#idk if i've improved this year but i made lots of art so that's nice

[peccaberry]

Hello ACD readers!!! As some of you are aware by now, today is the first anniversary of Achilles Come Down being posted to A03! That means I officially started doing this fanfic one year ago to this day!

🎉🎉That is a really long time to do one thing!🎉🎉

As of me posting this ACD has gone from being a first fanfic from a no-name author with no followers to a mildly acclaimed one from that asshole who won't stop spamming the Rei Pokemon tag on Tumblr!!! Wow!!!

It's kind of hard to put into words just how much ACD means to me both as a writing project and just something that changed my life so much. Idk if it sounds kind of silly to say about a fanfiction but through it I've made a ton of new friends who support me and are genuinely some of the best friends I could have asked for. I love all of you guys a ton and thank you for being here for me 😭

I can tell I've improved a lot over the last year and I hope this next one brings even more improvement! No end in sight for the world's longest fanfic about something no one asked for but by god I'm gonna keep churning it out.

I'm gonna keep writing as long as you wanna keep reading it so please be sure to leave kudos or a nice comment/Tumblr ask to let me know if you are. Those of you that already have make me so proud and happy to have made something you love so much and I think about the nice things you've said all the time.

Anyway idk I was gonna write more sappy stuff but honestly just know if you read ACD you are in my will. Thank you for reading this and uhhhh have the art and an extra long chapter update. ❤️

[finlaena]

2023 marked 20-odd years of me posting art online so at some point during the year, I pulled out a tried and true art meme from the early days of DeviantArt and decided to try and compile a 20 year artistic journey of some kind.

20-odd because I'd actually been posting art since 2000 on Side7, but anything before the end of 2004 is considered lost media for a variety of reasons and 2003 was the year I got my first drawing tablet (Wacom Graphire II in Ruby, btw). And thanks to the Wayback Machine, I was able to find some rarities from 2003 to use.

I honestly thought the exercise would be a good way to see how much improvement there's been and sure, there is. Truth be told, putting everything together ended up making me depressed and sad.

Depressed because of all the years I squandered by not taking things too seriously and sad because it reminded me how much of a failure I am compared to peers in my age bracket or people younger than me who have made art their careers and livelihood in professional capacities by now.

It also made me realize how much I've squandered a lot of stuff because of the subject matter: whether it be fan art (being the sort who finds drawing anything popular or trendy in a fandom to be antithetical to who I am as a creator) or original works that are just all over the place yet I want to keep them to myself because that's just how I am lmao.

If you'll allow me to vent a little, I'm flat-out rudderless if not lifeless as an artist these days. Found a nice side hobby in doing doll customization (I find rerooting to be a tedious yet godsend of a task as it keeps my mind focused on something specific) but that's just a bandaid on a bigger infection, if that makes any sense.

Like, I still can't find any joy in doing Warframe fan art with how everything is going so breakneck fast and people want to see art related to the newest content (even though I'm not really feeling it), or even Legacy of Kain stuff I'm hesitant to share because I don't know how people will receive it and I burned myself out to an absolute crisp on the Sisyphean boulder of OCs for 5 years to a point where my crankiness shoots through the roof at the thought of drawing them.

idk idk.

Maybe in another life I was somebody as an artist. Maybe if I hadn't been so stubborn, or been bold enough to pursue SCAD despite the odds being stacked against, or... bah. Whatever.

It is what it is.

[shiraishi--kanade]

HI HELLO i dont wanna rb the post back and forth but THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENTS ON THE ARTSTYLE?? I'm happy you like it :3

I do think I've improved some - and also got more comfortable with drawing including my own hcs, not just sticking to canon - but you're right that I've been mostly stuck with one artstyle in the last year bc I mean! I like it a lot! its fun! squishy! fits the characters nicely! I've just been developing on it rather than changing it

Will it ever change again? Idk! My artstyle has been changing some between fandoms I've been in. Well have to see! But I'm fine with it staying the same too

Anyway I'm rambling in your ask ahaha sorry but yeah! Your tags made me happy thank you <33

Hi! Also you're welcome :D I don't compliment people enough I feel like.

