Floating through the void

♤|| Mixed || 1995 || She/They || Artblog: @comicaldreamer

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[shencomix]

[1-jar-of-stars]

On Friendship.

[animentality]

[animentality]

there are people who don't like lord of the rings?

[dreamlogic]

asked one of my coworkers how she's doing today and she goes "could be better, could be worse," and another coworker nearby who was eavesdropping chimes in with "could be a lil bit o' alligator curse!" i have no idea what he meant by that but i do know that it has been immediately added to the lexicon.

[bitchfitch]

Ah if it isn't my old friend, Task which would take like 5 minutes but which will instead take 2 hours because it's boring and tedious and I just don't Wanna.

[teaboot]

*months

[beepbeepbeepbeep-deactivated202]

[sailorzombiestar]

So I used to make fun of this guy for using the same face over and over. And you know what? Kudos on this made for actually taking the criticism and breaking out of his rut.

This is also terrifying and I hate it.

[beepbeepbeepbeep-deactivated202]

“Kudos for actually taking the criticism and breaking out of his rut.“

Except it wasn’t criticism, it was constant daily harassment. Look, I’ve been making comics for the internet for 10 years. I made comics for BuzzFeed for about two years, but people love to focus on those comics for some reason. They were simpler and quicker because I needed to publish at least one thing a day. And I loved it! I learned a lot!

At some point when I was getting really popular, Reddit and Tumblr decided they’d had enough and launched a targeted campaign against me. Tried to doxx me multiple times. Sent death threats. 4Chan threads started popping up for the sole purpose of spreading rumors that I’m a pedophile. All because I was making “lazy” comics and getting a salary for it.

Also, it’s always the same 10 or so comics that got posted as proof of my laziness. I made 1,008 comics at BuzzFeed (I counted). I worked really hard for my extremely mediocre salary.

Now that I’ve left BuzzFeed and don’t have deadlines anymore, I can spend more time on comics and only draw things I’m passionate about (like my dick). But make no mistake—if you like my stuff now, it’s because I pushed myself so hard as BuzzFeed. I’m not better now because of the “criticism” I got from trolls on the internet. Don’t fucking take credit for that.

[vivelafat]

Is all criticism from trolls or is there any way of providing you with constructive criticism? Do you even care to hear it or would you prefer people keep it to themselves?

Not trying to be a troll myself, just curious. 

[skullamity-deactivated20250823]

I will answer this question for you: No, unless you are someone who an artist knows well, is on friendly terms with and the artist has asked you specifically for advice.

Artists know other artists. If I'm having trouble with something specific, I can actively say "who do I know that does this really well?" and immediately come up with a shortlist of names belonging to people who I 1)trust to be honest and helpful and provide me with actual solutions to the problem I'm having, 2) know what they're talking about, 3) are at least somewhat familiar with my workload and process and 4) have time for my questions. If my issue is more involved, I will even offer to pay them for their time!

Most artists will not take unsolicited advice from random people on Tumblr or in their comments, and they shouldn't! You have no way of knowing if the person giving you critique has any experience, has any insight into what might work better, has any familiarity with anything about how you work, and so on. You also don't know anything about them personally, so you really can't trust that someone has genuinely good intentions towards you and isn't just fucking with you--that even if you did everything they said they wouldn't just move the goalposts until you finally realised that their goal wasn't to help you improve, it was to waste your time and jerk you around for as long as they could get away with.

Also, you never want to give people who consume your work the idea that they have power over the decisions you make, because then you set yourself up for caving to audience whim in a time and place where collective hate-reading is a thing that people do.

That's not to say that your readers shouldn't call you out if you say something shitty or racist or genuinely harmful, but that is an entirely different situation from constantly being hounded by a group of assholes who are all saying 'you're doing it wrong, do it a different way because I say so, and if you don't I'm going to tell everyone that you just can't take criticism!' Fuck that.

Good on Adam for having clear boundaries and being able to articulate them so succinctly.

