The only time my art gets "dicked" is when someone "favorites" it. I admit it's the ultimate irony and kind of hilarious! Suddenly I get all these low scores from ass-hats that don't even leave comments. So is it possible to despise a work while simultaneously loving the fuck out of it? I imagine the person who favs a piece of art sincerely enjoyed it but the trolls have to have their "reee" by pissing on all that positivity. Regardless I'm not quitting. Art is my therapy. Ya'll don't have to like what I do but I find it disingenuous I never get comments. Just seems like low tier haters that don't wanna get in trouble by posting actual asshole replies so they "down vote" instead. I mean you can bring up stuff I KNOW is whacked. Aka, I'm not the best at backgrounds and rarely draw them. Not all my hands or feet are perfect but I make the attempt and have gotten marginally better over the years. Maybe my penises look weird? Okay sure, I admit I don't have an innate fascination with male genitalia so my penises aren't perfect tens! Lastly I know a lot of my art has a left over "rough sketchy quality" even after the colors and shadows/lighting are added not everyone will take to. (But I like that "grit" as it shows the authentic work that went into each piece though I do some touch ups here and there.)
Yo, I'm sorry I can't live up to your fickle biases fam-a-lam! Believe me, I wish I was some hawt college co-ed cutie with a great rack or a bishounen looking boy-band man-lad too! Alas,cursed testosterone flows throw my wizard veins making me tall,bearded,and mean! I WILL hit you with my staff due to built up mid-life crisis frustrations if you don't remain 3 feet away at all times!
It really seems like today artists have "become" another product. Once a creative person gets famous their audience expects them to be appealing,charismatic,marketable,always gracious,always humble,and some sort of moralistic monolith for the community. Fuck that! I'm just a foul mouthed sinner stumbling in the dark like almost everyone else! Don't expect me to tell you something that will change your life forever. Don't expect me to be the dad you never had. I'll certainly treat you with decency,compassion,and respect but only so long as you do the same for me. By the way,if you look in my closet there will be a few skeletons there. Welcome to reality!
OpusFreiling
I blame Monty Oum, funny enough, as he was ALL those things you mentioned, and the whole rwby series originally got popular BECAUSE it bent over backwards to fan requests. (esp shipping)
And the dozens of DA artists that followed his lead and were gluttons for similar punishment.
Basically, the kids are spoiled rotten by the initial crop of 3D/PC/MMD anime artists.
They all worked hella cheap too, undercutting everyone else. $15-$25 for full body full colour n shit, at professional manga artist tier quality, or $40 for fully rigged 3D figures. SPOILED, I SAY.
Some areas/fandoms are still flooded with eternally 'depressed' pricing.
There's such a massive amount of blech fan comics for instance because a couple south Americans like nanys charge as low as $150 for a full comic, not to mention also put out original works for free at the same pace.
How can anyone else compete with that? If Marvel could get away with paying artists that low they'd still be selling for 50 cents a pop.
These kids all followed a handful of guys like Monty who thought you should be completely obsequious to your audience, always humble, treat every tardo request/critique as deadly srs.
And now they're screwed up in the head about it and don't know how to tell people "no"
Also very susceptible to "we're only allowed a pittance as allowance but would like to commission you" sob stories from pre-teens, driving their average price even lower.
nightsavior
That's insightful as I really never got into Ruby myself,Opus. I'm so old school I remember the funny Red & Blue Halo skits that proceeded more loftier ambitions and once Rooster-Teeth got "really big". By that I had simply moved on to other things. I don't think artists should be complete assholes but there has been more of this push to make us "public personalities". Even in comics gate you have people like Ethan Van Schiver streaming everyday on youtube. Granted, I love Ethan's work and it more than speaks for itself but sure enough it got to the point many followers probably like the guy more for his online presence than the quality of art he can produce. My only point is some artists simply do art. Not all of us are super charismatic socialites.
I also remember the negative buzz around Hazbin Hotel in which people were trying to find negative things about Vivziepop's past just to "make her confess" before the kangaroo inquisition and all they could find was a few old drawings that didn't even prove what they accused her of. We're all just "people",man! I've done cringe things and I've said cringe things and though I'm wiser than myself from my mid 20's years that doesn't mean I'll never make mistakes again! The problem is with kissing the ass of the establishment is "eventually" they'll come up with a reason to hang you anyway so in the meantime you might as well at least get enjoyment outta what you create!
At one point artists went from a bit Anti-authoritarian to being shills for the masses. I realize a wide audience brings in money but the problem is when visionaries/illustrators/writers try to cater to everyone whatever they are creating becomes bland and uninteresting in its' inoffensiveness.