konamochi

[konamochi]

but why is reposting BAD?

i thought i’d make an faq filled with every excuse in the book about reposting, for those who still don’t understand why it’s bad…or for people who don’t know what to say in retaliation to these! so here we go. 

first of all, an artist doesn’t even NEED to explain themselves. in the same way with someone who says “dude, make sure that soda is diet” or “please don’t tickle me”. they don’t want you to do it. you don’t need to test them by ignoring them. the reason doesn’t matter: it’s the person’s wish with THEIR things. if you had any respect for others, you’d just take it at that. 

BUT for some people, they don’t want to respect others at face value, and want their reason. (which, i might add, is rude.) so let’s get into that: 

but i’m giving you exposure! isn’t that good?

no. 

you’re not giving artists exposure. for people like myself, freelance artists, you’re hurting us. about a year ago, i sent my portfolio off to an indie game. in it, i had a piece of work that had been reposted (that i didn’t even know about). i was told much later that they “looked into it” and saw that my work was posted by someone else, which means now they have no idea who the artist was, and THEREFORE can’t be sure my work was legit. i lost a potential job to a repost. 

doesn’t matter if you say “i didn’t draw this”. sometimes, they don’t even look. they just look to see if it’s on any site other than your own. and that’s terrifying for artists. so don’t endanger our livelihood for instagram likes. 

besides, you’re not even giving exposure if you didn’t credit, cropped out the signature, or somehow made the resolution so low to where you can’t even see the signature. which brings me to…

but i credited you!

some people still don’t want it reposted even with credit. the last answer should show you one of the many reasons why. 

you’re dictating what i can/cannot put on my page! this is MY page!

and it’s MY art you posted. you can’t take something i did and do whatever you want with it. imagine if you took someones drawing, photocopied it, and spread it all around the town without their permission. they’d have every right to be angry, right?

but you posted it online, which means anyone can do anything with it. so if you don’t want it reposted, don’t post it online!

i have to post my art onto my websites to build a fanbase, something crucial to an artist. it shouldn’t be on ME to not post it in the first place, it should be on YOU to not repost it. you’re just echoing victim-blaming arguments. 

you’re basically saying “if you don’t want to be bullied, don’t exist.” which is a terrible thing to teach people, rather than “be nice and respectful towards others.” yes, i know our world isn’t perfect. but that’s no excuse to contribute to vile things. 

well i would be honored if someone reposted my art. and my friend doesn’t mind reposts, so why should you?

good for you! good for them! but did you know there’s more people in the world other than just you and your friend? we have wishes and feelings too, so you don’t get to project your own emotions onto what WE should be feeling as well. i love peaches. some people don’t like them. that doesn’t mean that now they have to eat peaches because i don’t mind them. 

what an artist creates automatically belongs to society, though. 

go steal the mona lisa and tell me how that works out. 

everyone can VIEW it, yes. artists want others to view their work! we just don’t want you to do stuff with it we asked you not to do. 

WELL THEN SPEAKING OF THAT, since i can’t put your work on redbubble and sell it for myself, why do you have an umbrella of the starry night?? huh?? you STOLE van gogh’s work! (yes people have legit said this to me) 

putting my work on items and selling it is totally illegal. van gogh’s work is owned by companies now, who have authorization to print it on things. and i’m just ONE freelance artist who is, you know, still alive and not giving permission to do that. you can’t compare a dead artist from the 1800s to a digital artist in 2017. apples to oranges, my dude.

well i SAID “credit to the artist” so i DID give you credit!

because saying “the artist” really tells people who i am and lets them visit my websites! thank you so much! 

but all sarcasm aside, that doesn’t do anything other than show you were too lazy to find the artist. same thing with “source: the internet” and “who drew this xD” or misspelling my url on purpose or putting the credit under a cut. OR cropping the image to cut off my signature! you didn’t give me credit. 

it wasn’t on the website i wanted it on! you should have more social media.

