Artist Frustrations: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] piss you off as an artist. We have a couple stories. Let's delve into this parties involved. And I want to know in the comment section, what pisses you off the most as an artist? Number one, this user Fable & Ink Designs on Threads

[00:15] writes, "What the F is wrong with some of the authors out there? Last week I had somebody tell me my covers won't sell well and I need to study popular covers. And this week I actually caught one author talking [ __ ] about my prices

[00:27] in a post because I wouldn't go low to the price she wanted. This cover is $100 not worth the price." She wanted to pay $50 for this and because I didn't reply fast enough after we negotiated a bit, she made a post. Y'all are effing rude.

[00:43] Personally, that's one thing that pisses me off as an artist and just in general, it's that when you have your prices, other people, they're entitled to have look at your price and feel that it's too high or too low. That's fine.

[00:56] Everybody has their own budget and you will not fit into everybody's budget. But to completely go and [ __ ] and moan about prices that the artist set themselves to the artist's face, try to lowball them and like walk them down to

[01:10] a cheaper price and then when they obviously don't agree with you, to then [ __ ] and moan on the internet, come on, man. That just like pisses me off in general because it's just so so so frustrating. Some people, I swear, they

[01:22] just go out and they're like, "I want to get the best thing I can get for as all they care about and you can't work with people like that. So, they added some screenshots. We have screenshots of the cover and I think this cover looks

[01:34] standard, I feel like kind of darker, spicier romance book cover. I can see nothing wrong with it. And these are their communications. The artist is cover you were talking about. Was it Hush or The Bishop?" And then they

[01:49] clarified it was that cover we just saw and the artist was like, "It's $110, but if you have a budget, I can work with that." And the author is like, "Did you create it on Canva? Because I might have to resize it. Could you do 50?" So, you

[02:01] offering, "Okay, you know, if you have a budget, I can work a little bit with your budget." Doesn't mean ask for like the cover for less than half the price of it. The artist is like, "I did and I've done most of my covers in Canva. No

[02:14] seen. I'm sorry. I did work on that cover for a while and I can't do $50." And the author is like, "Okay, well, could you do 70?" And the author had posted writing, "Honestly, $100 to $200 made in Canva is crazy. I'm not hating

[02:28] artist said, "It's actually not if the cover designer is spending money on from my understanding of Canva, obviously, it is a graphic design website, right? And they have a lot of assets already in there. If you use

[02:41] Canva's stock assets, according to like their page, it says you can't copyright pre-made assets that's literally available to everybody because it is available to everybody. But then, if you are going out of your way to purchase

[02:55] license to then use it in a copyrighted format, like you're selling it for a like that is okay. And another user writes, "I use both Canva and Adobe and I can tell you the software is not what determines the price. If a designer

[03:09] creates a cover that looks professional, fits the genre, attracts the right does it matter what program they used? You're paying for the designer's skill, expertise, and time. The price should be based on the quality of the work, not

[03:22] long as it's not a template they're using, of course." And the author adds, don't think it was worth the price. But I get it, everybody has to make their money." I'm curious about your thoughts on this. I know like Canva designs and

[03:36] rep because everybody and their mom uses Canva, right? And there's ways to use cute-looking designs and really professional-looking book covers. And together, you know, make a little design. As long as it does the job,

[03:50] advertise the new drink in their Boba shop or something like that. So, I'm if you look at the book cover, at least for me, I don't use Canva, but I couldn't tell it was a Canva cover until they said it was made in Canva. I was

[04:03] Photoshop or something. And the artist adds more context writing, "Y'all know that we pay hundreds, sometimes more, just for the tech we use, the stock art Canva to make covers because I don't have fancy equipment. And when I do get

[04:17] the chance to invest in a subscription, it's rare and if I can't afford it after self-taught and working on my graphics and covers for years is actually pretty impressive for somebody with no college degree. Y'all have no way of talking."

[04:30] that my prices are absolutely affordable. I did want to go lower for prices with this author because that's what I do. I always lower my stuff so this cover and going $50 on it wouldn't make up for the effort and work I put

[04:43] into making this cover. Yeah, it might not be Simon & Schuster quality or the quality of some bigger or well-known designers out there, but I love my work. being rude." And people in the comments are completely in support with this

[04:56] cover. People with no experience have no clue. They think clean equals simple and cheap. I'm a cover designer, too, so I know how much time goes into designing these." Another person adds, "I paid $260 for my profile photo." Another

[05:10] with a customer looking for one of my pre-mades. It was a full illustration with a detailed character. She was offended as if I forced her to buy it. the same even though the price was low. All that drama because she's cheap. You

[05:24] used on your work. It's your right to put any price you want. They're not your target, push them out." And another person added, "So, they like the cover to want it enough for their book, but it was too simple to be worth the money.

