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More from aggro_badger
I prefer to use journals for actual updates, so I'll rant/blog/whatever here instead.
I just had a few thoughts on things over the last week or so, and I'm in a vague sort of mood that makes me want to type them where they might be read.
Firstly, just on the subject of commissions and attempting to take them. If it sounds like I'm talking about you or something you said in a note to me, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to single anyone out and it's more that I recieved many of the same kind of notes and questions repeatedly.
I got asked repeatedly the last two times I've opened for commissions, "Is there anything you won't draw?"
There are certainly things I won't draw, but I would be hard pressed to just rattle them off. Most of the fetishes commonly depicted on this site are not expressly among them, but a few probably are. I would rather not draw depictions of child or animal abuse, I would rather not draw most things of a political bent, I'm not super excited to draw scat or water sports, I'm not crazy about herms, and I suck at drawing robots. But those are generalizations and there's a good chance I would work with you to give you a commission that you enjoy and that I can be okay with drawing.
I don't think I found anything quite so frustrating as having to answer the same "What won't you draw?" note every other time I opened my inbox.
So, just tell me what you'd like, right up front, and we'll go from there.
Additionally, concerning communcation. If you aren't sure what you'd like, you may simply note me saying "I'd like to grab a spot, I'll get back to you when I know what I'd like." and leaving it at that. It is an added bonus if you are direct and have references/ideas all together in one note. It saves me a great deal of time going back and forth between notes and trying to figure out which character had which pose with which ref and what was your paypal again, oh yeah. o_o
Also, also... long winded, RP style "You see before you..." descriptions of characters are confusing. Simple "Fox, red hair, blue eyes, short, thin, spot on left ear" is much easier. Several times I have had to redraw things because the descriptions were so scattered that it wasn't until a paragraph or so down I realized that the previously described (in exceeding detail) hair is also in a pony tail or something.
----
And another thing...
I have read from several artists around this site things such as... "No artist likes to take commissions, they do it because they have to." and "Many artists bend over backwards to make a buck." or "I refuse to draw X because I don't agree/am uninterested/won't cater to..."
Haha, okay. Man, I'm glad I'm not in that boat and don't have those hang ups. I like doing commissions. I'm not super excited about every single idea that gets thrown my way, but it's still cool and fun to work with other people's characters and ideas. It's one of the best ways to get feedback from an audience and I enjoy it. Nothing makes me want to draw like seeing a picture and thinking "What can I do with that?'
As far as compromising things, well, hey, life is compromise. Compromise doesn't mean giving in and selling out. If I weren't drawing something that someone wanted, how would I make money off it? I could just jerk off to my own art work forever, but then why show it to anyone? Atleast some of art is for the viewer, as much as I'd like to hoard it for myself.
Reaching out and trying new things is a great way to learn and to see what other people find interesting; it's a great way to find new ideas and I enjoy it.
Again, this doens't mean that I come away interested in every subject matter that I'm willing to draw; far from it, actually. But I can still gain something from the physical act of drawing, and even the composition of the results, if not the picture itself.
Now, I am certainly not saying that any other artist should feel the same way about commissions or any of this that I do, but I saw statements like that often enough that.. eh.. Especially since some of the people involved seemed to be, from what I could tell, saying that they were either speaking for artists as a whole, or that they had some moral high ground and could peg everyone else a certain way based on whatever bullshit principles they subscribe to. Feh.
TLDR: I like doing stupid commissions for people, but would generally appreciate clearer communication when it comes to them. Mmmyep.
I just had a few thoughts on things over the last week or so, and I'm in a vague sort of mood that makes me want to type them where they might be read.
Firstly, just on the subject of commissions and attempting to take them. If it sounds like I'm talking about you or something you said in a note to me, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to single anyone out and it's more that I recieved many of the same kind of notes and questions repeatedly.
I got asked repeatedly the last two times I've opened for commissions, "Is there anything you won't draw?"
There are certainly things I won't draw, but I would be hard pressed to just rattle them off. Most of the fetishes commonly depicted on this site are not expressly among them, but a few probably are. I would rather not draw depictions of child or animal abuse, I would rather not draw most things of a political bent, I'm not super excited to draw scat or water sports, I'm not crazy about herms, and I suck at drawing robots. But those are generalizations and there's a good chance I would work with you to give you a commission that you enjoy and that I can be okay with drawing.
I don't think I found anything quite so frustrating as having to answer the same "What won't you draw?" note every other time I opened my inbox.
So, just tell me what you'd like, right up front, and we'll go from there.
