#like i know my stuff will suck and thats fine. drawing just isnt an artistic pursuit i'm interested in or have an affinity for

[thisisadecisionimayregret]

what are the rules at a nude figure drawing class, apparently I'll be attending one wednesday cause it's the only time I can meet up w my friend and her partner while its in town, and y'all. I have scribbled and at times I might have even doodled, but I don't draw and certainly haven't drawn a nude person before. and any drawing class would've been anxiety inducing for me, especially as a setting for meeting a new person who seems super cool and who I'd like to make a good impression on, but this is just gonna be another level of uncomfortable for me ngl. would it be rude to bring a coloring book and some shitty crayola colored pencils while the ppl around me actually do the drawing they're there to do.

[toerrishumansodontbeone]

.

Everywhere else seems too shameful to share(though I did anyway) & elaborate on, because those places are full of legitimate knowledgeable pros/artists, but uhhhh,

so I think I want to become a tattoo artist?

But seeing as I am the person that I am, living in the place that I am, knowing the language as badly as I do and having the anxiety that I do that makes it appear even more basic, I don't think I really can go the traditional route of studio apprenticeships.

And the loud majority of studio tattooers will of course tell you to never ever how even dare you try to do ANY tattooing on your own!!!! To the point of actively discouraging even buying a machine at all, even just for practice skins. Just draw a lot and go spend 1-3 years in an unpaid grueling apprenticeship where maybe they'll let u do something in a year or so uwu (tho there are also ppl fighting the gatekeeping) ( n some apprentices Ive seen whove started doing serious practice within a few months)

But yea so,,, thats why tbh it feels embarrassing to even mention me wanting to, even though on the other hand thats also.... the way to put any sort of attention on you, to garner interest from prospective mentors and amass future clients....... but also god its nerve wrecking thinking some local pro is looking at my stuff with disdain and mockery.

It just sucks how much language is a barrier for me. I'm not confident enough to just barge in talking in english even if they prob know the language fine enough.

Ontop of that its kinda sad I had all this sustained motivation for several days in a row but then I made the mistake of posting some little designs online. Because I was excited about it I of course expected excitement back. A response! A showering of praise and acceptance!

But the need for social validation is a poisonous pit and it never gives back quite what you give it. I knew it would not give me the validation and would ruin things and make me doubt myself and still I was hopeful and wanted it to be different and maybe a little bit more like the old times,,,

Its so hard to keep up my own confidence, as essential as it is to human psychology. I cant even create those little wins to sustain any real growth in myself. I just keep regressing and becoming worse. Im a hermit but one that doesnt even have any real community to turn to even online..........ughhhhhhh.

This is a very unstructured ramble, but its felt so fruitless having all these thoughts clogging my brain and nobody to talk to about them.

I dont know. Now I suddenly got back into writing and making more significant progress on my story/possibly novella.

and inbetween I thought more and more of how tattoo artist is the antithesis of me. I cannot pull my own clients, I cannot talk to people and make them want to keep coming back for my company, I could not do the receptionist duties for an apprenticeship, I do not even have an appropriate space to tattoo if it ever came to that AND renting even v small offices is stupid expensive at first glance. So I could not start doing that without already having a steady stream of clients.

Tattooing feels like a level of responsibility I could handle, it feels like it would be an interesting new craft to explore, w techniques to master, a different kind of self expression........ but thats all idyllic theory. No career path really fits me and it comes back down again to me being so unable to change my social ineptitude. Its such a waste how I had some modicum of comfort and progress in that sphere my last few years in Latvia,, and it fell apart just because it was so unsustainable financially......... N now that Ive been comfortably settled for a while in austria, just being financially stable and comfortable isnt enough...

Insanely Ive been wondering if the economy has evened out some in LV that I could come back.......but theres no way I would even physically *survive* through some unpaid apprenticeship there.....

