Original content?
More like original conten't.
That joke doesn't work unless I put words on the screen.
Listen brub, I made a mistake.
A grave error.
Scientifically speaking, I done goofed.
I thought it would be a good idea to agree to draw something for someone, for free.
What's the worst that can happen?
Quite simple:
So yes, it's me.
Why does this still happen in 2018?
Why do people still ask for free art?
Most likely because people like me say yes at one point or another.
Everything that happens on the internet has happened before.
FouseyTube, Tanacon.
Lil Tay, Cash me outside.
And me, saying "of course I'll draw your favorite character for free even though I don't know
you and didn’t ask for requests", every other person who's fault into that trap.
And it is indeed a trap.
Here's why.
So before we start this off—wait, I've already run the intro and the first transition.
Since we've started this off, I want to retroactively preface my video with this.
If you want to take requests, and draw things for free, that's not wrong.
If you don’t want to, I don’t think you shouldn’t be rude to people about it.
This isn’t one of those videos.
There are enough negative stereotypes people have about artists, let’s not add pettiness
into the mix.
Speaking of petty, today’s sponsor is actually another YouTube channel that’s much larger
than mine: ZHC, aka the Ricegum of the art community.
Yo what is up you guys, how's it going, it's your boy ZH Comic Art, Steve right here.
Hey, check out our matching Armani shirts.
ChECK oUt oUR MatcHiNG ArmANi shiRTS.
Yo, is that me?
ZHC didn't actually pay me to make this video, but he did rip off my thumbnail design for
one of his videos, and I’ll accept that as payment, since imitation is the greatest
form of flattery.
Plus, Zach is a good artist.
In fact, one might even say he’s a great artist.
Anyway, I’ll be painting this image, because pretty girl in the thumbnail, for views.
So why am I never drawing anything for free, ever again, even if I want to?
The answer dates back all the way to my first art tumblr.
That tumblr is long gone now, but I’ll get to that part in a bit.
I had posted my artwork to that tumblr on and off for a couple of years, but I never
really gained a lot of traction.
When I was first starting off, I couldn’t tell you the difference between a Wacom tablet
and a Cintiq.
And I did in fact think there was a difference.
So I wound up joining an art critique forum.
Sadly, that forum is pretty inactive nowadays, but when I joined, it was booming.
People pointed me to anatomy books, painting technique books, instructional YouTube channels;
from that forum, I learned a lot of what I was missing with digital painting, so I began
to apply those techniques.
And with stuff like that, it’s not like a getting a driver's license.
You can’t just read a couple of books, spend a few hours painting, and then get handed
a card you can wave around.
And it's probably better that way, because if that was the case, I would wind up forgetting
to update my registration and getting fined out of house of home.
Instead, I was, and still am, in a constant state of learning and trying new things, but
every now and then I had my breakout moments, where I just somehow manage to create a piece
of artwork that is remarkably better than all of my previous pieces.
And then, since I don’t actually know how I did it, I never reach that quality of work
again, for months.
Sometimes even years.
So I had one of those breakout moments at the time.
Today, I could easily recreate this painting, but this is the one in question.
It was a study of a few screenshots from a brand-new show that had just premiered on
Netflix.
I was so proud of this painting at the time, I put it up on tumblr as soon as I finished
it.
That’s right, I entered a two-week-old fandom, on tumblr, and I didn’t know enough to realize
that that wasn’t the greatest idea, for multiple reasons, the biggest of which being
that the image blew up.
Now, two hundred notes isn’t really a lot on tumblr, there are many illustrations with
tens of thousands of notes, and if It's a fandom drawing specifically those numbers
can easily get into the hundred thousands.
But trust me, two hundred was a lot, especially considering the fact that none of my other
posts had made it above ten.
I got a whole bunch of nice comments in the hashtags, and as the fandom grew, the picture
got more and more attention, all the while attracting more and more people.
And the more people you’re dealing with, the sooner you’re going to find out: one
of these people is not like the others.
And that person happened to be the first person who requested me to draw them something.
So that person, I’m just going to name call them Jesse so I can stop saying “that person”.
So Jesse DM’d me on tumblr, and told me that they were my biggest fan.
And I had never gotten a comment like that before in my life.
Jesse told me that they loved my art style, I was one of their favorite artists, they
were so glad they found my account; really I was so happy.
And then Jesse ended the message by asking if I was willing to draw something for them.
Now, there was nothing wrong with Jesse’s message, at all.
So far, Jesse was not in the wrong.
In fact, to this day, I still think that that was a very nice message, and at the time it
did wonders for my motivation.
So I replied to the DM.
Today, I would never do that.
I read all of the DM’s that you send me on Instagram and a couple other places, but
I don’t answer them.
I may respond to a couple of them in a video, but at some point I made the decision that
I wasn’t going to answer any of the messages people send me, for the sake of my own time,
and sanity, as you’re about to see.
Instead, I just read them, thank God, and hug my computer screen a little bit, because
they do make me happy.
And wow do I wish I had just went with a screen hug in Jesse’s case.
But no, I answered within five minutes, because I had nothing better to do.
I said, thank you very much, it means a lot, and of course I’d be happy to draw whoever
you want.
Bad move.
Well as I should have expected, Jesse wanted me to draw either another character from Trollhunters.
or this character from some other show.
And for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to draw both.
Within that same day.
I had such a lack of experience with dealing with fans at that time, because I had never
had any in my life.
So I post not just one, but both of the requests I did for Jesse in the same post.
Jesse loved them, it was overall a successful exchange, even though it was a bit one-sided,
seeing as I actually got nothing out of it whatsoever.