[05:37] awesome, by the way, and $110 for a cover is more than reasonable. And yeah, from what I've seen, and again, I don't have a book or anything, but $110 for a book cover is really cheap because it comes with the licensing right of, you

[05:50] your book as the cover of your book and it's going to be sold for monetary reasons, right? For profit. So, building all of that into $110 is very that I feel like everybody has experienced whether you are an artist or

[06:04] you're not an artist, but it's about outsourcing. So, a user on Twitter writes, "And it happens again. Artists, please stop treating genuine conversations as commission funnels." So, these are some DMs and it kind of

[06:16] sounds like the person that is messaging OP was talking about something troubling was like offering condolences and sorry you're going through a difficult time, blah blah blah blah blah." And the

[06:28] artist Luda says, "Honestly, this is the first time somebody has explained it to me so well. Thank you very much. I truly appreciate it. Would you be interested in commissioning me? I'd be happy to offer you a discount." Oh my god, this

[06:40] is always so frustrating because it is so annoying and it happens so often are talking for the, you know, a little bit. You think, "Oh, I made a new connection. We're having a good conversation about something." And then,

[06:54] designer and I noticed that like you don't really have a flushed out profile photo. So, like I can make one for you for 50 bucks." Hello, I thought we were talking to be friends. I don't want commissions. And it's always really

[07:07] think you're getting a friend and they were friending you simply because they were trying to get some some schmoney, you know, a commission. And eight. And for trying to get commissions, trying to do what you want to do, but there's a

[07:19] time and place to go look for commissions and soliciting commissions everybody that you can possibly find on the internet, opening up conversations by making it seem like you guys are normal friends just talking. They think

[07:32] as a friend. You're trying to get a commission. The top comment says, friends, but you get a salesman instead." And OP says, "Yeah, it kind of when you're always wondering if there's a sales pitch coming." Another user

[07:47] to be a small artist and see others aggressively spamming. I don't want to do it, but I'm afraid people will block or ignore me for fear that I will try." part. People who genuinely want to connect end up worrying they'll be seen

[08:00] happens all the time, too, if you're streaming on Twitch. Personally, me as a streamer, I have the words like commission, graphic design, GFX all blocked in my Twitch chat, and then, you know, I can like manually approve the

[08:12] message if it comes through. But, it's because there's so many people that come artist, and like, do you want to commission me?" And almost all the time, like, they're not actually an artist, they're also a scammer. But, they just

[08:24] flood your Twitch chat with self-promo about their art stuff. Like, I want to talk about art. I am so open to talk about art on my streams and about like the art that, you know, you guys make, but I don't want first-time sales pitch

[08:36] people popping in, you know, advertising stuff. That's not cool at all. And it the streaming space. It's always so annoying. Next up, we have one about is an art selling platform where artists can go on there and advertise

[08:50] commission artists they find. A user writes, "Nothing makes me want to support an artist less than when they do this. This is only for one of their services. They do this for every single listing." And as you can see, this is,

[09:04] by the way, all within what looks like a 24-hour window. It starts Friday, and know, 20 minutes ago. So, it ends like either end of Saturday or like maybe the opening commissions. Open commissions for blank requests, while you can't.

[09:17] while you can't. This is the same commission, by the way. Like, as you can see, the like image that is listed here that's blurred out, right? This is the headshot, maybe it's a bust-up, whatever. Whatever this commission is,

[09:30] they're opening and closing it repeatedly like 10 times within one, two days, maybe. So, it's spam notifying anybody like this person who has their notifications on for this artist. That's so annoying. And they add, "VGen needs

[09:43] reprimanding people who flood their supporters' inboxes like this for beyond forgetting something to outright being spam, and I'm tired." They also because they don't want to send harassment. It's just something they've

[09:56] noticed. And they also added, "Please support artists and be aware of broker single artist that does this. Please don't abuse the notification system. VGen out of her factory period. Spread love and whimsy. Yippee! And don't be

[10:08] comments, I feel like misinterpreted what OP was saying. Like, OP wasn't talking about, "Oh, like I hate everybody who does this, da da da." VGen, if you just like modify a commission that you have open, it

[10:22] doesn't spam notify everybody that has their notifications on. It will only do this if you have a commission listing that's open. So, for example, you have headshots, and then you close the listing, and then you reopen it again.

