Art from Ruthsic

Hiya I'm Ruthsic and this is my art Blog! message to commission me for artwork!

[ruthsic]

Please help a disabled queer artist!

Hi, Ruthsic here. I usually don't post much about myself here, but I'm in a critical situation and I need help. I'm a queer artist with chronic health issues and last year I lost my part-time gig which was sustaining me and my family, of which I'm the sole breadwinner.

Since then, I have tried to stay afloat with our meager savings and credit card debt, but I'm finally out of options. I am unable to find a job nearby that fits my ability (and I can't travel further for jobs because my health won't allow it).

While I am still looking for jobs and considering both short and long term solutions, the added stress of the situation has made my health worse + the fact that I have had to reduce my medication intake because of the costs, means that my health is just getting worse. I also support two elderly people with their own health issues + my pets (all rescues) - some of whom/which have needed medical treatment etc over the last several months. Currently we cannot even afford to go the doctor to pay consultation fees.

Basically, I'm in a dire situation and it's getting more dire by the day.

If you could help, please donate here ->

Paypal | Kofi

or if you cannot donate, please reblog this post.

If anyone is interested in art commissions, I will post an updated commission sheet with slashed prices in the next couple of days on my side blog @aruthsic. Meanwhile, if possible, please do help. Even a small donation is useful as my currency has lower value, and I need anything I can get.

[aruthsic]

Was feeling really depressed this week, but today afternoon i sewed a ribbon into the hem of an old blanket to spruce it up a bit and i feel a bit better. Some days, it's so important to actually make something with your hands, and see and feel the real thing you made. It is like, real tangible proof of you still being able to do something, to put out something beautiful in the world.

[aruthsic]

Guess this counts as art? Been trying to get into the mood but it's been mostly sketches and no complete work. Also have been trying to adjust to the new stylus, whose weight and feel are still quite uncomfortable to me.

[aruthsic]

Recent commission for a card game

[DO NOT REPOST/REUSE]

[aruthsic]

Study (old work)

[aruthsic]

Star trails

(old work)

[aruthsic]

Bi-pan solidarity

[aruthsic]

First completed artwork of the year!!! (Image description in alt text)

[aruthsic]

[aruthsic]

[aruthsic]

An ADSOM mermay piece

[aruthsic]

Merman (commission)

[aruthsic]

Reupping old art with something extra added 🪻

[aruthsic]

Having to delete all my art posts is so depressing. I was almost in tears. It felt like erasing a part of my presence, however small, from the internet. All those reblogs and comments that said nice things, that I could look back when I was feeling bad, all gone.

[jv]

What is this about the tumblr staff wanting to sell art data to midjourney?

An ex-colleague of mine mentioned yesterday that there may be contacts between Automattic and midjourney in that direction, but nothing is public yet and I don't have any more info. They probably won't have anything specific to share either, since they left the company weeks ago too. That being said:

I have no reason to doubt my ex-coworker word, they are a trustworthy person.

Tumblr's CEO has been absurdly enthusiastic (comically, even) about AI, and is a big fan of LLMs and 'AI' companies.

A deal with midjourney could solve tumblr financial issues (not the same company, but openAi is paying up to 5 million/year to news companies to use their content as training data... tumblr generates several orders of magnitude more content than any newspaper or any media company and it only would need a 20 to 30 million per year deal to be profitable)

So I don't have any extra info yet, but I'm keeping my ears open.

[jv]

And I just got confirmation from a second ex-colleague that a deal with midjourney has been brewing since months ago. Not any extra details, just that's a real thing.

Shit, I don't see any way for this to happen that doesn't make it an apocalyptic event the size of the porn ban. Fuck.

[jv]

Shit. This may be pure chance and coincidence, and it's not he is in a position to be able to talk about anything, but seeing prominent staff members announcing they are moving their original photography out of tumblr just two weeks ago seems a pretty significant cue of shit to be about to hit the fan.

[salora-rainriver]

Just tested. It’s possible to swap out pictures on already-published posts. So in that case, a solution:

Nightshade your photo posts now.

Even if you don’t post your own art anymore, go back to your old stuff and watermark it.

Do it ASAP, before the deal goes through and the scraping begins.

This will not only protect your art, but has the opportunity to fuck over this deal on a pretty large scale. The more of these posts that are glazed or poisoned, the less valuable this deal becomes for tumblr and midjourney.

Share this with everyone. And i do mean everyone.

[aruthsic]

WIth this, I will be deleting all the posts on this blog. If you have reblogged my art before please delete those posts too. I do not wish for my art to be used for AI training