As long as you like it, that's what matters most! It's good to know you've found a style you feel most comfortable in; I think you're improving a lot with polishing finer details of that style at the moment, and your newer art (especially re: the ones you've sent me; I don't know if you're okay with that ask being answered so I'm putting it here) looks a lot cleaner (as in: more confident, neat lines, longer strokes, pressure/line weight. I also like the way you shade and fill out darker colors, it's more even but also more relaxed than it used to be - that said, it might be a difference in drawing materials!). The characters are recognisable despite the HCs and single color, which is a hell to achievement. Keep it up! (⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠)

[cynoglav]

what art supplies do u use? i rly like ur doodles ....

first of all, thank you!

this is gonna be a long one. and hey, before I get into this: getting better tools does not make you a better artist. I'm serious. Please don't get things from this list to improve your art, and especially if they're just gonna languish in a drawer because you're afraid of wasting them. I love you and you deserve nice things, but they are not the key to becoming a better artist.

I've also had many, many years to collect and curate stuff. A lot of it I gave away to friends because I didn't use it. If you're new to this, don't worry about getting "all the best things". It's a little silly, and can hold you back.

Especially for sketchbooks, exploration and just messing around, quality stuff isn't necessary. if you're selling commissions or making stuff that will be hung up, yeah, quality matters, but it's mostly about how archival/lightfast stuff is, not price. you won't catch me with caran d'ache or prismacolor stuff, nuh-uh. Only one of these is good and worth the price, and spoiler, it's not the prismacolor.

also, if I catch you hanging up alcohol marker originals, I will personally come into your house and put them into a safe drawer. that shit fades, and fast.

with that out of the way:

digital: clip studio paint + wacom intuos pro medium (circa 2017?). Don't bother with wacom tho, a huion is just fine. I do recommend not getting a small one though, your wrists will thank you. I use whatever brushes i like atm, usually default or custom-made by me.

watercolor: a mix of roman szmal + renesans paints, because they're high quality and extremely local (and thus cheap!!) to me. Currently I'm using arches 185gsm cold press (100% cotton). I chose it over 300gsm because it's cheaper, and thus feels less precious, so I'm not afraid to "waste it", whatever that means. for brushes, I use a #6 kolibri pure red sable round and a really, really old #2 cotman round (111 series). I would recommend synthetics due to environmental and ethical concerns over how sable hair is harvested. I also have a #16 flat somewhere, but I have no f%$#ing clue where it is. Do note that watercolor is rarely a vegan medium, as the sizing in watercolor paper is usually gelatine. I'm sure you can do it, but idk how. for gouache i use the watercolors mentioned above + white gouache because I'm a rebel. I do have a renesans gouache set tho, and will use it up because I hate wasting things.

ink: winsor&newton black and white shellac ink. I discovered G-pen nibs like a week ago and they're my jam, but I used a LS40 nib before (too flexy). FWIW i also use a white sakura gelly roll for white highlights sometimes, and sakura pigma microns in various sizes and colors (usually 003, 01, PN). I also use regular fountain pen ink in a fountain pen because it's fun.

sketchbooks/paper: royal talens art creation. they are the superior affordable sketchbook, no contest. I love the 12x12cm size and A5 bound on the short side. I'm also using a 12x12cm sakura sketchbook with black paper for gouache doodles. for watercolors, I use 100% cotton as mentioned before, as that is the only medium I ever consider selling to people. Everything else I don't bother keeping archival, so it's in my sketchbook or on cheap-ass copy paper. go nuts.

pencils: I prefer a 2H for layouts on watercolor paper and a HB for sketching, usually either a faber castell 9000 (the dark green ones) because idk they make me happy and are nice and smooth. Usually it's "whatever" though. as long as it writes and doesn't scratch I can use it.

colored pencils: a 36 set of faber castell polychromos and i refuse to elaborate

misc. sketching supplies: uni nano dia color mechanical pencil leads. My #1 most used is pink and I plan on getting more colors. for normal mechanical pencil lead i use a HB refill in whatever brand i can find (I'm even less picky than with wooden pencils). All of these are in 0.5mm size. oh, and tons of misc. cheapo colored pencils I have laying around, like most artists. for erasers, usually it's "whatever" but I do carry several with me at all times. current faves are colored kneadable erasers (ooo pretty colors!!), milan tri jet, pentel hi-polymer in green, pentel hi-polymer slim. pencil sharpeners are also a whatever as long as it doesn't break my pencil, but I do really like the derwent long point (i have the mini, its cute) for cute accents of color i use whatever pastel highlighter i have at hand, or a crayola supertip. I sometimes also use alcohol markers, but rarely.

alcohol markers: copic ciao, but don't bother buying them. ohuhu has refills now and copics lost their only advantage.

acrylic paint: renesans flowacryl, but I do plan to switch to golden fluid at some point. this is exclusively for mtg alters, btw. in terms of brushes, I use a #0 milan round (golden taklon i think but idk and I don't have any at hand rn to check) and a #6 oval (it's flat but with rounded off corners) in whatever brand is available.

i think i covered it all! now go grab a pencil and copy paper, and have fun. this is a threat.