[10:35] notify everybody that turned on notifications for finding out when your commissions are open. VGen has a series of notifications you can turn on, and artist opens commissions." Because there's a lot of artists that like you

[10:49] their commissions are closed cuz they just have a lot of work, you know? So, you want to know when their commissions are open so you can go and commission artists that I really like because, you know, I'm I'm just waiting when you open

[11:02] up, you know? I want to be first in line there. But, this is somebody that knowingly or is unknowingly abusing the system, right? Because they're closing and reopening the same commission like five times a day, which is why it's spam

[11:14] on. And some people were like, "Oh, well, why don't you just turn the notification off, blah blah." No, because like they want to know when the the whole point, so that they can commission the artist. But, if an artist

[11:27] is turning it on and off five times a day, all all doing is spamming you a I'm going to be honest. Personally, that's this would be really annoying if I saw this happen. Like it would make me not want to commission you and turn off

[11:39] kind of defeats the point. Now again, there is obviously a chance the artist something and they didn't realize they're just blasting notifications to you know, if you didn't know, well, it does do that if you are turning them

[11:55] to close on VGen, okay? And somebody was issue rather than the artist issue. Go complain to VGen. And OP says, this person does it 15 times a day on every single service without fail. It's really

[12:10] the sake of flooding people's inboxes. Since I've been sitting on it for a while now. However, I did say my replies, VGen needs to do something. somebody again was talking about, hey, you know, you can toggle off the

[12:22] a waitlist. And the artist added, yep, somebody in the quote retweets showed me this and I think it's useful. But the reason that I followed this artist is to get pinged when they open, but not for them to remind me over and over again by

[12:34] day. Do this on everything, by the way. I saw a comment that I think is also a obviously those are the notifications from the users' end where you can toggle opening commissions, but somebody in the comments was like, oh, but like, you

[12:48] know, VGen should add an option for artist to notify people when they turn it on or off. So, if you are really you got genuinely want to modify your where you turn off the toggle to blast notifications so that you don't do that.

[13:02] But yeah, there were actually a fair amount of people in the comments completely agreeing with OP and a lot of them were like, yo, I also have artists they all started doing this spamming, so I just turn off the notifications cuz I

[13:15] was getting annoyed. So, it just kind of sucks, you know? And I completely agree, quite annoying. And next up we have one that's quite lighthearted, but a user on thing that just pisses you off for some reason? And a fair amount of people were

[13:28] you know, they have a giant canvas and they hold the back and then they like super slowly turn it around. I'll be honest, I have ADHD. I just skip to the end and see if I like it and then I just swipe. I just don't want to sit there

[13:43] for me the equivalent of watching my rice cook. Another person adds, when somebody usually with good and true intentions starts giving me unsolicited ideas about the art I should make to gain sales or to grow an audience. I

[13:55] make the art I make. I do it because I'm chasing something within my soul. Is that a lucrative mindset? Oh god, no. But my content drawing my pictures, I'm content drawing my pictures as is. Somebody says, I never really got the

[14:07] point of hyperrealism. I mean, sure it's impressive you can do a one-to-one painting of an empty crisp packet. The question is, why? Another user says, resin pouring art. I mean, sure there is no pure in its consumption art. And I'm

[14:19] pieces of resin work out there. But I get downright anxious watching people make plastic knick-knacks just with color and glitter. Or worse, only making like this is something that became really popular during like COVID. I was

[14:33] it's always one of those where like when too much of one type of craft starts flooding art markets, people just get tired of seeing the same thing over and feelings. I think resin art is cute. I got some little resin things that I

[14:47] this day because I thought they were cute. But everyone has their own thoughts. A user says, taking photos of a piece where they're standing in front You're cool. I do want to see your piece though. So can can there be like a

[15:01] second photo that I can swipe to where I can actually see your art piece? Yay! but when my friend refers to my art as inventory. Okay, that was weird. I've never heard anybody refer to art as inventory. That's to me also very odd.

[15:14] I'm curious, after reading this do you have any little art things that are your it just pisses you off for no reason. There's one little one for me, acrylic markers and like acrylic brush pens,

[15:26] whatever those types of things, where the actual color that they output looks legitimately nothing like the color on the little cap that is supposed to show where, you know, this is why you're supposed to

[15:39] actually refer to what the color looks look at least remotely similar to what the swatch looks like cuz sometimes it will look like yellow and then I swatch it and it comes out like an eggshell

[15:52] way closer to white than it is yellow, but why does it look pom pom purin yellow on the tip of the brush?" Anyways, that drives me crazy, okay? but please, sometimes I'm like, "I need

[16:04] And then I'm looking through my pile of brush pen things and like the fifth brush that I pick up is 643 cuz I picked up the white, the the the off-white, the "Maybe it's the pom pom purin yellow. Oh my god, it is." So anyways, that just

[16:19] would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section down below. And with appreciate it if you like and subscribe. Don't forget to check me out on Etsy. I content creators. I also have a coffee with free resources, like a free

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