#I don't think anyone really makes much money from redbubble as it is

[featheredadora]

Some Redbubble news!

So Redbubble has announced that, from May, they're going to be taking quite a big cut of creator's earnings, which kind of sucks for artists!

Up till now, Redbubble keeps a base manufacturing cost per item, and then the artist gets a margin on top of that. To give an example, when someone pays £15.79 to buy this shirt, currently I get £2.17:

From May onwards, the new fees will mean that I actually will get only £1.17 for that shirt (which cost the buyer £15.79!). Or, if I sell enough to make £20 in a particular month, I'll actually make £10.80 instead.

It's nothing new that Redbubble isn't super great for artists, but it's been a fun little thing to do, and I've always been (and still am!) grateful for everyone who buys stuff from my Redbubble store! I'm a disabled guy, and without places like Redbubble I wouldn't be able to offer people the option to buy my art on merch. It always makes me super happy to hear that there are people out there who like my art enough to wear it on a shirt, and in particular who feel represented by my LGBTQ+ art!

So yeah, this is pretty disappointing news for small artists who use Redbubble.

I don't personally have the spoons right now to trade over to a different site, but it's something I'll definitely be thinking about for the future. But in any case, thank you to everyone who buys my merch (both before and after May), I continue to really appreciate the support!

[sharpth1ng]

hey again!! thank you for answering my ask, and for the clarification! i figured you probably had it all sorted out because you're a grown adult and seem to know your stuff but i still said something anyways just in case haha

i should have been more clear with my original ask but i myself still find all this stuff quite confusing so thats my bad sorry 😞 basically it has nothing to do with the labour of printing or if the company publishes it or not, it’s because fan fiction is already grey area, it’s ok when no one is making money off it. as soon as at any point someone makes any money off it, like these printing companies, or commissioning someone on etsy, or even just going somewhere local to get the pages printed, it now becomes illegal - fanworks infringe on the creator's intellectual property and you need a licencing agreement if it's not public domain etc blah blah blah you get it lol

as soon as the word "pay" comes in, it's illegal - you can't pay for anything, even if you are the one that wrote the fanfic (which fucking sucks). but your merch and stuff is completely fine because the references are based on your original writing, like theyre not gonna be like "how dare you sell this tshirt with a bloody B on it thats illegal!!" bcs that whole thing is entirely unique to your work and has no ties to the original property 👍

but thats just my understanding of it, and the specifications of it can get really confusing!! same thing happens with fanart too, technically you aren't allowed to sell fanart - that's why people often only sell it irl at cons to avoid copyright strikes. but then again there is people selling fanart on redbubble and in fanzines etc so like, i honestly don't know how that side of it works as well?? i think its under a different law since it’s a transformative work maybe...??

its all very confusing i wish clarification was more clear 😭 but you sound like you've looked into it and know what you're doing so thats fantastic, and i'm glad to hear. thank you again for answering so quickly i dont mean to be a bother. ur a talented writer and i loved debaser, keep it up 😊

Yeah no problem! I do appreciate the effort to give a heads up. And like to be fair I’ve done my research but I’m not a copyright lawyer or a legal scholar and the law on this stuff is very confusing to me.

In terms of the fanart stuff my understanding is that it is illegal to sell but for the most part fan Artist are too small for copyright holders to go after, it’s just not really a thing that’s done for the most part. There’s even a number of situations where selling fanart led to those artists being directly employed by the copyright holders. I think it’s very rare for fan artists to get sued for copy right and the only examples I know of are from Disney.

For the most part fanart sold is illegal, but it’s similar to torrenting content where its not really enforced so people do it anyways, and often at a pretty large scale. The stuff on red bubble and in fanzines is also illegal as far as I know, it doesn’t count as transformative.

Honestly I think it’s very unlikely that anyone printing my work would get targeted like that, mostly because this fandom is small and I’m even smaller. I only have a little over 1000 followers here and while that’s more followers than I’ve ever had before in my life it’s pretty much microscopic on the internet. Beyond that there’s less than a handful of printed copies as far as I’m aware.

Honeslty I have a lot of issues with copyright law- obviously it needs to apply to things like generative AI which is essentially a very environmentally damaging collage machine, but in terms of fanart and fanfiction I really don’t see how it could be construed as taking away profit from copyright holders.