[ghostlyfield]

summary of my art this year! lots of purpl

[northern-passage]

Hi there! Idk if you've ever answered this but I just wanna know how you got into drawing, and how you found your art style! Your art is really beautiful and I tried to get into drawing, but whenever I sit down with pen and paper I just... stare and don't even know how and where to begin. Do you have a way to motivate yourself or do you just start without thinking about it?:0

hi :-) i've been drawing for a really long time, since i was a kid, though i did stop for quite a few years and only picked it back up again in 2019/2020.

i'm actually pretty insecure about my style hahaha i feel like it's really inconsistent and it never really looks how i want it... so thank you for saying that 💗 i also don't really draw that often, i typically draw in sprints where i'll suddenly draw a bunch in one week and then not touch my tablet again for 6 months lmfao so that doesn't help with my inconsistency.

something that helped me a lot was a period in 2019 where i didn't have my tablet and ended up drawing a lot of traditional stuff (literally just pencil and paper) that was just for me in a little journal. drawing from life - just random stuff, furniture, landscapes, bottles, people, etc - improved my art quite a bit, at least in my opinion. and since it was just for me i didn't feel pressured to make it perfect so it made me try more challenging pieces and if it didn't work out it wasn't a big deal.

usually i just get an idea out of the blue... lately i've been working on specific scenes with both Noel and Merry so that's what made me want to draw them. when i figure out what i want to draw i start hunting for references - i Always draw with a reference. adorkastock is my go-to especially with all the weapon references they have, since i tend to be drawing my fantasy characters. i actually used two different adorkastock images to come up with the sitting pose for Merry.

as for my style specifically i try to find a little spot between realistic and stylized - for a while i tried to emulate a more "animated" art style which is simplistic and distinct, but now i've started to move back into a more realistic/illustrative look. i also just... stopped trying to make myself do stuff i don't like - i hate doing lineart, so i don't really do it anymore! i like how my sketches look more so now my style is a bit rough and sketchy.

and there are a lot of artists i definitely take inspiration from, i follow quite a few here and i always like seeing how other people draw this or that - there are a lot of really good artists in the IF community. one of my favorite artists on tumblr is clickbaitcowboy, who also has a few tips and tutorials on his blog (i aspire to this one day figuring out how to draw body hair...) i also really like gacpars who makes really beautiful watercolor illustrations, and my friend dani crimsiswrites has a really nice style i admire, too.

if you struggle coming up with general ideas i definitely suggest checking out other artists (for me seeing other people's art is a direct inspiration), or even just scrolling through various references like on pinterest could give you some ideas!

[utane]

I followed you because of the Drif dad au

It's just so wholesome 💖 and then we meet divorced Pharma and I stayed hahahaha. You are a great artist, never stop doing what you like. I love you style 💕✨ and I hope one day be as good as you at drawing.

Thank u!

I really should finish writing that small fic for the dad AU I've had sitting for like 4 months now.

Also idk if it's comforting for people to hear that I don't think I am at the level I should be with art. I have to keep reminding myself that I have like 10 other hobbies I've dedicated considerable amount of time to, so it makes sense my art isn't where I would like it to be.

I still draw almost daily, and it is nice to see the improvement I've made over the years.

So yeah, it just takes time and effort and lots of practice.... especially with the parts which are hard to draw.

[normalweirdoboy]

04-02-2021

Hey! Long time no entry.

My offline classes have finally resumed from today onwards. I went to school after almost a year! How did it feel? Well, same. Just feels like I'm seeing my old mates after a long vacation (chuckle). Although, a lot of them are missing... That is, they changed schools.

