Alright, so here on tumblr, users seem to be obsessed with being progressive and unoffensive. Great, right? Maybe not so much. In all the dreaded years I’ve been on here, and through all the times I’ve deleted and remade, I’ve come to see a rather prominent issue that seems to infest this dreaded hell hole of a website.
The issue of callout culture and receipt blogs.
Now, I’m sure a few know about the zamii070 drama. This girl likes to draw, and draws fandom stuff for Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, homestuck, ect. However, she apparently drew “problematic” stuff, and well, harassment and bullying began.
Now, I do not know the full extent of the zamii drama. I do not know zamii personally. I’ve never watched her or interacted with her, but what I learned was that a lot of the accusations thrown at her were ridiculous, and that she was bullied and harassed enough to where she posted about how she was going to kill herself.
Thankfully, zamii is indeed alive.
However, this is where I would like to bring up what this post is about, and why this utter insanity really needs to take a hike.
Callout culture is obviously not about “trying to educate people”, but rather, it is an excuse to harass and bully those while making oneself out to be this Holy Messiah of Truth and Smackdown, which frankly is pathetic. We’ve seen this with the doxxing of plebcomics, the harassment that drove xkit guy off here forever, and now with the attempted suicide of zamii070.
Does this seem very moral to any one?
Where do receipt blogs come into play? Well, let’s take a look at the most recent string of events. A girl, very obviously not in the soundest of mental states, is bullied for stuff she draws of fictional characters. This girl who is probably going to be extremely depressed, and presumably has been for a while considering she, well, tried to kill herself, is not going to easily get away from her past mistakes, which she may in fact feel remorseful for at some point if she doesn’t already.
Why won’t she be able to get away? Because of this almost permanent archive of all the “horrible” things she has done. Think about that, for a moment, would you? Imagine being constantly reminded of all the horrible things you’ve done (which let’s be honest, you have done horrible things. We all have.) Imagine that being displayed for everyone to see and judge you for, even if it was 3 years ago and you were a stupid 13 year old.
I doubt anyone would very much like that, and understandably so, right? Who would fare well with new people every day learning about your mistakes and judging you harshly for them? So much so that some may go out of their way to bully the other person.
I don’t buy into that “this is to protect others from hurtful people” excuse I see used to justify these blogs. The actions of tumblr and who they target clearly make that not seem true in the slightest.
So, what do we have on our hands? We have a mentality that people use to be horrendous without having to feel guilt for their actions because they are “on the moral high ground” in the situation.
It’s petty, it’s childish, it’s hurtful.
Callout culture is a disgusting mentality, and this website should really rethink how they handle people they dislike.
I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s not cheating. I recall seeing so many piece of art called out because they referenced a pose, someone recognized it, and then proceeded to shame them for it. There’s this belief, both by creators and the audience, that artists should just be able to translate the ideas from their head to paper, and if they don’t, it’s plagiarism, or not true originality (spoiler alert: there’s no such thing).
I myself didn’t start using references until very recently, because even I was under the impression that it was frowned upon. And that belief has seriously crippled and stalled my ability to improve as an artist.
As a restarting artist, I can confirm. I just never knew. I thought you were just supposed to know how to draw the body correctly and if you didn’t you had no talent.
I’ve been learning a lot about art the past 2 years, and I still need to learn more, but one of the things every professional I watch and learn from say to use references. (of course they say other stuff like draw everyday but thats not important right now)
I’m in an art workshop right now, and my teacher has to remind us constantly to use references, because otherwise how would be know how to do it without at least using references first?
How can you learn to draw something without ever seeing it before? Or draw something you only sort of know, but in a different way that you haven’t before?
You should not shame artists for referencing. You should not feel bad for referencing.
Since this is gonna be a kind of long post now I’m adding a read more link.
Now, the thing I think a lot of people don’t know is how to reference properly.
First off, please don’t trace, or at least don’t post traces without stating its a trace and 100% crediting the original.
Tracing is something different than referencing, and while it can help you learn, it takes away the step in between of you seeing, drawing it, and understanding (at least a little bit more) of how the object or body works.
Referencing is looking at an image of something similar you’re wanting to draw. And then, pretty much eye balling it. You can compare, using guidelines, or even putting your drawing over the reference using layers. But, I always make it a priority to never correct it while I have the images over each other. If you are a beginner, it’s okay, but try to learn how to correct it on your own.This will make you think more about what to change and why.
Now, unless you are doing a study of that thing, you do not need to copy it 100%.
If you are doing a study, digital illustration has a one up on traditional, because you can color pick it. While it’s good to help you learn colors or values, this part is definitely something you should work on being able to guess by yourself. (EVENTUALLY. You do NOT need to be a pro right away.)
For PS (I think SAI has a similar function, but I haven’t used it in a while. ), you can have a reference open in a new canvas tab, and then you can make the drawing and the reference be on the same monitor space. For those of you with second monitors, or cintiqs, you can instead have it on the different monitor if you like. That will allow you to not only look at the ref, but also color pick quickly.