People for the most part only read my work because they were already into scream, and a number of people have even told me my work got them to watch scream so if anything I’ve created profit for them. Fandom is the reason these original works have the legacy they do, and fanworks are a massive part of that because you can only consume the original content so many times before you get bored.

Beyond that we wouldn’t have some of our most highly acclaimed cultural works if copyright law had existed hundreds of years ago. Like, Shakespeare would have been fucked.

Alright lmao rant over. Tl;dr I’m doing my best to do this all in a legal way, but it’s good for folks to be aware that there may be an issue with the legality of printing my work even if they aren’t paying me. I think it’s unlikely any of you will face repercussions because this fandom is miniscule but if you’re worried maybe don’t post on Tumblr- but feel free to dm me or post in my discord 👍

[possumsinpeoplesuits]

At long last, my Our Lady of the Passion cosplay is ready for cons!

Based on this picture from Pinterest (google is finding fuck all elsewhere, but if someone knows the source I'll add it.)

The tank top is from Lockedtombmemes' Redbubble store.

The jacket is here, though I've painted the back with some fabric paint. I used the non-heat treating kind and just sort of sketched out the letters with a dark pencil to make sure the placement wasn't too awful.

The dog tags I'm not quite satisfied with because I put too little information on them, and an updated one is still waiting in the mail (I wanted to put the Wing and Cell on it, and had to reread some chapters to verify) There's loads of places to get them, but I used these.

The machetes I don't have many pictures of (I don't have a full length mirror to show them properly strapped to the legs.), but I went a little overbudget to the point it would probably have been cheaper to buy real machetes (but not as welcomed at conventions!) Still, they were from here, in case anyone wants some big ol' 27 inch props instead of the dinky ones from Spirit Halloween.

Gloves were these ones, and they fit my big ol' butch hands just fine. Nothing special there.

For my TACTICAL BLOOD OF EDEN FANNY PACK (which I already wear all the time, but changed colors to match the costume anyways) is this.

The boots are fairly ubiquitous and seem to come from various online sellers, sometimes in men's sizes, sometimes in women's, but this store has them up to a women's size 12, which I needed because I'm lorge.

Now, the mask I'm most proud of! I don't have any experience making costume bits, but I found this one meant for airsoft, which has TWO FUCKING FANS?!?! hidden in the filters to cool my face in the sweltering 80 degree Texas winters.

But! You'll notice the goggles aren't tinted, so I had to figure out how to do them myself to hide my glasses, for REASONS, but this little kit was pretty simple. There's a gluey side, so you just spray the goggles with some water, then slap them down and spend like... a fucking hour or two squeezing out the air bubbles, but aside from a single wrinkle, I think they turned out great! The red also provides some good contrast.

Now, the pants were pretty simple. These come with knee pads, and the black camo looks really nice with the gray coat and black shirt. It did take two attempts to get some that fit (One seller had the XL listed as having a 44 inch waist, equivalent to a women's 18, but labeled elsewhere with the true size of 36 inches, the bastards.), but where I got silly was the straps.

I got this tactical belt, which seems to have tipped the number of tactical things I can search for before search engines decide you're a bootlicker, and intended to use a single bike strap on each leg to hold the other end, which, well... two problems.

The blades were now being bent by my massive fucking quads because I've been doing a shitload of exercise to get fit, because apparently all I needed to get into the gym five times a week was wanting to look like my specialist book blorbo.

I couldn't bend my fucking hips.

So! I ended up ordering a total of SIX STRAPS for my legs, pairing two up high to fit the wider part of my leg, and a single one down near the knee. The upper ones I later looped through the belt to hold them up, which also doubles for making the trousers into a fucking cod piece, which, hey, some people like that. The lower ones were led up by the knee pad, so I had a somewhat stable set of six straps and one belt, which is dangerously close to becoming a Nomura-era Final Fantasy character, but hey, I gave myself carpal tunnel marathoning all the Kingdom Hearts games last year, so that's not a problem.

All in all, it probably cost me... well, more money than it should have, but it's all pretty quality stuff that I'm sure will be very toasty if we ever happen to have another winter down south.

Also, last note... boots of any kind are so much more comfortable with insoles. They don't have to be expensive, but your feet and knees will thank you at conventions when they have a good cushion under your heels.