But I made some new pals and it was nice to finally have face to face conversation with them instead of texting. Many new students have joined this year and I interacted with a few... IDK what's happened to my social skills (died during the lockdown probably?). Yi. and Ti. are in humanities so I can't really talk much to them now. Although, we do have Fine Arts as a common ground for the gang to reunite.

Li. apologized for her behaviour, pffft. Long story short, she overreacted at my words like she always does... Okay fine, I hurled the first insult but that was 'cause she called me a fool and said there was something wrong with ME. Like hell... I apologized too okay? I'm not that bad :/

Oh and I visited Assam last week for an exam and got myself that book you see in the pic. It's a collection of essays by Manoj Agasti called Khudhar Notun Mukh, mostly on the social and political issues of Assam. And it's in Assamese. I guess reading will help me improve my language skills. I've tried reading an Assamese ebook novel before but gave up, but this time I'm committed! Paperbacks got a different feel, dude. I'm using a digital dictionary to look up for new words.

That's it, good day to you all.

-normalweirdoboy

[thehoneyedhufflepuff]

2019 Top Five

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

thank you for tagging me @ninemagicks @sourcherrymagiks @f-ing-ruthless-baz @sharkmartini 💜

2019 was the year I found Carry On & this lovely fandom. It was the year I started writing & drawing again after many years of being creatively stagnant (& I wrote a LOT; over 310k published on AO3 & who knows how much is currently sitting unpublished in my Google Drive). It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride—lots of self-doubt & uncomfortable feelings about my own work—but this book ultimately gave me my creativity back, & some wonderful friends, & self-growth, day by day. I’ve been in a bit of a funk since the end of the countdown, & especially these last few weeks, so I think this will be a good opportunity for me to reflect on the things I’m proud of & try to say some nice things about my own work. Let’s get the party started.

1. Between the Lines

Y’all probably aren’t surprised, right? I feel like BTL has really helped me grow as a writer while telling a story that’s very personal & important to me. When I first started this fic, it was meant to be just a little bookshop AU. I’m very proud of what it’s become, & the reception it’s had has blown me away. I appreciate everyone who’s read it/reading it/yet to read it so very, very much. I never would’ve guessed that I’d still be working on this fic, let alone how long it would be. I think it’s probably my best work stylistically & in terms of the story, even if sometimes I cringe when I reread the beginning. (I either cringe or really like my work when I reread it, there’s no in-between.) (I mostly really like this one when I need to go back & study it.)

IDK, I’ve talked about BTL a LOT the last eight months. I’m not sure what else I can say about it right this moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually, & hopefully y’all aren’t sick of hearing about it because I don’t think I can help it.

🦖💛💙🦖

2. A Pair of Splendid Morons

This fic is still near & dear to my heart. I like to say it was the first fic I finished in the fandom, but it was actually my second (I don’t...like to talk about Merry Gentlemen. At all. I think I’ve been scarred since I got a scathing anon review in the comments [which is why I no longer allow anon comments on AO3, RIP].) (I made some...choices with that fic. ANYWAY.)

So Splendid Morons was the second fic I finished in the fandom (it’ll be a year old on Valentine’s Day; can you believe?!). It’s my second-longest (after BTL, of course, lmao) & I wrote it in just six weeks, which is lightning-fast by my standards. (This set me up to think I was a fast writer. I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that’s not the case.) It’s also my most-read fic, though BTL is super close to taking the crown.

My writing’s improved a lot since I first posted APOSM, I think, but I also think it holds up pretty well! (I do worry sometimes that I wrote Simon too soft, & there are a few mistakes I made by not properly researching [ahem, looking at you, Suitgate].) (One thing I found slightly amusing was the influx of readers this one got after Wayward Son, lmao. This fic is not in the vein of WS at ALL.) (Okay, that might be sort of false? I do mention trauma etc. in the fic, but I guess the main difference is that Simon & Baz really try to face these things together instead of apart. And also they communicate, albeit somewhat awkwardly. It’s a dream come true.)

For anyone who hasn’t read it, it’s a Carry On-era canon first time fic, & it spawned my post-Carry On series that is now an AU. I still have stories to tell on that timeline, but it’s sort of hard to forget Wayward Son completely, you know? When I first started writing this, it was technically still possible. Now it’s only possible as an AU, which is fine. (I’m not really sure where I’m going with this...I just have weird feelings, lol.) OH, also this was the first time I ever wrote a sex scene. I think it’s actually pretty good for a first time (mine & theirs, lmao).