[ectonurites]

a very very genuine question: so its bad to repost art but no one says anything when people repost things from the source material/creator's sketches.....why?like sure everyone who likes it may recognize the style but there are plenty of fan artists i recognize immediately, new or old art, with or without. to me it just feels the same, like either dont repost art or people should be able to repost stuff, i dont see how they can work at the same time. and this isnt me saying people should be allowed to repost and all that bc i do understand the theory of why reposting hurts artists, just that the logic doesnt seem to fit once it extends to famous artists/creators. just bc its official and easily recognizable makes it okay? how does that work? again, there are plenty of fanartists who are easily recognizable and lose no money when people repost their work (bc they posted it for free) and from my own observation, it seems it just, somehow, makes them want to do art less (from what i have read from artists themselves). why do we not consider that when it comes to official creators? wouldnt they also feasibly be less motivated seeing their hard work plastered across the internet for free when thats the sole way they make their income? and its not a system where its solely sticking it to the man bc it hurts the artists income, as well. but if it makes them happy to see people enjoying and sharing their work with others, drawing interest, why isnt it the same with fan artists? people often repost art, not out of malice or intent to claim credit, but bc they enjoy it + want to share it, esp on social media where sharing isnt a feature (instagram, for example) again im not trying to justify reposting, just confused about the contradiction

First of all instagram does have a form of sharing posts- stories. Which yes they are temporary by default, but you can use the highlight feature to collect your favorite things you’ve shared from people right there on your own profile AND it links back to the original post and can permanently be on your profile as long as you keep it there. You can even label them and everything! But then moving on to answering more of your actual questions

To start: this is a very complicated thing. And I feel everyone trying to answer it might have slightly varied opinions. 

I personally see a pretty clear distinction between ‘Officially published/released’ works (like comic book [as like you’ve probably seen I frequently post comic panels] or other materials that may have been released in creator guides, official video game art, promotional art for things, etc etc) as opposed to like, personal work and fanart. Because with official works:

There’s usually a source to buy it and you should if you’re referencing it a ton (while I don’t own every comic I’ve ever read I do have a lot and if I did read something first through illegal means [because some comics are just straight up hard to find due to age/being out of print] and enjoyed it I try to seek out a physical copy after if possible)

There is a level of far wider recognition (I know you personally might find fanartists’ styles recognizable but like, things that are in mainstream media.. have just such a higher profile. it’s not really comparable) 

If you’re not supporting the official release you’re harming the big company that published it far more than the individual artist (like, the individual artist probably also wouldn’t appreciate it, because it can effect them for sure as well, but they’re not gonna be taking the brunt of the damage unless it was entirely self-published work, which I’d definitely categorize differently from what I’m mainly talking about here.)  

Often fanartists/professional artists who aren’t that well known, in addition to wanting to just create work for the sake of it, also want to build their own platform, to have an audience that they interact with. Or like, if they’re offering commissions, a bigger platform puts you in a position where people will actually see the art and want to commission you. When you say reposts of smaller artists’ fanart doesn’t ‘loose them money’ because they didn’t charge to post it, you’re missing the fact that it makes them loose out on proper linked-back-to-them exposure. Especially like, when a repost account on insta or something says ‘ah yes credit to [username] on tumblr’ the vast majority of people who see it aren’t going to then open up a whole different website and look for the artist. Some people might! but if there’s anything i’ve learned from working professionally in arts marketing it’s that people want things that are convenient and directly in front of them. Someone who wants to see more works because they liked one is significantly more likely to click on the username of someone who posted it rather than opening up a browser or a different app and searching a separate name put in the caption. 

Then honestly, I do feel weird about reposts of professional artists’ more personal works unless the artist has stated they’re fine with people reposting with credit. It should be about the comfort level of the artist. I think a lot of professional artists who aren’t in a position where they’re as worried about building a platform, because they already have one and might have professional connections/opportunities already lined up, might not really care about reposts especially on a website they don’t use. (Like tumblr. I’m coming at this mostly from a comics artist perspective here, but most professional artists I see are waaaay more active on twitter and instagram than tumblr) If it’s a website they don’t use, it’s not taking away from the platform they had been building there for themselves. And also, some artists really just don’t give a shit, which is their choice they can make with their work! But that’s not a universal thing. One artist being fine with their personal art being reposted =/= all artists being fine with it. 

