Vaelyane's Extravagant Illustrorium

🇫🇷 | 34 | 🌈 | Art blog of a genderqueer French artist who loves watercolours, monsters, nature & fantasy!

[vaelyane]

NAVIGATION | ⭐ | LINKS | ⭐ | PERSONAL BLOG Welcome to my art blog! I’m Kael, an illustrator based near Strasbourg, France. I paint a variety of personal stuff, with the occasional piece of fanart and some D&D characters thrown in there. :D I work both digitally and traditionally, and my favourite tools are watercolours and Photoshop. - Commissions are closed. - Art Trades are open to mutuals only. - Do not copy/re-upload my work. Thank you!

🇬🇧  It’s time for the yearly December retrospective of the year! I’m not sure what to feel about 2022. Oddly enough, I’ve done a lot, and nothing at alI, at the same time. An art block was gnawing at me for over a year, but I got over it. I’ve improved my workstation. I’ve developed an obsession for pigments while I wasn’t painting. And I’ve been writing again. ⭐

To make things easier, I’ve combined my “Art vs Artist” and my “2022 Summary of Art” memes into one, with a self-portrait from this year in the middle. The digital lines on the bottom left were meant for a watercolour painting I started before May, but I was too ambitious. My art block was too strong at the time, and I couldn’t finish it. Months later, I noticed my carelessness had caused some serious damage to the painting itself. I don’t have the strength to start over, but I might be able to save it. Who knows! It is a mystery. 👻 If I succeed, I’ll tell you what happened. 2022 was strange enough, but I fear 2023 might spiral into chaos. Regardless, I wish you some peace and quiet during the upcoming year. You deserve to rest, once in a while. Take care, and stay strong! ~~~~~~~~ 🇫🇷  Il est temps de faire la rétrospective annuelle du mois de Décembre ! Je ne sais pas quoi penser de 2022. Bizarrement, j’ai fait pas mal de choses, et rien du tout, tout à la fois. J’‘ai lutté contre un art block pendant plus d’un an, avant de m’en sortir. J’ai amélioré ma station de travail. J’ai développé une obsession pour les pigments pendant que je ne peignais pas. Et je me suis remis à écrire. ⭐ Pour simplifier les choses, j’ai combiné les memes de l’ “Art vs Artist” et du “2022 Summary of Art” en une seule image, avec un autoportrait de cette année au milieu. Le line numérique en bas à gauche est celui d’une aquarelle commencée avant mai, mais j’étais trop ambitieux. L’art block était encore trop ancré à ce stade, et je n’ai pas pu la finir. Des mois plus tard, j’ai compris que mes étourderies ont causé de sérieux dégâts à la peinture elle-même. Je n’ai pas la force de la recommencer, mais je peux peut-être la sauver. Qui sait ! It is a mystery. 👻  Si j’y arrive, je vous expliquerai. L’année 2022 était bien bizarre, mais j’ai peur que 2023 ne sombre dans le chaos. Quoi qu’il arrive, je vous souhaite un peu de paix et de tranquilité pour l’année à venir. Vous méritez du repos, de temps en temps. Prenez soin de vous !

[vaelyane]

🇬🇧 Hello there! I haven't shared my art here in a long time. For my return, I would like to make an offering of this perfectly normal cat inspired by medieval marginalia.