3. Housewarming

Sort of cannot believe I’m picking the smuttiest thing I’ve ever written as one of my top fics of the year, but also??? I’m proud of this fic. It’s super hard to write smut—no euphemism—& I reread this one recently & thought I did a pretty good job. (I was actually slightly ashamed after I posted it, but I got over that once I got some nice comments. Nice comments are always very helpful.) I’ll share one here, which I think is fine since AO3 comments are public anyway:

Your writing just has so much LOVE in it and you write their companionship and connection so beautifully. You know, I wasn't going to read First Bite because that's not my kind of thing and usually grosses me out, but I've loved your other stuff so I gave it a shot. Turns out, it's just that stories like that tend to focus on the kink and grit, but you focus on everything that's good between them instead. And then you show how those good things lead to the perhaps more-than-vanilla coupling.

This fic, too, is grimy and steamy, but it's also sweet because you include the right details... This is not a smut fic of the rough kinky variety. It's a smut fic about two people reveling in a sacred space/act they've created together. Props to you because the difference is palpable. (I have never in my life written so much about sex on a fic review so sorry about this ramble lmao)

Y’all...this comment meant so much to me. This is what it’s really about, you know? I’m trying to show them expressing love, & this just made me so happy. Numbers-wise, stories with a focus on sex seem to get fewer kudos/comments, & I think part of that is the anonymity factor (which I totally understand), but I just want to say that something like this means A TON to those of us who write stuff like this. Many thanks to @sappho-said-i-could ; this comment single-handedly made me much less self-conscious about this particular work. 💜

4. Crashing Through

This is one of my favorite ficlets from the countdown, & also my most popular countdown fic on Tumblr in terms of notes (not that that’s a deciding factor, but it DOES make me happy). It’s a little alternate ending to WS (just a what if? for the beach scene at the end of the book.)

Like many, Wayward Son hit me really hard. I love Wayward Son a lot, but I spent days feeling so emotionally drained, & then weeks just unable to write. This was one of the first things I wrote that even had anything to do with Wayward Son, & fun fact! I wrote it all by hand in the car on a day trip. While it’s obviously not a canon-possible scene at this point, I still really like it. (I reblogged it yesterday as part of my Fandom Anniversary Reblog Thingy that I’m doing, & I read it & thought, Huh. Sometimes I’m decent at this whole writing thing.)

I actually felt stuck when I went to write Be With Me after this, because I didn’t think I could top the way they said I love you in this one (I still...sort of prefer this to the scene in Be With Me but oh well, what’re you gonna do).

5. “Love”

Can y’all tell I don’t normally name my art pieces? I don’t normally name them. I’m super proud of this one; it was the last piece of art I made in 2019, & I think it’s one of my best. It’s one of my least “popular” pieces in terms of notes, but I still really like it a lot & I did a side-by-side comparison of this next to my first fanart last year & it was super encouraging to see my progress. Sharing art has been scarier for me than sharing writing, but seeing how far I’ve come since June was very helpful.

ANYWAY! BTL is super close to my heart, as y’all know, & I had a moment where I just really wanted to draw them in this moment where they’re finally getting some time to just be together & enjoy the newness of their relationship. This was done in copic marker for the most part, though I also used colored pencil for their blushes (my brand 😏) & Baz’s sweater. (At one point I thought I’d completely ruined the whole piece because of how Baz’s sweater was looking, but then @knitbelove gave me some sweater advice & I went back to work & held my breath & everything turned out okay in the end.) This is also the last traditional piece of art I’ve done, & I should probably change that soon. (Please give the original post some love if you’re so compelled. 💜💜💜)

I think I’m a few days late in terms of doing this, so I’m not sure who all has gone yet! I’ll tag @warriorbeeofthesea @krisrix @pipsqueakparker @icarus-n-flames @vkelleyart @singerofsimplesongs @fight-surrender @knitbelove @annabellelux @pitchpatronus @subpar-selkie @neck-mole @cynopoe @gibbarts & anyone else who sees this & wants to do it! Seriously, that means you! 😉

[rolaplayor101]

Tracking the improvement of my Digital Art through The Best Bois of 2019

2/18/19- my first digital comic. Drawn on paper then traced and colored digitally.

