#reblogs are a huge help! Likes are appreciated-but not especially helpful with commission posts lol

[sorrelmoon]

Commissions are OPEN!

* Full Body: $35-$45 (+$20 for each additional body)

* + Shaded Background: $30

* Headshot: $25-$35

* Ref Sheets: $40-$50

[paperwick]

Artist Interview with Kallie LeFave

Last week I got to sit down and interview an artist I admire, Kallie LeFave. Her work has inspired me for a while, and she very kindly agreed to take the time to chat with me about her social media, past struggles, and how fanart has impacted her freelance business.

Kallie Lefave is a self-taught illustrator with a focus in fantasy, and has been successfully freelancing for nearly 7 years. She has a keen eye for color and shape dynamics.

D: You're pretty active on social media, at least from what I've seen on Twitter. How many platforms do you maintain?

K: Right now I'm active on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, all of which I can be found under @kallielef

D: How much of your day, or week, do you devote to your social media? Not just posting and retweeting/reblogging other's work, but also creating the artwork you use on social.

K: Well, my schedule has changed a lot with a toddler, but I'd say right now I devote about 2-3 hours of the day to creating work along with posting to my platforms. So, perhaps 30 minutes retweeting/reblogging/liking art and maybe 1-2 hours painting and drawing.

Weekends I get a little more free time, so maybe 3-4 hours then, but that can always change with a kiddo.

D: I believe it! Starting a family will shake up any schedule for sure. Has it impacted your approach or your artwork in unforeseen ways?

K: Oh, definitely! I waited (and contemplated) on having a child for almost ten years because I was worried about how it would affect my time to create. My daughter had some complications, a breathing issue after she was born which made my brain switch gears, and all my focus went towards her. For a while I found myself frustrated needing a creative outlet, but ultimately having a child helped me learn balance and selflessness. Because of her, not only do I have a more structured and valued appreciation for time dedicated to creating art, but being around a child really has expanded the way I look at and feel about art.

D: Oh wow, even in retrospect that’s scary to think about, I'm glad things worked out! It sounds like it's really changed things up for you. Did you struggle with balance before you had your daughter?

K: Yes, I did struggle, but in the sense that I had so much time on my hands and not enough discipline, and I would overwork myself. My schedule was a hodgepodge of doing studies, learning more about digital art, learning and practicing fundamentals, free art and commission work. Now, I know for the most part what to expect of the day and myself, but also that everything can change and I need to make the most of the time I'm given.

D: That's encouraging, I feel like it's a pretty common problem among artists to struggle with discipline and overwork. Do you have any general advice for people who are facing those same troubles?

K: Yeah, for sure! I always look at a creator like George R R Martin and Stephen King; both incredibly talented and creative artists, but very different disciplines when it comes to creating. I had a professor once tell me that I had a "dancing brush", which she said meant that I traveled a lot around a painting, not settling on one thing for too long. That's very much how my mind feels, constantly dancing and entertaining ideas. If I feel myself getting too overwhelmed or overworking something, sometimes I just have to verbally tell myself to stop and move on, otherwise I'll just get stuck. If I'm afraid to try something or don't have the confidence, or lack of motivation, I like what Even Amundsen once said, "f*!%$ it, Let's DO IT!"

D: Ha ha, I like that a lot!

K: Yes, it's on a sticky note on my computer!

D: How long has it taken you to build up a following? Was there anything that kick-started that process for you, like a shift in what or how you posted content? Or has it been a steady increase from the start?

K: I started working in digital art in 2014, where I began scanning in penciled drawings of all the Hobbit characters, and that was my introduction into fandoms. It wasn't until about a year later when I discovered A Song of Ice and Fire, along with the Game of Thrones series, that I really got invested in a fandom. That's where I created a piece of Sandor Clegane "The Hound" and Arya Stark, posting on Deviantart and got one of their Daily Deviations. I didn't know what that was at the time, but saw that it brought in a lot of new followers and interest to my work. That was exciting, I love having conversations with people and the fan art engaged me with so many other fans. So, I had a small following start there which grew a lot for some time in the GoT fandom. After that, I created works for The Hobbit and Dragon Age fandom, which I'm still currently creating artwork of, but I'm not certain my following has grown very much-it's been steady, but small. That used to disappoint me some, that I didn't have a huge following, but I kind of like my small groups; I get to spend more time talking to people and less pressure on myself.