i’ll have the social media i want to have. not up to me to make more accounts on more things just so you won’t disrespect me. 

but i don’t remember where i got it. besides, i reposted SOOO much work and saved it all a long time ago. how can i find it now?

reverse google image search is so great.

also, if you didn’t know the artist, that’s a HUGE reason not to repost it in the first place!! you didn’t even know if it was okay since you never got to see their position on that!!

take down your video with stolen fan art. take down your entire fan art twitter account. i don’t care “how hard it was to save those images” or “how many views you have now”. you got all that attention from someone else’s hard work. searching for art will never be as hard as making it. if it were that easy, you’d be drawing all the art yourself. 

but i asked the artist and they didn’t say anything! i assumed it was okay. 

yeah, i feel you. it’s the same thing as when you ask your mom if you can borrow some money, she doesn’t answer, so you just steal it from her purse. no answer means the answer you want to hear, right?

wrong. don’t take “unresponsive” as a yes. that’s disgusting. 

well i honestly don’t care. artists are just selfish. i’ll repost their art if i want to, just to show them how much i hate their stance on reposting. and (insert another really edgy statement here from someone who only says things to get a rise out of people since their life is empty) 

one day you’re gonna come across an artist who has no chill and wants to sue, and can actually do it, since some people put their work under HEAVY copyright. and i’m gonna kick back in my chair with a nice capri sun and watch it all happen, since you have that kind of attitude towards people. 

yes, this whole thing seems a bit. well. “salty”, as some would put it. and i have every right to be irritated over this. all these questions are asking “WHY should i respect their wishes? give me a reason” or “but here is my excuse rather than just taking it down”. time after time, artists are villainized just for telling people not to repost. 

like i said, the artist not wanting you to repost it SHOULD be reason enough! we’re so tired of having to fight people just to have respect for our art. we have to deal with tracing constantly, so can you please take reposting off our plates? i know bad things will always happen, but that’s no reason to make it worse by contributing. 

artists are generously putting our art out there for free. if you want to keep seeing our art for free (btw we don’t HAVE to, all the big artists could just up and leave and go to patreon), maybe show us some respect? because we get pretty dejected when we see strangers getting attention from something we did, and it makes us want to remove everything we show you guys. you say “don’t post it then!” but would be mad if all fan art disappeared. 

if you want to keep the art, respect the artist making it. there’s a real person behind that drawing. 

[konamochi]

How is this so adorable? wtf?

Undying Happiness by Zelkats

[konamochi]

Ffxv Tumblr, in a nutshell.

.....

Might be all of tumblr, in a nutshell.

I spent way too much fucking time on this [x/x]

[konamochi]

The very best writing tip you will ever hear is this:  

              Analyze stories.

Don’t just listen to what other storytellers say you should do, figure out what you like about the stories you enjoy and learn to replicate that.

Want to learn about pacing? Examine stories you think flow fantastically. Want to learn about description? Study your favorite author’s descriptions. Want to learn about characterization? Critique your favorite characters.  Want to learn about foreshadowing? Explore how it’s done in stories where the plot twist blew your mind.

Storytellers giving advice to other storytellers is fantastic and useful, but you will never know something as thoroughly as you know the things you figure out for yourself. 

And by analyzing the stories you love instead of listening blindly to advice, you’ll never be swayed by the bias of other writers and you’ll never take in advice that’s suited for a story you wouldn’t enjoy writing.

So put on some thinking caps and go analyze those stories.

[konamochi]

When someone steals your OC, so you just recycle the design.