The next part is gonna assume we’re drawing a human body. :D
To start off, a lot of artists say to have a sketch first and then to find refs that would go with that. While that is good once you know how to do things, starting off you’ll be disappointed if you cant find a reference of the exact thing you want. HOWEVER, you can fix this by instead using multiple refs instead of just one.
You use the refs, looking at them and drawing it onto your own canvas.
So then you end up with a kind of zombification of separate arms and a torso from a different body, maybe even different proportions, ect. This is where you as an artist come in with your critical thinking, and you re-draw over yours from the reference, but don’t draw it exactly as you see it. Think about what you have learned from anatomy, and try to make it correct. You also want it to look like a character, or a person. Not a weird science experiment (UNLESS THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE INTO, NO SHAME HERE.)
It helps a lot to have a pre-body already in your head if it’s a character, and if its a person you can look up their body (probably) and try to change your drawing into that instead.
Afterwards, you will have a drawing you made, that is probably a lot different than the ref but is still what you wanted, or through the process you changed things yourself. That’s okay too! Since it’s not a study, it’s your own drawing.
For people who are a little more advanced, while looking at refs you’ll learn to be able to draw something different than what the ref is. By looking at the ref, you still get the information you need, but you can create something new by exaggerating the pose. Jazza has a perfect example of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih5M2rCdsh4
While I’m not a pro by any means, those are just steps I’ve learned through my time studying.
SO, for studies specifically, you are recreating what is from one image and drawing it yourself. The image can be anything, a picture, a drawing. Hell, you can even do a study of something in front of you in real life. Drawing anything from study will help you in the long run so you don’ get stuck drawing the same thing every time.
Then you really just jump in. You can create a sketch, then paint things in, you can start with painting it first, anyway you want. It’s your own process here and there’s no right or wrong. After like 10 minutes, look at both images critically and think about what you need to change to make it look like the ref, and then do that! And keep repeating it until you’re done.
It doesnt matter how long you take, don’t compare yourself to the people who can paint in half an hour from imagination. Those people have been painting for years, maybe their whole life. They have probably done studies the whole time as well, they have more than likely been in your spot.
If you want to learn how to draw from reference and then work up to drawing from imagination, that’s okay too! I’m sure a lot of us want to get there.
Will Terrell has a good one on that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOK2sDLtu2Q
However, his is more catered towards caricature. But his advice still applies here!
Make sure to keep a copy of the original thing though, so that you can source it as a reference. Since you aren’t just using a pose or learning a texture, and you are recreating it, you should 100% source the image with either a name or a link to their site. This is where I see a lot of artists feel guilty because they think they’re stealing. DO NOT FEEL THAT WAY. You are learning.
Once again: Do not feel bad for referencing. Do not feel bad for studying.
Did you learn how to write all by yourself? Or did you learn the alphabet and what the words meant beforehand?
I interrupt a long-term hiatus to help raise awareness towards the new Copyright Laws that might come into effect starting next week unless we join efforts to stop it.
A friend and fellow artist, Will Terry, has joined forces with Brad Holland to help us understand what this Copyright Law is all about, here is their message:
“Orphan Works in a Nutshell:
- Congress is drafting a new US Copyright Act. If passed, it would replace current US Copyright law. There isn’t any bill yet, but the Copyright Office has issued its recommendations for one. Their Report is 234 pages long and is very complicated, so it’s risky to try reducing it to a few words. But here’s a summary of its basic features:
It would void your Constitutional right to the EXCLUSIVE CONTROL of YOUR work.
It would effectively reverse the default premise of copyright law; which means…
It would make the public’s right to use your work its defining goal; which means…
You would have to make your work available to the public.
You would have to do this by registering every picture you want to retain the rights to with for-profit registries.
Unregistered work would be considered legally “orphaned.”
Orphaned work would be available for commercial infringement by “good faith” infringers.
Good faith infringers would be anyone who believed they had made a “reasonably diligent,” but unsuccessful effort to find you.
Infringers could also ALTER your work and copyright the “derivative works” in their own names.
This would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign.
It would include family snapshots and any picture or work you ever put on the Internet.
The Copyright Office acknowledges that this would pose special “challenges” for visual artists…
But they conclude that it’s in the public interest for your work to be available for anyone to use.
The Copyright Office has also recommended the following:
Mass Digitization of the world’s intellectual property by corporate interests.
Extended Collective Licensing, a form of socialized corporate licensing that would replace voluntary agreements between artists and clients.
A Copyright Small Claims Court to handle the expected flood of orphan works lawsuits.
—> The deadline is This Thursday, July 23, 2015″ <—
– WHAT CAN WE DO? –
Write a letter —> HERE <— Let them know why this isn’t a good idea!
Don’t know what to write? Here are Letter samples
SHARE this information as much as you can!
– LEARN MORE –
Watch/Listen to Will Terry and Brad Holland discuss this Law on
“ Everything You Know About Copyright Is About To Change”
Read all about it.
IPA Artists Alert
Join Illustrator’s Partnership
This Copyright Act could affect all kinds of creators!!
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