[adobsonartworks]

This is what happened to me too. When I was on DeviantArt, I posted my comic “So, You’re A Cartoonist” on an almost daily basis. I got TONS of criticism, which I tried to listen to and follow. I was told my backgrounds were lacking, so I added more backgrounds even though the comics and jokes didn’t need them. I was told the format was too repetitive, despite the fact that a 4 panel structure made posting daily easier. I was told my jokes were too tame, so I tried making edgier jokes despite not being comfortable telling jokes like that.

Every time I adjusted my art to fit the needs of some random critic, more would just take it’s place. Nothing I did was EVER good enough, and I eventually ended up burning myself out trying to accommodate everyone. I was getting hundreds upon hundreds of comments a day, and what did I get for listening to the feedback? Branded as “unable to handle criticism” by those whom I missed or didn’t listen to. It didn’t matter that I listened to feedback, because the second I didn’t listen to one person or they felt slighted by me for whatever reason, it was all over 4chan and SomethingAwful and the trolling intensified. It’s physically impossible to listen to hundreds of criticism and adjust our work to them all equally, yet we’re treated like that’s a fundamental aspect of our job.

This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of why random criticism from online fans is kinda useless. The best type of criticism happens DURING the making of the work, when you still have time to change the art and adjust things easily. Once the work is completed and put out there, it’s not viable to go back and change things because you’re got other projects to work on and you can’t get hung up on what’s been done. There are deadlines to meet after all. But fans can only realistically comment on final works of art. They can’t usually comment on the behind the scenes process and influence the art in any meaningful way.

My longest paying gig was a 2 year stint drawing “the Brentalfloss Comic.” It was weekly, and I got scripts sent to me. I would draw up the comic, send it back, get notes on it, change things, and make adjustments. It was rough, but it worked because I was getting feedback BEFORE I finished making the comic. And it yielded some of the best work I’ve ever done. But when people criticize my work, they conveniently ignore those 378 comics. Strange...

Also, speaking personally here... the best type of feedback I could get is someone telling me what I did RIGHT. Not mindless “praise,” mind you... but what did you LIKE in my art? What did I do that you ENJOYED? I know what I did wrong. I drew it, after all. I don’t need the negative pointed out, because I know eventually I will overcome it. But I need positivity. I need people to tell me why I should keep making the art I do. If all an artist ever gets back is negativity and harsh criticism, they’ll quickly fall into depression and despair because they’ll feel their work is never good enough. So why bother? If every work of art is just going to spur more negativity, why bother making new work?

The biggest lie social media has instilled in us is that your ability to reach out and contact the creators of your favorite works is a “right.” It’s not. And if a creator doesn’t want your feedback or doesn’t listen to your criticisms, you are not being “censored.” Artists are not obligated to waste their precious time dealing with your personal beefs. Especially if you’re not paying them. lol

[beepbeepbeepbeep-deactivated202]

Stay outta my posts Andrew

[occasionallysubtle]

DID inspired prints & magnets up thru the end of the month ~ also got a card club for proxies ~ join before the end of the month for the DID release

[sunderwight]

Boss says this cave will make a good hideout for us to lie low until the heat's off and we can sell the goods, but I don't know, something about this place is making me nervous.

It's just... where did all these wooden platforms come from? Who built them? And the stairs? This place wasn't even a mine or anything, there's no ore here. Boss says it's leftover stuff from "ages past" but it's made out of wood, it doesn't look that old?

The sconces do though, but they freak me out. At first I thought Boss must have lit them but they never seem to go dark, ever. They're just always burning. Always.

But the part that freaks me out the most is that one passageway that looks like a dead end, but I swear to all the gods, there's a switch built into the rocks. None of the other guys seems to have noticed, but if you look close you can see there's a seam along one of the walls. Like a hidden door. I don't know what's going on there and if someone ends up pressing that switch, well, I'm not gonna be the first to try it.

[sunderwight]

Was asking one of the guys why he was stuffing a bunch of singular apples and eggs into burlap sacks to leave propped up beside crates this morning (just keep 'em all in one or two bags???) when Boss went and painted a big skull and crossbones on the door to the cave.

