be in. Do not shoot yourself in the foot. Do not encourage other people to shoot themselves in the foot in this way, what the fuck do you guys think you are doing. Shame on you.

If you want to get your name out legitimately, draw fanart. People come for the subject matter and stay for the artwork; you can build a pretty strong network from this. Don't draw requests often because that makes people feel entitled to getting stuff they want drawn by you for free.

When you advertise yourself as open for commissions, make sure you have examples of your work displayed prominently. I see people on tumblr make big text posts about their monetary situation and then stick their examples UNDER A CUT. THIS IS BAD. BAD FOR SALES. DO NOT DO THIS OR ANYTHING REMOTELY LIKE THIS. YOU ARE NOT SELLING YOUR FEELINGS YOU ARE SELLING YOUR FUCKING PICTURES. Make sure your work is CLEARLY VISIBLE with CLEAR PRICES and the less blathering you do in text the better. People get scared off by haggling/not knowing what exactly you want for your work and they don't like feeling like they're being guilted into buying art from you because you've been having a hard time. 99.99999% of talented people I have seen complain about not getting any buyers is because they have a shitty commissions post. If you get 0 attention, you aren't selling your wares correctly.

And again, do not listen to >>42895, he's an idiot and it'll fuck you over.

>>42923
Well, under your logic, why is fanart OK? You are copying another artist's character designs and adding your own "flare" to it, which is no different from what I'm saying (again, I admit that perhaps I worded my original post poorly). You incorporate things that people like (which you learn by looking at the works of other popular and/or professional artists) into your pics. That is what every artists does. You learn from your peers, incorporate what you like and what other's like in their work, and make it your own...

>>42922
>Some beggars will get what they want from you but are suddenly nowhere to be found once you start charging. Some might come back and pay, but, well, just be careful.

>It can be a bit depressing when to see somebody pay another artist a good amount of money for a pic when you've decided to give him or her stuff for free.
This.

>>42924
I'll disagree on everything about fanart, here. Drawing a set character in your own style isn't exactly the same as copying someone's style. As for adding popular stuff in your fanart, that sounds like a pretty bad idea. People usually add things -they- like on actual fanart, which is probably a better way to "advertise" themselves if they're going for it.

>>42923
Better point out you should probably draw fanart of something you're ACTUALLY A FAN OF. I've seen a recent case of backlash on a hack that started drawing stuff related to a fandom just because there was a lot of money to be had. In the long run, that's bad advertisement, since it also marks you as a hack. If you get enough commissions to fill your time anyway, might as well just stick with your specialty.

>>42922
I've stopped doing requests (with the exception of very close friends' birthdays) and I've only had one monetary request, but only so someone could pay the shipping for a drawing I'd already drawn them for free. No one has commissioned me yet, and I'm starting to get scared.

>Hand cramp from volleyball
>Worry about the future
I may be a hypochondriac, but what if I'm a HYPERchondriac?

>art thief posting traces of my pics with getting moderate attention
>a few hacks drawing "versions" of my other pics, either from other angles or the same, mostly the same
Am I supposed to feel flattered or something? I'm actually confused.
Too bad they never learned to credit what they're "referencing", that would make it easier to figure out.

>>42956
I'm pretty sure that a moderately well-known porn artist (I'd consider myself little-known at best) copied most of a torso and head almost directly from one of my old pics. I don't think they lined up line-for-line when I checked, but to me the similarities were glaringly obvious. At the end of the day, though, there isn't much you can do about it. You can bitch and moan and try to get a personal army going, but for what? They will keep doing it anyway, and they will still find fans who think that 1:1 tracing a pic and then tracing a different character's head onto it is somehow better than your original work.

(see: http://vanilladream34.deviantart.com/ for somebody whose gallery consists of nothing more than head-swapped traces with the occasional hilariously poorly drawn additions, and yet nobody seems to give a shit)

>>42958
Second pic's anatomy really clashes with the show's style...

>>42958
I don't know if this person is a good example. I mean, no one cares because they are doing shitty tracings to make porn for a terrible show. There isn't anything good for it because the show itself isn't good, so whoever is actually looking for Total Drama Island porn can't really afford to be picky.

And honestly, art thieves like this are hilarious, so I wouldn't be surprised if the artists this guy is ripping off just let him do it because it's funny and sad. My first art thief took some dumbass reaction images I drew for /co/ of a character overreacting to shit and traced over them to make a grimdark comic, it was pretty great.

>>43015
My point there was more when he has traced pics by known artists and posted them, hardly anybody seemed to think anything other than OMG HOTT.

>>"I'll draw you anything!"
>>"Just don't ask me to draw legs and feet."

>>43029
>not also hands
brave...

>>43030
Those too. I have no idea why talented artists refuse to draw hands and feet and stuff. There's loads of tutorials and reference out there for anything you could possibly want to draw, and while it's hard, it does get easier as you get on.

Nobody who wants art is willing to pay me, and I feel like a dick for saying "if you can't offer me something even equivalent to money, I can't do it, I'm sorry".

Meanwhile, these people are going out and partying and buying alcohol....

>>43098
Your art needs to get people crunk.

>>43098
That shouldn't make you feel like a dick. The real dicks are the ones who expect you to give them stuff for free without even offering to compensate you for it.

>>43099
>>43100
I'm just scared, y'know? I have people saying "You literally do not deserve to be paid a single dollar for a fully drawn, inked, colored, and shaded picture". And I'd do it in a heartbeat. I have my parents telling me I can't make money at all and I want to prove them wrong.

>>43101
Well, can't help with your parents, but people who're too cheap to pay for your art is something you'll have to deal with no matter your style or skill.