In my own experience as a fanartist, when I see my art reposted without credit, especially when it’s art I’ve also already posted on the same platform... it’s definitely disheartening. Even worse is when the repost gets even more attention than my original post. (something that has happened to me multiple times!) Like, it can get so upsetting!  Because it lets me know that someone else was using my art to build their platform and I got exactly zero benefit out of it. Then when it’s reposted with credit it’s a little less annoying, but I still don’t... get much out of it. Especially if it’s an instagram repost and they credit my tumblr not my account on there, since insta captions don’t actually do links unless it’s to other insta accounts. Also with insta for example, I have a 'business’ account set up so I can look at and track popularity of my posts and see how they’re doing as something to keep in mind when considering posting times, etc etc. When other people repost my art there I have no control over it. That sucks a lot! Also, when I quite literally ask people not to repost my art (it is IN! MY! DESCRIPTION!) and they still do, it’s just straight up disrespectful. I asked for a boundary to be respected with my work and people have just completely ignored it. That doesn’t feel good at all.

But, conversely, I’m gonna talk about my more professional irl work for a sec. I’m a graphic designer, so I do things like posters, logos, etc, When I design a poster for a client that is meant to be advertising something, even if it’s got my own original illustration or something as part of it, I know my name isn’t necessarily going to be attached to it the same way as it is with my personal work. I get a credit line somewhere, but that’s in a fine print probably not even on the poster itself at all, but that’s like, part of what I signed up for. I already get paid separately, I am giving permission for my work to be out of my own hands in that way. Professional work for a client is often setup in some way similar to this. I don’t get mad when I walk down the street and see a poster I made up somewhere without it directly ‘linking’/referencing back to me (aside from maybe my signature if it had an illustration), in fact I go ‘OMG ITS THERE ugh wait i see one pixel is off oh noooooo” and then move on with my day. It’s just an entirely different situation because that kind of work has a different arrangement from the start, where you know it’s going to be put in a different type of circulation.

So yeah, my word isn’t god here, but I definitely see official releases as having a different set of permissions based on the fact that they are published in an entirely different situation. And I think reposts of personal art aren’t cool if the artist isn’t okay with them, no matter how big a platform they have. Other people probably approach this with a slightly different perspective, but that’s mine!

[ankhisms]

the always wonderful shelley @shanheling tagged me to do this thank u so much!! i think that everyone i wanted to tag has already been tagged to do this but if you feel like doing this feel free to consider urself tagged by me!! im putting this under a readmore bc its long and i ramble a lot

the piece i was tagged to explain my process on is this oc piece! unfortunately i have a habit of deleting my original clip studio file once ive finished my art and saved it as a new png file, so i dont have the file to show the sketch and different stages of this piece. but I still can go through my general process and talk about how i did that piece!

1. planning

honestly i think about the art that i want to do a lot, and in this last year or so ive thought about the art i want to do more than ive been able to actually create and finish that art that i want to do. for my planning i tend to do a lot of different thumbnail sketches for the art im thinking of

these are some examples of thumbnails, a lot of times ill do thumbnails just on pencil and paper and with some of these theyre done quickly with my fingers on my phone note function on a day where i was feeling too bad to get up and draw on paper but still wanted to get the thumbnail ideas down. two of these are for the same songxiao piece that i still havent finished and i have more thumbnails digitally on clip studio for the same piece, i do a lot more thumbnails when a piece isnt working the way i want it to and theres times where ill completely scratch a thumbnail or a sketch and start over in order to do more thumbnails because i dont feel happy with some aspect of it.

two of these are small gouche painting thumbnails for two pieces i did maybe a month or so ago, i did the thumbnails and then tried to expand on them digitally and im wanting to do more thumbnail paintings like this in the future because it was fun

for the piece of my oc trio it was based off a series of ask prompts i got for a few different outfit prompt memes i had reblogged, so i based their outfits on the ones in the meme. when im drawing figures i tend to try and get the movement down in the poses when im sketching, i do several rough sketches of the pose before beginning to start setting down lines (if im doing lineart at all because sometimes i dont like doing lineart and do a more lineless painting kind of style). i really try to get my art to convey some kind of emotion, in the oc piece i wanted it to feel fun and like youre seeing three best friends while theyre out on the town having a fun night