That's about all I've learned putting this together! I'm 5'9 and around 250 pounds, give or take, so most of this is men's garments, which means the pockets are DEEP AS FUCK. Perfect for collecting small rocks.

Just something to keep in mind.

(See y'all at the conventions. I promise my Yorkshire accent will be less goofy by then, but I can't promise I'll be as nasally as the audiobook.)

[voidtouched-blue]

Legitimately just been vibin' all day.

I appreciate y'alls' patience with me.

I typically don't share unless directly messaged, but I figured anyone who really wants to will read. I'm sorry if this seems like clickbait. XD

This last year has been particularly difficult for me. I've been struggling a lot with impostor syndrome in the vast ocean of artists online. My work can always do with improvement, but this year has been rough in particular for a variety of reasons.

I just turned 30 in July. I have a degree in animation that I'm not using, and the career I wanted to get into out of college is out of reach. Along with that, I'm very slow at my work (I know that the more I create, the faster it will get), and it's not fast enough to be a creature concept artist or illustrator in the games industry. Regardless, I really love what I do.

I've had a lot of existential crises this year, and that's partially due to the fact that I really don't make much money from my freelance work. We could use the extra money I would make from my redbubble store, or help pay for stuff with the commissions I get, but I just don't work fast enough for it to really make a dent in our bills. (We're not currently struggling it's just something I think about).

I'm not crying out for help, I promise.

I'm just reflecting on how nice it feels to have a win for once. I finished a piece that I haven't been overly critical of. I finished something that's gotten the most positive outpouring of all of my pieces online, and I'm honestly overwhelmed with joy. I don't often talk about my achievements, I don't like to come off as being boastful. But there's nothing wrong with wanting recognition for hard work.

This is horribly OOC, but I really needed this.

Art aside, I'm really fucking happy that something gave me the desire to get back into the RPC on Tumblr after taking a 3 year hiatus. All of you are so goddamn nice and it just motivated me to want to keep working through the slump I've been in since July.

To all friends old and new,

Thank you so much.

I mean it.

[somnolent-scout]

I have a Redbubble, a Teepublic, an Etsy, and commissions open. But uhh.. I think I've made about $100 from all of those alternative incomes in the past year. I don't think I've actually been able to sell anything on my Redbubble. I just made my Teepublic about two minutes ago. I've definitely sold a lot with my Etsy, but my 'Teenage Gays with no income' market mindset when it comes to pricing is sort of getting me in trouble with the supply/demand costs. The cost of the acrylic keychains doesn't match the price I sell them for because I wanted to price them low so my friends could afford them. The enamel pins were so overwhelmingly expensive to make that I had to put them at a high price to make back the money I spent on supply of those things. I paid about $193 USD for a 20 pack of the sniper pins. I wanted to make an entire series of the class icon pins, but that would cost me almost $1,000 in the end. Vograce does have discounts for that kind of mass production purchasing, but it would still be well over how much I made in a month while working at McDonald's. My bi-weekly paychecks were running around $300-$500 for most of the time I worked.

I'm trying to work with the McDonald's near my house for employment, but they keep making things more difficult and complicated. It's a corporate store, which means they have to follow all the strict rules the company has set. They've had all these ridiculous rules, requirements, paperwork, policies, and uniforms. It's aggravating to have to wait for them to issue me an entire uniform that I'll probably have serious sensory issues with. The restaurant hates it when I call, and I always end up talking to some angry lady before the location's main manager picks up. Even worse, they don't even need me there to clean or anything like that. They already have custodial staff and people for that. So I would probably be stuck at the counter all day and occasionally restock.

Tomorrow is my interview with the McDonald's in Maple Valley, which is a franchise store and is way more relaxed than the other. They don't have anyone running the lobby specifically and I haven't seen janitor staff. So it looks like these guys might actually need my help, and I might actually have a job. I hope everything works out with this one because I really don't want to be stuck at the Covington location.

Sorry for rambling about my finances and income, but this helped me clear my head a lot. I think I know what I need to do tomorrow. I'm gonna go sleep now so i get rest..

[wixibaby]

A Little Information on my Post+ Policy

I think post+ is the stupidest shit to ever be conceived by the tumblr staff. From the shitty UI changes to their shitty... everything. Search system, NSFW policy, tag blockage, user blockage, and everything in between, I have begrudgingly put up with all of it. However, post+ is where I draw the line and actively point out what I will do about it.