[konamochi]

I’m getting so sick of noctluna fans saying that those of us who have problems with or are against the noctluna relationship is because she’s a female. For the last freakin’ time, this has nothing to do with Luna being a female. It has nothing to do with Luna having emotions. It has nothing to do with Luna being in love. No one is saying those things make her weak or useless or undeserving of being with Noctis. It is how SE and Tabata portrayed her and her romantic relationship with him that is the problem. Our bros got to grow and develop alongside Noctis. Yes, they are devoted to their prince, their duty, and their friend. But they are still their own individual persons outside of this. There is more to them that just a mission. Luna practically paves a path for Noctis to march to his death in the game and unlike our bros, she has nothing going for her outside her apparent love for Noctis and her duty. This is the main heroine who gets treated and sidelined like a side character and that is not okay in any form of writing. This is why people can see Noctis being romantically involved with anyone but Luna. So kindly stop putting words in our mouths and labeling us as sexist or misogynist because we see Luna and her relationship as being handled poorly development wise.

[konamochi]

So it's official.

Ignoct won the shipping wars of Final Fantasy XV.

[konamochi]

Reviving this dead blog in hopes of winning the swag

The LAVA Overflow 1K Follower Give-Away!

To celebrate 1000 followers on both Twitter and Tumblr, we are holding a special set of give-aways! For our Tumblr followers, you can win this FFXV t-shirt, made just for you! 

The give-away is open to LAVA Overflow followers-only who reblog this post by 11:59PM EST Sunday 10/15. Have your Ask Box or Messenger open so we can contact the winner. 

[If you are more of a Persona 5 fan, our Twitter give-away is P5-themed!]

[konamochi]

Commission Pricing 101

Guidelines for Setting Commission Prices

Article by @dragonofdarknesschaos​ article dated April 25th 2017 Original Source: [x]

I’m going to be blunt with all'y'all.  You are most likely under-pricing your work.  That’s okay, but please consider the following:

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Industry Standard Price List for Book Illustration*

Black and White:    • Spread: $500-$1500    • Full Page: $500-$9500    • Quarter Page: $100-$350

Color:   • Spread: $700-$2000   • Full Page: $500-$1500   • Quarter Page: $200-$400

*From The Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines by the Graphic Artists Guild, ed. 13–basically the bible for all visual artists looking to sell and price their work.  Check your local library for a copy.

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Not all artists are comfortable charging this much for their work, or maybe feel that their work isn’t good enough to charge more than a few bucks (if anything at all), some are just doing it for fun and don’t care about the money so much.

All of that is okay.  Individual commissioners usually don’t have the kind of money to drop that large corporations do.  

This is more about setting a few guidelines to prevent people from charging pennies for a full-color spread.  

See below:

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Fandom’ Average Price List

Black and White:   • Spread: $10-$50   • Full Page: $5-$30   • Quarter Page: $5-$30

Color:  • Spread: $50-$200  • Full Page: $20-$70  • Quarter Page: $10-$30

Valuing Your Work

If you don’t value your time, no one else will.

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You probably put a lot of time and effort into your work over the months or even years that you’ve been honing your craft.  So even if you’re in the select few who can actually bang out a beautiful piece of art in twenty minutes or less, think about how long it took you to get to that point.  I knew I wanted to do art professionally since the age of four; at the time of this writing I’ve gained 21 years of experience.  Not all of it was paid or professional quality work, but I learned and grew to what I am now.  Even if you’ve only been drawing a few months, that time and experience matters all the same!  Don’t sell your skills short. Now that you’ve gained some confidence in your abilities, it’s time to set a monetary value for your skills.  Usually artists go with an hourly rate.  This means that for however many hours you work on a piece, you charge the commissioner (or customer) by the amount you set.  THE COMMISSIONER DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU TO MAKE THE ARTWORK.  DO, however, ask when they need the artwork by.  If you cannot complete the artwork in that amount of time asked, turn down the commission or find out if the deadline can be changed. Let’s try this hourly rate in an example now.  

Say it takes three hours to do a full color bust and the hourly rate is $10.  

In math terms it’s…

(hourly rate) x (time spent) = (amount to charge).  

The artist would charge $30 for the full-color bust commission.  

Thirty dollars for just a drawing of a head and shoulders might seem like a lot, and one might be tempted to decrease the hourly rate so the amount to charge is within those ‘Fandom’ Averages mentioned above. 