But the very next day, Jesse DM’d me again.
Keep in mind, this was really only their second time DMing me, so I didn’t really see this
as a red flag.
What I did notice was that the message was worded very similarly to the one where they
first said they liked my art and asked me to draw them something; worded similarly as
in I’m pretty sure that they copied and pasted the majority of their first message
and just switched up the wording a bit.
And that, that was a red flag.
It made me wonder two things.
Just how often does Jesse send that message to people, if they have it ready to copy and
paste like that?
And if that’s the case, is it even a sincere message?
I went to Jesse’s tumblr, which I definitely should have done in the first place, and there
were a BUNCH of completed requests that people had made for them.
I was starting to suspect that my very first fan was really just a person who realized
I would draw them free art.
So I was a bit skeptical, but I still gave Jesse the benefit of the doubt, and explained
that I would eventually get around to doing their request.
You may have noticed that I didn’t just drop everything and get to their drawing right
away.
This is because, prior to Jesse sending that second request, my confidence had already
slipped away from me in a terrible case of art depression.
I hated my artwork.
I realized that as much as I loved that one Trollhunters painting, I couldn’t seem to
replicate the level it in my own, non-study artwork.
And the more I looked at the work I had created up until that point and just saw the lack
of understanding that went into those pieces, I just started to detest everything I had
made.
So that was probably the worst I had felt about my artwork in a long, long time.
I did some drawings, but I didn’t even want to do Jesse’s request, at all.
I didn't even like Trollhunters at that point.
But Jesse sent me a message the next week, and it was along the lines of “hey did you
remember about my request XD”, and I replied saying, no, I did not forget, and I even apologized
for some reason even though I had never given Jesse a time table, so I wasn’t in the wrong.
I think they just assumed I had dropped everything to work on their request again, since that’s
what I did the first time.
Another week passed, and I guess Jesse saw that I was still posting art on my tumblr,
art that wasn’t their request, so they sent me yet another message.
It said the exact same thing.
Yes.
This was starting to grate on my nerves, but, I felt like I somehow owed Jesse something
since they were my first fan.
How could I say no when they had been so nice to me and said all of those nice things about
my artwork?
Speaking of which, I still hated my art at that point, and it was getting to the point
where I didn’t even want to look at it.
But since I was leaving that part out of my messages, I guess Jesse just assumed I was
perfectly fine, albeit with a case of short-term memory loss.
Because they messaged me again the week after, and that’s when I decided I needed to at
least stop the messages from coming.
So I just told Jesse the truth, explaining that I didn’t feel very confident about
my artwork, and I wanted to focus more on what I wanted to draw at that time, until
I got back on track with everything else.
Jesse seemed very understanding of this; they told me to not worry about it, and that they
hoped I felt better soon, and that they were grateful I had even done the other requests,
et cetera.
So next week, Jesse did not message me.
But by then my confidence was just gone.
I was done.
It was completely unrelated to Jesse, but I made the decision to delete my entire tumblr.
And my Instagram.
And my DeviantArt.
Deleting my artwork from the internet honestly did not make me feel better, but at the very
least, it did make me feel like I was working on a clean slate.
For months I worked on my artwork, and didn’t really worry about posting it at all, except
to that art critique forum I had mentioned.
I was learning so much about the fundamentals now, when I didn't have to worry about social
media.
Eventually that forum died down, but I was already on the right path.
Nowadays I have a focus and I know the things that I want to work on in my art, and that’s
really all you need.
So, I started posting my artwork on Instagram, with a different username, as well as tumblr.
Before I deleted my had deleted my social media, I didn’t announce it to anyone, because
I didn’t want an influx of messages trying to tell me what to do with my account.
So nobody really knew about my new accounts, and I was just fine with that.
I was back down to about twenty followers, but at least I really enjoyed the process
of creating the content I was posting.
Even now, I still have a lot to learn, but I can confidently say I’m still in love
with that process of learning.
So I was back on tumblr and happier than ever.
Then next week I got a message from Jesse.
I have no idea how.
I just . . . Brub.
I do not know.
To this day, it still scares me.
How the actual heck did Jesse find my new account within one week of me creating it?
I didn’t announce it anywhere, I didn’t leave any kind of links, my username wasn’t
similar to the old one at all.
I am 100% labelling that as cyber-stalking.
Like if that isn't stalking, I don't know what is.
Jesse somehow tracked me down like a cat and a can of tuna.
I felt targeted.
And do you know what Jesse’s message said?
It didn’t ask me if I was doing better, it didn’t ask where I had gone, it didn't
make any mention of my disappearance whatsoever.
It only said, “glad to see you back, I was just wondering if you had finished my request?
XD” Boy, I ran.
I blocked Jesse so fast I nearly cracked my screen.
I blocked them everywhere.
Every social media.
Seeing Jesse pop up in my notifications was one of the scariest and most surreal experiences
I have had in my time on the internet.
Never again.
And that is why I don’t answer DM’s anymore.
I love them and appreciate them very much; in fact your messages and comments are what
motivate me the most nowadays.
But you just never know who you’re dealing with, or just how far they’re willing to
go to hunt you down for some free art.
And THAT is why I don’t draw people for free, even if I want to.
Here’s the portrait I painted.
You can find this image on the community tab on my channel, so go join the community tab
crew.
I believe we’re very close to passing one hundred thousand subscribers.
Just a hunch.
Anyway, leave a like, tell me what you think, and subscribe if you haven’t already.
Thank you for watching, and a big thank you to my twenty-three thousand subscribers.
Okay bye.