Additionally, concerning communcation. If you aren't sure what you'd like, you may simply note me saying "I'd like to grab a spot, I'll get back to you when I know what I'd like." and leaving it at that. It is an added bonus if you are direct and have references/ideas all together in one note. It saves me a great deal of time going back and forth between notes and trying to figure out which character had which pose with which ref and what was your paypal again, oh yeah. o_o
Also, also... long winded, RP style "You see before you..." descriptions of characters are confusing. Simple "Fox, red hair, blue eyes, short, thin, spot on left ear" is much easier. Several times I have had to redraw things because the descriptions were so scattered that it wasn't until a paragraph or so down I realized that the previously described (in exceeding detail) hair is also in a pony tail or something.
----
And another thing...
I have read from several artists around this site things such as... "No artist likes to take commissions, they do it because they have to." and "Many artists bend over backwards to make a buck." or "I refuse to draw X because I don't agree/am uninterested/won't cater to..."
Haha, okay. Man, I'm glad I'm not in that boat and don't have those hang ups. I like doing commissions. I'm not super excited about every single idea that gets thrown my way, but it's still cool and fun to work with other people's characters and ideas. It's one of the best ways to get feedback from an audience and I enjoy it. Nothing makes me want to draw like seeing a picture and thinking "What can I do with that?'
As far as compromising things, well, hey, life is compromise. Compromise doesn't mean giving in and selling out. If I weren't drawing something that someone wanted, how would I make money off it? I could just jerk off to my own art work forever, but then why show it to anyone? Atleast some of art is for the viewer, as much as I'd like to hoard it for myself.
Reaching out and trying new things is a great way to learn and to see what other people find interesting; it's a great way to find new ideas and I enjoy it.
Again, this doens't mean that I come away interested in every subject matter that I'm willing to draw; far from it, actually. But I can still gain something from the physical act of drawing, and even the composition of the results, if not the picture itself.
Now, I am certainly not saying that any other artist should feel the same way about commissions or any of this that I do, but I saw statements like that often enough that.. eh.. Especially since some of the people involved seemed to be, from what I could tell, saying that they were either speaking for artists as a whole, or that they had some moral high ground and could peg everyone else a certain way based on whatever bullshit principles they subscribe to. Feh.
TLDR: I like doing stupid commissions for people, but would generally appreciate clearer communication when it comes to them. Mmmyep.
Category Artwork (Digital) / General Furry Art
Species Badger
Size 471 x 479px
File Size 115.7 kB
Hehe nice work ^^
I wish I COULD do commissions, but I don't have a way of receiving money (my PayPal isn't linked to my account yet). It would be a little nice to earn a little extra money for my work. I'm mostly stuck doing requests. I like doing them, but I wish I could do them a bit more quickly (take a while sometimes).
Doing request does help me out with trying new stuff and breaking my little fear of "screwing up someone else character" ^^; I would like to work with other people's characters but it's just I feel like "I HAVE to have him look this" or finding the right style to draw the character in. It's a little pathetic
Whoops sorry for rambling on ^^;
I wish I COULD do commissions, but I don't have a way of receiving money (my PayPal isn't linked to my account yet). It would be a little nice to earn a little extra money for my work. I'm mostly stuck doing requests. I like doing them, but I wish I could do them a bit more quickly (take a while sometimes).
Doing request does help me out with trying new stuff and breaking my little fear of "screwing up someone else character" ^^; I would like to work with other people's characters but it's just I feel like "I HAVE to have him look this" or finding the right style to draw the character in. It's a little pathetic
Whoops sorry for rambling on ^^;
One thing I always wonder about is if artists are at all annoyed by vague descriptions and are left to their own devices. I kinda/sorta prefer to see different interpretations of my character and it seems like if I have something set in stone, they'll stick exactly to that without adding their own flair to it.
Am I wrong for liking to go about things this way?
Am I wrong for liking to go about things this way?
I can't speak for everyone on that. If you _want_ something specific, you need to be specific, but I do prefer it when people let me go off and do my own thing with a picture. In part, it works better for you that way, too, because if I have to stress over the details, the picture takes longer and I find it less fun, and when I find things less fun, I'm less likely to put extra care and effort into it. However, if you're asking for a detailed piece with very specific themes, you probably need to be.
What I find most frustrating though, in that reguard, is when people want something specific, but say what they want in vague terms.
By example, if someone says they want something, I don't know, "emo" and I draw you crying and cutting your wrists with a butterknife in the wrong direction while listening to Dashboard, but what you ment was like, really heartfelt and emotional, dealing with the turmoils of young love, what we have is a failure to communicate and no one ends up happy.
