#when i uploaded all my 'problematic' artwork | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

babycharmander · 4 years ago

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If you think you have never stolen artwork, read this post.

So, art theft. If you've been a follower of mine, you've heard my barely-coherent rants about this before, but I thought it might be more productive to make a more coherent post on the subject.

If you're wondering about the title of the post here, it's because I feel like a lot of people aren't really grasping what exactly art theft is, and a LOT of people, even well-meaning ones, do it without even realizing it.

"But wait," you say. "I would never STEAL from an artist!! I never claim it as my own!" And that's all fine and good, but you're missing something here.

To start things off, what IS art theft? (It's not what deviantART said it was several years back, I'll tell you that much. *cough*)

We all know what art is, so let's talk about theft. Dictionary.com defines "theft" as "the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny." Okay, makes sense, but what about that other word there, stealing? Dictionary.com defines "steal" as "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force."

From those definitions, we can go on to define art theft as, specifically, "taking art without permission or right." In the context of art, that typically involves reposting it (not reblogging--reblogging is different) or using it for other things.

And there, my friends, is the issue.

If something is taken or used without permission, it is stolen. Permission is the important thing here--if an artist says "oh yeah, you can go ahead and use this!" then it's not stolen. You have their permission. But if you DON'T have that, then it IS stolen. It IS theft.

"But I'm not claiming it as my own!" you say. But you don't have to claim it as your own--the act of taking it in and of itself is an act of theft.

"But I said 'credit to the artist!'" The "credit" thing is a whole other conversation, but here's the short of it: The entire point of credit is to direct people to the source of something. If you are not directly linking to where you got the art from, you are not giving credit. "Credit to the artist" is not actually credit of any kind whatsoever. (Also, Google and Pinterest are not sources.)

"But I DID link back to the artist!" Okay, now this is where it may get confusing, because you may think you're covered because you actually did give credit. Here's the problem: if you reposted it or used it without permission, regardless of whether you gave credit or not, it's still stealing.

I'm bolding this because it's a point that a lot of people get tripped up on. Let me explain it this way: If you went into your neighbor's house and took something of theirs without their permission, but you told people "oh yeah, I got this from [neighbor]'s house!" that that would still, of course, be stealing, and it's no different for art.

Another thing is that even when you credit, people don't always check the source. Very recently I found a case where someone had reposted a piece of artwork of mine to Pinterest that was deliberately made to look like it came from the source material (it wasn't meant to confuse anyone, though--the description of my original post made it very clear that it was fanart). The person who reposted had linked back to my original post. The problem? The comments had people asking if this was official, where it happened in the source material, etc. Despite the fact that the source was right there, no one thought to look at it.

Even if you link back to the source, if you did it without the artist's permission, it's still stealing, and still causes problems for us artists.

"But I just posted it to my Pinterest--" DO NOT DO THIS. DO NOT POST AN ARTIST'S WORK TO PINTEREST IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THEIR EXPLICIT PERMISSION TO DO SO.

"But this artist friend of mine says they're okay if I post their work to my Pinterest so long as I link back to them!" Good for your friend! But the fact that your friend is okay with it doesn't mean that all artists are okay with it. For me, personally, I am very not okay with my work being posted to Pinterest, and say as much on my art blog description and posts (which people tend to ignore).

The problem with Pinterest--and reposting art in general--is that we artists don't know when it happens unless we're told, or unless we find it ourselves. It causes us to lose control of our art. And because of this, our art can spiral further out of our control, because when our works get posted to Pinterest or other similar websites, people who have no grasp whatsoever on how art works will just take it as "free art" and then use it for whatever they want.

That's how a piece I spent 20+ hours on was used as a poster for a paid event, without my permission, and without any payment or credit to me.

If an artist has said nothing about Pinterest (or other similar image sharing sites), your default should be to assume that they don't want their artwork posted there.

"Well I didn't repost someone's art, but I did use it for my avatar/RPing icon/video/fic cover/photo edit--" That's still stealing. If you're using it without their permission for any reason, that is stealing. Not to mention, the artist may not be cool with what you're using their art for anyway. (Looking at you, people who use platonic art in your shipping videos.)

“I MEANT to ask them for permission, but I forgot!” This can ONLY happen if you used the artwork BEFORE you asked for permission. You can resolve this by asking for permission BEFORE you use it, rather than assuming the answer will be “yes” and using it before asking.

"But it took me a really long time to make that icon/video/cover/edit!!" How long do you think it took the original artist to draw their piece? It doesn't matter how much work you put into modifying someone else's art--if you're doing it without their permission, you're still stealing.

"But I couldn't find the original artist! I tried to find them, I really did, but I couldn't. Is it okay to use their art then?" No, because you still don't have permission, and by reposting it anyway, you’re continuing to make the artwork spiral out of their control.

"What if I found the artist, but they speak a different language from mine? I can't ask them for permission, so is it okay if I repost their art anyway?" NO!! DO NOT DO THIS!! If there is a language barrier, use Google translate or find someone to translate for you and get a hold of the artist that way to ask them for their permission. The language barrier is NEVER an excuse to steal artwork. There are plenty of non-English-speaking artists who have taken ALL OF THEIR ARTWORK OFFLINE because the art theft was completely out of control. (And this isn't just exclusive to English-speakers stealing art from people who don't speak their language. It happens artists who don't speak English stealing art from English-speakers, too, but as this post is written in English it doesn't do much good for me to rant about this here.) If you can’t ask their permission, do not use it!!

"But what about reblogging?! Isn't that the same as reposting?? Should we not reblog art at all then?" No, reblogging (or retweeting) is not the same as reposting. If you reblog art, you keep all the information that we attached to the art, including our blog name and the description attached to the art. Reblogging/retweeting actually helps us artists A LOT, so as long as you're reblogging from the original artist (and not someone who's reposting their art), by all means, reblog our art!

"What if I just want to share someone else's artwork on Discord or show it to a friend?" This one's a bit different and is not actually as problematic. If you want to share our work on Discord or whatever, just link directly to where we posted it. Please don't post the art itself, unless you're doing it alongside a link because Discord won't show a preview or something.

"What about a forum or a site like Reddit?" This one's a bit different, since due to the way Reddit functions, if you LINK to the art, you have to go directly to the artist's original page to view it. (At least, that’s what it’s like the last time I was active there.) In a way it's roughly the same as with Discord--be sure you're linking directly to the actual post rather than just uploading the art on its own--but I would also ask the artist if they're okay with it, because they may be a member of the subreddit or forum and want to post it themselves, or they might not want their work shared to specific communities. (Some communities have a function where a bot will repost the artwork to Imgur, and some artists don't want that done with their art.)

"What if I'm saving it to my computer/phone to look at later, or making it into my desktop/phone wallpaper?" IMO this is fine, since your computer/phone files aren't public, and neither is your wallpaper. It's only a problem when you post it to public places without our permission.

"What if it's art I commissioned?" Well... like... in that case, it's art you paid for, so unless the artist you commissioned laid out very specific terms for you, you should be good to use that art. Like, at most, the artist may ask you to credit them somewhere in your blog description if they drew your icon or something, or credit them in a fic description if you commissioned a fic illustration from them, or something to that effect. It's really something you should have already worked out with the artist beforehand, but for the most part you should probably be fine to use art you paid for however you like.

"What about art I requested?" This is a bit different from commissioned work. Just because the art was drawn at your request doesn't mean it's explicitly yours (unless it's like, a drawing of your original character or something). Some artists take requests more as suggestions, so the art they draw in response to a suggestion or request is still theirs. Treat this as you would any other artwork and ask the artist for permission first before you do anything with the artwork you requested from them.

“What about NFTs?” ... Okay this one I can’t really go over too much because I barely understand it in the first place, but NFTs are BAD for artists and are a form of art theft. Do not turn people’s art into NFTs. This is a crappy thing to do. (If you want more information on this one, you’ll have to look it up yourself. It’s a form of cryptocurrency and it’s confusing.)

“If you don’t want your art stolen you shouldn’t post it in the first place.” This is fascinating logic. Try applying it to something else and see how it holds up. “If you don’t want your merchandise stolen, you shouldn’t open a booth.” “If you don’t want to get poisoned you shouldn’t eat food.” “If you don’t want to get punched in the face, don’t walk outside.” Yes. Flawless logic. Truly.

"Why do you care so much, anyway?! I'm sharing your art because I like it! That's a compliment! Shouldn't you be happy?" Well, we're certainly glad you like our art, but the problem is... as I've said before, reposting our art causes us to lose our control over it. When we lose control of our art, that damages our livelihood. As I said before, other people have made money off of my artwork. As well, some artists lose jobs because when their potential employers check out their portfolio, they may find artwork that's been reposted everywhere online, so they cannot hire the artist because they believe they may have stolen the artwork in their own portfolio.

Your reposting an image you thought was cute to Facebook or Pinterest could cost an artist their job. Think about that.

So, tl;dr, keep this in mind: you need the artist's permission to repost or use their artwork. If you do not have it, it is stealing, even if you credit the artist.