2. creating

this is the only real example i have of a piece in the middle of being filled in and created, this piece is one that im really not very happy with & have had lying around for a while and ill probably scrap it and try to come at it from a different perspective at some point. but anyway it still shows what i do, i lay down a kind of neutral gray color underneath my final sketch/lineart if im doing lineart in that piece and then i start picking out the colors that i want for the piece and kind of setting out a pallette for myself. i dont do this color pallette thing 100% of the time but i do it really often, especially if im working on a commission or a larger piece where i know theres going to be a lot of colors or if its a piece where im not sure exactly what color scheme i want so laying out the colors together helps me kind of decide what kind of scheme i want. i am sooooo picky about my colors in my art i am genuinely obsessed with colors in art and there are times where i really have to stop myself from working on something forever just constantly adding more colors or putting little tiny changes and gradients in the colors.

after ive got the colors i want down i tend to try and block out parts of the piece with the base color for that section, and then i start to paint with the colors that i want to go on top of that base color from there.

once im satisfied with the colors/shading/rendering and everything ill go back and look over things and will fix things that look off or sometimes completely redo segments if they dont look right to me. when i was younger and mainly doing digital art using my phone and my fingers i would use a lot of filters and overlays on top of my art once i was done, and honestly im glad to not be doing that anymore because i dont think it made my art look any better. i do color adjustments and sometimes will put on a color overlay or a layer to emphasize the shadows and the light in the piece, but i try to keep those layers to a minimum and like i said before i have a tendency to obsess over the colors and ill spend a good amount of time in the color adjustment tool of clip studio and then ill just decide "actually it looks fine as it is" so yeah!

3. posting

i feel like i dont have a lot to say here gbfm i mean i honestly have a lot of thoughts about the relationship between artists and social media and how social media changes our views on art including our own art and how we can feel like we constantly need to be posting new art and just become content machines churning out new stuff. but ill save that rant for another time. i used to be really concerned about how many notes my art would get when i was younger, and i dont at all blame anyone who still is very concerned about that bc it sucks when u work hard on something youve created and then you dont get a lot of recognition for it, but honestly within the last two years or so i feel like ive begun to have a lot healthier relationship with posting my art. i really just post my art on my art blog, reblog it to my main blog, and then thats that yknow! i do really appreciate any and all support people give me, it means the world to me, but for me having the mentality where i dont need to post all the art i make and i dont need to be posting every day or every week or every month even has been a lot healthier for me because then im not constantly asking myself why didnt this get notes is my art awful??? and yeah i just kind of post it and my brain goes okay were done with that art we gotta make more

ive honestly been struggling a lot with art thru the pandemic and if youre reading this and have been struggling with creating in any way recently or even before the pandemic, please know theres no shame in having trouble creating and it doesnt make you bad at whatever it is u create!

thank you for reading this, feel free to consider urself tagged by me again if u want to do this!! love u all

[9ineine]

❝ J U S T A K I S S . . . ❞ T. OIKAWA

————

— PAIRING ; oikawa x artist! reader

— SUMMARY ; oikawa catches you drawing him after practice.

— GENRE ; fluff ig ? sum crack if u squint

✁ — — — — — —

— WARNINGS ; playful teasing

— TIME TAKEN ; around an hour

— WORD COUNT ; unsure

✁ — — — — — —

— AUTHORS NOTE ; reminder: never steal an artists sketchpad they will end your life then and there

�� ALL WRITING SHOWN BELONGS TO ninescoffeeshop ON TUMBLR. THIS WRITING IS MINE, DO NOT STEAL IT PLEASE <3

————

———꧁꧂༄

Oikawa had invited you to volleyball practice afterschool. You were surprised to say the least.

“Really?” You said, looking up at him with confused eyes. “But why?”

“Why not?” He shrugged, putting his hands into his uniform pockets. “If you came, I’d be way more motivated to play at my best, you know,” Oikawa shot you a wink and you huffed.