From my brief experience with you, I personally liked the descriptions you gave me. It's enough to work with without micromanaging the picture. Nothing was left so vague that I'm left having to guess at what the hell I'm supposed to draw, and at the same time, nothing was so detailed that I'm dreading getting it _just right_.
The thing I hear the most from artists is wanting to hear "This is my character, here's some money, go!".
What I find most frustrating though, in that reguard, is when people want something specific, but say what they want in vague terms.
By example, if someone says they want something, I don't know, "emo" and I draw you crying and cutting your wrists with a butterknife in the wrong direction while listening to Dashboard, but what you ment was like, really heartfelt and emotional, dealing with the turmoils of young love, what we have is a failure to communicate and no one ends up happy.
From my brief experience with you, I personally liked the descriptions you gave me. It's enough to work with without micromanaging the picture. Nothing was left so vague that I'm left having to guess at what the hell I'm supposed to draw, and at the same time, nothing was so detailed that I'm dreading getting it _just right_.
The thing I hear the most from artists is wanting to hear "This is my character, here's some money, go!".
Nah, you're fine.
I hope everyone understands, it's not that any one person has done anything that has bothered me... I just had so many commissions and sat here staring at drawings, refs, descriptions, notes and everything else and ended up with a lot of word-vomit that came out in this rant.
It was just a lot of little things.
On the flipside, there were a lot of little things that people have done that make the whole experience very enjoyable.
I hope everyone understands, it's not that any one person has done anything that has bothered me... I just had so many commissions and sat here staring at drawings, refs, descriptions, notes and everything else and ended up with a lot of word-vomit that came out in this rant.
It was just a lot of little things.
On the flipside, there were a lot of little things that people have done that make the whole experience very enjoyable.
What I find most frustrating though, in that reguard, is when people want something specific, but say what they want in vague terms.
By example, if someone says they want something, I don't know, "emo" and I draw you crying and cutting your wrists with a butterknife in the wrong direction while listening to Dashboard, but what you ment was like, really heartfelt and emotional, dealing with the turmoils of young love, what we have is a failure to communicate and no one ends up happy.
I LOL'D so hard on that one friend!! You are awesome as an artist and very nice to deal with when commishing! But you are unlike so many artists on here, so you are rare. I've seen and heard so many of these people complain about what people commish, that my reaction is as follows..... "get a REAL job, and do this shit on the side, OR don't do it at all". if ya can't survive in the real world on yer own and need commissions to survive, then you will do WHATEVER the person wants from you. putting a limit on it (when you "NEED" the money) is a moot point. So if yer broke and need money to pay the rent, you WILL draw the herm, scat, macro,pikachu, snuff porn, that the person is asking you to do! XD
*end rant*
I do my fair share of complaining.. heh, furries ask for some weird shit! But I'm doing this to make money and for artistic practice. Plus, I'm a pervert and not nearly as bothered by a lot of this as I probably should be. Besides, there's a difference between "I'm not into..." and having a problem with something for me.
The fact that I do it on the side I suppose works both ways for me; I can be picky if I want to, but also because it's not an end all be all job for me, I'm less bothered by being asked to do something that might be a little off my usual scope, whereas someone who's stuck with it might feel worse about it... the difference between having to clean a bathroom at your work once because it's an emergency and having to clean it everyday no matter what because it's your job and no one else's. Maybe.
The fact that I do it on the side I suppose works both ways for me; I can be picky if I want to, but also because it's not an end all be all job for me, I'm less bothered by being asked to do something that might be a little off my usual scope, whereas someone who's stuck with it might feel worse about it... the difference between having to clean a bathroom at your work once because it's an emergency and having to clean it everyday no matter what because it's your job and no one else's. Maybe.
I hate the "Many artists bend over backwards to take a buck" crap. It just reminds me so much of the long-time shit that goes on in my school and just in the art world in general... this attitude of if you do what a client wants and get paid for it, than you're a whore of the art world.
Now admittedly I'm one of those people who won't draw overt fetish art or porn for many personal reasons (although seeing porn in my style would be an awkward sight indeed), many of them running deeper than simply "Well... it just doesn't make me feel comfortable."
But I try to make that clear upfront and if you don't like it, then... well there are plenty of other artists on here who will cater to what you want. I'm not going to make a big deal about it.
Now admittedly I'm one of those people who won't draw overt fetish art or porn for many personal reasons (although seeing porn in my style would be an awkward sight indeed), many of them running deeper than simply "Well... it just doesn't make me feel comfortable."