I know this post is really harsh in places, but this is such an important thing for all artists, and there's so many misconceptions about art theft online. And I feel like one of the biggest problems is that when some people see posts on art theft, they ignore them, because they think they've never done it or would never do it, so that's why I worded this post the way I did. I'm not trying to hurt anyone--I just want people to understand what art theft is, how it affects us artists, and how you can avoid it. Thank you for reading.

#long post #psa #drawing #art theft

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sangetsuei · 4 years ago

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My Japanese language journey update: I went ahead and did something I’ve been a little nervous about for a while - I’ve made a patreon account for Japanese learning resources that I create.

Recently, I’ve rarely been active over here and that’s because I’ve had to put my Japanese studies on the back burner due to various responsibilities. I want to focus more on my studies and keep up with posting about various Japanese things.

This lovely Japanese langblr community here made me realize that a lot of people are struggling with the same things that I used to and still do struggle with. So I want to share with you all what helped me with those things that seem to take forever to remember and even after they’ve been memorized, seem to disappear from memory if left unrevised for a while.

I have two points of focus with the art that I’ll be creating:

To make it easier to remember kanji that look very similar and are easier to confuse

To better retain that kanji in one’s memory after it’s been memorized so it’s less likely to be forgotten if left unrevised

Let me tell you a little about the patreon aspect of it:

What you get if you subscribe to my patreon:

Printable kanji artwork that will help fix them in your mind with focus on the differing radicals.

Vocabulary lists with those kanji.

What you should do with that:

Print out the kanji artwork and hang it up around the house, post it on your refrigerator, put it up where you’ll see it daily

Make it your laptop/phone wallpaper. Rotate in, a new kanji wallpaper every week.

Why would this help memorize kanji?

Well, it helped me. I’m a strongly visual learner and this is pretty much the only way I can remember kanji long term. All the rehearsing and practicing and reading only goes so far when you end up taking a long break from learning Japanese. After years of studying, I still sometimes have trouble even telling apart similar-looking kanji. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I make errors with reading kanji, and this is especially problematic in JLPT when they purposely give you a list of confusing words to choose from. The kanji that remain with me after not touching Japanese for months are the ones that I used this technique with of making distinctive, colourful artwork and posting it around the house.

Why am I making these resources?

Because I wish someone was making these when I first started learning Japanese - it would have fast-tracked my learning by a lot. When I first encountered the barrage of kanji while preparing for N5 and N4, I used to make them in a hurry on paper because there wasn’t enough time to make and study both. I always have enjoyed writing kanji, and creating art related to it; now I can share it with those who have been looking for the same thing I was.

The sort of posts you expect on my patreon in the near future:

Besides the usual posts, I often make season/festival/any major current event related content so one thing you can expect in the coming couple of weeks — Spooky vocab series on mythical creatures in Japan

Will I still be active on Tumblr?

Yes, very much so. I will still be discussing grammar points on here, answering asks, making random Japanese-related posts, etc. No way I’m leaving this awesome langblr community.

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Here is the link to my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sangetsuei

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So that’s all for now! I hope you’ll check out my patreon page and join me there if possible. If there’s anything more you wanna know, please feel free to talk to me about it - preferably in the form of an ask so I can post the answer on my tumblr, but you can also message me.

If you follow my blog over here on Tumblr and decide to subscribe to my patreon, you can also send me an ask here on Tumblr (anonymous or otherwise) with any kanji you’d like me to post. I look forward to hearing from you!

Edit: After worrying about making sure my patreon was perfect before I launch it, and reading and re-reading this post before posting it to make sure there aren’t any errors, wouldn’t you know it, I uploaded the unfinished image for that ‘kanji’ art. I’ve corrected it now so I’m afraid I’m gonna ask you awesome people who reblogged this post to delete the previous reblog and reblog this one instead because the kanji is incomplete (and therefore incorrect) in the previous one. I can’t even believe the irony of getting ‘kanji’ wrong in a post announcing my kanji-focused patreon. I’m gonna go hide in a cave now for several days, thank you.

#sangetsuei #japanese #japanese language #japanese langblr #langblr #studyblr #study #learning japanese #日本語 #日本語の勉強 #漢字 #kanji art #my art #patreon

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obscure-bullshit-emporium · 4 years ago

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resources that i use for my userboxes and other things that are free (with links lol) and applicable examples:

Userbox Maker: Since we’re talking about userboxes, this one is indeed a no-brainer. The interface is easy and simple: You type the message, you change the colors, and then voila. The site doesn’t have images to add to the userbox ID square, thats up to you to put something there later.

What does it offer me?/Pros:

well, it offers you a way to make really easy userboxes with a color scheme (some are premade, others you can choose the colors) and resizeable text.

Cons:

The whole ‘Use this code in the English Wikipedia’ to get the box is LOST on me completely. im savvy but im not that savvy! What i normally do is enlarge and cut it, make the background transparent, then make the edit from there for what I need. Is that illegal? Who knows.

The colors of the premade color schemes are very dull and kinda washed out/ muted. You can change the color scheme of you box manually in the hex boxes, but even then they’re not as bright as you would hope. But hey, its free, what can you do? Here’s the color hex site that I use: X and here’s a pixel art maker bc I know the kids love that: P

LunaPic: Allows you to make transparents, flags, and other little photo edits like crop and filters. Con is that you have to have the thing you want to edit saved on your computer already, thus if you wanna do a quick edit of something in your clipboard you have to save it first aka, a hassle if you’re trying to meme

What does it offer me?/Pros:

See all those tabs right there? each one has a bunch of effects and things that go with them, so you’re bound to find something useful on the site no matter what you’re looking for, complete with sliders for easy adjustments. There’s color tinting, watermarking, transparency, pixelations, and the list goes on. You can also draw but its no PTS if you catch my drift.

There’s a editing history at the bottom of the page for you to see what you’ve done to your image. The site automatically carries your image over to the next tool you click on (if the tool is applicable to it, such as Draw from Color Tint). This is also a con if you accidentally edit your picture to something else entirely, but the history allows you to jump back an edit.

No flash needed for a lot of them!

Cons:

The site it massive in your browser, and because of the automatic drop down when you hover, you end up getting this overlap over the category and may end up clicking what you didn’t mean to. Easy fix is zooming out to about 80% to combat the overlaps. Because of this, if you’re going to use your phone, do it in landscape mode. wont be the best experience but it gets shit done.

site has ads but not pervasive ones. if you really dont like them, use an adblock.

For flag editing, the colors are a little rough, and require pretty damn good memory of what the right colors you want are called if you want a richer or more specific look. there is a color wheel though, which i believe is new.

Bloggif: another photo editing site, but its hella retro kinda. I believe the site is originally french so hey. lets you make old internet type gifs and icons, complete with glitter effects,fx effects, and even little smileys to add to your stuff.

What does it offer me/Pros:

Truth be told: not very much! There are only 20 editing tools on the site to use at your leisure, a significant downgrade from LunaPic’s 200+, but what it lacks in editing it makes up for the lovely retro feel it has. There is gif support, including deconstructing gifs if that’s your flavor, and the infamous glitter tools kids love these days!

some of the tools actually have lots of options with them, for example, the ‘Animated smiley’ tool, which offers 16 smiley shapes, numerous little add ons, and the ability to upload your own image to edit into this ‘smiley’. There are options at the bottom for the blink speed (Rapide, Moyen, Lent, Aucun which in layman translation is Fast, Slow, Slower, Stopped).

can support small images and larger images, but i wouldn’t recommend trying to over power the site. Here’s an example of the smiley tool in effect:

It’s fast! And really easy. You can do it from your phone as well!There are photo collages, animated text with effects on the letters and a few other things.

Flash not needed for all of them!

Cons:

‘Swiss army knife of photo editing’ is a bit of a stretch since there are so few tools.

For smilies, there is no free placement of the little effects. They pick a spot and stay there. To layer, you have to reupload the smiley and drop another effect.

Just not a lot to offer, tbh...but retro! and cute!

Blingee: ye olde blingee.com, lets you make blingees for that really early 2000s feel. TRES IMPORTANTE: to make blingees you need to set up an account (its free). You also need to use firefox (if DDG works im not sure i havent used it with that browser) and update your flash to actually make them after setting up an account. IDKY but it does not work with chrome whether you fixed your flash or not. the site gives you options to share your blingees as well, and you can also see shit from like ...2006 sksk

What does it offer me?

The ability to make blingees. What more can you want? If you’ve been online and a little tech savvy for a lot of your childhood, you may even have a blingee account still. the site is still active hasn’t updated its look for a WHILE, but it’s a pleasing site to look at.

Variety is of the essence here, as there are more than just blingees to create. There are internet postcards and stamps as well, with lots of little effects to add like sparkles and glitter and backgrounds of your problematic kins.

it’s cute ahaha <3

Cons:

G-D FORBID YOU LOSE YOUR PASSWORD!! I believe there is a bug right now that won’t let you sign up, even though the FAQ claims that you don’t need an account to make blingees (you very much do!!). I have emailed about the process of logging in after you reset your password and if there is a wait period until you can log in again, and I’m still waiting for a response. I also told them about the signing up part. I’ll update later...