Why does a cave have a door? I dunno, why does it have walkways and stairs and rickety rope bridges across the big dark chasm in the middle? I'm trying not to think too hard about all of this, since we're only staying here until the bounty goes down.

But this was Boss doing it, so I ask, y'know, what the hell's that about? Boss says we gotta make it clear to any passersby that they shouldn't come this way, which I guess I mean that sort of makes sense, but also aren't we lying low? How is painting a fucking skull on the door gonna help with that?

I dunno, something's off. Swear I heard whispers coming up from that side tunnel last light, like someone was in there talking, but when I went to check it was empty as ever. Just those sconces still flickering away...

[sunderwight]

Can't believe I forgot to mention the chests.

So there are these chests all over, yeah? I counted four of them so far. They were in the cave when we got here, big heavy fuckers, god only knows who dragged them here or maybe built them in the cave itself I guess, but they look like they're made out of the same wood as the walkways and I can't wrap my head around multiple groups of people coming in here to build weird shit and then abandon it, so I'm gonna say it was the same people.

Anyway, Boss says this morning, we're gonna move all the loot into the chests. I guess maybe he's worried about one of the guys getting over-eager and taking off with his share and then getting caught and ratting us out or something, but even so, I don't trust these weird old chests. Boss found some keys for them and they seem to work but what if they break?

I'm outvoted though so we divvied up the goods and shifted it all into the chests. Boss has the key to the biggest one, and the other three got doled out to Butcher, Runner, One-Eye, and me. Makes me nervous. I can't quite explain it, but that key in my pocket makes me feel like I've got a big red target painted on my back.

[sunderwight]

Found out today that Boss keeps a journal? I thought it was like a ledger or something to track the days, but nope, turns out all this time the Boss has been writing a detailed account of everything we've been up to into the pages of this ratty red book that he keeps stored at the entrance of the cave for some reason??

Now I'm not one to disparage a man's hobbies but I'm pretty sure that keeping a written confession of our crimes handy is a bad idea. But when I tried to talk to Boss about it he just kept playing dumb, said he barely even knows how to write, how would he be keeping a journal? But I've seen him writing in it, and I picked it up and read it and it's definitely an account of his perspective on our whole setup and situation and even some of his private thoughts. I tried to show it to him directly to let him know what I meant and he just insisted he ain't some scholar and doesn't read shit, and then went back to walking back and forth across the rope bridge in the big chamber.

[sunderwight]

No, no, there's something really wrong with this place. I'm not just imagining it. I found another book today. Green cover. It was lying in the weird chamber, and I know nothing was in there before because I always check to make sure that hidden door is still shut tight and no one else has found the switch, see? But there was a book today, detailing some observations about there maybe being a hidden door someone, and perhaps treasure behind it.

It's in my hand writing.

Screw it. I don't care if the guards are probably still out for my blood, I'm getting out of here. The ghosts can keep the loot. I threw my key down one of the flooded passageways, I got a feeling I'll be lucky to leave this place even with just the clothes on my back.

[sunderwight]

I can't get out. No matter how I look for it, I can't seem to find the exit. I know where it is, I do, but it's like every time I start going that way I get turned around. The cave knows I'm trying to leave, and it won't let me go. I just keep ending up back in that chamber.

How many days has it been?

[sunderwight]

There's something in here with us, now.

I was trying to get out again when I finally got to the main chamber. One-Eye's dead. I watched something come up from behind and slit his throat. It looked like part of the cave wall moved, almost. Or like one of them lizards that matches the background all the time. Chamo somethings?

Whatever it was, it was quick and silent and the minute One-Eye's body hit the ground, I couldn't see it again. It could be anywhere now. Keens was in the same room and somehow not only did he not see the thing, I heard him talking about how it "must have been the wind" even with One-Eye's bleeding corpse lying not three feet away from him.

I gotta get out of here. Whatever it takes. Gotta get out.

There's that switch. Maybe... maybe there's another way out, down through whatever passage it opens up into.

[sunderwight]

No, I'm not doing it. I'm not pressing that switch. That's just what the cave wants me to do, so I'm not doing it. I know what'll happen. I'll press it and go down into some new tunnels and I'll never come back out again, I can feel it right down in the part of of me that still makes sense.