But I try to make that clear upfront and if you don't like it, then... well there are plenty of other artists on here who will cater to what you want. I'm not going to make a big deal about it.
Well, this is a huge relief for me...
See, I should apologize. The wave of mpreg commissions (yes, three/four is a wave, given how frequently (or rather, infrequently) the niche pops up otherwise) would be my fault, and I was worried you were getting miffed over such a focus on 'em... most artists get that way when people start revolving around one theme not in the artist's usual repertoire.
See, I should apologize. The wave of mpreg commissions (yes, three/four is a wave, given how frequently (or rather, infrequently) the niche pops up otherwise) would be my fault, and I was worried you were getting miffed over such a focus on 'em... most artists get that way when people start revolving around one theme not in the artist's usual repertoire.
I actually love doing commisions because it makes the commissioner happy, makes me happy to use my talent and the money is a bonus. In fact I think it is safe to say I like it a lot so I define what I won't do to maximise the enjoyment I get from it. If I'm not comfortable with a fetish, I would ask for it to be turned into something else that is more fun. Thankfully this has not happened yet.
Clear communiciation is good too. I prefer it if it is a simple description and a link to a picture rather than a complex description. Helps if the picture is good quality too otherwise the result on my end is rather different... <.<
Clear communiciation is good too. I prefer it if it is a simple description and a link to a picture rather than a complex description. Helps if the picture is good quality too otherwise the result on my end is rather different... <.<
Well placed thoughts. I hope I didn't annoy you by not having a specific image in mind. The thing I like best about commissions is seeing what the artist will do with a few ideas. I think that lets their style come out best.
Also, cool sketch of yourself... sketching yourself!
Also, cool sketch of yourself... sketching yourself!
Nah, you were fine. I ended up drawing what struck me and that's cool. The only thing that makes me nervous with something like that is sometimes one gets the feeling that the person commissioning them (or asking for a present, or whatever.. applied to situations not having to do with art even...) would really rather perfer something specific but is afraid to say it, doesn't want to come off as demanding or greedy or whatever. If you would be been disappointed with a normal picture, I would have liked to have known, because I really can't guess what's going to make someone happy as far as something like that goes.
I wish I'd known it was alright to hold open reserve slots for this. Although it seems like anything I'd think to ask for has already been covered, and I imagine it'd probably get boring to draw the same thing with slight variations like a taur instead of a biped or somesuch. But ah well, snooze and lose.
To try and echo some of your words, I find it helpful when the artist is up front with what they expect from a commissioner as well. Particularly the bit about keeping descriptions short and to the point. I've had some artists say to try and be as specific/detailed as possible, but I've never felt quite clear on how much was too much. Something for me to keep in mind if/when I decide to spend s'more money on things like this. Thanks.
To try and echo some of your words, I find it helpful when the artist is up front with what they expect from a commissioner as well. Particularly the bit about keeping descriptions short and to the point. I've had some artists say to try and be as specific/detailed as possible, but I've never felt quite clear on how much was too much. Something for me to keep in mind if/when I decide to spend s'more money on things like this. Thanks.
I will more than likely be open for cheap sketches again in the near future. I'm not sure if I mind doing the same themes; its your money, you ask for what you want a picture of, you know?
That makes sense. I think that I find it to be too much when the description is flowery prose or gives random back story or details that have nothing to do with what will actually be in the picture. If I'm drawing you skiiing, a detailed description of your penis, followed by a poem about your warrior ethics code does not help me... but a description of your jacket, goggles, boots, etc, and wheither or not it is cross country or downhill would be useful. Targeted information, I suppose.
Though... with a $3 commission, you're getting a sketch and there will be a certain lack of detail... Just showing me a ref picture and maybe a few key details writen down is going to work just fine for me there. But if it's an $80 coloured, uh, _thing_, I mean, you're spending _$80_, I would hope that the artist working for you would take that into account and listen to the details you feel are important. I certainly try to.
That makes sense. I think that I find it to be too much when the description is flowery prose or gives random back story or details that have nothing to do with what will actually be in the picture. If I'm drawing you skiiing, a detailed description of your penis, followed by a poem about your warrior ethics code does not help me... but a description of your jacket, goggles, boots, etc, and wheither or not it is cross country or downhill would be useful. Targeted information, I suppose.
Though... with a $3 commission, you're getting a sketch and there will be a certain lack of detail... Just showing me a ref picture and maybe a few key details writen down is going to work just fine for me there. But if it's an $80 coloured, uh, _thing_, I mean, you're spending _$80_, I would hope that the artist working for you would take that into account and listen to the details you feel are important. I certainly try to.
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