You need flash. Flash is leaving soon :(

Pretty damn confusing to use actually. So much so you wonder if it’s worth the trouble...

Honestly its a very archaic site, would recommend using Bloggif frfr

Glitterfly: it’s glitter. its a lot of glitter. Theres 50 cent glitter images on this site. It’s legit.

What does it offer me?/Pros:

Glitter. And lots of things to put glitter on. And i mean A LOT!

Allows you to upload a picture to throw glitter on.

The jonas brothers are here. and camp rock.

Make glitter words, change their color, and roll that sucker in some sparkles!

askjhdjasf theres a tab to make??? a fucking PIMP CXARD/???JKHFSK (its just an american express black card stock image with a fake number on it)

Cons:

my G-d is it ugly. So much purple....

use an adblock

Not a lot of glitter effect options or color options for the words

No way to get rid of the watermark at the bottom, but what’s a little credit?

FOR NOW that’s about it! For some artwork, I use either my own drawings or images that I just...have on my phone or free cliparts that fit the topic. Uh...that’s all, goodbye!

#not a userbox #not obscure #refrence #tools #if anyone has any others they'd like to share i am here for it #long post

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thebioticbasilisk · 4 years ago

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Artist seeking help (Skin Tones)

I’m probably making a mistake by doing this (this is the Internet after all, nevermind Tumblr), but here it goes...

So, lately I've been trying to take certain steps to try & grow as an artist. One of those steps being experiments to expand my range with different skin tones. Here are the results so far...

I basically thought it was time to put together a little sample collection that would make future projects easier. But unlike other experiments, I don't feel DMing a few select friends for feedback is going to be enough for this.

Hence why I’m writing this post.

If anyone has a moment to spare, I'd be grateful if you could tell me whether any of these samples would be suitable for a particular race or fictional character(s). Example: which sample do you think is a good one for Isabela of Dragon Age fame, [D3] or [D4]? You could name drop a character(s) from some of my favourite fandoms - RWBY, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, She-Ra, Overwatch, Marvel, Avatar, just to name a few - or you could name drop a character(s) I may've never even drawn/heard of. Either way, I hope it puts me on the right path.

And please do say if any of these could be considered problematic + I should avoid using for a particular character/race so that I can eliminate them from the list. I have my suspicions about one or two of them, but I believe I would benefit from added confirmation.

This goes especially for any POC artists. Your feedback + guidance would be invaluable & I would welcome your advice with open arms should this post catch your eye... even though I'm not holding my breath, especially after uploading this onto another site (f*ck you and you algorithms Twitter!).

I have worked with a few of these previously, even though they didn't quite go according to plan on this occassion. By example: [C3] is the combo I tend to use when I'm drawing Korra but I'm wondering whether I coated it well enough for this demo. Questions about some of my previous art would also be welcome.

"Which of these do you use for {character}?"

"I think {sample} would be more ideal"

While I'm at it: friends + mutuals please feel free to drop a reference image(s) of your OC(s) & say whether any of these samples would be a good match for them. It would be really handy to know for when I hopefully get to a point where I'm creating more gift artworks.

This is just the beginning. Not only are there more Marker combos that I want to try, but there's still a lot of potential for me to build on these methods even further as evidenced from a previous mixed media trial featuring Korra. But at this moment I'm trying to take this one step at a time.

Also, don't take any notice of the little numbers + letters scribbled by their necks. That's purely to help me keep better track of marker combos I used for when I ultimately piece together a little 'tome' full of my methods/techniques which will save me future hassle.

Thank you for taking a moment to read this thread. I hope we can keep any comments + critique (if any) civil & constructive. I'm not trying to start any kind of discourse. As an artist who is still learning & wants to do the right thing, I'm just asking for help.

#skin tones #skin colours #art craft #artist seeking help #artist seeking advice #art advice #traditional art #pro markers #copic markers

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leta-the-strange · 6 years ago

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My troubled relationship with the FB community.

Okay, here goes. As ridiculous as it sounds (because in reality, it is ridiculous) I have taken a rather lengthy break from my writing – both here, on A03 and Fanfiction.net for my health. I have a few significant health problems and for as long as I can remember, writing is one of the few escapes I have – one of my true joys. Now, I’m by no means one of the ‘greats’ in any of the fandoms I’ve written in. I’m always in awe of the talent of some of the writers that I have been lucky enough to read and although I’m not at their level, I’ve been so excited to have the opportunity to have these platforms to share the stories I’ve poured my heart into and so mindblown and grateful to have people not only read them but take the time to leave feedback or thanks.

My love for Leta Lestrange began way back in the very first film when we knew very little about her. But I was starry-eyed from the get-go. A woman of colour main character? She quickly turned into my new inspiration and I was lucky enough to be one of the first Leta Lestrange-centred writers and blogs and meet some other great creatives and like-minded fans in the then tiny Leta loving community. I started developing my first multi-chapter story and (as daunting as it was considering the incredible talent in the stories I had read) started uploading the first chapters to share. A few people started reading my stories and left encouragement, advice and comments that absolutely made my day and I would feel so driven and inspired to keeping going and looked forward to spending my evenings putting together new chapters. My heart would skip each time I got an email saying that someone had left a comment, a review, kudos or notes.

I was quite naïve in not knowing much about ‘ship’ and ‘fandom wars’ and when I found out that was a…thing, I did my best to stick to safe, neutral content, staying out of the confrontational tags, not engaging in the fandom too much – only to share things I created or liked (what all this is supposed to be about). Unfortunately, no matter how well I did that foreign, poisonous part of the fandom I was naïve enough to believe I could easily avoid by minding my business found its way into my life and quickly consumed something I loved.

PLEASE understand that this post isn’t about the characters. This is about real people. As a young girl of colour, yes there have absolutely been moments where I feel sick at some of the racist undertones in a large majority of the fandom’s depiction of Leta – I am happy to put my feelings on this in a more eloquent fashion in a separate post but again, the purpose of my first post back is about real people.

There are people in this fandom, quite a lot of people actually who all belong to one particular community, who not only are lucky enough to have the free time to create and share the things they love on the internet but also apparently have enough spare time to actively go seeking out posts, stories, works, etc that are centred on fictional characters and relationships that they don’t like (to put it lightly) for the sole purpose of abusing, bullying and degrading the creators to the delight of their followers that have little more than mic-drop gifs, ‘oh snap’s, and ‘#preach’ to contribute.

This behaviour is disgusting, appalling, unacceptable and harmful.

And of course, not ALL people from this particular, I don’t know the word…’shipping group’ do this (so many are kind, talented and supportive) but enough have that I feel like even if I eventually came to like this pairing, I would never, ever feel safe engaging in that community myself.

I have characters I like, characters I love, ones that I am impartial to and ones I don’t like much. That’s the great thing about fictional characters. However, I have never felt the urge (or had the time or energy) to obsessively track the tags of ships and characters that I don’t like to leave hateful comments designed to make the creators feel unsafe and unwanted in a community in which they are just as entitled to be involved in than anyone else.

This obsessive, abusive behaviour destroyed my love for writing. One of the few things that drew me out of depression when I was unable to physically do much else activity-wise gave me intense anxiety and as much as I still received beautiful comments, I panicked when I received notification that someone had messaged me.

My story has been called disgusting, dumb, awful, gross etc. I have been called deluded (apparently for not following a canon ship), a crazy dumb bitch, illiterate – just off the top of my head. I found a thread last year that encouraged people to upload new Fantastic Beasts content to A03 asap to get my story off the first page when I would upload a new chapter. I was torn to shreds on both fanfiction websites after the second film came out and told that I hadn’t seen the movies (I had started my story well before the second film so I had to fill in the gaps which were quite a few). It seemed so pathetic and laughable at the start, I would just make sure I could monitor my reviews and would delete or not answer the abuse I received.

Eventually though, it become too overwhelming and I found it too difficult to continue – my inspiration was gone and I was emotionally drained. A few times I actually became pale, shaky and vomited from the relentlessness of it. I tried to claw back the thrill and love writing gave me by practicing getting back on the saddle by doing prompts on Tumblr while I was in hospital battling one of my illnesses. I thought it might be nice to take requests from people – a gentle re-entry into my beloved hobby and reconnecting with other fans. I did a piece on Theseus and Leta that I had overwhelming support for. I actually cried when more than a couple people left beautiful messages in regard to my Theseus dying/Leta surviving prompt. A few people left me Newt/Leta related prompts. I got around to completing a first kiss request that earned me an anon informing me that my writing was trash, made them gag in their mouth and I should seriously reconsider inflicting my unwanted pieces on a fandom that doesn’t want them and to keep my shit out of the tag.