D: Fan art has been a large part of your online work, how has it informed your professional work? Has having a fan-base built on fanworks impacted your business significantly?

K: A lot of the work I do professionally is because clients found me through fandoms, and it's definitely impacted my business. But one thing that is always flattering and fun are the clients who want me to create their original characters or concepts. For them to feel confident enough in my abilities to recreate their ideas means a lot and tells me I must be doing something right! That also helps give me encouragement to create my own characters, and hopefully one day make solely original content to sell (like Pete Morbacher, Charlie Bowater, Eli Baum, Valentina Remenar, Lois van Baarle, and Minna Sundberg).

D:Do you have a commissions page?

K: Thank you very much! At the moment I don't, but I'll be setting something up in the near future. I'll definitely let people know when I'm taking commission work again.

D: As a self taught artist, how do you feel about the art college dilemma? Especially with online course schools like schoolism and CTRL+Paint available?

K: Ha, I was just reading about the topic in imagineFX magazine. I went to school for traditional art with a focus in abstract expressionism and conceptualism. I'm not sure I really learned anything, unfortunately, BUT the discipline, structure,  connections and social networking I made at that time were helpful. I think a lot of digital artists would agree that going to art school has those same benefits and can help a lot of people who are lacking in discipline, creating a daily syllabi and have a hard time meeting people. But also, I have taken a few self taught Schoolism courses, and loved them. I think if you have the time to invest in courses like that (or the free ones like ctrl paint), and are willing to be disciplined, they can be very effective. In short, I feel both traditional and online schools have a lot to offer, it’s just a matter of what you're willing to invest in.

*when I say I didn't learn anything from school, I mean the fundamentals or "how to paint", haha. I did learn a lot otherwise.

D: What has been the most challenging thing for you in art?

K: The first thing that comes to mind is building up a memory of what I'm trying to learn or practice, like how light hits the planes of a face or how a figure should look when turned at a certain angle. I still have to reference things as my memory can betray me lol, but I'm starting to see things being remembered and clicking.

D: Is there someone lately whose art has really inspired you? Or some recommended reading you'd like to share?

K: A lot of the Pixar/Disney art teams, like Mingju Helen Chen, Corey Loftis, Minkyu Lee. I'm learning a lot about shape language looking at their art. There's always Charlie Bowater, too, who I think is a bit of a wizard with her brush. Art related reading-I have been listening to Bobby Chiu's "The Perfect Bait" on youtube, hopefully it will be in print again one day because it's a very resourceful art book. Non art-I read devotionals daily, currently one about the ego and it just helps keep me grounded.

Kallie has a lot of great insight, and is just an incredible artist. You can find Kallie’s work on most social media platforms under her handle kallielef:

https://twitter.com/kallielef

https://kallielef.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kallielef/

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Art reposting etiquette

I see art theft happen a lot, and whether or not it's true or has just been happening more frequently in the circles I follow I can't help but at least feel like it's becoming more and more of a problem.

To be clear, "reposting" is downloading art from a website that you did not make or own, and uploading it as a separate post, regardless of where and how it's presented - with notable exception of header and profile pictures assuming they are not trying to imitate the artist. Not all art theft is reposting, but all improper reposting is art theft.

As cut and dry as "stop art theft it's bad, don't repost art" posts make it sound, there are several benevolent reasons people may want to repost such as:

Believing they are spreading the artist's influence around the internet

Adding intrigue or a visual aid to a fanfiction

Sharing some neat art they thought was really cool

Just to name a few

Assuming the best in people, these are not necessarily bad reasons and DON'T MAKE PEOPLE BAD, but many often don't understand there's a dark side to the reposting issue.

People who may want more art may be unable to find the original creator

People may not realize that the artist makes rent with the very artwork you're enjoying and they may be looking at stolen premium content meant to put food on the table

People take art and further edit it so that it becomes even harder to trace back to the original

Malicious websites and bots find popular fanart and illegally use it to produce bootleg merch. This has a double-whammy effect when someone sees the merch IRL when out and about and wants it because it's cool art of their favorite character but don't realize the artist is actively being robbed.

Reposting art makes it harder for the artist to track down the thief and take legal action as well as actively funnels traffic away from their business. By and large it should always be assumed that reposting for any reason is damaging to the artist's wellbeing; and frankly, if you don't care you're actively hurting someone, it makes you the asshole, not me for calling you out.

