ShadowsMyst's Art n Stuff
For me to post my doodlish art, and stuff I find amusing or interesting.. at least for now. Might be more focused later.
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Link reblogged from Chris Hanel
Do you support webcomics? Take this one question survey:
1. Do you take the RSS feed of over 90 webcomics, rip the images, put them in your Android app, and then put your own advertisements next to them in order to make money?
Congratulations: If you said “Yes”, then NO, YOU DO NOT SUPPORT…
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Photo reblogged from Indistinguishable From Magic
Signal boost. Artists, learn what your work is worth. Commissioners, learn what you’re asking for. If someone’s serious about being a professional illustrator, they should look into the Graphic Artists’ Guild guidelines before they even touch Loomis or Gurney.
I’m curious who would pay so much for artwork though. Par example, there’s a small art gallery in Columbia, South Carolina selling 5x7 cards covered in Sharpie squiggles. The cards are going for over $100. I understand the time and effort that goes into art, but I don’t know people who can afford to spend so much for it.
Though I don’t understand why two bucks is too much for fully rendered little A5 format chibis.In the case of that gallery, those are probably priced that way standard gallery cut of each sale is 50% (or higher). The artist is only getting $50. Which… I actually hope the artist has a lot of them Sharpie squiggles for sale and also has a day job, because $50 ain’t gonna cover their rent and groceries.
Work destined for publishing is also priced far higher not because “more work went into it” or “the anatomy is more quality” (or whatever other bullshit quality metric), but because the client isn’t ONLY buying the artwork. They are also buying the legal rights to exclusively use a piece in a specific market for a limited amount of time without getting their ass sued. Factor in that most commercial illustrators are freelancers and need to cover a lot of costs to keep the lights on (and thus continue delivering what the client wants), and the price skyrockets from “fandom commission token respect prices” to something that might actually constitute a living wage as outlined in the GAG13.
Reblogging for the commentary. Yes, so-called “fandom” artists are notoriously bad at pricing themselves, but it’s unfair to compare them to book illustrators and their respective price points. Fine art/gallery pricing is far more applicable- there’s a big difference when you work is being published or licensed.
tl;dr, you should probably be charging more. I’ve rarely, if ever, run into an artist online who is overcharging for their work.
-C
Remember, too, that when you’re paying an artist for work, you’re not just paying for X hours spent on the picture, you’re paying for the thousand upon thousands of hours of practice, training and education that went into producing a skilled person capable of giving you this art. You’re paying for the privilege of having something uniquely produced, something that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.
Too many artists undercharge for their work, which not only harms them but the rest of us, because it warps the expectations of the community and industries when they come looking for work from us.
So when you’re asked “Why should I pay you X when these other guys are charging less?” The best response is “Because I produce quality work and I know what that’s worth in the long term.”
-AD
A nice little comparison.
(Source: bambicandi)
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Photoset reblogged from oh look, cats
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Photoset reblogged from Ligne Claire
A few artists were interested in the results of that merchandise poll, so I’m posting them for reference. I’m not going to base all of my merchandising results off of these, granted, but it’s definitely helpful to know where everyone’s interests lie.
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Its insidious, seductive, ever present, even necessary to function in today’s society. And yet, once you become mired in it, much like quicksand, its very very hard to escape.
What am I talking about? Debt.
There’s no question that once the mermaids (read: credit card companies..) have seduced you (suckered you is more like it) dragged you under, deep into debt that it feels very much like drowning. Only, unlike drowning, where eventually you are going to stop moving, with debt, you cannot stop moving.
You will work, or be forced to work probably a less-than-ideal job, likely underpaid, or forced to stay in a crappy job with a shitty boss just so you can live pay check to pay check and keep the creditors at bay. Or even if you have a decent job, have to work more and more, taking extra work or running a side job, or working a second job just to keep ends meeting. Its like struggling as the dept tries to pull you under. Every month a frantic dog paddle, struggling paycheck to paycheck.
I like to think I’m good. I don’t wear or buy designer clothing (actually I almost never buy new clothes or shoes unless I have a specific need to, like my shoes wore out or I have to attend a special function, or my clothing is literally falling apart, and then I tend to buy something cheap to replace it. Like under 10$ cheap). I might cut my hair twice a year. I cook most of my meals at home (i’m on a special diet). I don’t buy a starbucks every day ( once a week I’ll treat myself.), I don’t go out every weekend to clubs, or bars, or even movies. I don’t buy much for myself. But at the end of the month, I’m still always in the red. Bills are paid.. barely, and so the debt just hangs there. It never gets less. The fees and interest takes care of that. I don’t buy video games, if, once in a green moon, a video game intrigues me so much I do want to buy it, I’ll try to get it used. Same with movies. Watch a lot of netflix, rent or borrow games/movies. Do a lot of internet entertainment, you know?