I will NEVER use post+ for a number of reasons. Mostly, I have 3 reasons:

1: I don't want lawsuits

I'm sure you are aware that I draw things related to Five Night's at Freddy's, Pokemon, and a myriad of fan work. Because these fan works are copyrighted properties I do not have the rights to, posting my work is technically copyright infringement. My FNaF AU may fall into a weird niche with fair use because it is a re-interpretation of the canon lore. However, I don't have the rights to any of the properties I draw.

For those of you wondering, no. Making money off of something doesn't automatically mean it's not fair use. Something like a parody is fair use, which is why South Park was able to recreate bits of the "What What in the Butt" video. The episode was considered a transformative work, and, therefore, fair use.

I won't go into harsh detail as to why fair use cases are not determined by monetization, but there is a great video by YourMovieSucks and an easy to read article elaborating on fair use.

Post+, in my case, would be the monetization of intellectual properties, which may not be the reason why a fair use case occurs, but it would attract attention.

Say I use post+ and charge $10 for my supporters to view this Pokemon fanart I am in the midst of making:

If I got, like, four people to pay the $10 then, even though I am infringing on the Pokemon Company's market by drawing their properties and selling it, and I am not really transforming or making a parody of Pokemon, it is very unlikely they will notice, let alone care, as I just made $40. It's not worth their time or money to sue me.

HOWEVER, if I made $1,000,000, (which is very very unlikely but let's say I did) then the Pokemon Company would probably see/hear of it and could very easily sue me for copyright infringement and could demand a lot of money; money I don't have and will probably never have.

2: My work is for everyone to enjoy

I already have means of people supporting me if they so choose. I have a redbubble and I have commissions. If someone wants to pay for a print or a sticker of my art or pay me to draw something for them, that is their choice to make and it is not mandatory. If you would like to support me, all the information can be found on my carrd. You can support me, but you do not have to.

I make art for fun. I have been drawing since I was young and I find art an enjoyable talent of mine I want to pursue as a career when I am older. However, my social media is free because I do not believe someone should be forced to pay to see my stuff. I do it for fun, and while making money is nice, whether or not someone chooses to support me, that is entirely their decision. Whether it be they don't have the money, are saving up for something they really want, or simply don't want to purchase anything, that is their choice. Not mine.

If you really want to support me without spending cash, reblogging stuff is a HUGE help. The algorithm will boost my art and will get my work out to other people. It really does help.

I do not believe in charging people to enjoy my blog, which is why I hate post+. Although some people may want to use it, post+ is not like Patreon where there are additional benefits for paying, be it a discount on commissions or something like that. The perk for paying money is to be able to see my fucking blog, and that goes against what I stand for.

3: There are better alternatives:

If I really did want to do something like post+, which I have no intentions of at the moment, then there are better alternatives that I trust, like Patreon. Patreon would allow me to offer perks for supporting me, like tutorials, discounts, first dibs on prints and merch, etc. More importantly, I trust them. As much as I enjoy Tumblr, I do not trust a site that can't even get its fucking search tool right with my bank account information.

Furthermore, if someone supports you on post+, you can't block them. I block people for the integrity of my blog, and even though Tumblr's block system barely works at all, it makes me feel better when I know I am blocking shit I do not support. I don't support hateful crap, trashing anyone for their color or their heritage or size or shape or appearance or disabilities or really any superficial feature you can think of is annoying, pretentious, and y'know, just yucky in general and I will block it. If someone were to be someone who I would block, but they pay me $1 a month, I literally wouldn't be able to fucking block them and I don't like that thought.

TL;DR: I don't want to get wrapped up in lawsuits, I don't believe in charging people to see my stuff (buying something is their choice), and I wouldn't be able to block blogs that I don't want on my page. I will not be using post+ ever! You can always support me on my redbubble or by buying a commission, but I'm not offended if you don't!

[witch-hazel-grey]

So this year was the first year I've actually made any effort to be an artist -one that makes money from art. Maybe not maximum, dig deep, nothing-but-art-eat-and-sleep effort, but more than zero effort. I've been collecting inspiration from other artists with similar subjects, I signed up for the Society of Children's Book Authors and looked at other illustrator's work to study what I'm doing right/what I need to work on, I've been looking into product sites like Society 6 and Redbubble, I've been trying to at least draw every day, and I've made a substantial list for potential things...

