GrayHuntress

Step #2 If this takes off...seems like the community needs a solution, and I'm offering one.

I’m psychic Which is why I know the sandwich I sent in the mail has already been lost in delivery.

First off, I hope the thread doesn’t begin to draw lines between local artists, ‘outside’ artists, and appreciators. Once these lines are actively referenced, it can quickly lead some members of our community to develop stereotypical fallacies meant to include the majority of each ‘group.’ I’d hate for the several artist friends I’ve made to begin seeing me as an ungrateful vampire who sucks their creative juices for my own pleasure. Similarly, I wouldn’t want any of my appreciator friends to view artists as vending machines of art, where the transaction is as simple as dropping in some spare change. (Don’t worry, Caem and Suichiro, I’m not pointing you out as guilty, I’m just using your quotes to help build my case).

Since everyone is an individual, no assumption can apply across an entire population. There will be/are individuals who do fit into the fallacies I stated above, but I can pretty much guarantee they are a distinct minority in either group. Similarly, I can only speak for myself:

The art forums are definitely a community, but when does membership in this community begin and end? I have been a member of City of Heroes for four years, yet I didn’t register until some time afterward as I chose not to interact on the forums…but I have watched. I don’t think that may be called community membership, but I certainly have a greater knowledge of history here; I’ll assume it begins when you start interacting (so April). The main question is when does it end? Several artists on deviantArt have indeed played City of Heroes before, but have long since retired their heroes/villains. While those who have remained since their absence definitely would still consider them members of our community (at least I would hope we wouldn’t be so swift to exclude old friends), new members may have no knowledge of them…will the former members inevitably be excluded? If Juggertha and Alex hadn’t popped back in recently, would they have been considered ‘outside’ artists a year from now? What about the artists who have played the game and paid the fees…but never came to the forums? Are their experiences null? What about dA artists who read the forums, but aren’t subscribed? I know of at least one artist who does, but has never played the game because he is curious about his customer base. Wouldn’t he have a pretty good understanding of our community? After all, it is all based on text.
I do believe our local artists do need some special consideration (which is why I just created the Local Artist Pages). I believe many of the appreciators of these forums would use a thread dedicated to our community members as a first stop on their search for art before going elsewhere.

Keeping community in mind, I might also suggest not immediately declaring a sale if they’re in need of assistance due to a string of bad luck that has financially crippled them. Just sending out the emergency signal is sufficient enough for me to lend a hand, and I think others would as well. If some people have noticed the queues of LJ and John Printemps (externally, rhardo as well), then they’d notice I had purchased a significant portion of both their lines (10 from LJ, 15 from John). This could be interpreted in two ways:

1). I’m a savage art collector who rabidly assaulted both artists when they declared their sale because I’m a selfish individual who is severely addicted to collecting art for myself. And now they’re bound in my chains as I siphon away their time and energy.

2). I saw they needed help. As such, I offered as much assistance as I could spare to grant a significant portion of financial aid. In the process of this transaction, I made sure to inquire if they were absolutely sure they were ready for what I was purchasing, I was also concerned about how far they had lowered their prices and how large of a queue they had opened. Similarly with Foo, I told him we’d be willing to pay his standard fare without the sale. I let them know I wasn’t setting a deadline and I wanted them to take as long as they wanted, and if they needed a break to take it. I wasn’t going to disappear off the face of the Earth.

The answer is option 2 by the way. The reason I went into that story was because I wanted to assure our local artists our community isn’t here to take advantage of the fruits of their labours. For the most part, I believe we recognize you are indeed a human being (still confused about Foo), your time is as precious as ours, and most importantly…you possess a talent many of us could only dream of having a fraction of; we are forever grateful you had even decided to offer the fruit from your tree. (And for those concerned, the uber-load of commissions weren’t solely for myself…I don’t know what I’d do with that much Gray Huntress art at once)

As I said near the beginning, I can only speak for myself…but I am confident I am not the minority. Overall, I believe our community enjoys buying ‘local’ first; we may not always stay local…but we’re still going to be here for you when you need it. Heck, I’d buy LJ, Foo, Swanzy, and everyone else (I would love to list everyone but for the sake of space… ) art year round every week…but I’m sure they would get bored to tears drawing Gray Huntress over and over…and over again. Why? Because I love art, and everyone’s style has more than one quality that I love and willingly will return for more; but I also hope that what I have to offer (mostly my eternal gratitude, friendship, and money) will be something they can find useful.

Sorry for going on for so long…I’m just concerned. I wouldn’t want a rift to form between community artists and appreciators because suppositions were allowed to take hold and tear everyone apart. We are not separate…we are intertwined, moving amongst each other rather than standing along borders…like a pit of serpents…or an orgy.

Yes, we’ll cry…and you can run, but you can’t hide! Because…

Yay, I'm not the only one who realized that

Hey, there there Foo...you'll forget it in time.

...just like how you forgot you lost the first D.R.A.T. too.... :P