I know there are a few optionals in my expenses, but they do help me keep my sanity. Its like I feel like I’m a step away from being financially anorexic in a way. Not letting myself enjoy anything in life, starving myself emotionally because I have to drop money into a black hole.
Yes. I know I got myself into the hole. But it wasn’t because I bought a bunch of stuff. Car expenses, school, house expenses, moving, some very bad decisions around lending of money got me into the mess. And now I’m paying for it. But it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it. Sure it saved my ass then, but ‘then’ is catching up to ‘now’ and its time to pay the piper in blood, sweat, and tears.
I’m luckier than some folk. I have a job. At least that keeps the creditors from knocking down my doors and the bank from taking away my place to live. But even that doesn’t keep up with the cost of living these days. It seems that the price of living just keeps going up and up and up, and its impossible to keep up without sacrificing the quality of your life. Downsize, cut, trim, skimp, reduce. Less sleep, more work. Less fun, more work. Less reward, more work.
Can I get back on top of things without sacrificing others? I don’t think its possible. I have to prioritize whats important, and somethings will be very painful to lose I think, because of course, all the fun and ‘unnecessary’ stuff goes first.I have so few ‘fun’ things that even cutting those out doesn’t make much of a dent in my overall picture of things. Oh well. A buck is a buck I suppose to throw into the abyss. Not that it will help much unless I can find significantly more than a buck somewhere in the budget.
It just leaves one feeling very hopeless. Much like the drowning victim who’s been fighting for so long against the tides that they begin to sink longer and longer under the waves. Sadly debt doesn’t kill you (unless you happen to be indebted to the sort of people that WILL kill you), but it often makes you wish you were dead.
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Photoset reblogged from Design Freak
London design consultancy BERG have proposed a redesign of the standard till receipt, transforming the usually dull printout with infographics about purchases.Data is extracted from cash registers to turn the receipt into a paper “app” that is informative and context specificThe example pictured here shows a lunch receipt that displays total number of calories, percentage of RDA and other information relating to the food consumed.Tick boxes give returning customers the ability to customise their next receipt.
Mmmm infographics….
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Link reblogged from Pieces of Me
I’m not going to say anything that hasn’t already been said, I’m certain, but:
HEY ARTISTS: stop charging so little. $10 for lineart commissions is ludicrous unless you’re completing each piece within 10 minutes. You’ve spent a long time honing your skill; charge what you are…
(Source: and-then-eve)
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I’m not going to name names, but I have to rant about this because its irritating the fuck out of me.
I’m a professional graphic designer. An award winning one at that. I volunteer my services for a PITTANCE to a new local convention to give them a new logo and do a brand identity. Why? Because I really want to support local conventions. I sent them a note on the forums, the organizer asked for some samples of work, which I provided, granted a lot of my best work isn’t online, but enough to prove that I am competent at what I do. And then… crickets. Nothing.They don’t even have the fucking courtesy to write me back and say “no, we don’t want/need your services” instead they just fucking post a logo contest, which is like a bitch slap to the face of the entire design community. We all know how the design community feels about spec work and why logo design contests are bad for business. There’s also the problem with rip-offs, and the fact that a contest does not take larger marketing and promotional strategies and business values in mind, and the crowd they are addressing doesn’t even likely have the technical skill to actually MAKE a proper logo for all its various applications. Its a lot fucking harder than people think. Most branding process take at least 6 months to a year to just work out. Businesses that know the value of a cohesive well thought out brand pay tens of thousands of dollars for it. On top of the contest itself they only post it for a MONTH, which is pretty short considering people are going back to school at this time of the year, and its pretty much a gong show for near everyone.
So, they announced the winner recently of this so called logo contest. Giving people only a month, no brief, no guidelines, and the kicker they didn’t choose a logo, they chose a fucking illustration. There’s no way that’s going to translate well into anything but a forum header. Its clear these people don’t know a logo from their ass.
So now they have another shitty ‘logo’. And still no idea how to brand and market themselves to look professional. And now, probably, some poor designer somewhere is going to be saddled with working with their crap. Poor sod.
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Found out my mom’s cat disappeared shortly after giving birth to kittens. The kittens subsequently died because they were too young to live without their mother… apparently.
This has put a whole pile of sad on my day.
I’m also extremely dizzy. Not to the point where I fall down, but enough that I feel really ikky. You know, when you feel ikk, but aren’t really sick enough to go home from work, but staying for the day is vaguely like torture? Yeah, that’s where I’m at today.
Not cool Tuesday. Not cool at all.
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Photoset reblogged from You got it
Living Anatomy by R.D. Lockhart, ’Emeritus Professor of Anatomy, University of Aberdeen’. The first edition dates from 1948, but ths copy is seventh edition from 1974 (“including twelve additional images of surface musculature”) Found this hidden in the hospital library while browsing for something completely different. Never been checked-out before in the history of the library!
10+ more fascinating images (and bigger size) on my blog.
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