Latest Posts by krystami-blog - Page 2

I really want to possibly make charms or one of those stands. I just can't think of a design, I want to implement a lot. They are going to be Final Fantasy XV and Steven Universe. Maybe not all at once though. I want to make a Xenoblade X one as well...but I dunno. Something dynamic, more static, I'm not sure.

Some sketch wips of headshots I'm making for a pricelist in the future~

I wish I had an art style(s) that people were more interested in.

Dear Tumblr,

All those posts you see of young artists charging $3, $6, $10 for a drawing because they need help? That’s fucking exploitation, and fuck you if you think it’s reasonable or a “good deal" to pay nickels and dimes to squeeze a full-color original drawing out of some talented, hardworking kid because things are tight, and they can’t afford their textbooks. Or food. They sure as hell can’t afford to make you art for $6.

Instead, stop. And ask them where you can donate. If you can afford a $6 drawing, then you can afford to spend $6 simply to help someone. You don’t need internal organs as payment.

Don’t allow young artists to be exploited.

Mechs in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

https://twitter.com/Krystame

Please follow me on here if possible, I want to be active on it but it is hard to feel like I should.

Possibly venting here~

Seriously though, how do I get more "out there" I do what I think is my best, I upload as often as possible, well cept a tad before "lately" I'll admit, I'm easily discouraged, I don't know how to help myself apparently, been trying for ages, but it seems as useful as a ghost knocking on a window asking to be let in. What am I doing wrong, everyone around me is flying by in some sorta way, while I just kinda watch...like I'm running as fast and hard as I can while everyone elses light warps past me. (in general)

I haven't updated about this picture in quite a long time, it is nearly finished, I just have stopped working on it for the moment. Horrible photo, but I can't really do transferring right now and stuff, it took away most of the detail but, eh. Thinking of adding more wildlife or not as well.

I forgot I kinda tried to draw something super quick, like where I didn't take breaks or anything. (this took maybe only under five hours?) But I also didnt want to draw her skirt, too lazy for that..haha.

Up close shots of the picture I posted before. c: I can't link HQ versions because links don't let my post show up in any tags.

I have so much I have yet to upload, too depressed, see no point in uploading my art honestly. But yeah, Sans from Undertale, it started as just a doodle but ended up doing far more.

I NEED help(commissions) so, so badly, please scroll to the bottom for the gist of things if you don't wanna hear a slight back story of why I need help. I am terrible at networking, severely afraid of people, I break down at everything and can't work any sort of job. My dad is a horribly evil person, he breaks agreements and tries to misinterpretes everything to everyone. My husband and I are struggling so badly. We have so much debt and bills.(yay for in the past, family/roomates who steal info and ruin financial accounts) I cant work, I cant get on SSI, others think im lazy because of it, literally all I can do is create art. He is a literal dictator with how he is, he tricked us into giving him more money then we should for things, we called him out on the lies from proof, but again others agreed with him because he knows how to paint everyone else as the "bad guy". Now he told our landlord he isn't gonna pay the originally agreed upon rent, we had a solid agreement of my husband paying half for me and him and half the rent to my dad, instead he is now claiming he is paying my portion, which we even confronted before moving in and it was all okay (wish people would agree to write contracts) My dad is on a fixed income, SSI, my husband works as much as he can as it is, we can barely afford food or anything as it is, we cant get foodstamps or medicaid because he makes too much and even when we almost were able to it would require me looking for a job which i cannot do at all, i can hardly leave my home. We pay bills every week, we are trying to reduce debt so we can find a place to live on our own, every other place we cant move because our credit scores are so bad (mine is literally 9999, due to never working and gaining bills from others using my name and info for accounts while a kid/teen) I also have celiac disease and cant eat most food there is, especially cheaply without making me feel nauseous, i literally starve myself like it is normal, eating a few spoonfuls of peanut butter a day, or water...(healthy food and food emulating "normal" food is very pricy, example: a loaf of bread is nine dollars.) Maybe a meal when I cook for dinner once in awhile. My dad also cheated us on utilities, and out of 200 I'm supposed to get every month as a home health care person for him, he told the landlord we aren't splitting rent anymore and my husband has to pay double for me I guess. We have nowhere to go, nothing we can do. We stand up to him, we get this happening to us. We are strapped more than it is. ----- I desperately, DESPERATELY, need to start taking commissions, I am so scared, I haven't in so long, my skills are a lot better than they were when I used to, but the art world sees art prices differently now of days, as well as I have many styles and qualities to choose from. What I used to price my art when I was younger, people would tell me I underprice myself, now of days I fear i'd be overpricing from others opinions on the matter, and that is with my current works. I want to post examples but it will just be random stuff I have on my phone. I am unsure of pricing, scared to do so but need to so badly, my life is a constant, living, hell..that gets worse and worse constantly...as in police threats for crying or standing up for myself, eyes spat in, chairs thrown at, etc.