I've got a powerful urge to keep moving, but I know if I do I'm just going to end up back in that chamber, with that damn green book in my writing and the damn switch tempting me. So I've jammed myself into the cave wall instead.

There's this part of the cave that looks like it's solid stone, but if you press up against it just-so, it's an illusion. Some of the guys found it when we first moved in and hid a bunch of stuff from the boss here, mostly booze and a few of the drugs Boss doesn't approve of. I cleared it out and shoved that shit into one of those damn crates that are everywhere, and now it's just me. Place smells like bad moonshine, and I can only just see a sliver ahead, and I want to leave so much I'm afraid I'm gonna black out and find I've walked myself back to that chamber. But I've wedged myself in and I'll stay here as long as I can.

[sunderwight]

Boss is dead. I know it for sure, although I didn't see it. But I heard him swearing up a storm at something, heard the thwip of someone firing arrows, and now it's quiet.

That Chamo monster is back. I still can't see what it is, not really, but it's been going through all the shit in the cave. I can hear the rustling of the sacks being opened. Chewing, sometimes, like it's eating whatever it finds in there. Heard one of those damn chests creak open, so it's got at least some of our loot now, too. It can have the loot. I just don't want to die.

[sunderwight]

I heard a rumbling sound. Like stone moving. I think the Chamo found the switch and pressed it, and opened the hidden door.

Now's my only chance. If I can make it to the exit while that thing is distracted, I might be able to escape. If I'm ever going to it'll be now, or else I'll join Boss and One-Eye and the others, I know it. If the cave turns me around again I'm dead.

I'm not usually the praying type, but if any gods are listening, I swear I'll never steal again if I can just make it out that skull-and-crossbones door.

[janusfnc14]

Holy fuck

[georgesantosapologist-deactivat]

[diagnosed-overthinker]

love it when people link wikipedia pages instead of explaining the point. The url alone conveys so much disdain and contempt. Here is the information you desire, i found it with ease.

[horsefriend]

[putnamspuppeteer]

For those who don't know: Ikumi Nakamura is the woman who was senior artist on Bayonetta, and designed the titular character along with Hideki Kamiya. Their greatest moment of bonding was over their insistence that Bayonetta keep her glasses on at all times. Nakamura cannot go to horny jail. She is the warden.

[brookietf]

[catgirlforeskin]

Happy pride month to her and her exclusively

[seraphiminn]

she made a comic about the experience on twitter

[catboybiologist]

happy pride

[ikindamaybewanthertositonmyface]

An Update from back in October I'm surprised wasn't added to this post. lol

[fleshengine]

I love the face of a woman having the time of her life.

[thesadboisguidetolife]

[spadepro]

Nothing is more of a creative killer than someone enforcing their discomfort in creative spaces. ESPECIALLY if it's white discomfort.

[bunniboiz]

"it's ok to show (x) in fiction as long as the bad guy gets punished!" the bad guy doesn't have to get punished. in fact the bad guy can win altogether. the bad guy can entirely get away with it. hope this helps

[bunniboiz]

and this part might make some people's head explode but: characters can be written to forgive things you personally wouldn't ever forgive. not everything is written as what you'd perceive to be the right choice. not everything is a self-insert & protagonists don't have to be relatable.

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

Learn to articulate how you're feeling without accusing anyone of having bad intentions. You can say "I'm afraid of being alone" without saying "you're just going to leave me like everyone else." You can say "I need some reassurance" without saying "you probably don't love me anymore." You can say "I'm afraid I've hurt your feelings and I'd like to talk it through" without saying "you don't even like me anymore." You can say "I want to spend more time with you" without saying "you've gotten tired of me." You can say "I feel misunderstood" without saying "you always judge me." Try not to let your emotions get the best of you. Have a conversation focused on finding solutions instead of escalating the conflict.

[64mpg]

accusing people of lying for clout on this website is so funny this is literally the most useless platform to be popular on. the only reward is hate mail