So
making art is fun, right?
It's basically a way for you to splooge all of your brain guts out into the world
for everyone to see.
But of course
like all things in life it comes with its fair share of downsides
which make us question why we even bothered to pick up a pencil in the first place.
In fact I’ve had so many instances
where I’ve reconsidered my chosen path of life
that I could make an entire video about it.
So let’s get into it.
♫ Intro music that I commissioned from Lovprod please stop asking me what the name of it is thank youuuu ♫
“Your prices are too high, I will pay you in exposure :D”
Ah yes
because if you can’t afford a thing
that means the person selling it is charging too much
and no one will ever buy it.
Which is why they’re a successful artist??????
If you just woke up and are still having trouble getting your brain to start up
let me explain.
Just because you can’t afford or wouldn’t buy something…
doesn’t mean no one else can or would buy that product
Different people see different values in different things
And sure it may be difficult to see why anyone would spend thousands of
Eur-ollands on
lets say
collectable socks or
potato chips that look like george washington
But at the same time other people may have trouble understanding why you pay so much
for your…
gaming PC
or football cards
or meals at Nando’s
‘Point is
you can’t dictate what value something has to anyone other than yourself!
Especially when money is involved.
Like it or not, people can spend their hard-earned cash on whatever they want - so,
‘think an artist’s work is too expensive for the quality they’re offering?
Good for you.
Now go find a different artist.
It’s that simple
Wh-
No!
Not like THAT!
Oh my god…
Listen
it’s true that exposure is helpful to artists who need to get their work out there a bit
more
HOWEVER
when artists do commissions instead of requests
it’s for a reason
if they wanted exposure they’d be out there drawing fanart or
offering to do work for people
so if an artist tosses you their commission sheet when you hit em up
you just gotta deal with it
hecc even
even most people with a large audience pay for artwork
AND credit the artist because
guess what
trying to pay an artist with exposure
kinda says to them that their work is not worth
the prices they’re offering
and that’s hella insulting.
And lemme ask you something
why would they waste their time working for you for free
when they’ve got ACTUAL customers willing to pay for it?
So get take your 2 subscribers and get outta here
The Spectator
Does anyone else get stressed out
and completely forget how to use your hands when someone's watching?
Most people are fine while watching you work
they keep a fair distance and respect that what you’re doing takes a lot of concentration
OTHER PEOPLE however…
Like to lean in real close so close that they’re basically sitting on you
and you can feel their gross
oniony breath so deep in your earhole
that it’s coming out the other end
“Is THAT A DOG??”
“.. its an original character
it's like a mythical creature”
“OH cuz…”
“This part kinda looks like a dog!!”
“..can you not touch the-”
“CAN YOU DRAW ME?”
Tablet drivers..
or just tablets in general
The graphics tablet is a big slab with a magic pen
that allows you to draw directly onto your computer screen and in turn
utilise powerful programs to take your illustrations to the next level.
Sounds great doesn’t it?
Well, it would be
if they actually wORKED.
The infamous
“tablet driver stopped working”
popup
plagues digital artists around the globe
among a plethora of other problems such as
buttons glitching out
the cable having a shaky contact *disconnect sound effect*
or pen pressure just not registering for seemingly no reason whatsoever
I know there are people out there lucky enough to have been blessed with the
1/4000 chance of receiving the elusive tablet that works perfectly with no issues at all
But the fact of the matter is
as soon as technology is involved in anything
it takes a miracle for at least one thing not to go wrong
People implying or attaching adult themes to characters that are safe for work
Okay, listen
Chip
Is a little bit T H I C C, okay?
I’m a little chubby irl so I was like hey
let's incorporate this aspect of myself into my character because
let’s face it
there’s not a whole lot of representation of different body types in the cartoon youtuber
world
Which is fine of course
but it meant that changing up my character’s build
could make ‘em a little more unique
Plus it’s a chubby cat
and what’s more cute than that?
So i made the change and immediately
Immediately
Received comments with the implication
that Chip…
ATE somebody
Look
you can be into whatever
as long as you’re not..
actually eating people alive I couldn’t care less
but when you force these interests of yours onto sweet
innocent
SAFE FOR WORK characters..
That is a
BIG yikes from me my friend
You can tell me that it’s not an “adult” thing
And I’m sure there are plenty of people who enjoy
once in a while
characters swallowing each other whole in a “just friends” context
but i’m sorry if my judgement is a little blurred by the
OwOs and the PET NAMES
The useless critic
We’ve all heard the quote
“you don’t have to be a chef to know your food is bad”
which is, of course, very true.