(This is making me sad, this post isnt showing up in any tags no matter how I search, so reuploading it in hopes it shows up)

I honestly really like Final Fantasy XV, Finished it about two weeks ago. I had to make some sorta fanart for it after Cry started playing it. :D

I have no clue the time taken, only I have drawn this during every stream video and then some.

I couldn’t think of which Regalia design to put so I put the one that was more memorable haha.

Also sup guy is a moogle type plushie.

Sorry for not uploading much in so long.

Bigger version on my DeviantArt (Krystami) as I think putting a link is messing it up.

I might relupoad it…even though i tried with another thing and failed multiple times cause the quality messed up, so might see me as spamming, idk.

Im so sad right now, my art isnt showing up in any tags...i kept trying to fix it through the day but nothing. So much work put into things for no reason as usual. Well, also my laptop is nearly dead, well maybe not dead, just close to being wiped clean and losing all my stuff.

I *need* to start taking commissions but heck, I don't even know if anyone actively follows me still. I haven't really posted, I have barely had the motivation to post anywhere really. I've made a lot of art though, just haven't posted...idk.

Just finished Final Fantasy XV and, yeah, never had a FF game crush me so badly. Jeeze, it did more to me than FFX and Crisis Core combined by a lot... A lot of nostalgia in the greatest ways (it had something from every FF to make it feel at home) But I will say I loved and enjoyed the whole game all the way through, just I'm so...."salty" I guess.

Last bit of Inktober stuff :D (as to the “surprise” one, it is literally an inside “joke”,er surprise to drawing someone I hadn’t planned on drawing er but, yeah “surprise” for me.)

More Inktober stuff, lots of brain farts for some of these, eh, still enjoyable :D I never really show my sketchbook stuff, then again I gotta start drawing in em more in the first place, but I have (had) near death pens while drawing all these, had them for awhile, getting new ones soon 8D

I really wanted to draw her, I love her design. better quality version can be found here http://krystami.deviantart.com/art/Mystery-girl-634195485

Apologies if this has been asked, but do you sell those statues? The Lapis statue is amazing, and I would be more than willing to pay for a product of your phenomenal work.

I am willing to sell them, I would be glad to also take commissions for custom ones as well, I just need to get around to some things. Thank you so much for the offer and I apologize for such a late reply.

i do not know if you noticed already, but lauren zuke reblogged your lapis sculpture and tagged it #insp and i think you should be aware of that

I did but I didn’t know that part, that is really nice and somewhat shocking to hear haha. Thank you for letting me know :D

Lauren Zuke reblogged your Lapis sculpture :O

I did notice, that honestly makes me super happy c:

Just thought I’d show you the Asriel you inspired me to sculpt. He’s nowhere near as amazing as any of yours, but I’m sure I’ll get better!

Tbh everytime i see a post here or on your personal blog, i breath a little sigh of relief. Please take care, and good luck.

Thank you, sorry for not replying sooner. I both haven’t been able to find out how to reply messages/been able to get online/spend the time I do manage to get online replying messages, I feel bad because I feel a lot of these are so old and I had no clue they existed until a lil while back.

Some random up closeness from the last Lapis picture I made. :D

I like how waters have different densities, I bet she could control that if she wanted to haha. bigger better quality version http://krystami.deviantart.com/art/Low-Light-633658997

Really low prices make me less likely to commission an artist. Me: I’m not an artist. I do commission artists - I spend around $300-600 a month on digital art commissions. I sometimes find an artist who has really impressive work, or a unique style, or something else that makes me think “I should commission this person.”. Then I look at their prices and they are crazily low. As in less than 20 dollars for a colour full body character. And I don’t commission them. Because I can’t pay prices that low and feel good about myself for doing it. I know it takes hours to draw even one character. Plus the time it takes to study the brief, look at the references, communicate with me, etc etc. No way are they making even minimum wage this way, let alone a living wage. I commission art because it’s fun. It’s my hobby. If I’m knowingly paying someone slave wages to support my hobby, it isn’t fun. To artists who undercharge: Please reconsider. I’ve heard many reasons why you decide to do this (see below). But if you price your work like you don’t respect it, you won’t get clients who will respect you or your work either. You charge peanuts, you get monkeys. To commissioners who push for these prices: Have some respect. Not just for the artists, but for the other commissioners out there. You’re giving us all a bad name. If you can’t afford decent prices, don’t be mean about it. Save up, or find some other hobby. Or hey, learn to draw.

Comments I get whenever I say the above:

“No-one will buy commissions from me at decent prices.” - That’s a pity. But you realise by underpricing like this you are making your problem worse, by contributing to the “art should be dirt cheap” mindset that seems to exist in dA and other places? (okay mostly dA, that place is a cesspit) Besides, there are other things you can do than keep lowering prices. There’s tons of advice in dA: ‘Official’ Pricing Your Commissions or Artwork Thread Finding Freelance work: pricing and self doubt! And other places: How to get commissions: A guide Getting the Most Out of Commissions If none of the above helps you… maybe you need to reconsider if you are at the right stage in your development to be offering commissions. Sorry.

