#I can answer in comments probably

[pukaparade]

My Experience Working as an Artist at Santae

Just want to start off by saying that this is simply my personal experience and that anything following the cut is simply my own opinion based off of that personal experience. Readers are encouraged to please employ their own critical thinking and taking many grains of salt when reading another person's experience, mine included. Anyway, my feelings and experiences following the cut.

To start off when I applied to Santae I was really excited to be a part of the project. It's a project that has a lot of promise and it seemed to set itself apart from other petsites I've played in the past. I was really eager to try and be a part of it and participate in the growth of the site and community.

When I joined the server I received the typical greeting - CJ pings everyone to welcome new staff not unlike a welcoming party. It was a bit overwhelming but seemed well-meaning.

There were a lot of little red flags that sprouted up after my joining that I ignored or tamped down writing them off as caused by stress or seeing them as things that could be grown from. (Badmouthing past management, poor communication, etc..)

I can't and won't go into massive detail about everything that put me off and drove me to finally split ways because it would be splitting hairs after a certain point and I also just don't have the time, energy, or care to go through things with such a meticulousness. This post is mostly to warn others who may be thinking of applying what to expect and to cast a little transparency on the work environment. There are a lot of allegations going around and understandably a lot of people are afraid to speak up. I've already quit so that can no longer be held over my head (but we'll come back to this) and the worst that will happen is I'll become a social pariah on the site, or my account will be banned. (Kind of expecting this, so if Kasper #2468 gets iced just know it wasn't by my own hand lmfao. If my KS backing and SC earned by commission get nuked in retaliation ig it's a consequence I'm willing to accept.)

To the friends I've made on the team and the folks that reached out after I quit and removed from the server - I'm glad we met. And thank you to the former coworker who offered to post my goodbye for me after reaching out to me in DM (I declined because I didn't want anyone being ~ tainted~ by association lol) I was in the middle of typing a goodbye when I was unceremoniously removed from the server. When I joined staff got to say goodbye and some even hung around for weeks after parting ways, but since Sky was removed without being able to say goodbye it seems like being instantly deleted might just be the new standard. Not to mention the other artist who was just removed overnight without even a comment. To everyone else, I kind of assumed our camaraderie was as fickle and transient as my time on the team and wasn't surprised to be proven right. I'm sure it doesn't help that (in my experience) CJ has a habit of hopping into VC to badmouth anyone who doesn't align with his vision.

Anyway this is super disjointed already. Let's get onto some specifics.

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"You didn't even need reply ^_^"

I mentioned that the pings were stressful because we had already received multiple about this 'game' and it was getting stressful. When I mentioned that, I got a passive aggressive dm and followup about it afterwards. I will also note that a coworker added an agreeing 'react' to my post about the pings which cj then. removed. lol. I did not reply to the message bc by now I was tired of the manipulation games.

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Commission Discomfort

I held off confronting about this for a long time because I feel that CJ does not take confrontation well and didn't want to make things worse for myself of others but by the end I was nearing my limit and needed to enforce a firm boundary.

I did some graphics work under the expectation that I'd be getting a divine figurine for it and had to follow up multiple times as usual, at which point CJ tried to pin it on a fellow artist coworker 'making him uncomfortable'. This is a common trend with poor communication on the team.

"management" would prefer that staff not commission site artists. This just always rubbed me wrong, especially after the, in my opinion, territorial behavior over me doing commissions. I also dmed some coworkers about it since he said he'd 'tell all the other artists' but no one else had gotten any similar messages from him.

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Streaming in Server

When I started it was pretty casual for art staff to stream site work or personal work in the vc. I stopped streaming personal things after the first uncomfortable dm I got when working on an offsite comm and stuck to santae only work from then on. I don't have a screenshot of my own that I can use for this unfortunately but cj sent a message saying

"Hey @ artist @ lead artist @ lead clothing artist I would like to stop streaming art in the staff voice chat channel as technically the behind the scenes is for BMaC so it's just a gray area, however I would love if you all still wanted to stream but would like you all to stream via our Twitch platform or TikTok

Login credentials will be provided as well.

This is a perfect time to stream with the referral contest live it would be very beneficial I believe.

If you would like to stream please reach out to me, There will be SC pay for streaming, 5sc per hour with a max of 4 hours per day and max of 10 hours per week per artist :dravalove: your normal pay rates also apply this is just additional :heart:"

When the most recent artist to stream asked about back-pay for the stream done for the site the response was a gif of an empty wallet and a crying shimmerint emoji. These messages were later deleted.

further commentary as follows -

The only reason anyone noticed he deleted his messages was because in voicechat when other staff were asking why we don't steam anymore he said 'oh I deleted that' and then said that we can stream again in vc. This was followed the day after that vc by the following

CJ not only shared images to the BMaC in my time, but also would take the images directly from the art approvals channel and drop them into the staff vc anyway to show them off to whoever was around. Frankly this felt like shit every single time and felt like he just wanted the dopamine hit of people complimenting the art. Rarely were we credited during the fawning, too.