“Fine fine, I’ll come, but only for a short while. I have a test tomorrow in English and you know I suck at it,” You started walking to your locker and Oikawa followed beside you.

“Jeez, you’re so focused on studying and stuff, Y/n. Loosen up a bit, maybe you could join the girl’s volleyball team,” He chuckled. You grabbed your wrapped bento box from your locker and looked up at him with unamused eyes.

“Whaat? It’s just a suggestion.”

You shook your head. “You know sports aren’t my thing, Tooru. Thats your profession. Im not into that stuff.”

The two of you walked outside and sat at one of the benches beside the school. “No lunch?” You said.

He shook his head. “Nah, not that hungry.”

Oikawa rested his head against the side of the building and looked up at the sky. “So, I’ll see you at practice?”

You shoveled some rice into your mouth, then waved your hand at him. “Yeah yeah whatever. Sure. I’ll see you there.”

———꧁꧂༄

You sat in the bleachers silently, leaning forward in anticipation as you watched Oikawa and his teammates practice their spikes, sets, etcetera. You weren’t even sure if Oikawa knew you were there from how focused his face was.

“Woo! Go Oikawa!” You cheered and saw him look up at you for a split second, send you a smile, then go back to practicing.

You pulled out your notebook from your bookbag and a pencil, then started doodling mindlessly. Seeing Oikawa practice was nice to watch and all, but after a while it got a little boring.

You kept stealing glances of the brune, specifically when he was in the air spiking the ball. And soon enough your pencil glided a certain way across the paper to recreate that same image. The way his shirt lifted just a little, the way his hair moved, the power in his jump, everything. You made sure to do your best to capture all that power and emotion in your drawing.

“Whatcha got there, Y/n?”

You jumped and almost threw your notebook at the speaker, only to realize it was Oikawa himself. You sighed and let your body loosen, shaking your head. “Dont scare me like that.”

“Sorry. Were you drawing the entire time?” He smiled and looked over your shoulder to get a peak at your drawing. But you held it close to your chest to stop him.

He pouted. “Why cant I see?”

“I wasnt drawing the entire time,” You huffed, ignoring his second question entirely. “Only after like...10 minutes in.”

“Wow.”

“I got bored okay!!”

He laughed heartily. “Well can I at least see it?”

“No. You cant,” You shook your head and brought your notebook down to your side. Oikawa’s eyes followed it in curiosity.

“Why not?”

“Because..” You started, your cheeks flushing as you thought of an excuse. “Whatever! You just cant see it, okay?” You turned away from him just as he started to smirk.

Swiftly, he snatched the notebook from your hand and held it high above your head. It took you a moment to realize what happened.

“Hey!! Tooru, that isnt funny! Give it back!” You whined, getting on the tips of your toes and outstretching your arms.

“My my, is this me? Were you drawing me, Y/n?” He looked down you with a grin, pointing at his face like a dork.

“You did a very good job at capturing my attractiveness.”

As if things couldnt get any worse, your face flushed even more. “Tooru, stop playing around! Give me my notebook back!”

He pointed at his lips and smiled. “Gimme a kiss. Maybe I’ll give it back.”

“Wha-“

“You heard me,” He puckered his lips and got down in front of you tauntingly. “A kiss. Cmon.”

You crossed your arms and clenched your jaw, sending the boy such a spiteful glare you were sure that he would crumble under it. But to him you just looked like an angry puppy.

Your want for your notebook back was greater than your pride, so you took a deep breath in and pecked Oikawa on the cheek, taking him by surprise. Right as you pulled away his jaw dropped and so did your notebook from his hand. You caught it midair, closed it, and shoved it back into your bookbag.

You hugged your chest tightly, grunting and walking away from the boy. “Clown ass bastard..” You mumbled.

Oikawa’s shoulders slumped, and his hand reached for the spot on his cheek you kissed.

“Damn, didn’t expect she’d do it.”