 Doing the same work for a total of $5 means one would charge $1.67 hourly.

Most states have minimum wages well above that.  

Are you worth less than the bare minimum, or are you worth more?   Spoiler alert–YOU MATTER!!  And so does your artwork too!  

If you’re still not feeling confident enough, just look up your state’s minimum wage and use that for your hourly rate.  You can then slowly raise your prices as you gain more confidence in your work.  While people might complain, remind them–and yourself–about those Industry Standard Prices listed above.  

It doesn’t hurt to let your fans know that you will be increasing your prices in advance either!

——————————————————————

When to Increase Your Prices

Either increase your prices when you feel confident in doing so, when there’s simply too much demand for your work, or if you’ve been undervaluing yourself.

Increasing the price will deter some potential customers, but those who sincerely want your work will save up to commission you no matter what.  Those are the people you want to work with. 

If the demand is still too high for you to keep up, or you don’t feel comfortable increasing prices to keep up with demand, create slots, or a short list of commissions you are currently working on.

Create a wait list too, if that helps.  Just maintain a clear path of communication with your supporters.

——————————————————————

The Nuances of Pricing

If you really want to get technical, there’s going to be MORE MATH ahead. Though it’s basically all about breaking down how much time it takes you to do anything.

It will take you three times longer than you think it will.

——————————————————————

Pricing by Style

Wow, you can actually draw in multiple styles!?  GREAT!  AMAZING!  Not everyone can do that.  

If it takes you more time to draw one style than another have a price chart that clearly shows that. 

If you have multiple coloring styles or techniques, break down how long each takes and give prices based on that. 

Dissect your artistic process into steps if that helps to understand what to charge for. Creating steps like this will also help if (and when) you need to make invoices, or lists of the services you’re providing for billing purposes.  

The following are examples of pricing broken down into each step in an artistic process for two vastly different styles:

Super Cartoony Style (full page):

- sketch: $10 x 15mins (or .25hr) = $2.50  - lines: $10 x 90mins (or 1.5hrs) = $15.00 - color: $10 x 1hr = $10 - (no shading) Total: $27.50

Semi-Realistic Painterly Style (full page):

- sketch: $10 x 1hr = $10 - (no lines) - color: $10 x 2hrs = $20 - shading: $10 x 6hrs = $60 Total: $70

Having these kinds of breakdowns will help potential commissioners identify what they want and what they can afford.  

Yeah, that’s great, but what if someone just wants a sketch in the Super Cartoony Style?  Then I’m making less than those ‘Fandom’ Average prices! 

True, but what if you sit down to do the sketch commission, and instead of taking fifteen minutes, you end up spending twenty minutes looking up reference of the character, and the poses you want, end up scrapping a bunch of attempts, and before you know it, an hour and a half has passed? By then you’ve charged the commissioner for fifteen minutes of work when it actually took you six times longer.  If this happens to you consistently, consider switching to a flat-rate approach or compensate for this time difference in the prices you offer.

——————————————————————

Flat Rate Pricing

Essentially you charge more up front and lower the price of any additional steps.  As such, additional services, like lines, color, and shading are then smaller fees that get tacked on after the preliminary sketch is completed.  

The flat rate is typically based on the average amount of time it takes to do each step of the process.  

Say it takes anywhere from 15-90 minutes to do a sketch depending on how inspired you are. 

With the same hourly rate of $10, that’s a range of $2.50-$15.  Depending on complexity things might take longer, so let’s bump it up to $20 just to be safe. 

Keeping the total costs the same as for the hourly break downs above results in the following:

Super Cartoony Style (full page) flat rate:

- sketch: $20 - lines: $4 - color: $3.50 - (no shading) Total: $27.50

Semi-Realistic Painterly Style (full page) flat rate:

sketch: $30 (no lines) color: $15 shading: $25 Total: $70

There’s less actual math involved, but it means that you’ll at least get your money’s worth whether you spend the fifteen minutes you originally allotted, or wind up taking two hours.