A fellow staff reached out to ask why I wasn't around as much, this staff member was in the same vc where he said it was ok again. CJ in my opinion likes to say things one way publicly but then if there's an issue he'll take it to dms or involve as few people as possible. To me his public and private faces are very different.

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Final Straw

The screenshots from above reposted below

As you can see, they're clearly the same, lol. I will also mention that these plush items take twice as long to do and require more revisions than other items. On top of that I have concept art that I can't share due to NDA of the heartstruck concept - full roughs of the pets that I was not compensated for in any way. None of this was discussed prior to me starting the work which is my own fault and not a mistake I'll make again. I spent days, long consecutive hours working on the concepts before I could even start on the plush themselves. This time and the work I put in will remain unpaid.

Something I noticed while I was putting this together is that CJ has deleted at least one message from our dms, which is funny because the message I noticed got deleted is one that I had originally read as being sent with the intention to manipulate -

I have also been reached out to by a former coworker with a 'message from cj' which I declined. Respectfully, I've got you blocked for a reason man. If I had to guess he probably feels like there's something he needs to smooth over to cover his ass but I'm just not interested.

Overall my experience on art staff was quite stressful and the environment definitely felt like there was an in- and out- crowd that was decided by how present you are in vc and how willing you are to participate in the toxic positivity and bobble-head nodding. Also, getting frequently misgendered to your face and behind your back is a special kind of torture.

Anyway, I could probably ramble on more about the time he burst into voice call while I was in there with a coworker and ranted about another coworker for like 20 minutes totally ignoring me before just leaving, or how he's always talking shit about people behind their backs (hi new admins) but not to their faces but I don't have receipts for any of that. Nor energy. And besides there are other places where folks air their grievances and allegations if that's what you're looking for. So I guess I'll leave it here, take care y'all.

[canisalbus]

For stuff like fanart, could I tag you in a post or is sending said art in an ask easier?

Thanks :)

Either way is fine, whatever works for you!

[sergle]

hiii sergle do you have any thoughts on the 2nd try try guys thing? curious to hear your opinion!!

i'm so glad you asked bc i love giving my opinion..... first things first, this is REALLY FUCKING FUNNY, the way that Watcher fumbled the bag so badly when they made their announcement probably gave the tryguys a lot of data to work with. obviously everyone is comparing the two things, but in this instance, I actually think the streaming service thing makes more sense, and is done in a better way, with less guilt tripping and more like, Hype. so the most relevant thing, nothing about the youtube channel is going to change, no previously free content is going to be paywalled, new videos are going to keep airing. so somebody who missed the news or isn't inch rested isn't going to have a different experience at all. new shows are going to be on there, but also they're Already On There. like, a lot of episodes. stuff is going to be released earlier on there, uncensored videos, new people showing up (tryguys already has a lot of Talent), and live ticketed events that they normally charge for are gonna be included in the subscription. so like, this sounds justifiable as a thing that you'd Pay For. Watcher was going to put their whole back catalog behind a paywall, they only had a couple of shows plus One New Steven Food Show that was gonna go on their streaming thing, and they were going to stop posting to youtube except for the first episode from each new season of a thing. and the Watcher one was still priced a dollar higher. and they have a very small cast of talent. also, it was a Streaming Service, but it was still something you could only watch in a browser, not on a TV or anything. so it was just a website. the one that tryguys have is actually an app you can have on your tv. like on a roku or whatever. so I think that's another point in its favor. you can't launch a "streaming service" that you can't even watch on your tv.

overall, I think it tracks, they've been a business for a lot longer and they've started a bunch of new shows to go on there, the announcement video wasn't Whiny and Guilt Trippy, it seems like they put more thought into this. also I got a free trial to poke around, which, I do like that that's an option. timing could have been better, some people are being pussies about it in a major way, which is to be expected, and I am basically ambivalent to it, I don't plan on paying, but it seems like it's had a lot more thought put into it, and it could actually be sustainable as a platform running alongside their youtube channel. done correctly, it could be their Mythical Society. if it flops, they aren't alienating their youtube audience.

[selfship-confession-box]

🍊⚙️ mod, I don't know if you've ever been told this but I love the little statements you leave in the tags occasionally. I really like selfship confession blogs that respond to things(which I completely understand can be a hard thing in general with so many asks, nonetheless ones that can be upsetting and it's not restricted to being just lighthearted confessions), but it's hard for me to find confession blogs that do that. One of the few that I did find that responded to things they didn't even respond, they'd respond with things like "this is irrelevant to the ask but I am so tired today" and it bugged me a little cause like... why respond at all then?? I'm not throwing shade or anything to the blogger, it's just like opening a little goody bag to me to see what you've typed in the tags.

Anon you have no idea how happy this makes me (the way I IMMEDIATELY went to fawn over it to the other mods helpp hehee)

I was a bit nervous about it at first, actually, since it seems like I do it for every post I queue, but after seeing how positively people have responded to it so far, I'm like. Whehawhew!!! y'know?! <3

Consequence of being, and I quote in my very own words from (probably earlier than) Sept. 23rd, "unapologetically A Yapper" <3

[soggy-fishsticks]

guys ive been drawing so much lately I've been starting to actually hate it 🙁

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

As someone who watched last night’s episode, you had the right idea to stop.