© ALL WRITING SHOWN BELONGS TO ninescoffeeshop ON TUMBLR. THIS WRITING IS MINE, DO NOT STEAL IT PLEASE <3

[miistniightarchive]

Hey guys i just wanna say, i don't like telling anyone what to do. But id rather just suggest stuff. You can disagree with me on this topic and im glad to listen :")!! But this is my opinion and if you dont agree then just leave! I do myself draw fanart and fandom related things here and there, and I think its something really fun and nice to do!! But I've been seeing a lot of artists and even some of my artist friends who end up only drawing that sort of stuff since its what gets more followers and notes. I personally, think its something sad. But dont get me wrong! There are artist who like and would rather draw fanart only, and im fine with that. But i think theres a difference when someone is having fun w/ it, and just doing it cause they want followers, notes, and some confidence? I love doing fanart! Its always fun and its something special for me everytime. But im not going to keep drawing it because people like it. It ends up losing its pizzazz and becomes like a job, where i gotta start contributing to the fandom or people will "forget" me. I draw fanart when i want /ask for requests :)! I'm an artist who enjoys doing my own stuff, i guess "original" stuff. But stuff thats not so much tied to a franchise/person/ etc. " oh but miisty aren't you part of the furry fandom???!!1" Yes! And no at the same time :D Last time i checked, the "furry " fandom isnt owned by anyone, i dont reference my "furry" (i prefer to call them anthros) characters to one "main furry" character. I either make my characters based simply off of animals or just randomly, and in my style i prefer to have them on (cause theres a bunch of different ways you can draw an anthro character). But i put a lot of effort and thinking into my characters that i sometimes dont see them being part of the furry fandom, they become my original characters!! :D just really fluffy lol! Making a furry character is honestly the same as making a human character. And no one complains about a human character oc being part of a fandom/ fanart for something (key word is oc). Anyways, like i was saying. Im an artist who likes to do my own stuff a lot more than just drawing fanart. And i know theres a ot of other artists who does the same! But i believe we should get the same support as those who draw fanart more than ocs. Artists who put more effort into making their characters, lore, etc dont get the recognition as someone who draws simple fanart and then everyone is all over them. I can be bitchy, im not gonna apologize for it but i would favor an artist who has the creativity and determination who keeps on making ocs and creating lore, and showing off their own creations. Someone who can built their own confidence naturally, than having someone give them the confidence for something that shouldnt represent them. Some would disagree with me. But let me remind you again, if you enjoy drawing fanart, just cause YOU enjoy it. Then im really happy. You have that natural confidence in you. But if you draw fanart and wait for the veiws, and wait for the followers, you wait for the notes, etc etc. Then i just feel sad when you brag about it, or get surprised. Honestly, you should've seen that shit coming, wheter being an experienced artist/ just starting. Theres also artists who draws fanart to gain attention and gain followers just so then they can start drawing oc stuff and have more people see it. First of all, ive always seen that sort of stuff as clickbaiting. Don't get me wrong. That shit works, youre gonna get followers and attention. But in my opinion, its more awarding doing your own shit and doing that shit good. Challenge yourself than taking the easy route, cause then you might end up commiting to something you could possibly regret. I like to stay true to myself. I think its 10x better being yourself and do things you wanna do. That it needs to be recognized in some way you know? We need more rolemodels or atleast support these rolemodels who shoot off these amazing and original content!! Need rolemodels who are confident and let others know to be confident in their own ideas and skin. Ive experienced being the type of artist who drew mainly for a fandom (fnaf) and saw how people favored the fnaf content than my own. I started it actually as an experiment, an experiment than proved me right on something. While drawing fnaf stuff It was nice but fucking sucked when i posted my own shit i put more effort in, cause not much cared. I ended up stopping making the fanart and wanted to keep only doing my own things. People ended up ignoring my own stuff/ lil attention that i ended up stop posting in there at all. Since it was an experiment it wasn't like i was gonna keep staying there. After that i kinda understand that whole weird and sad concept. Again, i think there needs to be a lot of support/recognition for the artists who do their own thing. Just as equal to artist who draw fanart :") REMINDER: THIS IS MY OPINION, IF YOU DISAGREE I 100% UNDERSTAND. Say your own opinion! People have different views, and different ways interpreting things!