Again, the commissioner doesn’t need to know how long it actually took you to make the art.  

Consider adjusting the flat rates if you find yourself spending more time on certain things than your hourly rate covers.  

In the example, if you repeatedly spend more than two hours on a sketch, then you need to increase your initial rate to compensate. This model also plays a bit into the ideas behind the “super size” marketing. For just four dollars more you get cleaner line art. For only three and a half dollars more you get full color!  If a commissioner can get over the initial price to start, chances are they’ll be more willing to spend the few extra dollars to get a higher level of finish.

——————————————————————

Methods of Payment

While DeviantArt is a great place for finding and getting commissions, they don’t exactly have the best monetary system in place.  

Here are a few other methods you can use.  

While there are other sites and services you can use to send money, be sure both the artist and commissioner have agreed on the amount due and payment method before sending anything.  

In general do not start on the artwork until at least half of the payment is received or processed.

——————————————————————

The Commissions Widget (on DeviantArt)

Pros:

easy to use

built into site

allows points to be turned into actual cash

Cons:

deducts 20% from your earnings (most sites charge less than 10%)

keeps points earned from commissions separate from total points

few people have 3,000 points to drop

If you’re intent on using this system, be sure to add a 20% tax to your final cost (e.g. $27.50 + ($27.50 x .2) = $33.00 or 3,300 points) 

While you could simply trade the points outside the commissions widget, the points cannot [legally] be turned back into cash.

——————————————————————

Google Wallet

Pros:

easy to use

works fast

no usage fee

Cons:

open to continental US ONLY

requires gmail account

no invoices

If you already have a gmail account, then you automatically have access to gwallet.  It’s just a matter of connecting a bank account or credit card then. 

 While there are no invoices for any money exchanges that I’m aware of, still consider making invoices for your records.

——————————————————————

PayPal

Pros:

internationally available

used across many sites for payment

very secure

has built-in invoices

Cons:

lots of rules that constantly change and are difficult to understand

difficult to navigate; if done incorrectly one may be charged

both parties must fill out forms correctly or the artist will be charged or have their account banned

If you live inside or outside the continental US, here are a few links that may be helpful in [writing those invoices], and [making sure you don’t get burned].  

Also do not use PayPal to send your art, as their rules are a bit convoluted about who owns the rights to the artwork then.

——————————————————————

Patreon

Pros:

easy to understand

processes payments through Amazon

allows creators to build communities around their projects

multiple price points can be offered at the same time

encourages repeat customers

Cons:

while it’s a bit daunting to get set up and situated, Patreon has an almost infinite amount of easy to understand resources to help their creators take off

though not necessary, it helps to have a strong social media presence elsewhere

smaller group of commissioners

For those who don’t know, Patreon is like KickStarter, but it recurs monthly, and it’s just for creatives.  

What I’ve seen most artists who do commissions exclusively through Patreon do is have a lower reward tier that is fan driven like monthly requests, in addition to a higher reward tier that is the actual commission button so-to-speak.  

This format kind of forces the flat rate pricing method to an extreme, so price well, or create a dialogue with your fans/patrons/potential commissioners to see what they’re most interested in getting for their money.   They might even give you ideas for projects to do down the road.

——————————————————————

TL;DR

Professional illustrations go for 20-50 times MORE than what most 'fandom’ artists charge.

Value your time, or else no one else will.  This means that you deserve to work for above minimum wage.

Never tell the commissioner how long it takes to make your artwork (unless you need more time to make your artwork).

It’s OKAY to increase your prices.  Especially if there’s high demand for your work.

You can price by how long it takes you to do each step of your artistic process OR…

You can have a higher flat rate to do the first step of your process, with smaller, additional fees for finishes like color, or shading, or both.

Be transparent about what you’re charging for.