But, that isn't to say reposting is NEVER allowed, but ONLY UNDER EXTREMELY SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES. That's the point of this post.

Before you can decide if you should even attempt to repost art, check these things first:

If it says directly on the art "do not repost" don't waste your time. They are not going to make an exception for you.

Check to see if the art is already on the platform you're planning to upload to (especially here on Tumblr). Often, artists make it a point to put their work in very specific locations for their own reasons. They may not want their work on your website at all and you need to respect that.

Gain the artist's explicit permission after explaining where you want to repost their work, which work you want to repost, and why with how you plan to credit them. If you gain permission, keep a copy of the conversation for your own protection. If you do not gain permission, don't repost at all.

If you gain permission to repost art, these things are an absolute necessity:

Mention of the artist's name

THEIR main platform of choice

link to the original piece used

It would likely look something like this:

Artwork uploaded with express permission by @[artist] on [website], found here - (hyperlinked to original piece)

Bonus information to include:

Additional social media handles of the artist

Link to the artist's Patreon and/or Ko-Fi if available

Link to artist's store if available

Hyperlinking the image itself so other users can just click it to find the work/artist

Remember reposting should be about the artist, NOT YOU. You didn't create the work, and even if you supported them via Patreon it still doesn't belong to you, nor are you entitled to it. A commission you personally paid for is the only piece of work of that artist's creation you are ever entitled to unless otherwise stated in a contract when you bought it.

To continue to cover my bases I'm going to address some stances that may pop up about the issue:

"I didn't know reposting was that bad!"

It's okay. That's why I made this post. In general, as a supportive fan and consumer you should try to learn how artists are rewarded for their work on different platforms. YouTube is different from Instagram is different from Facebook is different from Tumblr. Learn which best ways to support your favorite artists in the ways that are most beneficial to them, even if all they ask for is respect and a little appreciation. And do take down any art you may have reposted. It can continue to do damage by remaining up, but removing it almost always mitigates any future harm and genuinely helps. Now you know better and can be better moving forward!

"I can't get ahold of the artist for permission."

Don't repost it then. Remember, at the end of the day reposting is only good for the reposter in fake internet points or actual money/intellectual property stolen but always tangibly hurts the artist. It sucks, but they have a right to determine where and how their hard work is displayed.

"Whatever, I'll do what I want. Lol"

Enjoy your takedown. Hey, artists, did you know you can find each website's terms of service and figure out how to submit a report with the offending post and user, and they're usually good about getting it down within days?! Look for "misappropriation" that's your ticket! 😊

But seriously, repeat offenders can get permanently banned from sites and even sued for actual real-world money and damages over your precious fake internet points. It actually pays to not be an ass!

"But I just want to support the artist and reposting is so easy!"

You know what's even easier?

It's literally only one or two clicks to support the artist or tell them how much you love their work! Most other platforms make supporting content creators just as easy, and some platforms even PAY the creators based on them or enable them to grasp opportunities to be paid!

"But I don't want to bog down my followers with a huge reblog dump of one person's stuff."

Put it in queue to space it out, then.

"I don't have money to support the artist so I repost instead to give them exposure."

Time and time again it's been proven that reposting actively funnels money AWAY from them. You don't have to monetarily support them with much. Buy one thing from their store or give them $1 on Ko-Fi. If you can't even do that, tell them you love their stuff and shout to the rooftops where someone else can pay them; but don't make it harder for them to get paid. Too many artists "die of exposure."

"Why do you even care?"

I AM an artist. I currently support artists with real money monthly because I love their work. I only ever make money off my own art on commissions, and that relies on people being able to find me. I'm not even the one supporting my two children, husband, pet, and medical expenses with only this option to pay for it, and you bet your butt I still would be pissed if I ever found out my art had been misappropriated. Some people do this to SURVIVE and I want to see that those who do have as little unnecessary struggle with it as possible.

"It's fanart/fan content put on the internet for free I can do whatever I want with it!"

At least in North America the law says you can't. Did you know that the way laws are currently written, if someone takes a picture of you and finds a way to make money off that photo they don't owe you a dime? They hold the copyright to it. When art is displayed publicly, that copyright is not surrendered and is automatically afforded to the artist by virtue of it being their specific expression and work. By being their work, they can actually sue you for stealing their property.