I have seen blogs disappear from it and stories, posts and artwork removed. I was scrolling through Instagram and someone (quite notorious for this behaviour across all platforms) simply comment ‘ew #newtinaforever’ on a beautiful Leta fanvid that would have taken such a long time to put together. Surprisingly, the comments I got that were simply ‘ew’, ‘gross’, etc were more hurtful than the torrents of abuse sometimes.

Just a few days ago, someone posted something absolutely non-confrontational and innocent about them personally liking Newt/Leta because they found it cute which of course opened the floodgates for abuse and I read a comment relating to people who don’t personally ship the ‘canon’ ship (this sounds so ridiculous now that I’m typing it) as deluded and needed to check into a mental ward. This is quite personal but I am someone who has an illness that is accompanied by psychotic symptoms and I have spent periods of time in a psychiatric hospital (and will likely need to during my lifetime) for my own wellbeing. I felt physically nauseous by this. I feel anxious now disclosing this as I know this will give more ammunition to the people who have not yet been blocked by me and enjoy taunting me but I want people to understand the weight of their childish, uneducated, ignorant outbursts.

Because of my experience, PLEASE understand that when I say ‘unhinged’ I am not meaning it as a slur, it is coming from a place of serious concern. I think there are people in this fandom that are becoming quite dangerously confused between reality and fantasy. These characters ARE NOT REAL. If I can get through years of one my favourite characters being constantly hated on, written by fans as an abuser, rapist, you name it while far more ‘bad/problematic’ (white) females are adored and shipped with various characters quite harmoniously, and not resort to commenting, abusing or harassing people than you can get through your fave not being someone else’s fave. If your favourite pairing is canon, why are you so insecure about people liking other pairings? In Harry Potter, the most popular fan-favourite ships are non-canon and don’t cause any harm.

If someone writes on THEIR OWN BLOG that they personally don’t follow a certain ship, or they find a character bland or boring, or don’t agree with a casting, or don’t see chemistry between certain actors or like a pairing that differs from your own, JUST KEEP SCROLLING (and certainly don’t go on a witch-hunt by tracking down posts, blogs and stories you know you won’t like).

These are not real people. There is absolutely 0 reasons to be offended by someone saying that they find a certain character or pairing bland (which I haven’t done before). Of course you can disagree but if you are enraged, or offended, or feel inclined to personally attack or threaten A REAL PERSON over their preferences in something make-believe, than please, I implore you for your own mental wellbeing, to seriously assess if this level of emotional attachment to made-up characters is healthy.

I am planning on getting back into my story in time. I would love to get through the prompts and (nice) messages in my inbox now that I’m feeling a little more secure mentally and physically. I do thank all the beautiful people who have taken the time to request things, leave notes and such – I’m only back for them and feel confident that I can work through the toxicity and superiority complexes in this fandom with their support. I will do my best from now on to call out and check people when I see them mistreating others and to have more respect for myself and my work and not tolerate this any longer. I may respond and share some of the less pleasant messages I’ve received if I believe my responses can be helpful to others but there are some that require no response or audience.

I feel very content in the knowledge that I can see a story, visual, video, etc, involving a fandom, character or pairing that I don’t necessarily like and still appreciate the time and effort the person put in and find enjoyment in it too. If you still feel incapable of controlling yourself around people who are not a carbon copy of yourself, please just save yourself the distress by just blocking me instead of wasting valuable time and energy finding new ways to abuse me. I am not a harmful person, I am not an abusive person. I encourage you in your journey to hopefully become the same and if you need to remove yourself from temptation than I applaud that decision no matter how much I cannot personally relate.

To anyone who has read my stories or sent me prompts, thank your for your patience and encouragement. I look forward to being able to get back into a community I have found such joy in.

#fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #leta lestrange #newt scamander #cant get much worse #so i may as well dump this 'shit' in your tag too #prompt

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checanty · 6 years ago

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so two questions (love your work for the record. you've become one of my primary inspirations over the years! thank you for exposing us to your talent :D ) with the issues surrounding social media at the moment - cancel culture, censorship, algorithm issues etc. How do you feel this is currently affecting current and upcoming talent? Do you think it will get better or worse and why? for my second question - how can one have a relatively humble career in freelance without the social media fame?

Thank youuu!!

Okay, okay, question one: First up regarding the censorship I can’t really say very much since I’m not doing any photography with nudity or any pornographic artwork. I know non sexual artistic nudety does sometimes get flagged, but usually those decisions get gevised if you ask. It’s annoying, but nothing career deciding. I also started sharing my artwork on a website where pornographic (and gore) content was always inaccessible to minors, so this whole thing doesn’t seem particularly outlandish to me. You’ll find your audience, but have to sell ‘under the counter’, you know? Cancel culture on the other hand … it doesn’t really affect me because I’m not usually spreading my opinions far and wide on the internet and my artwork isn’t exactly divisive. Now back in my youth on Animexx (that German website with the adult filter. Where every artwork you uploaded had to be approved by a human being by the way.) I did write and post some questionable things. Hell, I did a whole comic based on a super cringeworthy premise which was rather ableist and contained at least one rape joke. There’s a reason you won’t find it on the internet anymore. I didn’t see it as problematic when I was 15, despite people gently trying to explain to me why it was (In hindsight I understand and am grateful for those folks. But they were patient. they were adults talking to a child. You know.) There’s a lot of stuff I thought was cool and edgy at 15 or even 18 that would make me take a serious double take nowadays. I’d like to think I’ve grown since then. I’d like to think I’m still growing and I’m very aware that a lot of what I think now might have to be seriously re-evaluated a few years from now. Heck, sometimes I catch myself saying stuff and realize it’s messed up a second later.So I’m a bit afraid for young artists out there getting torn apart over stupid (and also harmful) things they say and create. Or artists getting torn apart other stuff they said or created years ago. Like, call them out, yes. but. People can grow. Especially teenagers are not exactly the product of an environment of their choice. It took some depression and alienation (it was horrible, but also, ah, character building?) from my friends to realize some of their jokes were not actually funny and being a sadist is not a cool thing to call yourself. Like the human brain isn’t done rewiring until your mid to late twenties. Let people evolve. On the other people growing up more involved in social media and ‘cancel culture’ might be used to being smarter about what they say and maybe also a tiny bit less ignorent because they have reason and all the options to educate themselves? There are a lot of pretty amazing teens around. Maybe I was just super slow. (Sometimes I try to imagine being on Tumblr earlier in life and it’s usually a mix of ‘I would have been a better person and all those mental health resources would have helped me so much’ and ‘Nah, I was a brat and would have been eaten alive.’ It’s kind of like people are complicated.)Algorithm issues are horrible, they’re even making a difference for established artists who rely on social media to sell their stuff. BUT. If people do great work and share it, it usually still ends up getting seen.Also, it’s all already different from when I started out. If I was 18 years old today I might look at this ancient 25 year old lady and tell her to stop whining because she can’t deal with all that modern stuff. I don’t want to underestimate the young folks. They’re often underestimated. (Yes, I think teenage me was often horrible and stupid and arrogant, but in other matters pretty smart and actually funny and capable. It’s like you can be a lot of things. Like I’m still all those things and others.)I have no idea what is going to happen. I guess it can always get worse. But if it does get worse we don’t really need to bother with the social media for promotion any more and can go back to blogging on our websites again.It’s doubtful Zuckerberg is going to make Facebook or Instagram ‘better’ again. If anything there’s probably be something new. I mean Patreon and Twitch are already kind of new developments and they work great for some folks! That’s lot of income they wouldn’t have had otherwise! There’s always some good, some bad happening. You get what you get and then figure out to make it work for yourself :/I’m going to let this stand as an answer to your first question because I can already feel myself contemplating in the back of my mind if I actually agree with myself on everything said so far. It seemed right at the time! I’m not doing this ‘opinions on the internet’ game very much for a reason :DQuestion number 2: THIS IS EASY!First up, you can have a great career in freelance without social media fame. Not speaking from experience, but it’s possible. (’fame’ I consider something like 100k plus Instagram/FB or anything followers)Social media fame is important in two cases: When you make most of your money selling small products (say prints, books, but also membership stuff like Patreon) and need to reach a huge audience to sell enough to live on. (because maybe 5% of your audience actually buys things.) And when you actually want to make money being an influencer. There are times where clients hire you as an illustrator AND some sort of influencer because they want to make use of your fan base, but that’s like back in the old days when a famous artist gets hires because they’re already well known to the fans/bring their own fans to the product. That would be a nice position to be in, but it’s not exactly standard procedure.When you’re a freelance illustrator you’re not selling small things to a huge audience. You want a few hopefully high paying jobs. Most clients hire you because you’re good and reliable and fit their budget. They need the art. Not your fans. They don’t care about your fans.And you know, most social media followers will not want or be able to hire you for a 300,00-10.000,00 USD (or more. I guess if you go into advertising you can get more.) job. You need to be more selective. Do the networking thing. Be seen by the right people. How? Well, do your research! Look at who might need your work and send them nice e-mails, postcards, whatever. Have a nice portfolio website. If they’re part of a community, become part of that. Now, social media are still useful for let’s say art directors to find you. But having a small artists all working in the same genre as you do the chances that if they share your work an AD also working in the same genre might be following *them* and see your artwork like this is much higher than if folks not in the ‘business’ share your work even if there is a higher number of them. It’s quality vs quantity thing. One reason I like Twitter is because a lot of writers hang out there. Writers might not be responsible for chosing cover artists (most of the time), but self publishers are. And do like doing cover artworks for self publishers. And writers are friends with other writers and other artists and editors and publishing people and so on and so on. So no, no social media fame needed to succeed, BUT try to be known in the right circles. And be nice and reliable so people hire you again and tell their friends. It happens. Also, yes I’m definitely procrastinating right now. I should be working on the table of contents for my mermaid book.