Why’s it so bad

Because Tim Minear is a power-drunk hack.

[st4rstudent]

Will we ever meet Bobby JR in Person?

Because I have no Idea how to draw him since I don't know how tall he is or how old he is.

Like is he a 5 or 6 Year Old Kid?

Is he born just a Regular Child or born a Prodigy?

And will he like Bear Toons? Since he Love anything related to Bears?

Like he will go crazy that any Products like Food and Toys including Clothing that has a Bear on it.

I can't properly answer any of these, since I'm not apart of the team or anything, so everything I say after this is purely speculation and/or just random thoughts. I assume that, even if Bobby Jr is not added physically into the game, he'll be mentioned plenty of times (especially around April Toons with Thomas's dialogues). Especially if Crystalline is added to the game, since it's been established that the entire Cyger family has some issues going on. As for height, you can kind of estimate his height based on this photocard of him and the Chairman. He's shorter than the Chairman (who has an ingame model that can be compared to other managers). I assume he's at most half of Chairmans height. Do NOT leave him outside with a giant hawk. He's very obviously a child, I always imagine an age that's somewhere in the early-middle of elementary school, like maybe 7 or 8? Truthfully I only assign age ranges to characters, not specific numbers, makes it easier. Either way, I can't see him being in middle school yet.

I think the idea of him seeing a bear toon and getting really excited would be kind of funny. He ends up having to be dragged away by Robert.

[geddy-leesbian]

my weirdest weird brain thing is how I always want responses to my posts and comments on my fics and refresh my email a bunch for them, but then when I see I actually have a response/comment to anything my brain remembers it has social anxiety and is like "don't look at what that person said you'll explode it'll be the end of the world if you click that email/notification"?? like literally I have to fucking psych myself up to look at comments 😭 they always make me so happy once I do (and even before I can actually get myself to read 'em it does lift my mood just seeing if I have any) but getting to that point should not have to be a fucking process like this I would like to return my brain to the brain store and get a new one

we love the anxiety disorder grind of randomly being terrified of things we really enjoy and want to do :/ 😎

[canisalbus]

I'm sure you get loads of these but heck I said I'd give it a shot anyway!

Your artwork is so inspiring and beautiful. I recently graduated from art school with a degree in Animation Production but I've decided I'd love to be an illustrator some day. Your work really motivates me and gets my brain juice buzzin. Keep it up!!!

.

[girlitfeelsgood]

they published listings for student apartments in the city I hope to move to yay

[mieczyhale]

Putting the entire exchange (so far) under a read more to keep just in case it gets deleted from fb for some reason. I put way too much time and effort into this to lose it

The conversation is in screenshots, in rows of three. If you start at the first and click through it should (hopefully) maintain order. Otherwise you'll have to click on each screenshot individually

[katsdynam1ght]

i spend 12 hours at work and then come home and catch up with my family and make dinner and eat and watch tv and that takes 3 hours and then i remember i had drafts i was working on and i need to write and holy fuckkkkkkk who has the timeeeeeee

[musical-chick-13]

My sincerest apologies to Akane Tsunemori, who is the latest victim of my "Every Character I Like Has OCD, Actually" crusade.

[phyllisamaryllis]

Which Riordan character do you think had the most wasted potential?

I can't choose because there are too many.

[dear-nyu]

I sincerely hope you’re around a crowd of vapers on a train. You’re so annoying, you really deserve it

Awww baby's first hate mail 🎊 it would only be better if you showed your face so we can mutually block instead of you getting pissy🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

But yeah no, I stand by what I said, people smoking/vaping in areas that are non-smoking for a reason like bus stops, employee toilets, trains, hotel rooms, etc, have no right to be pissy at *me* for asking them to pretty please stop because im dying coughing over here.

Smoke if you want, legalise your weed if you want idc, just please lets have mutual respect, yeah? Don't do it where people are trapped with you and forced to inhale the smoke. And they should leave you the fuck alone for smoking.

[wundrousarts]

Some theories, thoughts, and answers to questions that are in the works that I need to attempt to write out sometime, but probably won’t until I eventually reread Hollowpox on my eternal reread:

What led Squall to try and revolt? Was it a decision by himself, with others, or was there a third party involved? What is true and what isn’t?

What is the fallout and aftermath of Mog’s actions at Courage Square, and what might her future as a budding Wundersmith in Nevermoor look like?

Christmas Eve: is it a Distraction, is there a Ghostly Hour involved, is it related to the Massacre, and how could it relate to modern Nevermoorian religion and Squall’s exile and Eventide activities?

Maud: does she have a knack or some sort of power, how and when does she use it, what is her dynamic with Squall based on, and why is he so scared of her?

Miscellaneous Silverborn Masterpost additions, on a rolling basis as I (or anyone else!) thinks of things.