Ask Disney, they're really good at it.

And to close this out I want to say one more thing: the internet has changed a LOT in the time I started browsing from the early 2000's. Rules are different, cultures are different, and for younger people especially you may not understand how some have had to (and still do) fight tooth and nail over this internet space and still make it.

If you didn't know all this, THAT'S OKAY! You're learning, and the internet is more or less a wild west right now. That means it's equal opportunity to be a killing field or a place we can lift up and support each other. Reposting is just one corner of the bad things that can come of it, but now you know how to help and even start reversing the damage.

Learn about how people who upload free content make money. When you find misappropriated work, report them to the site and try to inform the artist - don't even acknowledge the thief, just slap a ticket on them and move on. Teach others how and why reposting is bad and what they can do to help.

If you love free content, show respect and protect it. Otherwise, artists will have to put it behind a paywall and that content you loved will disappear over time. Respect will get you a much greater return than entitlement.

[vishnya-azraq]

Oookay, I really need help, now.

I didn't think it would happen, but I have huge financial problems. I did everything to prevent this but at the end it's the same.

I'm gonna explain that as much as I can > I received a mail from my previous landlords saying that they wouldn't give my rent security back (i guess it's how it's actually called in english ? this money you give at the beggining in case you mess up your room/appartment/house). So I basically learned that I lost 290€. Seriously ? They told me they'd just have to hire someone to clean some stuff I forgot to clean but nooo, they bought a new bed, and they painted the walls. They didn't need this ffs. What makes it worse is that since I'm a student with basically no financial help, I gave them all this before leaving, last month. So I basically have nothing. And I even lost a 50€ bill I kept for a whole year <3 I owe a lot to someone, who also have problems so I really don't want her to go through this. She accepted to keep my pets until I get a new appartment, after all. The point being, now I take commissions. I unfortunately can't take digital commissions for now since I still didn't fix my tablet but I'll update this soon if I can make it work. But I'm obviously still able to make traditionnal stuff (I wouldn't post this otherwise). It can go from a simple sketch to something colored. Can be anything, you can ask me for an animal (especially cats and rodents), normal or anthro, original stuff or fanart, a ship (you can spam me with as much Lapidot stuff as you want lol Actually, any ship as long as it's not morally wrong. I may be a multishipper but I have limits and my mental health doesn't help it). A simple sketch will be 4$, an inked one 6$ and a colored one 11$ (colored with alcohol based pens and/or watercolors) - The number of characters doesn't change the price (well except if you ask for a lot of characters, but if it's the case I'll see depending on what you ask) But PLEASE don't ask for backgrounds, it's really hard for me to draw them and it takes me forever and I haven't much time. I also have a Redbubble !! (  www[dot]redbubble[dot]com/people/vishnya ) There's not a lot of stuff but people seem to like the Ness t-shirt. There's also a Peridot and Pearl shirt ! If my tablet is fixed I'll probably update it. You can send the money with paypal ( vishnya[at]outlook.fr), and contact me via mail, pm or an ask. For now, I need at least 60€ (~71$) in about a week. I'd really appreciate if you can help me. Even if it's only a reblog. Obviously, the requests sent before this are still free,  I won't make you pay for this when I said I'd make these for free.I didn’t want to do this first since I always took requests but I have no choice.Thanks for reading :) And sorry if there are mistakes, my english isn’t perfect.

[figmentforms]

Fig chatter! (Q/A)

First off, i just wanna say thank you so much to everyone for all the super nice and encouraging notes! It always makes me to happy to see that my work is making people happy and your notes really help to motivate me to do my best at this comic!

Yep!!! That manga is one of my favorite things in the whole world so it really really influenced my comic.

All is well! Thanks for asking! I just renamed it “Figmentforms-the-human” because I plan to do more with it than just reblog now. It’s gonna be where I post random stuff about my life and other ramblings as well! https://figmentforms-the-human.tumblr.com/

I really should but I mostly just look back to previous comic pages to keep the designs consistent. Don’t be like me. Be better and more organized. XD

I did! I hate to revise big stuff like that, but after the script re-write i realized that I needed to be able to give Skull Kid more expressions since he now plays such a bigger role in the story, so i decided to go with something more rendered out.