#ask

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airoasis · 5 years ago

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Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/lets-teach-for-mastery-not-test-scores-sal-khan/

Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan

I’m right here at present to talk about the two suggestions that, at least based on my observations at Khan Academy, are kind of the core, or the key leverage points for studying. And it’s the concept of mastery and the idea of mindset. I saw this within the early days working with my cousins. A variety of them were having main issue with math in the beginning, due to the fact that they had all of those gaps amassed of their learning. And considering of that, at some factor they received to an algebra classification they usually would had been a bit bit shaky on one of the most pre-algebra, and for the reason that of that, they inspiration they didn’t have the mathematics gene.Or they’d get to a calculus type, and they’d be a little bit shaky on the algebra. I noticed it in the early days once I used to be uploading a few of those movies on YouTube, and i realized that folks who were not my cousins had been looking at. (Laughter) And in the beginning, those comments had been simply simple thank-yous. I concept that was once a sexy colossal deal. I have no idea how so much time you all spend on YouTube. Most of the comments should not "thanks." (Laughter) they’re a little edgier than that. But then the feedback obtained somewhat extra excessive, pupil after scholar saying that they’d grown up not liking math. It was getting problematic as they obtained into extra evolved math topics. By the point they received to algebra, that they had so many gaps in their expertise they couldn’t engage with it. They notion they did not have the math gene.But after they have been a bit older, they took a little agency and made up our minds to interact. They discovered assets like Khan Academy and they were able to fill in those gaps and grasp those standards, and that reinforced their mindset that it wasn’t fixed; that they simply were competent of studying mathematics. And in a lot of approaches, that is how you would grasp a lot of matters in lifestyles. It’s the best way you would be trained a martial art. In a martial artwork, you can observe the white belt capabilities so long as quintessential, and most effective while you’ve mastered it you may transfer on to come to be a yellow belt. It can be the way you study a musical instrument: you observe the fundamental piece time and again, and best when you’ve mastered it, you go on to the more developed one. However what we factor out — this isn’t the way in which a typical academic model is structured, the variety of academic mannequin that the majority of us grew up in.In a average educational model, we crew pupils together, commonly by using age, and around core tuition, by age and perceived potential, and we shepherd all of them together at the equal percent. And what by and large occurs, shall we embrace we’re in a core university pre-algebra class, and the present unit is on exponents, the trainer will supply a lecture on exponents, then we’ll go home, do some homework. The next morning, we are going to evaluation the homework, then one other lecture, homework, lecture, homework. As a way to continue for about two or three weeks, after which we get a experiment. On that experiment, perhaps I get a 75 percent, probably you get a 90 percentage, maybe you get a ninety five percentage. And although the test recognized gaps in our capabilities, I failed to recognize 25 percentage of the fabric. Even the A student, what was the five percent they did not recognize? Even though we have recognized the gaps, the entire type will then transfer on to the next discipline, most commonly a extra evolved subject that is going to construct on these gaps.It maybe logarithms or terrible exponents. And that approach continues, and you instantly to recognize how unusual that is. I did not be aware of 25 percent of the more foundational thing, and now i’m being pushed to the extra developed thing. And this will likely proceed for months, years, the entire way unless at some factor, I probably in an algebra class or trigonometry classification and that i hit a wall. And it is no longer considering algebra is fundamentally intricate or on the grounds that the pupil is not bright. It can be considering the fact that i am seeing an equation and they’re coping with exponents and that 30 percentage that I didn’t comprehend is showing up. And then I start to disengage. To respect how absurd that’s, suppose if we did other matters in our existence that manner. Say, dwelling-building. (Laughter) So we deliver in the contractor and say, "We have been informed now we have two weeks to construct a groundwork.Do what you could." (Laughter) in order that they do what they are able to. Perhaps it rains. Possibly one of the provides do not exhibit up. And two weeks later, the inspector comes, appears around, says, "ok, the concrete remains to be wet proper over there, that phase’s now not fairly up to code … I’m going to give it an 80 percentage." (Laughter) You say, "satisfactory! That is a C. Let’s build the primary floor." (Laughter) same thing. We have two weeks, do what that you would be able to, inspector indicates up, it can be a seventy five percent. First-rate, that is a D-plus. 2d floor, 1/3 floor, and all of the sudden, at the same time you’re building the 1/3 flooring, the whole structure collapses. And if your response is the reaction you in most cases have in schooling, or that a variety of men and women have, you might say, possibly we had a bad contractor, or possibly we wanted higher inspection or extra regular inspection. But what used to be particularly broken used to be the approach.We were artificially constraining how long we needed to whatever, in general making certain a variable outcome, and we took the hindrance of inspecting and choosing these gaps, but then we constructed right on high of it. So the concept of mastery learning is to do the special opposite. Instead of artificially constraining, fixing when and the way lengthy you’re employed on something, regularly ensuring that variable final result, the A, B, C, D, F — do it the other way around. What’s variable is when and how lengthy a student truly has to work on whatever, and what’s constant is that they simply master the fabric. And it is primary to realise that no longer handiest will this make the pupil be trained their exponents better, however it’s going to fortify the proper mindset muscle groups. It makes them realise that if you bought 20 percent mistaken on whatever, it does not imply that you have a C branded in your DNA one way or the other. It signifies that you must just keep working on it. You will have to have grit; you must have perseverance; you should take agency over your learning.Now, quite a few skeptics would say, well, hiya, this is all best, philosophically, this entire idea of mastery-situated finding out and its connection to mindset, pupils taking agency over their learning. It makes plenty of sense, but it surely appears impractical. To virtually do it, each scholar would be on their own monitor. It might have got to be personalized, you would have to have exclusive tutors and worksheets for each scholar. And these don’t seem to be new strategies — there were experiments in Winnetka, Illinois, one hundred years in the past, the place they did mastery-centered learning and noticed fine results, however they stated it would not scale due to the fact it was logistically elaborate.The trainer needed to give different worksheets to every pupil, give on-demand assessments. But now in these days, it can be not impractical. We now have the instruments to do it. Pupils see an evidence at their possess time and p.C.? There is on-demand video for that. They need practice? They want suggestions? There may be adaptive workouts without problems on hand for students. And when that occurs, all different types of neat things happen.One, the scholars can certainly master the principles, however they may be additionally constructing their progress mindset, they are constructing grit, perseverance, they are taking agency over their studying. And all sorts of attractive things can to happen within the genuine study room. As a substitute of it being fascinated by the lecture, scholars can interact with each different. They are able to get deeper mastery over the fabric. They are able to go into simulations, Socratic talk. To admire what we’re speakme about and the tragedy of misplaced knowledge right here, i’d like to give somewhat bit of a proposal experiment. If we had been to head 400 years into the prior to Western Europe, which even then, used to be one of the most more literate components of the planet, you could possibly see that about 15 percent of the populace knew easy methods to read. And i believe that for those who requested any one who did comprehend the best way to learn, say a member of the clergy, "What percentage of the populace do you suppose is even equipped of reading?" They would say, "good, with a best education method, perhaps 20 or 30 percent." however in the event you fast forward to at present, we all know that that prediction would were wildly pessimistic, that pretty close to a hundred percentage of the populace is ready of studying.But when I have been to ask you the same query: "What percentage of the populace do you think is able of real getting to know calculus, or working out healthy chemistry, or being competent to contribute to cancer study?" plenty of you would say, "well, with a first-class schooling procedure, probably 20, 30 percent." however what if that estimate is just situated on your possess experience in a non-mastery framework, your own experience with your self or observing your friends, where you’re being pushed at this set % via courses, collecting all these gaps? Even when you got that ninety five percentage, what was that 5 percentage you overlooked? And it continues amassing — you get to an advanced classification, all of a sudden you hit a wall and say, "i’m not supposed to be a melanoma researcher; now not meant to be a physicist; now not intended to be a mathematician." i believe that that definitely is the case, however in the event you have been allowed to be working in a mastery framework, for those who were allowed to really take company over your learning, and when you get something flawed, embody it — view that failure as a second of learning — that number, the percentage that would quite grasp calculus or appreciate natural chemistry, is in reality rather a lot towards one hundred percent.And this isn’t even only a "best to have." I suppose it’s a social significant. We’re exiting what you could call the industrial age and we’re going into this know-how revolution. And it is clear that some matters are taking place. Within the industrial age, society used to be a pyramid. On the base of the pyramid, you wanted human labor. In the center of the pyramid, you had an know-how processing, a bureaucracy class, and on the top of the pyramid, you had your house owners of capital and your entrepreneurs and your ingenious type. But we know what’s going down already, as we go into this know-how revolution. The backside of that pyramid, automation, goes to take over. Even that center tier, information processing, that is what computer systems are excellent at. In order a society, we have now a question: All this new productivity is happening for the reason that of this technology, however who participates in it? Is it simply going to be that very prime of the pyramid, wherein case, what does each person else do? How do they operate? Or do we do whatever that is more aspirational? Do we absolutely try and invert the pyramid, the place you will have a enormous inventive category, where almost every person can participate as an entrepreneur, an artist, as a researcher? And i do not believe that this is utopian.I fairly feel that that is all based on the inspiration that if we let persons faucet into their knowledge through getting to know concepts, through being capable to undertaking company over their learning, that they may be able to get there. And when you think of it as only a citizen of the sector, it can be beautiful entertaining. I mean, think concerning the sort of equity we are able to we’ve got, and the expense at which civilization might even growth. And so, i am beautiful constructive about it. I feel it will be a sexy exciting time to be alive. Thanks. (Applause) .

