A Short Thing About Disappointment as an Artist

Firstly, artist does sound quite pretentious, but at least I’m physically making art and not some avant garde film…yet.

Secondly, a big thank you to all of you, my patrons, who continue to support me, I hope I can keep providing the stuff you want.

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Trying to make it online as an artist is hard, for every piece you do, there’s 1000 others vying for the same attention and recognition. Slowly but steadily I’ve built up a following and can say I’m confident enough in my own work, to produce to a high quality I’ve long strived for, with the hopes that I can keep on improving from here on out.

The hardest thing is trends. What’s popular, what won’t people care for, and when do you get to the point where you can make something so out there that everyone, or a majority of people, go for it? Occasionally I strike while the iron is hot and make something that does draw attention, but not all the time.

My tastes and choices of subject matter have been diverse to obscure, which in some ways can be good. Without it, the possibility of pieces featuring Clara Oswald, O'Donnell, Cass, Mara Jade, Asajj Ventress, Laurie Partridge, and more, wouldn't be likely. His Dark Materials inspired little in the way of art so while my Serafina work doesn’t mean much to everyone, for those who do know who it is, what it is, it could be fantastic. But otherwise a lot of it, which had hours upon hours of work poured into it, largely goes unnoticed outside of people on here.

I’m writing this after my L3-37 picture was posted publicly to a largely disinterested reception. The gimmick of the animation not having enough time to present what was on offer, or the character itself or the concept behind it just not impressing. It’s a shame, but it’s also less than 24 hours after I posted it, by the time I write this, so the tide might change on that one. I had a lot of fun while drawing it, the concept I love, and learned new techniques while working on it. And I understand at the end of the day that’s all that matters, it’s more fulfilling than chasing some trend to get recognition. But it is a shame it didn’t get much recognition too.

The thing to do after this is to move onto the next picture, to use what skills I learned and fun I had to help make the next one. As an artist it’s just a fact of life. I’m just hoping that some day that piece, and all the other ones, are recognised for what they are, a vast back catalogue of goodness people can trawl through, and are not buried under the Lady Dimitrescu pieces I’m forced to draw to click over 850 followers.

Onwards and upwards, Excelsior!, and all that.