“I’m only doing this for fun, I don’t care about the money.” - Good for you. But there are others that are trying to make a living doing this. Have some consideration for them, yes?

“It’s the clients pushing my prices down.” - Gah. Then your clients are awful people who don’t respect you. It’s a trap though - you charge low prices, you get cheap clients. There’s only one way out of that trap.

(Commissioner says) “But I want this drawn and I can’t afford higher prices.” - I want to live in an exact replica of Wayne Manor, but I can’t afford that. So, um, I don’t. Simplify your idea, or don’t commission it until you can afford to do so without ripping off the artist.

(Commissioner says) “By paying less per artist I can support more artists.” - No. Just… no. You are not supporting artists, you are exploiting them. Paying less per artists lets you exploit more artists.

“Just tip the artist.” - I have done that, but it sends the wrong message. Tipping isn’t the norm in this game, so when I tip artists assume it’s because they did an extra-awesome job, when in fact I’m tipping them because they did their normal-awesome job. Plus if an artist is charging one-third or one-quarter what they should be, do I tip them 300%?

(Image by me. Not an artist, remember? The price list is made up, but based on real lists I’ve seen recently.)

submitted by -badgermushroom

Never blame your fans

I know many of you artists - whether you draw, write, or compose - are frustrated that your original work, especially your dream projects, aren’t getting the responses you were hoping for.

I feel the same way.

But some of you express your frustrations completely destructively and blame the world for not giving you the spotlight.

When you do that, you’re blaming your problems for existing rather than adjusting and compromising to solve them. You’re making excuses for your mistakes. You’re demanding the world to change but you are not willing to change with it.

This is the perfect mindset to NEVER succeed in anything, ever.

You need to accept some basic truths of art before you can go any further:

Your art should teach you as much as or more than it teaches others: If you claim your art opens horizons and widens minds, yours should be the first priority. You cannot speak without listening. You are not a righteous prophet enlightening the heathens with the true word. You are one humble person and your art is one humble person’s story.

There are no new stories, but there are always new storytellers. That amazing idea you have that nobody’s ever thought of before? Someone has. But nobody has told the story your way, or drawn the character your way, or sung the song your way. Art is not about being new. It is about being you.

Popular art is all about the beholder. All these shows and games with so much fan art? They got to that level because they command a personal investment from and serve the viewer - they have worlds their fans want to be part of, and your canon will be swept aside along the way. You the artist are not a god or a wise sage. You are a guide and a footman. To be an artist is to be humanity’s servant, not its lord - and there’s no shame in that.

Most of your fans are not artists or art critics. While there will be a good number of them in your fanbase, the vast majority are not going to be super-open-minded creative thinkers who value every single opinion, outlook, and story just because it’s done technically well. They will be ordinary people with ordinary, selfish interests, and they will care about your content more than your talent. You have to balance what you want to draw with what everyone wants to see.

But the most important part of being an artist or really a person at all is to understand this:

Nobody owes you success.

Nobody is under any obligation to pay anything you produce a second glance or support or promote it in any way.

Nobody is spiting or robbing you by not giving you a like or a reblog or a follow.

Every single gesture of appreciation you receive from someone is a courtesy - a gift that you earn, not a right you’re entitled to.

It is not the job of your audience to love your work. It is your job to make it lovable. And just because you are working really hard does not mean you are working in the right direction.

I know that thousands upon thousands of artists put hours or months or years into a project and feel like they get nothing in return. Sometimes it is not how hard you’re working but what you’re working for that is the problem. 

Sometimes you need to slow down and think, “Do I have to have this just so? What would the kind of person interested in my work be looking for, and where can I address it? Am I maybe taking myself and my work a little too seriously?” 

And a lot of artists don’t realize that as an amateur, you are the sole proprietor - you are your art. Whether people like you determines whether they like your art.

And that’s why when you blame everybody else and post ungrateful, catty garbage like this:

… you don’t subsequently become the next Toby Fox.

The simple fact is that people will pay you attention if they think your offering + your hassle are worth their attention.

You need to create a world that someone other than you will have fun in and you need to be a good host to everyone who visits. 

You need a world that will welcome your fans with open arms.

You need to build a world people can live & play in.

And you and your world need to appreciate your fans just for showing up.

Because this is exactly what the big fish do.

because they spread your work around to more people without shanking you on credit and who gets the likes

because they make your work show up sooner & more often on searches and are simply a nice gesture

because they take time out and pay good money to listen to your story and make you from a pauper into a prince

because if you appreciate no one, no one will appreciate you, nor should they