Tumblr's deal with OpenAI in early 2024 left a very sour taste in my mouth. But unlike Instagram which gives me hives in its current form, I still visit here often enough. Let's try this again, shall we?

~~~~ 🇫🇷 Salut la compagnie ! Je n'ai rien partagé ici depuis fort longtemps. Pour mon retour, j'aimerais faire une offrande de ce chat parfaitement normal inspiré par le bestiaire des manuscrits médiévaux.

Le deal que tumblr a passé avec OpenAI en 2024 m'a laissé un goût très amer dans la bouche. Mais, contrairement à Instagram qui me donne des boutons dans sa forme actuelle, je reviens régulièrement par ici. Alors, retentons !

[vaelyane]

Genuine question: should I resume posting art here? I haven't uploaded in a few years.

[frogthistlebooks]

Want to read our first book, Fey?

It's about butch fairies, told in a mock field guide structure, with over 30 artists and 10 writers, its a really beautiful and cute book!

And now you can have it as an add on! We have enable a limited number of physical books to be added on. But we also have the digital pdf as an add-on too.

Help us reach 100% funded soon

Dark fairies Kickstarter is here.

[frogthistlebooks]

✨️Fey: A guide to fae of the butch variety✨️

We have 60+ pages of beautiful art and writing of fairies, and faeries, and critters galore! This book is full of queer fairies and butch celebration! We have a bunch of stretchgoals to unlock, and even some secret ones! 👀

Enjoy the cover in its full glory, as well as some of the sketches and interior layout concepts drawn up by @may12324

Dont forget to back it today!

[frogthistlebooks]

We have 25 hours left! This is the final day!

Kickstarter ends this time tomorrow, 7:30 am AEDT. So Australians, if youre not an early bird, today is your last chance! And everyone else, have you backed it yet?

Reblog and shares are very much appreciated! Thank you, everyone, who has already done so 🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️

[may12324]

✨️12 hours left!✨️ Dont forget!

[frogthistlebooks]

✨️Fey Giveaway!✨️

Reblog for your chance to win a "FEY" zine and merch bundle!

We will be giving away two zine and merch bundles across social media. Entries will be put into a draw and chosen at random, with winners to be announced at the end of the campaign.

Good luck! ~

Kickstarter will be running from 22nd of July to the 21st of August

[frogthistlebooks]

~Fey: A guide to Fae of The Butch Variety~

NOW LIVE!

Inspired by mock field guides and faerie folklore, our book combines elements of art, poetry, and short stories to show fairies through a queer lens. We have 30 artists and 6 writers each exploring one of our six themes; garden, house, city, courtly, dark, and wyld!

You will be able to purchase the book in its physical form, digital form, and also extra merch like prints and stickers!

[frogthistlebooks]

~Fey: A guide to Fae of The Butch Variety~

Coming soon! Watch this page

Inspired by mock field guides and faerie folklore, our book combines elements of art, poetry, and short stories to show fairies through a queer lens. We have 30 artists and 6 writers who are each immensely talented in their own rights, ranging from detailed digital painting styles, to traditional watercolour, and even collages using real flowers. This book is sure to be a treasured addition to any collector of fairy books.

[vaelyane]

Hey there! I've created a Cara acount, if you're interested! :D Mutuals, let me know if you're there too! I don't feel comfortable uploading on tumblr since the deal between its parent company and OpenAI. I don't think opting out did anything. I won't be leaving tumblr entirely, at least for now? But don't expect me to post full pieces here anymore. Sporadic crops, perhaps. Take care and stay safe, everyone (also, donate to Palestinian refugees, et les Français, allez voter le 30 juin et le 7 juillet, on peut pas laisser le RN gagner, voilà)

Vaelyane (@vaelyane) | Cara - Artist Social & Portfolio Platform

| 🇲🇫 | Genderqueer illustrator based near Strasbourg, France. 🎨🖌 Watercolours and digital art.

[frogthistlebooks]

Artist spotlight- Garden Fairies: Vaelyane and Mor! 🌱

"When they're not wistfully languishing in bed or sitting at their painting desk, Vaelyane can be found haunting their garden in France and gazing at the bugs. When will the jays come back to visit?" Velyane can be found at @vaelyane

--

"Mor is a student hobbyist artist who loves flowers and the color red. His favourite procreate brush is Stucco." Mor can be found at @asfodeltide

--

Stay tuned for more updates about our artists and writers , we have some more amazing talents to show you all. Zine kickstarter will be in June/July.

[sharkface]

They are already selling data to midjourney, and it's very likely your work is already being used to train their models because you have to OPT OUT of this, not opt in. Very scummy of them to roll this out unannounced.