Someone who has no experience in illustration
and has never even picked up a pencil in their whole life can tell you
that the neck of that cute anime boy you drew looks a little too long
or that he actually looks more like a character from a creepy pasta from 2007
However
that's just about where it ends
Someone with no knowledge or experience in your area
can't go into detail about what exactly is wrong or how to improve it
they can't draw over what the anatomy SHOULD look like
or suggest a brush that would make lighting look more soft and realistic, for example
Not that this type of criticism is bad
when you've been staring at something for such a long time
sometimes you really can't see the problems with it
until you get a fresh pair of eyes to point them out for you
And of course you're probably not going to be able to find an expert in your field to
consult every time you want feedback
What gets under my fur is the people who act like they know what they're talking about
yet dish out advice more useless than a book on how to read
And don't get me started on people who criticize WIPs
Disclaimer of course they can be criticised
I'm talking about the dumb ones like
“hmm yeah its okaaay
but it needs colour”
Like.
Boi.
That's like tasting someone's pancake batter
and saying
“ hmm. Its tasty
but way too liquid
you should fry it”
Sfghsfbsdhfbsd
YEAH.
i was GONNA.
It’s called a work
IN PROGRESS
I EVEN WROTE IN WHICH COLOURS ARE GONNA GO WHERE ON THE SKETCHSJADFHNJSFHNK
This looks like…
You spend ages working on the perfect character design
you're all done and are really proud of it
its cool and unique and you're immediately attached to it
the time comes to share it with the world..
and your comments are filled with comparisons to this other more popular character
that you've never even heard of
You shrug it off at first since YOU know your design has nothing to do with that other one
but the comments just keep coming
you start getting called a ripoff…
eventually even you don't see your own character anymore
so to avoid being seen as an obsessed fan/rip off artist..
You burn it
Well, its not that dramatic every time
but boy does this rustle my jimmies
and its not fun on the other end either
let's be real for a sec
Chip is not a unique character design
Sure
all of these elements put together make Chip
Chip
but each individual part is not an original idea that no one's ever done before
so why does every two legged cat
every white furred animal with something red around its neck
and every one-different-coloured-eared mammal
constantly get compared to Chip?
Even my own drawings of other characters get compared to Chip??
I think the saddest part about it is
that I feel like people just don't realise that they're doing any harm.
I know there are people who are totally cool with it
but some artists find it really disheartening that their design they worked hard on
just makes people think of someone else's character.
Not being able to find a tutorial or reference cause you don't know what its called
There comes many situations
in which you need to draw something you've never drawn before
or don't have enough experience with
so you need to find a reference image of how it looks
in order to draw it accurately
some references are pretty easy to get, for example
if you're drawing a human you can do the pose yourself and photograph it
buuuuut in other situations it won't be so easy
Okay so now our main character’s addiction to bread is so strong
that she’s started having to go to extreme lengths to get it
In this scene she takes her trusty 8 month old baguette
and attempts to rob a bakery with it
Okay
how the hecc do I draw this?
I could use a reference
but I don’t even know what I’d type in…
Let’s just..i dunno..
“Woman robbing bakery with baguette”
pppft, no, why would that even exi-
Oh.
Motivation
Not having the motivation to create for seemingly no reason…
Sucks
But what I hate the most is when this motivation magically re-appears…
when I’m trying to sleep
First of all I can’t sleep because my brain is too excited
but then when I wake up in the morning…
where did it go???
Suddenly I can’t be bothered anymore!
What the hecc?
And don’t get me started on art block
getting to work one day and your brain suddenly decides
that you don’t know how to art anymore
It’s always great fun trying to figure out what the problem is so you can get back to
normal -
especially when you have a deadline!
Oh, yeah, professor..my assignment isn’t done yet because..
I had art block..
I physically couldn’t work on my project..
“Oh, art block!?
You poor thing, of course i’ll give you an extension.
Go home at once and take the next 2 months off school to recover”
*Sigh* Wouldn’t that be nice?
Though..
imagine how easy it would be to abuse a system like that..
Alright if you think I left anything out please do let me know in the comments
I’d love to hear your own artist horror stories.
If you enjoyed this video and want to hear me complain about more things
I did two other videos about general things I can’t stand
or you can check out this playlist for more videos like this.
Thanks for watching and have a great day!