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batterymonster2021 · 5 years ago

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Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/lets-teach-for-mastery-not-test-scores-sal-khan/

Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan

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shinondraws · 8 years ago

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WHY IS IT HARD BEING AN ARTIST ON TUMBLR?

Aside from the obvious fact that Tumblr is not an art site but a place where people get to share their interests with others it is still vastly used as a space to post and showcase artwork. Some people can manage this successfully while others struggle. People on Tumblr are keen to discuss art related issues such as art theft, misuse and reposting but the general attitude towards such issues seems to be rather fickle.

Having been on Tumblr for several years and running an art blog for some couple of years I have also encountered these issues - directly and indirectly. As many good things as I can name about the site I also cannot say it has been a very fulfilling or pleasant journey as an artist. The good things are quickly washed away by the issues I have had to encounter, leaving me with a pool of mixed feelings and thoughts. Here I’m merely putting down my own thoughts about why exactly is Tumblr so harsh for an artist.

WHO CONTROLS THE ART - THE SITE OR THE ARTIST?

When uploading a piece or art on Tumblr, how many times have you had to check the dimensions of a photo post, the layout of a photoset or whether the image is going to be stretched and pixelated or not? And how many times have you noticed that the image came out too blurry and tried to edit it but someone had already reblogged the image and you find yourself unable to do anything about it? I bet at least a couple of times. A couple dozen maybe. It is incredibly frustrating when you have to very carefully research and plan out how you post something because sometimes the mistakes can’t be edited.

The Tumblr image ratio is ridiculously limited. A lot of sites do limit their images and give very little room for editing, but in my experience Tumblr is among the worst. The way images are treated by the site is very restricting and it feels more like Tumblr wants the content to be fit to their standards rather than showcase the content in the best possible manner. Now, when it comes to restricted image size and aspect ratio you probably think about Instagram, because they do that, too. Only just that on Instagram you can actually control the outcome. You can edit the image within the boundaries of their limitations while on Tumblr posting your art is like a roulette - you never know how it’s gonna come out before you try. Being forced to cut long images so they don’t turn out blurry or trying to figure out what is the best photoset composition for your series of pictures is rather discouraging - especially since oftentimes the previews of the photoset images are also weirdly cropped.

Then how about when you’re trying to fix the images but someone has already reblogged it? There is no way for you to get it back. You can edit the original and hope it gets more visibility than the broken version, but you’re still stuck with two or more versions of your post floating around in the space and you can do nothing about it. The fact that edits made to the original post not being visible in the duplicates, reblogs, is rather frustrating. The fact that even the duplicates can be altered along the way by someone else can also be a scary thought. If you want to actually remove something you can only remove the post you made but all the duplicates are still floating around. This can be a good or a bad thing, but it’s definitely a bad thing if you want it to be removed.

This is especially problematic when dealing with reposts, because once a repost has happened you cannot do anything to stop it. Even if the original is deleted people can still keep multiplying the post to infinity and beyond. In this situation the artist essentially has no control over how their art is circulated - and worse than that, on Tumblr they also voluntarily agree to that when they post it. When the artist has as little control over their art it may reinforce ill attitudes towards art and artists and not give them the credit and respect they deserve.

THE BIG DEAL WITH REPOSTING ART

Reposting art is one of the most discussed issues on Tumblr and something that I have to encounter far too often. Truth is, I don’t even know how bad the situation for me and my art is because I only know about the cases that are reported to me. For this to happen I need to have lots of pairs of eyes out there that recognize me and recognize my art even when it’s removed from its context AND who understand that reposting my art is wrong. This is my personal statement and I know many artists also sign the “do not repost” -claim. There are also people who accept it - unconditionally or only when credit is given where it’s due. But the issue with reposters is that they are very lazy to ask for a permission.

What makes reposting on Tumblr especially problematic is the aforementioned inability to edit or remove a reposted piece from Tumblr. You CAN edit the original or one of the duplicates but the edit is only visible on the duplicates made from the edited post. Unsourced reposts are the biggest devil. It is very disheartening to see a repost of your art but it is even worse when it has more notes than the original post will ever have but no one knows it was made by you. No one is directed in your direction, no one cares about who made the piece or where it was originally from. As an artist I can say that it feels like your efforts have just gone into a void. Without the control, the credit and the recognition the artist gains absolutely nothing - and what’s worse, all the credit may as well go to someone else and no one has any idea it is undeserved. This makes even the popular “you should be grateful that your art is seen by so many!” completely void.

SEPARATION OF THE ART AND THE ARTIST

The way Tumblr works effectively separates the art from its original creator. This is not only the issue of reposting, art theft or other misuse but also the issue of posts that are actually original posts by the artist. This is closely related to the topic on control of the art circulation but also on the fact that the post can appear as duplicates in many different spaces at once. When an art post is reblogged it is viewed in two different places: on the dashboard, which is a rather neutral feed as it contains posts from all of the people you follow, and on someone’s blog, someone’s personal space. Even if the blog is not a “personal blog” per se, it is still someone else’s space and then it becomes the content of that specific space.

A post that is reblogged to another blog is essentially taken to a different context. On one hand this may be a good thing because if the blog’s content is consistent and appealing there is likely to be a lot of traffic and a reblogged art post can benefit from that. As a result, the post will gain notes and a wider visibility. On the other hand this may not be such good news for the artist because while they gain notes the traffic won’t be wholly directed at their blog - the blog that reblogged the post will also gain some traffic thanks to the post. Also, when taken to a different context an art post might actually appear more appealing to someone than when it is in its original context. In a fandom blog your artwork might actually get more visibility than on your multi-fandom/themed art blog.

One of the issues of separating the art and the artist is that the artist won’t be recognized by people. The reason why the successful artists are so successful on Tumblr is because people recognize them from their work. They have managed to make it work, and good for them for doing so on a non-art oriented site. However, for an artist recognition is basically everything and without it you’re not getting anywhere, as sad as it is. Getting yourself out there as an artist is pretty much dependent on being recognized, and even if your art post has several thousand notes it doesn’t help you much if people don’t recognize you. On Tumblr achieving this kind of state where you are widely recognized can be hard or even impossible - the next part may open this a little more.

RELATABILITY > VISIBILITY

Gaining visibility on Tumblr is very hard because the entire system is based on sharing - reblogging - the posts. The more people see the post the more likely it is for more people to share it on and on. On one glance this seems like a pretty good deal and probably very appealing to artists. You make an art post, other people reblog it and you get some visibility. As the discussion on Tumblr has proven this is not as easy as it may seem. Getting people to actually reblog art posts is a difficult task and it has resulted in several posts and guides to educate people on how important it is for artists that their posts are reblogged. There is already a huge flaw in the system itself, but putting people under the obligation of reblogging things is not quite right either.

The fact that the visibility is entirely the result of people SHARING your art rather than reacting to it with likes and favourites is not ideal because it is more than just expressing that you like a piece. On Tumblr there are two (technically three) ways to react a post: like and reblog (and comment, but I have yet to see this one actually constitute to the visibility issue). They are of two different hierarchies as well as purposes. People mainly use likes to express that they do like a post but not quite enough to reblog it. Some people merely use it as a mark of acknowledgement, some use it to store things for later. Reblogging on the other hand is a form of sharing, a form of expressing that you like a piece so much that you want to

When people reblog something they are putting that post into their personal space, which is their blog. The blog may represent a vast variety of things, but for sure something that the blogger is interested in. The range of points of interest can be very wide or extremely narrow. It can be a personal blog with a thousand branches, a fandom blog, a blog dedicated to a certain aesthetic. In any case, a blog is something that the blogger controls. They decide what they want to have on their blog.

