#literally like the first thing i've drawn and colored and put actually effort into in like weeks

[vypridae]

first time drawing the Biblically Accurate Boys TM was a few days ago and i just forgot to post them so here you go

[gamebunny-advance]

Sus.

I just need to get this story off my chest because it's been bothering me since it happened. It's nothing really relevant to what I usually post or anything that's happened here, so feel free to skip this "story" if the subject matter offends you.

Content Warning for minors in implied sexual situations.

So, Youtube likes to recommend cartoon review/analysis videos to me, even of shows I've never watched. Sometimes I watch them because I like watching people be passionate about any given subject.

But other times they can be a little cringe because it's still grown adults yelling about cartoons, ya know? I'm happy that they've got something they're passionate enough about to sink so much time and effort into a video, but that doesn't automatically make me share their enthusiasm, especially if it's coming from a place of a bad faith criticism.

For the most part, I just move on from videos that give that vibe, but I recently came across one that disturbed me in a way that no one in the comments was really pointing out because they were too busy agreeing with the sentiment that the cartoon in question was bad.

The video was about some reboot for Tiny Toon Adventures (I literally know nothing about it other than what the video told me, and at this point I'd rather not learn anything more about it).

The video had pretty high production values all things considered, with a lot of original animation and art, like actual lip-synching on the avatar and detailed backgrounds as opposed to the static sprites on single colored/patterned backgrounds I usually see among cartoon critics.

I didn't stay long enough for the credits or check the description, but presumably all the art was done by the speaker/creator. Due to this, I was impressed enough to stick around to see what he had to say. Generally speaking, you just don't put that amount of effort into something that you're not passionate about, and I'm here for the passion first and opinions second.

The first talking point was about how the show apparently changed the relationship between the lead characters, Babs and Buster Bunny, from friends/lovers to siblings. This was gotten across in the usual way of the speaker overacting how angry/shocked they are about what is honestly a mundane change in the grand scheme of things. This was turn-off number 1 because I don't find the "caustic critic" to be that funny, especially when it's in service to bad faith criticisms. But, that wasn't what really disturbed me.

What set off a red flag to me, was the "skit" that followed.

The speaker detailed a situation where children, illustrated as a young girl and young boy, who were fans of the new reboot would eventually go back and watch the original show and be corrupted due to them misunderstanding the characters' relationship as being incestuous. I thought that this point was heavily exaggerated (as bits of this nature tend to be), but it's still not what disturbed me.

What disturbed me was how one of the sight gags to illustrate this point was to show the children wearing character themed underwear.

I'm not saying the underwear was drawn as a separate prop that they were implied to be wearing. I mean that as a part of the gag, I was forced to briefly look at two children standing in their underwear for no good reason. And to get to that gag, the characters were first fully dressed in merch before revealing their underwear underneath.

So not only was I forced to look at two children standing in their underwear, but they were literally undressed in front of me to make that "joke".

And immediately following that, I'm also forced to look at the girl child wrapped up in a spiderweb about to be eaten by a giant spider to illustrate the point that the kids are now trapped in some sort of "mindweb" from the confusion.

So me, knowing that tying people in spiderwebs is an uncommon but real fetish, felt deeply uncomfortable by this scene occurring right after the children were shown half naked.

Like, I'm not accusing that creator of anything because none of this is proof of any wrongdoing or bad intention outside of the bad faith criticism of the show. But I will say that I was so disturbed by this that I literally couldn't watch the rest of the video, so I don't know if it got worse from there.

But to try and prove that I'm not trying to say this in bad faith, I'll grant a couple of "outs":

The children weren't drawn particularly realistically: they were stick figure-esque in comparison to the more detailed art in the rest of the video that I saw. If the artist really wanted to detail these children, they probably would have, so I don't believe the drawings were meant to be especially gratifying.

I also know that cartoon print underwear is a shorthand for the character wearing them to be obsessed with the cartoon on the underwear. It's literally a joke from the Spongebob Movie, so if this guy was old enough to have been a fan of the original Tiny Toons, then he probably would have been in the age range to watch that movie and internalize that joke (or seen it elsewhere in a different cartoon). So it's possible that he might not have considered the implications of showing a child in a similar situation.

Additionally, while I don't recall much of Tiny Toons, I know that it's one of those shows that while it's made for children/general audiences, has a lot of mature humor, so maybe he thought he was doing the same thing without considering the implications of what he'd done.

Which is basically the same justification as the last point, but really the only way I can imagine someone thinking any of that was okay is ignorance.

But your dear ol'Sammy has been around the block a few times. Even though I can easily make up reasons why all this could be completely innocent/accidental, I feel like I can tell the difference between someone who made an honest mistake, and someone that is incapable of hiding what they really are. And this is sadly falling under the latter.

I always hope that I'm wrong in situations like this. I hope that I'm just paranoid and there's no malice at play here because my goal is not to punish wrongdoing, it's to make sure that other people are safe. But I can't ignore a red flag once I see it, and it was driving me crazy that no one seemed to be acknowledging it.

I won't link the video here because I don't want it to spread around, but if you really want to seek it out, then I've probably given enough information for you to find it on your own and make your own judgement about it.

