Writing Advice: it doesn’t matter if an idea has been done before. It’s never been done by you. So long as you do it well, and in your own way, it’s a wonderful contribution.
I think this works for more than just writing. Good artist advice in general!
As per your issue, the thing is: you can’t. You can’t convince them. Fandom wank would have already ended if antis were open to read sources, understand laws, understand nuance, understand the “mind yo business”, follow the “live and let live” rule etc. You’ll see discourse blogs go on infinite hiatus or downright step down from the wankery not because they have been ‘defeated’ but because they are exhausted of repeating the same thing over and over again.
Antis don’t listen.
Which is why the point for you is not to make sure antis can’t talk shit about you, the point is for you to build confidence and security so that you may roll your eyes at antis because you know you’re not doing anything harmful, you know yourself, you know the law of your country, and you know that fiction affects reality in every way but how antis say it does. Haters gonna hate, you can’t change this.
Be sure of yourself, and when you’re tired rest, and when you feel alone look around in your community, and believe in yourself.
listen binch. no one has an original style. no one pulls a unique style of art out of their ass. we get to where we are through observing others and being influenced by them and that’s how art works
1. Praise her work ethic, not her innate talent. That’s the biggest mistake parents make.
2. Do stuff with her. You don’t have to be an artist. Just show her it’s normal to work and improve.
The joke in my family is that I’m the least talented artist among us. I draw people, and that’s pretty much it. My parents are ten times the artists I am. They’re not Michelangelos or anything like that; they just go for it, whatever it is. They’re always always always making something, learning something new, and mastering everything they touch. I never felt afraid of failure growing up because I was always around people who were never good at anything yet but who eventually got there and cared deeply about working for it.
Be in creative company with your kids. Let them see you learn.
I wanted to share my progress story of the past sixteen years because I know how hard it is to not give up, because I know how much crap you have to produce to finally start producing something slightly less crappy. Because I know it’s hard to look at all that gorgeous art on the internet and not be discouraged.
I’m still learning, I’m still not happy with what I can do. I may never be. But it doesn’t matter.
You have time, you can do this. Just don’t give up.
Art Critic: the skull in the corner is artfully placed on the periphery of vision to symbolise the omnipresence of death, important thematically to the artist’s conception of life and mortality.
Actual Artist: aw shit, I got all this negative space, guess I’ll stick a skull there that looks pretty rad.
I painted a copy of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring for a class in college, and when I displayed it for review the professor was like, “Are you making a statement about materialism by not painting her wearing the actual earring?”
And that, kids, was the first time I ever cursed in front of a teacher.
The painting is called The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and I forgot. To paint. The damned. EARRING.
If you make fanart, you can treat it like real art. Learn to talk about it. Learn how to talk about your work and the choices you make. Respect what you make and what others are making. So much of fanart is tangled up in the internalized misogyny within fandom communities—it’s hard to see yourself or others as the artist you actually are if you can’t respect the art and why it matters. Fandom communities are very strong and very passionate, and we are lucky to have them. Other art communities don’t even come close to that.
And with art, you either have to be what they want or change their minds about what they want.
So. I think we do both. We can treat the act of fan creation with the respect it deserves because of what it is: a powerful, subversive reclaiming of your right to see yourself in stories and to belong to a mythology that has been taken from you.
And we can use that to change minds. Fandom can and has been a great force for change in how stories get told, and social media is the best vehicle there is, and I think raising ourselves up to a level where we treat our art and others’ art with the respect we’d treat more accepted art is the most powerful thing we can do (or continue to do, for the many who are) to push through barriers.
I-want-my-IWTV 