There is one more action people can take that I haven’t touched yet and that is following a blog. From my observations this means that the person who followed a blog wants to see more content from the blog. This doesn’t mean that they will like the post not to mention reblog it. They may follow a blog for only certain kind of content and only react to that content. People might like seeing some content but not want it on their own blog, while there are some who might share things to support and artist and to boost them. However, these kind of people are rare and their kindness shouldn’t be taken for granted nor should it be expected for other people to do the same.

Tumblr is a very fandom oriented site and it is very hard for an original artist to do much anything there. Certain kind of original art will find its place, but it is not guaranteed and it may require more hard work than it’s worth. Because of the general orientation of interests, relatability becomes perhaps the strongest selling point for art that is posted on Tumblr. Tumblr is a bit like an artist’s alley in a convention: you’re trying to sell your art to people who may or may not express their thoughts on it. A person might say they like a piece but won’t buy it because they don’t feel a strong enough connection to it because it’s not their favourite character, it clashes with their decór or they find it cool but just don’t get it. But if the piece is of their favourite character, favourite fandom or something that in any other way speaks to them, they will buy it and they will put it up on their bedroom wall.

Relatability can mean anything, but in order for people to react and reblog they need to connect with the content. The artistic value is often secondary, as proven by the common complaint “my sketchy piece did much better than the piece I worked hours on!” - it’s because people probably related with the content of the sketchy piece more than the other piece. Maybe there was a punchline that was especially great that made them feel some kind of emotion as opposed to a carefully rendered piece of something they don’t recognize that looks cool but doesn’t give the viewer anything to grasp.

IS TUMBLR WORTH IT?

The title of this last part sounds a little bit depressing, I admit it, but it is the conclusion I drew from this all. Being an artist on Tumblr is hard and if you are struggling but really want to get your name out there as an artist this site might not be worth the struggle. As an artist you may need to think if your art has an audience on Tumblr and if so, how do you reach them? How do you get people to see your art? The tagging system is a trainwreck but it may work. You can try following blogs that reblog stuff from fandoms you draw about. You might need to curate your art, be even more clear about what your art is about. When people get your art it is more likely that they will also “buy” it. Doing art that is catered towards Tumblr users is one way, but if it is something else you want to do you may want to look at other options to get yourself out there.

However, in my opinion, the internet is missing a functional art community that meets today’s demands and standards and that I could recommend to just about anyone. This isn’t to say the existing sites wouldn’t be good, but they do however have their pros and cons. Which would have the best pro-con ratio for you is something you need to look into yourself. I am not by any means trying to convince people to leave this site for another. All I am saying is that Tumblr can be a harsh place for an artist and that understanding why can be useful.

To me personally, Tumblr is a secondary space in terms of art and I only put as much effort into it as I see is worth it. It still doesn’t mean I won’t take things such as art theft or reposting seriously. In fact, I find it a good thing that I am on Tumblr because it serves me as an extra space where I can show my art - which I enjoy very much - but also as an extra vantage point with which I can perhaps have a little more control over my art and have a better idea of things. I would just rather not expect things from Tumblr that don’t meet with the realities.

#rant time #ramblings #art stuff #artists on tumblr #tumblr #i've been thinking about this a looot and i'm glad i finally wrote it out #may contain factual errors and if so correct me #these are just my thoughts not something to take personally so don't snort a whole pod of peas please #typos and nonsensical sentences can be blamed on me being tired af

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incestshippingventblog · 8 years ago

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Simpsons anon here. The person I had a misunderstanding with saw some pro-shipping posts I uploaded and spammed me with pms about how "shipping adult/minor to cope is dangerous and does no good because it normalizes it and people can use it to groom children" That made me really nervous and blocked them in a hearbeat. They meant well, but the arguments still made little sense to me. They don't want censorship but still think problematic literature should be ignored. (1/2)

And I'm sorry, but as someone who may have some mental issues that need checked out, that shit just boggled my mind, reeks of cope-policing, even if it's well intentioned. As a person on the internet, I'm not responsible for anyone's internet experience, especially if they're my age, aside from needing to tag. And as an artist, what someone does with artwork is entirely on them, not on the artist. Also, I posted about them in a readmore (deleted it), and they still saw it. Fucking HOW?! (2/2)

I’m gonna be a bit salty because I’m done with people acting like they can own the fucking place of tumblr. not sorry for the rant.

tbh no one on here (not even me honestly, unless you say I can) can speak for what you, personally, use to cope. I can’t stop that just as much as the next person. Like, no. I can offer you my complete support and love, but overall: that’s only up to you, as the user, about coping and shipping. People cope with what they cope, big whoop, no one can stop that.

And, for a moment, let’s just go with the argument of no censorship but ignoring problematic literature. First of all: That’s still censorship because you’re removing something from view of all. And second: if it’s so “problematic” in the first place, then it should be there for people to learn from. Also, some American school have pretty much taken up to that policy of “We’re trying not to censorship, but this could be problematic literature” because famous books (did you know that Anna Frank’s DIARY used to be band??) that were free to read before were band “because they could be offensive” (though now, a lot of the books that used to be band are no longer cause people actually got smart) (Also! Fun fact, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss used to be band too, crazy right?). So no. That’s censorship, and people don’t get to police you about it. Just because someone has “good intention” doesn’t mean anything. Honestly, it doesn’t. I could intend not to say something hurtful to a friend, but it could still hurt them, even if I go “Oh, but i didn’t mean it that way”. Good intentions mean jack shit, and people who act like assholes when they turn it around and go “But you just took it the wrong way” can go fuck themselves.

And like you said, as long as you tag properly, you can’t really control anyone’s experience on here. That’s why people get shit like the new XKit or Tumblr Savior. To block stuff they don’t wanna see. It’s quite simple and it’s free (amazing!). I even have it. Or you can block the actual person (like you have done). I’m all for blocking people if it makes you feel safer and less likely to be harassed. Fun fact, I have a nsfw-ish blog and I have the blog listed as NSFW, cause that’s what it is. I still tag what’s nsfw as “nsfw” cause you never know who’s following, and you honestly can’t stop that, even with a “Don’t follow if you are under 18!” warning on your blog. you can’t stop shit. you don’t own shit. you can take actions to make your tumblr experience better (by blocking and ignoring, plus surrounding yourself with friends and good and nice people) but honestly that’s about it.

And that’s the part that people don’t seem to get. When you just finally accept there are some things that are out of your control, then it makes everything a hell of a lot easier.

And they might have seen it before you deleted it. Someone might have shown them or something before the readmore was deleted.

Honestly, people need to take a breather sometimes. Go out. Get fresh air. Stop and smell a flower, hug a dog. Read a chapter of your favorite book. Do something! But relax.This is tumblr. It’s a blog site. That’s all it will be. People aren’t going to like things, people are going to yell at you for liking what you like, but in the end, it’s your choice and it always will be.

#replies back #rant #vents #vent on both ends #dear god #i didn't mean for it to go on like that #i'm sorry but not #Anonymous

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overseer2020 · 5 years ago

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A Warrior’s Armaments 3

As we conclude our look at the design of Statuesque’s equipment, you may have noticed the naming convention I’ve used. In ascending mana cost order, Truth, Wisdom, Mobility, Protection, Fairness and Responsibility are all virtues Statuesque strives to embody.

Here’s a piece of equipment I’ve had the hardest time nailing down. Not only does it have the tricky cost reduction clause, but It has a unique “reflected damage” trigger that I’ve had to rewrite a figurative dozen times. Any damage, just combat damage, just creature damage, delayed to end of combat, trigger only once per turn, never hits the wielder, only hits the wielder...? The list of potential tweaks goes on. The fact that this grants double strike could prove to be too much of a drawback (Surprise! If you don't kill the blocker in the first strike damage step, you get two damage reflections!), but I’ll bet there are some Johnnys/Jennys* out there who will try to turn this on its head.

I considered leaving out the targeting so hexproofing your team wouldn’t be a way out. Removing the targeting would have alleviated my fears that having a triggered ability where an opponent controls the choice of target, but Erithizon and many other existing cards provide enough of a precedent that I think allowing such interesting choices to exist isn’t a bad thing. “Do I block and two-for-one my opponent? Or does he have Heroic Intervention or something?”

Also, Statuesque herself has Absorb, Lifelink and Menace, making this card’s drawback somewhat less painful. It’s almost as if this short sword was made for her.

Going over these old designs just keeps yielding new opportunities! I was never really happy with the original image I found for "Hippolyta’s Girdle”, and in trying to clean up this presentation, now I’ve found a few more that work better (at the cost of spending a couple of unplanned hours futzing around with Google Image Search and various fantasy artwork sites).

Oh, look! Hexproof. Weren’t we just talking about hexproof? Even with all the pieces in place, Statuesque is still not indestructible (to damage), but she sure comes close. That makes this Lure effect all the more useful. Paired with the sword, interesting things start to happen, damage-wise.