And now, idk. I don't think I'm burnt out on art. I want to do creative things all the time, but I also recently moved to a new state, and getting settled is taking more time and effort than I thought it would; I got a new job which I don't hate, and has really good hours, but the pay is not great so I'm having to work to learn a lot so I can earn more and actually pay some bills, and I'm trying to shed off the weight I gained during the HIGH STRESS of my last job, and maybe I'm just stretching myself too thin? Maybe I have too many goals. But I'm afraid if I tell myself it's okay to put down my artistic aspirations for now I won't pick them up again.

It's so easy for me to look at things that are supposed to be inspiring, but think instead that I'll never be that good. That I'll never actually do anything with art or writing. That that effort will never go anywhere and it's a waste of effort I could be using to get/work at a better paying job, and accomplish "real world" aspirations like own a house, or go to a doctor more often than just for life-threatening issues, or have all my "luxury bones". And maybe having money would make me happier (spoiler: yes, it would as I am currently VERY broke all the time; it's very stressful), but how would knowing I tried to achieve a life-long dream and quit so quickly make me feel?

I think, sometimes, that maybe having a full time job, again, might not make as big an impact as I worry it would -I did some of my best paintings working at my last job- but could I still pursue being an illustrator, or would I just paint cute things over the weekend? I had more fun just painting over the weekend. And I didn't criticize my artwork nearly as harshly... But would I'm not doing great at my current job, and don't know how I'd do in a higher stress one with more scrutiny. Plus, now people have expectations of me. People I care about believe in me (and my coworker at work seems to really like me being there) and I'd feel very guilty to quit.

But I just feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I'm in my fantasy worlds in my head SO much of the time. My ADHD has been really bad, presumably because I have 50 things to worry about at all times. It's hard for me to focus on anything real; my brain wants to be far away from all the real.

Everyone keeps telling me to stay where I am, that they support me, and I feel like, by wanting to do anything different, I'm struggling against the tightly clasped arms of a loving hug.

I don't know what to do. I feel like an idiot, and that any decision I make will be wrong. There is no right decision, here, and I am so stressed out, and I really do need to go to a doctor since apparently I have a danger gene, and my cats need checkups, and my car needs... too many things, and my credit is so, sooo bad.

I really don't know what to do... But I don't think anyone here will read this. I'm not adding tags since the only thing I think would be accurate would be like "privileged whining of a wannabe artist" or something. Ideally, I'll just stop wanting anything and be happy haha. Or get fired for being so easily distracted and day-dreamy, and then I'll HAVE to find a new job, and things will work themselves out. Or, considerably less likely, but maximum idealism, a very rich, eccentric stranger will somehow see my art and say "I MUST have this painting of a giant mushroom village! Here is 2 million dollars" hahaha

But I'm sure things will work out somehow... hopefully.

[artmill-danaan]

Same feelings here

Some Redbubble news!

So Redbubble has announced that, from May, they're going to be taking quite a big cut of creator's earnings, which kind of sucks for artists!

Up till now, Redbubble keeps a base manufacturing cost per item, and then the artist gets a margin on top of that. To give an example, when someone pays £15.79 to buy this shirt, currently I get £2.17:

From May onwards, the new fees will mean that I actually will get only £1.17 for that shirt (which cost the buyer £15.79!). Or, if I sell enough to make £20 in a particular month, I'll actually make £10.80 instead.

It's nothing new that Redbubble isn't super great for artists, but it's been a fun little thing to do, and I've always been (and still am!) grateful for everyone who buys stuff from my Redbubble store! I'm a disabled guy, and without places like Redbubble I wouldn't be able to offer people the option to buy my art on merch. It always makes me super happy to hear that there are people out there who like my art enough to wear it on a shirt, and in particular who feel represented by my LGBTQ+ art!

So yeah, this is pretty disappointing news for small artists who use Redbubble.

I don't personally have the spoons right now to trade over to a different site, but it's something I'll definitely be thinking about for the future. But in any case, thank you to everyone who buys my merch (both before and after May), I continue to really appreciate the support!