[writterings]

here's some instructions for anyone who doesn't know how to opt out:

login in on desktop, it's not available on mobile yet

click "Account"

click on your blog

go to "Blog Settings"

go to "Visibility"

Scroll down to the bottom option

turn the toggle ON, not off

you will have to do this individually for each sideblog you have too, no way to do it for each account in one go

[khaleesi]

Automattic will sign a contract with OpenAI for Midjourney to learn off of Tumblr and Wordpress

Hello! Automattic, Tumblr's parent company, will sign a contract with OpenAI and Midjourney so Midjourney can learn off of Tumblr's and WordPress' art and other user data. :) (The full text of this article is copy/pasted in the cut below). You can opt out! but I truly cannot imagine a more idiotic or out of touch decision on the part of Tumblr's CEO.

First thing's first: When/if this goes live, opt out of this immediately. Do this even if you're not an artist. The more people opt out, the less valuable this contract is to Midjourney. in an ideal world, literally all of the active users would opt out, but if we can even get to 50% that's pretty delicious.

Second: Contact Tumblr Support. It's vital that you do this politely. Tumblr staff is not responsible for this decision and the point of doing this is to show the userbase's unwillingness to be involved in this, not harangue Tumblr staff. (Seriously, stop haranguing Tumblr staff). Here's a script:

Hi, I'm writing in to express my disappointment in Automattic's pending contract with OpenAI to sell user data. Midjourney is already embroiled in copyright lawsuits, and it is not possible to train it without compromising copyright, including violating the IP of artists on this site. I strongly protest this contract and will opt out if it goes live. Depending on the privacy terms around what user data is sold to OpenAI and why, it is possible I will leave the platform entirely. Thank you for your time.

Third: Download Glaze and start poisoning them prompts, my friends

Fourth: Stare into the middle distance for a second with me because holy fucking shit? How stupid can one decision be?

Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals. 

The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation we’ve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platforms’ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent.

The internal documentation details a messy and controversial process within Tumblr itself. One internal post made by Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, states that a query made to prepare data for OpenAI and Midjourney compiled a huge number of user posts that it wasn’t supposed to. It is not clear from Gage’s post whether this data has already been sent to OpenAI and Midjourney, or whether Gage was detailing a process for scrubbing the data before it was to be sent. 

Gage wrote:

“the way the data was queried for the initial data dump to Midjourney/OpenAI means we compiled a list of all tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023, but also unfortunately it included, and should not have included:

private posts on public blogs

posts on deleted or suspended blogs

unanswered asks (normally these are not public until they’re answered)

private answers (these only show up to the receiver and are not public)

posts that are marked ‘explicit’ / NSFW / ‘mature’ by our more modern standards (this may not be a big deal, I don’t know)

content from premium partner blogs (special brand blogs like Apple’s former music blog, for example, who spent money with us on an ad campaign) that may have creative that doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t have the rights to share with this-parties; this one is kinda unknown to me, what deals are in place historically and what they should prevent us from doing.”

Gage’s post makes clear that engineers are working on compiling a list of post IDs that should not have been included, and that password-protected posts, DMs, and media flagged as CSAM and other community guidelines violations were not included.

Automattic plans to launch a new setting on Wednesday that will allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and internal documents. A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states that “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.” 

404 Media has asked Automattic how it accidentally compiled data that it shouldn’t share, and whether any of that content was shared with OpenAI, but did not immediately hear back from the company. 404 Media asked Automattic about an imminent deal with Midjourney last week but did not hear back then, either.

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?”

Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.” Automattic did not respond to a question from 404 Media about whether it could guarantee that people who opt out will have their data deleted retroactively.

News about a deal between Tumblr and Midjourney has been rumored and speculated about on Tumblr for the last week. Someone claiming to be a former Tumblr employee announced in a Tumblr blog post that the platform was working on a deal with Midjourney, and the rumor made it onto Blind, an app for verified employees of companies to anonymously discuss their jobs. 404 Media has seen the Blind posts, in which what seems like an Automattic employee says, “I'm not sure why some of you are getting worked up or worried about this. It's totally legal, and sharing it publicly is perfectly fine since it's right there in the terms & conditions. So, go ahead and spread the word as much as you can with your friends and tech journalists, it's totally fine.”

Separately, 404 Media viewed a public, now-deleted post by Gage, the product manager, where he said that he was deleting all of his images off of Tumblr, and would be putting them on his personal website. A still-live post says, “i've deleted my photography from tumblr and will be moving it slowly but surely over to cylegage.com, which i'm building into a photography portfolio that i can control end-to-end.” At one point last week, his personal website had a specific note stating that he did not consent to AI scraping of his images. Gage’s original post has been deleted, and his website is now a blank page that just reads “Cyle.” Gage did not respond to a request for comment from 404 Media. 

Several online platforms have made similar deals with AI companies recently, including Reddit, which entered into an AI content licensing deal with Google and said in its SEC filing last week that it’s “in the early stages of monetizing [its] user base” by training AI on users’ posts. Last year, Shutterstock signed a six year deal with OpenAI to provide training data.

OpenAI and Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment. 

[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.

[vaelyane]

I'm sharing this here because I believe it's important. Even if the deal isn't real and turns out to be a rumour in the end, it's still safer to Glaze and Nightshade everything. Just in case. It's a good reflex to have online at this point anyway.

[vaelyane]

I have a Bluesky account! Join me there, if you want. ;)

[vaelyane]

I thought I'd never manage to finish this before midnight here in France, but Krampus and I wish you a Merry Christmas, if you celebrate!

[vaelyane]

🇬🇧   Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! 🎄

Today, on the day of Christmas Eve, I share with you this watercolour painting I made for celi_arts on Instagram as a Secret Santa gift. 👀 Since we both share an affection for spooky things, I could truly lean into my weird habit of shoehorning bats into my holiday cheer. 😂 It’s a bit odd for an Alsatian, but I’m not a festive person. Turning Christmas spooky is the only way I can fully embrace it!

To anyone who might be feeling under the weather right now: these times can be rough, and there’s no shame in that. I hope your woes will ease soon. 💖 And please, take care, everyone. ~~~~~~~~ 🇫🇷  Joyeux Noël ! Une excellente saison des fêtes à vous tous ! 🎄

Aujourd’hui, le jour du Réveillon de Noël, je vous partage cette aquarelle que j’ai faite pour celi_arts sur Instagram, dans le cadre d’un Secret Santa. 👀  Comme nous aimons tous les deux les thèmes sombres, j’ai à nouveau inséré une chauve-souris dans mes activités de fêtes. 😂 C’est bizarre pour un Alsacien, mais je ne suis pas très fan de Noël. En faire un second Halloween est ma seule façon de pouvoir l’apprécier !

A tous les gens qui ont le blues ces derniers jours : les fêtes ne sont pas forcément faciles à vivre, et il n’y a pas de honte à ça. J’espère que vos soucis s’allégeront bientôt. 💖 Et surtout, prenez soin de vous.

[vaelyane]

🇬🇧 I'd love to finish a new Krampy this year, if my body allows me. I started sketching this one with CSP during a horrid cold in November!

I really like CSP so far. The brushes feel organic to use and I think I could have fun painting in there. But I haven't yet found my bearings with linework, which is something I'll have to figure out before I attempt to bring a bigger project to life. ~~~~~~~~ 🇫🇷 J'aimerais beaucoup finir un autre Krampy cette année, si mon corps me le permet. J'ai commencé à croquer celui-ci sur CSP durant un rhume des Enfers en Novembre ! J'aime beaucoup CSP jusqu'ici. Les brushes ont un côté tactile et organique, et je pense pouvoir m'amuser niveau peinture. Mais je n'ai pas trouvé mon compte avec l'encrage pour l'instant, ce qu'il me faudra travailler avant de me lancer dans un plus gros projet.