3/10/19- same as above. Using the same brush but more lighting/shading work. Sora came out weird but i was verryy proud of this when i first finished it.

3/12/19- a step back in comparison to above. They were sitting down beside each other on paper, but digitally Sora's too big and miles too small so it looks like they're walking?? Which is fine. I just wanted to finish it.

3/21/19- full body sora and miles! Drawn on paper still. Tried doing the sky and lighting but it didn't come out quite right. Miles hands are weird, but I was learning!

10/04/19- a huge jump! Not drawn on paper and after i started using mobile medibang instead of my tablet! Pretty sure i took a break from this size of brush but I came right back to it with a different brush. It looks more realistic but without any shading cause i didnt find it important for this style.

11/04/19- a chibi style for a quick thing. A different brush size, same brush, and drawn digitally from the beginning. Still on mobile

11/11/19- trying another style out and finally doing a different expression with The Bois™. The outline is a darker skin color instead of black. Miles arm, again i had a prob with that, is weird. There's a lot of selective shading, like the neck, arm, and shirt. The shoes on both of them are a lillll weird. But I really like Sora, here. Also new background type!

11/15/19- another style, another brush. Added cheek blush things that i thought made them a lil cuter. The eyes are different from how I usually did them. Overall, the style wasn't my cup of tea, but this snippet of the full image was nice.

11/16/19- I found a style I loved! Same brush but different size. I had real nice shading in hair, neck, hands, and Miles face. Blushes on Sora's cheeks. Their eyes are detailed, Sora's more just because of the original style he's from. Some of the outlines aren't black, but mahogany red which I feel really works for Sora but not too much for Miles? The background I feel also adds to the overall atmosphere.

11/20/19- the last Best Bois of 2019 post ive made this year and the best representation I feel of the art style I want. The brush is the same but a different size. There eyes are the same as the one above. The shading of the limbs and neck of Sora's aren't a darker shade of his skin color, but his skin color to the left??? If that makes sense?? Just go up on the color panel. Warm colors !!! Really show!!! Also realistic poses and body proportions!!! The background is pastel and it works really good, Idk!

But yeah I feel I've super improved throughout the year! I'm still working my way into my new style but I prob have plenty of time to figure it all out. It was super fun drawing The Bois™ i love them so much. But Yeah! That was 2019!! Happy New Year!!

Check out the "Miles and Sora" tag as well as the "Best Bois of 2019" tag. Its pretty much all these pics with some traditional drawings mixed in. And THATS MY 1000TH POST BABY!!

[cs-discourse]

here we go

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179953845684/uuuuwuu-every1-whos-concerned-abt-biased-judging

ok this attitude has been pissing me off long enough that it's time for one of my Big Ole Posts (tm) about how shitty this is! thanks. 

uuuuwuu every1 whos concerned abt biased judging in comps is just soooow entitled !!!1 i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11 bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 also my last braincell just died pleas h

so here's the og post in question for quick reference

i honestly have no idea why people keep bringing up this idea of bias in judging competitions because, while i do think there is a type of bias that certainly exists, i think a lot of so-called "bias" that people have is ... not whatsoever like what people think it is lol. artists are people and there's always going to be SOME kind of bias no matter what you do, because it's literally fuckin impossible to NOT be biased. by that i mean:

your taste in plots/types of characters/medias influence your judging

quality of writing or art can influence your judging

the person who's applying for the adopt you may have previous judgement about

even if you say you aren't biased, you STILL have preferences and tastes in things that you prefer more than others, which in of itself is a kind of bias

people who know you (friends for example) will naturally know what your taste is. 

a competition is judged based on what form the artist thinks is best, right? 

NEWSFLASH EVERYONE'S IDEA OF "WHAT'S BEST" IS DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON ..... "BEST" is literally the most subjective thing there is, and while i agree that there are certain aspects of art and writing that you can use as objective measurements of tangible skill, it's... still subjective. what people think is "best" will vary from person to person because we all have different tastes. so, essentially, this boils down to the idea that the winner of an adopt competition will ALWAYS be the form the artist liked best, because that is what the artist perceives as best. so like. when people appear biased in adopt competitions towards friends or certain circles, it's probably because they're literally friends because they have similar tastes in things, and therefore the form the artist likes best is naturally going to be from someone who shares similar tastes. 