[winterofherdiscontent]

Hi! Um... first: I love your art. I'm thinking to study graphic design, and I will at the end of this month, in fact. I'm 20, and I'd like to know your experience as illustrator. I'm nervous. But I've come for advice. I know that this can be a little personal and not the regular ask... but when I look your works, I feel like... something indescribable, and you really inspire me to go on. What did you study? How is it? How is the life? Is it very hard? I'm chilean and I'd like to be this later...

hello! 

i hope it’s ok i’m answering this publicly as i often receive asks similar to this and i never quite know how to reply – so i’m going to share a little bit of my personal journey in becoming a freelance illustrator: 

first off - i am completely self-taught. my journey as an illustrator started off on a very different foot to most i’m guessing because it started with a dream. an actual dream… i started my adult working life as a librarian but shortly into that my health deteriorated rapidly, without warning and with no visible easy explanation and i had no idea what was going on. i was misdiagnosed with simple work stress by a doctor at the time (not actually what was wrong physically it turned out years later) and this caused me to stop my career as a librarian – it was at this same time i had a dream about a tree. 

it was one of those dreams that are incredibly vivid, haunting and the kind that stay with you long after you wake up. i had this same dream over and over for months. this tree i still can’t completely do justice to describing. it was immense. it was beyond immense - in the dream i couldn’t even begin to fathom where it started or ended. it was that huge. the dream didn’t go away and i started doodling on bits of paper with a regular office pen. i felt like i needed to get this tree in some way on a physical surface. i moved onto colored pencils. the results were… very much not good. i then started to try watercolors …i had literally no idea what i was doing and it was a lot of fun and simultaneously one of the most stressful learning curves i’ve ever put myself through but so worth it. there was this feeling. this something inside me that kept pushing me to draw even while i was in pain. drawing and painting started to become a form of almost meditation for me. i started having more dreams. vivid surreal almost fairy tale style dreams. 

i couldn’t at the time find any local classes teaching the type of art i wanted to learn. basically, long story short i went online and started using my history degree to study the art styles of older time periods. i started researching artists i admired. i looked through my collection of children’s fairy tales and illustrated early 20th century children’s stories. i discovered the work of arthur rackham and kay nielsen, i went to the 1970s science fantasy novels i hoarded from old bookstores. i discovered the work of frank frazetta, brian froud and yoshitaka amano – i realized i wanted to draw like these artists. so i started researching some more. 

i won’t go into the actual monotonous specifics of the day to day journey of my teaching myself how i create art. what i will do is share with you some more general things i’ve discovered through trial and error that will hopefully be helpful 

(below the cut because this got long) – 

i) use references. seriously …many famous artists have used live models historically for a reason. look up local life drawing classes in your area if you’ve not already. if they are available and in your budget (if not free) great! if not go outside and draw from life. what is it you’re drawn to around you? focus on that. i take a sketchbook with me everywhere i go these days. alternatively use a mirror and focus on the way your body sits or stands. how do you want that pose to look? go and look at how your body positions itself in front of a mirror 

ii) you are unique. how your mind views the sensory input around you is different to literally every other person you will meet. how you draw whether a beginner or an advance artist is completely unique so when starting out on this path do yourself a favor - don’t simply try to copy art you like. look at it. enjoy it. focus on trying to figure out exactly what it is you’re drawn to in that artists work. then go and practice your own interpretation of that subject matter. don’t publish the results. learn from them. if you simply copy another artists work you are picking up their weaknesses as well as doing nothing more than portraying a version of someone else’s way of looking at the world rather than your own 

iii) practice. its a cliche for a reason. when you’re a beginner illustrator you will spend countless hours drawing. feeling like you are getting nowhere. your art style takes time and practice. drawing that hand the way you want takes time. it takes endless mistakes before you start to realize what it is you are doing wrong and start to spot the mistakes. practice speed sketching. draw the flow not the static rigid lines. again - look at things and spot the flow of movement. you will get better. trust me. the more you look the better you will get at seeing the rhythm of the character and composition of the subject matter 

iv) art school? yes or no? …i never went to an art class in my life. i made up the rules as i went. i made so many mistakes. i had crazy 3am breakthroughs realizing techniques that are unique to how i create art. school is not for everyone. however it is for some an absolute essential tool in their journey - so try it and see! whats the worst that could happen? …like anything in life there’s no “one size fits all” learning path that fits everyone. one thing art school can give you is networking. it can give you discipline. connections for future jobs. opening pathways to future work opportunities 

v) freelance illustration. it’s definitely not for everyone. on the plus side you can work on that commissioned job with unwashed hair piled on your head. 5 empty coffee cups next to you in your pajamas and no one will judge you except your pets. on the minus side it is not an automatically guaranteed easy or steady income. if you can supplement your freelance income from art with other jobs do it. don’t go into this thinking you will magically overnight build up a loyal client base. this takes time. it takes effort. putting yourself out there online and in person. networking. building up a friendship with artists online and in real life as you go out into the art world. put yourself out there. what’s the worst that can happen? the popular artist online you sent a hello to ignores you? its not the end of the world and more often than you’d think artists who are already established are awesome amazing and kind people who will take the time to answer your questions and talk to you. enter art contests and competitions. exposure is an invaluable tool 

vi) have fun …above all else keep reminding yourself why you’re drawn to this path and take time out to draw silly things. remind yourself regularly why you personally want to do this for a living. spend time drawing what you love not just commissioned jobs and work related art content 

vii) if you go the path of freelance illustrator then make sure you set up a clear and concise set of guidelines for clients. be approachable but be clear on what and how you go about your process when being commissioned for big or small jobs. be consistent. be transparent in how you conduct yourself with clients. be clear in your communication. don’t be a push over. set yourself do-able goals with commissioned work. don’t take on too much at any one time - give yourself a structure you know going into it you will stick to from the beginning. if in doubt research online and look at what  artists you admire have in their ‘f. a. q’ section - look at these as templates of what will and won’t work for you personally 

i know i’ve forgotten a million topics that are all relevant to your question, lovely …these are more in the way of a few general guidelines of what i’ve personally experienced in becoming a freelance illustrator ♥