These artifacts were concepted before Wizards announced that they would be embracing the idea of colored artifacts more than they have in the past. I thought about making these colored artifacts, but I’m not sure if it would work. But I suppose if I were to give these six colors, I would have to decide if I wanted to go CWUBRG or Diana’s colors. Below, the first will be the CWUBRG choice and the second would be the more likely Statuesque-related color: The lariat would be Colorless or White, the tiara would be Black or Green, the sandals would be Red or Red, the bracers would be Blue or Red, the gladius would be White and the bodice would be Green. Despite Diana’s actual color identity being BRG (a necessary reality due to the pattern that fits everyone else better than it does her), she’s really RGW. Perhaps the in-universe explanation is that Diana gives up on being selfish when she starts helping people?

You know what? Why don’t I just show you instead of describing them? [Edit: Oh, yeah. because doing so is unnecessarily problematic and tumblr’s new upload system won’t let me position small images the way I want. Maybe later. This post is long enough.]

* Remember those psychographics I mentioned before? Well, Johnny/Jenny is the one who likes to exploit interesting combinations, to bend the rules to her will, to show off her skill and/or ingenuity, win or lose. For a true Johnny/Jenny, making the thing happen can be enough of a victory.

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cineparlour · 5 years ago

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Let’s Talk About Race, Space and Other Dirty Things

LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE, SPACE AND OTHER DIRTY THINGS workshop

MANO Mornings at COLD WATERS Media Arts Symposium + Festival North Bay, Ontario Saturday 15 June 2019, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Facilitated by Indu Vashist and Scott Miller Berry Description Using real-life case studies, ranging from dealing with online call-out culture, to the generation gap in political understanding, to institutions taking public accountability for their missteps, this workshop will troubleshoot, problem solve and envision creative and sustainable ways to work through interpersonal conflicts stemming from systemic issues.

In small breakout sessions, participants will be given four case studies of recent examples of frictions within artist-run culture. Participants will choose two of the four case studies to discuss in smaller groups and come up potential solutions; alternative ways the orgs could have approached the issues or any other creative interventions. Rather than just presenting critique, the goal of this workshop is to work towards possible, tangible solutions and recommendations toward the future. We’ve provided links below for further reading; feel free to do your own research as well!

Case Study One: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Toronto

LGBTQ+ theatre Buddies in Bad Times planned a staged reading of co-founder Sky Gilbert’s 1986 play “Drag Queens in Outer Space” in fall 2018 as part of their 40th anniversary programs. This reading was cast with artists of colour and trans-identified artists. On October 19, 2018 playwright and Buddies co-founder Sky Gilbert published the following blog post, entitled "An Open Letter to Vivek Shraya" (first link below). The following week, Buddies announced they were cancelling a staged reading of Gilbert's 1986 play "Drag Queens in Outer Space" due to his letter; this is the venues statement regarding the "change of programming plans" (second link below).

Instead, in the place of this reading they held a "Long Table" open community discussion and offered this quote to ponder: "…but we implore you not to lose sight of the larger conversation, which tonight is "In these increasingly polarized times, how can we, as an intergenerational queer community cherish all that makes us different and conquer all that makes us afraid”?” (quote by Vivek Shraya) - from Evalyn Parry's introduction to the long table at Buddies, November 19, 2018 (third link below).

Links: http://skygilbert.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-open-letter-to-vivek-shraya.html

https://www.facebook.com/buddiesinbadtimes/posts/10155981531735773

http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/blog/long-table-opening-remarks/

Interview with Buddies AD Evalyn Parry about the decision http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/blog/a-post-long-tabble-update/

Recent reflection by Sky Gilbert https://quillette.com/2019/06/01/watching-my-own-excommunication-on-a-facebook-video/

Guiding Questions: -When (if ever) is censorship appropriate when critique of an artist/artwork is brought forward?

-Who makes decisions? (Where is the power in the room?)

-How should an institution react to online callout culture?

-How do we react to new information about an artist to judge their past work?

-- Case Study Two: Cinecycle This venue was approached in August 2018 for a possible rental for a mental health and art event for racialized communities. The original post and the only response to date are included (and linked) below. While there has been considerable responses on both "sides" to date there has been no direct public acknowledgement of what actually happened by Cinecycle nor any public disavowal from any organizations that use/have used the venue. While the venue does not receive public funding it is supported by many organizations that do receive public funding.

ORIGINAL POST Taja Nicholle | August 16, 2018 · I don't rant like this on Facebook a lot anyway but I had experienced discrimination and stereotyping first hand today. Today I called CineCycle, a small theatre and event space in Toronto because I am curating an art show called 'Transparency" in October alongside six other artists and teaming with two organizations which will shine a light and bring education and awareness on mental health and self-care in the black and brown communities since it is still such a taboo topic in our own communities. I was looking to possibly hold the event there since it was recommended to me.

I called and spoke with a man by the name of Martin Heath, who is in charge of events there. I told him who I was and what I do, and information about the event. He proceeded to tell me that "is there going to be hip-hop music? and smoking?" and I was very confused. I said "...no?" and he's like "Well you know that's all those people do. Pull up in large crowds and blare hip-hop music and smoke and cause a scene" So I said to him "So since we're black, that's what you think we are going to do?" and he said, "...well yeah?"

To all my up and coming and established visual artists This establishment is not for all people what so ever. Do not bring any of your business there. Unfortunately in the U.S. racism and discrimination are still alive and well, unfortunately, but I didn't think ART SPACES in Toronto would be the same way.

RESPONSE CineCycle | August 26, 2018 · Since its inception 27 years ago, CineCycle has been dedicated to enabling and supporting a diverse range of voices from alternative arts and cultural communities on an inclusive and non-discriminatory basis. CineCycle is, always has been, and always will be opposed to prejudice of any kind, and as a community space has always endeavoured to be welcoming and available to all. What happened last week was an unfortunate misunderstanding, which was understandably caused by an inappropriate line of questioning on Martin's part, due to his misperception of the nature of the proposed event. CineCycle recognizes that this incident has prompted a great deal of concern and upset across a number of communities. We hope that these communities will recognize, as we do, that a mistake was made, which we regret. CineCycle wishes to apologize for this error in judgement on Martin's part and for any offence or hurt it has caused.

Guiding Questions:

-How do we give and take criticism when conversation is mediated by online social media platforms?

-How can we move from online call out culture / shaming critiques toward off line dialogues and mediation?

-Can we hold colleagues accountable when missteps are made?

-- Case Study Three: Mercer Union The exhibition Nep Sidhu: Medicine for a Nightmare (they called, we responded), opened at Mercer Union in Toronto on 9 February 2019. Members of Toronto’s visual arts community expressed grave concerns with how the project’s guest curator represented a charged history within the framing of the exhibition, specifically in her accompanying essay. Their concerns highlighted how the guest curator’s framing simplified and obfuscated the breadth of violence that unfolded in India in 1984 and the trauma and violence experienced since. Over the duration of the exhibition, Mercer Union participated in a number of private conversations regarding the framing of the exhibition, the relationship among artist, guest curator and host venue, and larger discussions regarding curatorial responsibility and institutional accountability. Since the initial concerns were expressed, the organization and guest curator removed the accompanying exhibition essay from the space. In its place was an annotated bibliography that gathered texts that address the broader historical context of the events of 1984, their ongoing repercussions, and the machinations of memory, memorialization and trauma that might be at play in how the events of 1984 persist in the present day. The exhibition is now traveling – with revised texts and discursive programs – to SFU Galleries, Vancouver and Esker Foundation, Calgary. - provided by Mercer Union.

Links: http://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/nep-sidhu-medicine-for-a-nightmare-they-called-we-responded/

http://www.mercerunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MercerUnion_NepSidhu_Exhibition_Bibliography-1.pdf

Guiding Questions: -What are the responsibilities of a host organization in responding to or holding space for criticisms from racialized communities?

-Is an artist run centre responsible for the supporting of an artist’s vision even if its controversial?

-What is the role of an external curator in maintaining relationships/communication between the host institution/ artist/ publics?

-- Case Study Four: Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Museums today are struggling with what to do when artists represented in their galleries are accused of sexual harassment or when artworks in their collections are viewed as problematic. #MeToo & the Arts offers audiences a series of public engagements that explore the intersection of #MeToo and the arts, with a focus on museums. Prompted by the ROM’s presentation of Modernism on the Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs, and an allegation of sexual misconduct made against the deceased artist, #MeToo & the Arts seeks to encourage a larger conversation about how museums, and the public, are engaging with art within the context of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Located at the entrance to the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in the Thorsell Spirit House and open free to the public, the display examines how museums are engaging with issues raised since October 2017 when the #MeToo movement gained momentum in the wake of allegations made against a number of powerful men in the film industry. The display invites audiences to learn, reflect and consider their own questions and answers on the issues. -Text from Royal Ontario Museum website

Links: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/metoo-the-arts-0

https://canadianart.ca/features/metoo-and-museums/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rom-metoo-singh-photographs-1.4719383

https://nowtoronto.com/culture/art-and-design/raghubir-singh-rom-metoo/

Guiding Questions: -How do we program artists (living or dead) who have committed sexualized violence and/or harassment?

-Can you separate the art from the artist?

-- Contact Indu Vashist / [email protected]

Scott Miller Berry / [email protected]

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