so whenever i hear about """bias""" in competitions i just kind of roll my eyes tbqh because it's usually followed by complaints of "BUT I PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT" or "I WROTE SO MUCH MORE THAN THE WINNER" uhhhh. if adopt contests were won by effort alone it wouldn't be a contest, it'd be an endurance test lol. literally just "who has the most time to waste writing out 60000k words of absolute meaningless fluff"... because, i hate to break it to you, but ANYONE can write 5000 words of mindless drivel that has literally no substance to it. 

now in caps for emphasis. takes a deep breath

THERE IS NO SKILL NEEDED TO BLOAT YOUR WORD COUNT. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE WELL TO WRITE 5000 WORDS.

YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW HOW TO TYPE AND PUT SENTENCES TOGETHER.

quality > quantity, always. like, i'm sorry you put in so many hours of effort but, those people who win with MUCH smaller wordcounts... did they not work to get as good as they did with writing? you put in 5 hours into one tryout. but others, take me for example: i have been writing for over 10 bloody years. i've worked hard to improve my writing, so you can't tell me i "didn't put in as much effort" as you because i did. i put in YEARS of work to get better so doing simple things would take me LESS time now. inb4 IT'S UNFAIR! dude, the literal definition of a contest is for the best to win. it wouldn't be a contest if it wasn't like that lol. it'd just be charity. what you should be doing instead of complaining about it is ASKING FOR CRIT and WORKING TO IMPROVE like a good sport? i get that it's discouraging but you should be prepared to lose when you join a contest. it's valid to be upset about but the moment you say you deserve it more than others JUST because of your effort, then i have a problem. 

and you know, there's gonna be times where i think a comp winner is objectively less skilled than other tryouts. honestly i just kind of shrug that off on account of different taste lol. sometimes that's just how it be, bc of those predetermined biases i mentioned before, and maybe a judge and i are just in completely stages of life so what i call quality might not appeal to the judge. that's also fine. anyway this really got off on a tangent but i'm leaving it in bc i think it needs saying. back to the og post

 > i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11

wtf didn't i address this in a different post

here let me link it for you

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179841459154/post179838988303-the-difference-is-that-you-have

which was replying to this: https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179838988303/179837734509-idk-anon-i-kinda-agree-with-the

i said it once but i'll say it again: artist entries aren't main adopts lol. people don't work for artist entries. all you fucking do is post on one like "can i have this pls" .. there is... no effort put into that lol. main adopts you WORK for. it's a CONTEST. claiming an artist entry is NOT a contest. if a bunch of little nasty gremlins come running up to me like a hungry horde trying to be the first one to claim my design, i think giving friends first pick is COMPLETELY FINE, BECAUSE WHAT DID ANYONE ELSE DO TO "DESERVE" THAT DESIGN? nothing. you did. nothing. you're literally coming here with this attitude that NOT GIVING THINGS AWAY TO STRANGERS FOR FREE SOMEHOW EQUALS BIAS? i literally do not understand your logic whatsoever. like. i'm trying really fucking hard. at least with main adopts the "payment" is the effort you put in trying to answer the artist's prompt. i know i sound super dumb repeating myself but i don't know how much simpler i can make this concept tbh

and this is EXACTLY why i say ya'll are fucking entitled because merc and any of the kal artists could be making REAL $$$$ selling their own designs and adoptables and art and NOT deal with all the bs ya'll throw at them. they're literally here because the ENJOY MAKING ((( FREE ))) CONTENT for you, and they're not obligated to do this. they can stop whenever they want. if you had to pay per hour for the length of time collectively worked by ANY species artist staff, the lot of you would be fucking broke. i'm actually constantly shocked that species artists work like, 8 hours or more on some of these gorgeous designs just to give them away for free in a contest. 

so, yeah, as someone who hasn't spent my entire life on CS (i've only been here for a year and a half), ya'll seem pretty fucking entitled to me lol. the world outside CS rarely gives out such gorgeous designs in write-to-adopt contests so i'm honestly baffled at the amount of bloody entitlement i see

>bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 

this part i don't actually understand what you mean. do you mean they... help judge other comps? or like, enter them? i don't get what you mean by "weigh in" but listen, lol. just because something DOES happen doesn't mean it gives you a good reason to assume the worst. i mean... of course it happens. it's statistically impossible for skewed contests and bias to NOT happen, because there's always going to be cases of it happening. but like, what proof do you have that merc will be biased lol? like, real proof? because your main point i've basically debunked and don't believe in at all. do better than "i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11" because this doesn't make any sense to me for the reasons i already listed above lmao. if artist entries were supposed to be contests they'd be contests. what the hell makes you important enough to get first dibs on a stranger's work. ARTIST ENTRIES AREN'T EVEN MADE TO BE GIVEN AWAY, THEY'RE MADE AS ARTIST ENTRIES.... LIKE.... JESUS i struggle to understand ya'll

anyway im done here, if you wanna actually talk and debate this hmu on discord at lysander#9229 bc if you actually talk to me instead of spew this hot mess on the blog i might actually listen to you and change my mind and be nice about it instead of being a condescending bitch. 

wait one more thing

>also my last braincell just died pleas h

yea clearly

p.s., why do you ppl keep going to the blog to give critique on merc's designs when on literally every other design merc makes there's this:

https://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3950980

here i even linked it for you. idk why it's so hard for yall to give constructive crit like decent human beings

[kingsmansecretsanta]

Idk if you're interested in feedback but, the people I've talked to (and myself) found last year's assigned prompts more fitting with their actual offers. Some people got at least one absolute pet peeve prompt just because the tags were similar. Maybe it's got nothing to do with the 'manual' matching but I still felt like telling you.

Hi there!

We will always gladly accept any feedback, so thanks for letting us know! And sorry for the delayed response -- I was on holiday when you sent this ask in and haven’t had time to respond properly until now. ^_^

I’m sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your prompts as much this round as the previous one. It happens with these things no matter what method you use for matching; every person has to be matched up with someone no matter what and not everyone has as many potential matches as others. And that’s more than okay! Everyone has different preferences and no matter what you enjoy you will always be welcome to participate, even if you are harder to match. :D

Just to clarify a couple things, because I think sometimes there’s a bit of a misunderstanding around this: When we ask for your offers, it is not a guarantee, no matter how much we would like it to be, that we will be able to match you up with someone who shares all the same preferences as you, or that you will match on all prompts. What it does enable us to do is guarantee that everyone will have at least some prompts that are within the parameters they can work with. If one prompt is on your will-not-write list, but the other prompts match up well, it may still be the best match we can give you. (We still try very hard to avoid that, and there was only one clear instance where we couldn’t avoid that this round, but this is part of the reason why we ask everyone to submit multiple prompts.)

At the end of the day, we just have to ask everyone to be a bit flexible and try to approach this in the nature of the fest itself: gift exchanges are for fun and to do something nice for someone else, someone who may or may not share a lot of your fandom likes, while someone else does the same for you! It’s also why the minimum submission requirements are kept small. Every round is a different match and some rounds you’ll enjoy your prompts more than others -- just do your best :)

As for using the tags to help us match you all this round, I don’t think this accounts for any differences in prompts received. Using AO3′s interface instead of a spreadsheet actually meant that I was able to compare requests and offers directly in their full context when evaluating matches (side note: IT WAS SO NICE, OMG, SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT *cough*), and I read everyone’s full prompts/offers including tags and everything else probably 10 times, and each final match completely a minimum of 3 times, often more. This is also the first round in which no mistakes were made and everyone received prompts they could at least work with, even if they weren’t all matches made in heaven, so to speak.

(The interface won’t allow you to assign an author to a recipient who only requests art, for instance, which sometimes gets lost in a complicated spreadsheet; we’ve also had instances in the past where because we combined everyone’s prompts and likes into keywords on a spreadsheet, we ended up assigning someone to a set of prompts where they shared many likes but all the prompts were on their can’t-write list, which was... Bad. To say the least. We are human and mistakes sometimes happen. /o\ But being able to see the full request and offer right next to each other with a simple expand button and have AO3 only allow you to assign people to each other that meet certain compatibility requirements meant avoiding those sorts of mistakes, so overall I’m very happy with how it worked and can say definitively we will continue to use this system in the future! Basically the tags just set up basic parameters and we did end up changing lots of matches around until we were satisfied, which was easy to do in the interface. The strength of the matches themselves vary, regardless of system, just due to the nature of having to make sure every single person has a match, but I felt a lot more confident that we had more good matches this round, fwiw.)