LOOOOL XD *feels proud*

They may be in flashbacks or something, but at this point i don’t think they’re gonna really be a part of the story! Too bad too because I really adore Midna especially. And thanks so much! :D

LOL not sure if that would count as a prank or as cold-blooded MURDER. XD Those birds are NOT to be messed with! 

Aw! Thank you so much! Sadly I don’t think I will be doing too many more conventions. I hope to go to ShutoCon again next year, but that’s really it! I always get super sick after every single convention I go to, so for the sake of my health, I’m gonna do much much less of them. 

Lol, thanks! As for time, i wouldn’t put much value on that! I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid, but I’ve seen people go from struggling to draw a stick figure to making beautiful illustrations that are much Much better than i currently can do after about two years of hard training. It all depends on your drive and focus. If you put in the time and effort you can be a master in no time. If anyone wants to get good at drawing, it’s never ever too late! Take some lessons and practice every day and you will be AMAZING in no time!

I love this idea! XD

Indeed! How many people think he should keep it? I’m on the fence!

The first chance i get i’m totally gonna put the bird people in the comic. I adore bird people.

I love supportive shark boyfriend Prince Sidon so much! I will totally draw him later! :D I did a couple drawings of him while i was at my booth for Shutocon but i forgot to take photos before they went off to their new homes! 

Thanks so much! :D I will have to put a part in the comic where Zelda explains this later, but how it works is that Zelda can sense the triforce pieces super accurately. Even before they awaken inside the bearer. She knew her daughter was Link the moment that she was born. The others can’t do that. Rinku not at all, and Ganondorf can only sense the pieces when they’ve awoken and are in the same room as him. 

0_0′ LOL OH MY!!! You are correct!!!! XD Behold me and my total inability to do basic math! XD But omg thank you so much for pointing this out!!! I really appreciate it! And please, if anyone else notices stuff like this, or spelling errors, or like, i messed up drawing something, please don’t hesitate to tell me because it’s a huge help!!!

I‘ve been too busy and broke, so sadly no. But after the wedding i think I’ll have the necessary time/money! I was so pleasantly surprised that the game turned out to be good! I was honestly expecting a train wreck after all the delays Nintendo had for putting it out! 

Gan will totally mellow and turn out ok, but he will always be at least a bit cranky. If nothing else than to keep up his “style”. As for writing, ooooomg. a very long time. I have the major outline that took me a few weeks to decide on everything, then i have specific events, another couple weeks, then revisions, a few more MONTHS, then for each individual comic i often stare at the screen for like 3 hours trying to decide on the specific dialogue. I’m really not a strong writer, so it’s never easy! XD I’m just glad that people seem pleased with what I’ve managed to do so far! 

Totally will! You’re safe! XD

He still has all that to deal with, but he’s also been through such an emotionally devastating time in his early life in this incarnation that it’s given him a bit more reflection and empathy this time around. Juuust enough to make him give this marriage thing a legit honest try.

I love Ghirahim with all my heart but I still find myself genuinely considering this >.>

YES. I love theme parks and things, Especially roller coasters and those impossible games! (but what I really really wanna do is awkwardly walk up to a Ganondorf actor and buy him a cookie. Hopefully they won’t be creeped out.)

 This is a really cool idea!!!

I totally didn’t know that!!!! Thank you so much for telling me! I’ll fix that later!! :D

When I first wrote the story I planned to explore it better, but with the re-write there isn’t proper room for it. I may do an epilogue bonus comic where this is given the attention it deserves. (I grew up in a home that was completely destroyed by alcoholism, so yeah, this is close to my heart and I want to do more with it.)

LOOOOL OMG I can just imagine her getting so mad every time someone brings up this pun. “I’M NOT A NURSE, DAMN IT! I’M A DOCTOR! AND THE BEST ONE IN THE WORLD!!” *angry shark teeth are showin’*

OMG *suddenly starts to imagine the cuteness of Rinku’s wedding and how much Ganondorf would be just a SUPER picky father-in-law-Zilla about all the details of the ceremony.*

Sadly I just don’t have the time to take on commissions right now! I’m going to be finishing up my current commitments with a couple game companies and then putting 100% focus on my comics (A Tale of Two Rulers and another relatively soon-to-be released original comic about the romance between a sweet-natured orc and a little power-crazy pixie) later this fall. Noooo idea when I’ll open up commissions again.

LOOOL poor Ghirahim! He’s honestly doing what he thinks he has to to save Ganondorf! But... well... it’s not working out. XD