>>43102
Yeah, there are many people who think art in general is not worth paying for (unless of course it is a gaudily framed reproduction still-life that matches the colors of their sofa) or that if you are their "friend" you should give it to them for free, because art isn't something that requires skill or resources, nope, it is just something you have always been good at and can remain good at with minimal practice and if you don't just give it to them you're a lazy jerk.

>draw little girl with short hair
>hey that boy looks cool

>>43104
Between this and the similar situation in the first post, I could go on a rant about gender...stuff and how people make assumptions on gender based on clothing and facial features and hair length, and how in my opinion it is stupid, but this is not the place.

I am aware cartoonists need to draw based on easily recognizable symbols and sometimes use cliches to get points across, but..idk. It seems silly to me sometimes.

>>43106
>>43104
You probably don't want to make that argument. If your drawing is simplistic/symbolic enough that people have to rely on "tertiary sexual characteristics" like that, you probably need to work on your art more, or revise the character design. Unless the character is supposed to be a bit androgynous. Which, to a certain extent, is true for small children--there's relatively little difference in terms of body or even face between a six year old boy and a six year old girl. There is some, but it's muted, and much of how we tell the difference between the genders of children that age is tertiary stuff like clothing or how they carry themselves or how they talk.

Really pay attention to things like brow ridge, chin, and jawline. Lips, nose, and eyelashes are important too, but a lot more variable, and tend to be the things that are quickest to get turned into symbols when drawing. Jawline is especially important.

For the body, if you want a character to be emphatically female despite a butch hairstyle, make sure you go with lots of curves if the character is female. I'm not necessarily talking about boobs or even hips, so the fact that it's a "little girl" isn't an issue. Always using a curved "line of action" when posing the character can be a help, and making sure you know the difference between how men stand and how women stand, for example. Understanding the skeletal differences between men and women can be vital. A slightly pear-shaped body can help, but isn't a perfect solution since men can easily be pear-shaped, too, especially in cartoons.

>>43107
Fair enough. I agree with everything you've said, pretty much. There are still people who judge gender off the bat just based on hair length alone, though, and I dunno if there's anything you can do about those people.

Too be perfectly honest, I've noticed that even young girls seem to already display some femininity in their lower features (round buttocks, round legs).

>>porn doesn't really do anything for me 99.9% of the time
>>still look at it from an aesthetic standpoint
>>wondering if I should commission an artist known for only drawing porn to do a totally SFW drawing for me and if they'd be willing to draw it

>>43120
Guess it depends. Some porn artists can run the risk of having all of their work look faintly lewd, and/or struggle to determine good poses that don't involve getting it on or showing off the goods, so to speak.

>>43122
Fair point. That's why I wanted to get comfortable drawing SFW myself, because I wanted to be able to do both.

I wanted to throw this artist a bone, to be brutally honest. I know I'm weird, being the rare one who doesn't get off on anything but still looks at a lot of porn, and her fans are treating her like absolute shit, so I wanted to throw her some money to let her know she's appreciated. I know some people exclusively draw porn, though, and some exclusively draw one fetish or one fandom or one pairing. So I don't want to commish an artist doing anything other than what they want to do most.

>>43127
>and her fans are treating her like absolute shit
If I had to guess she already lost those fans.

>>43129
They stopped paying for her site, but they continue to look at and bitch about her art.

If someone hasn't commissioned an artist, and they only draw commissions, they have no right to bitch about how frequently their art is released, imo. They're not drawing for that person.

>>43133
I can see that.

I saw someone recently design a character with violet eyes, and some people responded that that's a Mary Sue trait and she shouldn't have them.

I don't think having violet eyes on its own means the character is special in any way. Depends on the universe she's set in. Anime, for example, has plenty of violet-eyed characters with nothing resembling superpowers.

>>43155
Never listen to anyone who gets their knowledge of writing/design theory from internet list memes.

This might sound weird, but I have a general pet peeve with art where it seems like everyone of a specific ethnicity is always drawn with the same skin color. In real life, even within the same ethnicity, there's a reasonable deal of variation.

>>43163
*with the same skin tone

Lately I've been feeling like "Feels" are my downfall as an artist. Like I'm trying to launch a webcomic, and I've done a couple of false starts now where I just throw my hands in the air and say "this isn't working!" and start from scratch, and I'm beginning to think I need to just stop giving a shit.

Anyone have any experience with not giving a shit anymore? Can you make it work? And does it really help? And how do you force yourself to do it?

>>43170
I know the feeling. I post story ideas and rough drafts of things online, and I always either get ignored, or people unfollow me the second I post them. I feel like it's a Catch 22. People call you unoriginal if you draw fanart, but if you attempt to draw or write an original story, they get really pissed off.

>>43170
I think you begin to truly make progress as an artist when you do stop giving a fuck, so to speak. You just draw whenever you can, the best you can, checking your work as often as you can, and just moving on. Just do your best, post it if you want, and keep going. Worrying doesn't help, and waffling around just wastes time. Chances are, look at whatever particular piece you are working on now, and realize that in a few months time won't even matter at all, so, why fret too much over it?

I don't know if this counts as something I can put here, but..

>flipping through a giant sketchbook
>all these colorful, awesome pictures and sketches I've done
>damn, look at how nice some of these are
>feel inspired to do more
>wake up
>reality: empty sketchbook

>>43185
hey if that's good enough for Kubo's background artists it's good enough for you!

More seriously, I fucking hate that moment when I am nearly asleep and my brain attain so;e sort of godmode inspiration moments and clear images of great art that flows forever and whever you are awake all your brain gives you is boring shit and shaky hands to draw it. Fuck you brain.

Fandom-specific artist wonk, but Team Fortress 2.

Heavy, Soldier, and Engineer all have very unique faces and body types in canon. Stop samefacing them/giving them identical builds, goddamn it.