There are many sites and methods of payment, use the one that is most convenient for both parties.

USE. INVOICES.  No matter how simple.

If you DO decide to use dA’s Commission Widget, charge a 20% tax to cover the site’s cut.

Trust yourself–after all, these commissioners came to you for your unique art style!  You can’t go wrong by doing you.

Anyone is welcome to ask further questions, or suggest additions.

Article by @dragonofdarknesschaos​ article dated April 25th 2017 Original Source: [x]

[konamochi]

PSA TO THE FFXV FANDOM The vr stuff is nothing new. They announced it a year ago last e3, and they're just now showcasing it. Story content is (likely) still coming.

[konamochi]

Been forever since I've drawn this kid... Best Kh character (after Riku). #art #digitalart #painttoolsai #kingdomhearts #roxas #videogames #sunsets #reds #yellows #marble

[konamochi]

When your sexy gerudo link file becomes corrupted, so you draw unrelated undertale au instead...oTL I'm actually fairly surprised by how this turned out.... #art🎨 #digitalart #undertale #undertaleau #aethertale #frisk #flowey #ruins #painttoolsai #riplink

[konamochi]

Tfw your favorite artist draws your favorite ship

Some soriku fluff I drew on v-day, these two slay me.

https://www.patreon.com/twofancyowls for more sketches and art!

[konamochi]

Color tests! Refined some of the lines, made the pupils smaller, and (trying) to fix the sleeves. Might be recording this for yt as well. Need subject matter to talk about. #art🎨 #digitalart #legendofzelda #link #gerudolink #botw

[konamochi]

Reasons why the undertale fandom is literally the worst

HOW ABOUT WE DON’T HURT REAL PEOPLE OVER FICTIONAL SHIPS

Warning for needles, links to disturbing images

[Tweet: A fanartist was offered hand made cookies at a con. Only to find out they have needles inside and pierced her tongue]

The fanartist in question is Avimedes, a Taiwanese fanartist who draws primarily for Undertale. On May 10th she posted on her Plurk (warning for images with blood, needles) that she was given cookies as a gift; she ate one and a needle pierced her tongue. 

Here is a translation of her post:

Warning, these photos contain a lot of blood.

I’m very sorry that I haven’t had a chance to say my thanks (for the convention?) and I am venting. But I received a needle in my dessert gift from the convention. Thank you, I have one more piercing now.

I am not trying to ask for comfort, I am only trying to tell everyone how serious is this matter, so do not comfort me.

This matter is unable to be investigated and hopeless to be investigated. This matter has made me lost of trust towards something, but from today onwards, I will not be accepting any more handmade food by others.

Any more follow up and notice will be posted(if there’s any), thank you for your attention.

From discussion (Twitter, Reddit) it seems likely that she was given these cookies because she draws Sans/Frisk art, and a “fan” decided that drawing a ship they didn’t like was worthy of attempted murder. Had Avimedes swallowed the needle it could have done considerable and possibly irreparable internal damage. 

So I will say this again: DO NOT HARM REAL PEOPLE OVER FICTIONAL ENTITIES. I don’t care what the content is. These purity crusades need to STOP. The amount of vitriol and anger that the anti-shipping circles not only accept but encourage is dangerous, unhealthy, and unless stopped will lead to more people being hurt. There’s already been at least one incident of an artist being harassed into a suicide attempt. 

Your moral indignation/righteous anger/upset feelings DO NOT justify the injury or death of other people. You have every right to protect yourself from viewing objectionable content, but that right stops far, far short of hurting other people. Going on these crusades DOES NOT HELP against the sort of issues that are purportedly being championed; it only causes more harm. We need to break away from this mindset, from purity culture, before someone is permanently injured or dies.   

FICTION =/= REALITY STOP HURTING PEOPLE

[konamochi]

leon got a haircut!!

[konamochi]

PSA FOR THE FFXV COMMUNITY

Ardyn Izunia is a fucking savage! Pass it on!