One Wank After Another

[coalcube]

A blank assignment is a funny thing, isn't it? When you have it, you don't appreciate it, and when you miss it, it's gone.

Wednesday 10 December: Default deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 17 December: Assignment deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 24 December: Main collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 25 December: Madness collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 1 January: Author reveals, end of event (9pm UTC)

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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Well, BFE finally wanked itself out, anyone here have thoughts on art?

[(Anonymous)]

I've received amazing art gifts. I don't like getting "bad" art gifts where I think "I could have drawn that" or "I don't actually know what I'm seeing". I don't know if tracing is ethically bad or not. However, I don't like getting art where it looks weird and then later someone who knows more about art tells me that that's because the artist traced something and didn't really understand what they were tracing.

It seems hard to be an artist in an exchange. It seems like it takes far more work to make good art than it takes me to write a 1k fic, but also, I don't want to ask for art and get really disappointing art.

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is about how I feel. I'd be totally fine with a sketch type of art, or pencil art, or whatever else is wank du jour, as long as it was done by someone who was about as skilled at art as most exchange participants are skilled at writing (which is to say, at a pretty solid amateur level). I rarely find people giving writing that is technically bad in the way that people give technically bad art; I think most bad bfe writing gifts come from being bad fanfiction (characterization, etc) and not bad writing, simply because 1000 words isn't long enough to get into truly bad pacing or plotting snafus.

[(Anonymous)]

It's my feeling that tracing is ethically bad in some of the same ways that AI is bad. If the dataset for AI was comprised entirely of works that were in the public domain or released under CC0, and you specifically had to opt in to having your stuff scraped for training, a lot of the objections would go away. (You'd be left with the workers' rights concerns about people being automated out of a job, which to me is personally more pressing, but also isn't unique to AI.) If you're tracing a stock image that allows it, your own reference photo, etc, you are ethically in the clear, but will probably run into problems now or down the line where you don't understand what you're drawing.

I can draw, but I never offer to match on art requests because you're right, it takes more time and effort (for me, at least) to make an art piece I would feel good about putting into an exchange.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know about bad but tracing feels lazy. It's like the equivalent of a fic where someone's just writing out a scene from canon. Sure, you technically produced something, but I'd rather have a genuine badfic or stick figures comic where there's some spark of inspiration even if it's incomprehensible.

[(Anonymous)]

I wouldn't gift the infamous FIAB badart to my worst enemy.

[(Anonymous)]

I would but I really hate my worst enemies lol

[(Anonymous)]

I just wish I would ever get art. Honestly if getting gifted art on a regular basis meant sometimes getting crappy art, I'd still take it.

I have never been gifted art in an exchange even though I keep asking for it, and even in fandoms with talented fan artists (who may, of course, not be in the exchange scene).

I'm not sure if getting bad art is worse or better than getting bad fic, but it would probably be easier to shrug off because it wouldn't take me a couple of hours to get through it. I'd just know by taking one look.

[(Anonymous)]

Sign up to exchanges that have medium options and only request art.

Find the artists you like in exchange fandoms and get into their fandoms. Being in fandoms with fanartists you like who don't do exchanges is useless for getting art in exchanges unless you can persuade the artists to exchanges.

[(Anonymous)]

As an artist, this makes me wish for an art request equivalent of "Someday my fic will come".

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like the next time I'm close to defaulting because the words won't come, I should just draw some stick figures and be done with it. This is how the "you can't make rules about quality" handwriting comes across.

[(Anonymous)]

Make sure your recip has requested art and you're golden.

[(Anonymous)]

I would prefer to receive stick figure art over a large number of the gift fics I have been given.

[(Anonymous)]

I have to agree that FIAB art scoring rules are terrible and my only real beef with FIAB as an exchange. The one time I tried to fill my assignment with a series of different artworks was the closest I got to exchange burnout. It was like "Well, I spent 30 hours on this first gift, 1k down, 9k to go... better make the others sketches or something".

[(Anonymous)]

I've received art of roughly around that skill level from three different people and I gotta be honest and say I don't really view them as gifts (and would 100% rather get nice-looking traced art). Open gift, go "Oh...", quickly write a thank you comment to get it out of the way, close gift. It's actually pretty easy for me to enjoy beginner art when there's at least a bit of a vision to it, but when the art is both low-skill and so simple (and, in the case of the art in the wank, poorly scanned), there just really isn't much there for me.

[(Anonymous)]

[(Anonymous)]

+1

This is a "Awww, thanks, it's great to see someone make art of my blorbos" + quietly reject in a month kind of situation. People not being aware that their skill level is not at all point where they should do exchanges is probably nothing that can be prevented my the rules, and it happens with fic too, but it just seems to happen much more frequently with art and the artists are less notorious for it.

[(Anonymous)]

Going against the grain here: I find art easier to produce then fic. I can have a podcast or a YouTube video on in the BG as I work on art, but I have to completely isolate myself to write.

[(Anonymous)]

For me "easier" and "amount of work" are very different things. I'm less likely to get absolutely stumped on an art OW fill the way I get with fic (or discover that my idea is for 5k min and I just can't think of a way to pare it down), but a 1k art fill will usually take me a lot more time than 1k of fic.

[(Anonymous)]

Hard same although I am restricted in my ability to participate in exchanges because I cannot draw human people. Occasionally if there are enough relevant fandoms/characters I'll sign up for an art allowed exchange and only do art just as a nice relaxing break.

[(Anonymous)]

I wish there was actually any chance in hell of getting art treats for yuletide.

[(Anonymous)]

I check Wrapping Paper challenge requests regularly, coalie!

[(Anonymous)]

Aren't they against the rules?

[(Anonymous)]

I got one once! Like 10 years ago.

[(Anonymous)]

Reading the FFA talk now, it's genuinely wild that the FIAB mods are such hardliners when it comes to opt-in mediums but refuse to moderate basic gift quality.

You can't gift someone an unrequested medium because they requested a dozen experimental mediums but not this specific one, oh no, what if they don't want it... but they'll allow badart fills

It's their exchange and they can do what they want but it's just such a weird way to set priorities