#art meta

[clemelntine]

This paper (by me clemelntine) discusses how BDSM and artistic depictions of it can offer a new view and critique on Orientalism. Through discussion of the two topics as well as an analysis of the drawing Sharing is Caring by Thai artist Oat Montien, arguments will be given about the ways in which the conceptualization of domination and submission within kink can offer reflection of the ways they are conceptualized in Orientalism. An important topic is consent and autonomy and how its existence in kink can allow for submission to be reconceived as something powerful. The artwork serves as a means to emphasise the need for normalization and representation of BDSM so that the critical reflection that it offers on power can be used to further change the perspective on oppressive domination.

Additional salespitch: Oat Montien is the artist who did Yok's works for Not Me (they also featured as Yok's art teacher and it are his hands that we see working on the sketch of Dan). So if you like those works this might be interesting :)

Im gonna try to get this published in a small magazine later this year (fingers crossed) so honestly if you guys have comments or feedback they are very welcome. This also means that id appreciate it if you didnt spread this too far outside of Tumblr. I dont know why anyone would do that anyway, but just in case.

Alright kisses, thanks for indulging my fun.

[egelantier]

the AI 'art' comes from the same place that 'the curtain are just blue' comes from: the aggressive separation of creative process (and the creator behind it) from the creative result.

the curtains are never just blue, because the curtains in a scene never appear by themselves: they're put there by a living person, who made, in writing (animating, drawing, singing about) that scene, a million tiny choices. maybe they have thought long and hard about the color symbolism; or maybe they needed a color for the curtains, and picked up 'blue', unthinkingly, because their childhood curtains were blue, or the sky was particularly blue, or the cover of their favorite VHS tape was blue, or a million other things. maybe blue meant safety to them, or danger, or contentment, or first love, or horniness, or loneliness. whatever comma, whatever period appears, it's a sum total, if invisible, of the lived experience of the person who's behind the text. it's an invitation to dive in; to tease out the shared meaning. sometimes to invent, but that's just the continuation of the game, the acceptance of the invitation.

the ai 'art' wants to gut this game: here, have a picture with no thought behind it, no living being whose sum total of lived experience you're glimpsing into by the composition, the color, the commas, the ideas. (and that's a lie too, because stolen art - but here's that stolen art all stripped of its antecedent, mixed all together). here, you have something to consume without being invited to understand, without expending even an ounce of effort. isn't it fun? isn't it grand? isn't it cool to have a curtain that's just blue, simply blue, blue just because, ad infinitum?

(Anna and Michael Ancher - The living room with the blue curtains, approx. 1892.)

[achromaticabberation]

honestly whenever i see an art piece like "cant help myself" or "untitled (pile of candy)" i feel like i have the wrong reaction to it. i dont have any sort of voyeuristic guilt about it, i just want to help the poor robot. i just want to add more candy to the pile.

i just want to help. and i think that that wasnt the authors' intent with their pieces. but still

[koralprimrosesketches]

I'm glad other ppl like my art because if it was me coming across it, I wouldn't bat an eye, that's no little I like it

which isn't to say I don't like MY art, I just think if I saw someone with my art style, it wouldn't intrigue me at all, it looks so boring on other ppl and idk why

[garlicsunshine]

✨ color palette creation ✨

such a delightful time sinkhole to fall into

(feel free to use any of these)

[sadisticpony]

i cant say im a huge fan of artbook culture, i like doujinshis and stuff but

1) the scene is not here. the rest of the world does not have the cheap and convenient acess to printshops for that stuff that japan does.

2) artbooks are a lot more expensive, and people treat "fandom artist" as a job. not something for fun. which destroys a lot of the fun you can have- and if you really want your anime drawings to pay for your rent you arent in this for a hobby. you are expecting different things from this.

For things like artbooks, i think a lot of artists treat them like how they would imagine a portfolio. their best works so far. all collected and formatted into a coffee table book. how similar that is to artbooks outside of this niche space is kinda debateable but yeah. the polish required and the pressure put on themselves, in a fight to try to look like a "serious artist" is a lot of work. and does not really feel 1:1 with that of doujinshis. i have read some extremely polished ones, dont get me wrong. but i dont think its unfair to say the contents are different. i am not saying doujinshi and webtoon artists dont have immense pressure on them, but... well a lot of people in the doujinshi scene are doing this for fun. not to finance their entire life off of.

3) artbooks or fancomics also just dont sell over here the way they do in japan. i think comparing the eu/us markets and the japan market is silly as things do tend to be different all over the world. also 500 yen for a doujinshi is a fucking ton less than you asking for 15 dollars for your artbook. i dont think its confusing how one sells more. and even then, from what ive seen at conventions and things, comics and books do NOT sell anywhere near as much as posters and other goods like keyrings. i dont buy a great deal of comics at cons and im on here complaining about it. (if i ever find a con that isnt 99% hoyoverse by volume ill see if that changes...) a few ive seen that arent super glossy card printshop quality, feel like they want to be less doujinshi and more zine themed, they dont tend to be fandom and their main inspiration is the zine scene lol. which is not the part of the venn diagram my point is about.

4) also i dont think people are that good at comics. i dont think people study things like composition and layout. a fair number of people i see talking about this stuff do not really care for manga. Also i get the impression that they see their fanbooks as somehow superior or different or higher in value than their foreign counterparts. of course they cost more to produce in a country where printing services are more limited, less used to this kind of work and more expensive to produce. but i cannot genuinely believe that is the only reason why they are more expensive.

[girl-in-computer]

when i have a laptop and i learn gifmaking and i get google drive access to all media ever i’m gonna make the CRAZIEST gifsets so y’all better get ready