Messages

1

News Media / Kotaku report on Futher Confusion

« on: January 25, 2013, 03:12:24 am »

Read it here: http://kotaku.com/5978236/my-weekend-at-a-furry-convention

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Other Topics / 10 Ways an Artist Can Shoot Themseves in the Foot

« on: August 23, 2011, 08:52:49 pm »

Found this on FA, original thread here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2654000/

1. Treating other artists or craftsmen as competition simply because they market a similar product. That guy at the table beside you who sells badges too? He's not your enemy, he's a potential future collaboration partner. He has customers exclusive to him just as you have customers exclusive to you. Encouraging your customers go check him out will not diminish your business but will actually enrich it as your customers network with his and talk them about who sent them.

2. Having a crisis every week. We all have legitimate problems and reasons to legitimately have sales to try and raise money. I am not calling people out who need emergency car repairs or surgery money or need to pay off a surprise bill. I am calling the people out who claim on a weekly basis that they need money or they are going to lose their house/car/cat/whatever. If finances are THAT tight then go get a part time job flipping burgers. I feel the same way about people who go to conventions and claim that if they don't make a profit then they'll starve and lose their house. If money is THAT tight, don't go to conventions.

3. Treating clients like crap. I've heard of people who snark about their customers and who jump down their throats for asking innocent questions. During one convention I walked up to a dealer's table and started asking them about one of their pieces. I was asking about technique and little things like that and the artist responded with the biggest condescending comic book guy channeling tone I'd ever heard. They might as well ended every sentence with “DUH!!!” The object I was asking about was for sale for several hundred dollars and I was seriously considering buying it. But then I decided my money should go to someone that actually showed me a little respect and thusly, I moved on.

4. Blaming the customers for bad sales. If a restaurant opens for business and people don't like the way the food tastes, is it the fault of the customer for not liking it or the fault of the chef for not making food anyone wants? This is why when people complain that they have to draw porn to make any money it sends me frothing. I'm making more now drawing art than I did at my old job and I don't even draw nipples. (Allow me to say that I know that if you START to draw porn and then stop, breaking free from that is difficult because that is what your previous customer base wanted.) But really, if you don't sell things then instead of pointing fingers look into ways of improving sales and things for you. Advertise, try new products, and sometimes you just need to ask someone, “what do you like to buy at conventions?”

5. Encouraging drama. There is one great rule of the internet and that rule is that people out there will not like you, will complain about you, badmouth you, and potentially even try to undermine you. You know what? Fuck them. If they actually have the time to do all of that then they aren't very busy being successful, are they? Don't fan the flames, don't acknowledge it, don't start it, and for goodness' sake don't drag it out into the open. I learned all of this the hard way but you know what... I LEARNED. Just put your head down and work. You'd be amazed at how effective that is. And lets not forget to mention the fact that a lot of your customers might not want to get stuck in a drama shitstorm and may choose to avoid you because of it.

6. Punishing all your customers for the sins of one or two. Taking down your whole gallery, slapping on huge watermarks, handing someone a phonebook thick pile of rules and regulations they have to follow to so much as consider getting a commission from you... none of this makes you attractive to your clients. I do understand people making it clear that they don't want their art distributed and understand taking measures against it. But if you're trying to make a living with art, removing it all from public view or obscuring it doesn't help you. People that plan to steal your art will do it anyway and it's doubtful any of them will actually buy something. Punishing paying customers isn't so bright.

7. Relying on the internet for validation and self esteem. “I don't know why I try anymore. My art sucks. Nobody wants to buy anything anymore...” This sort of ties into “Don't encourage drama.” Basically if you have to use pity to get attention and sales you are doing it wrong. If you have to do it to get any sort of motivation or validation to do your work then you are REALLY setting yourself up for a let down. It's a boy who cried wolf situation. Do it too much and people will get so used to it that they won't be there if you ever REALLY need them.

8. Not following through. Rome was not built in a day. All too often an artist will try something and then very quickly get bored with it and quit. People ask why my livestreams are successful and I tell them the same reason time and time again... because people know I will be there on a schedule. It's the same with Little Tales. The webcomic does well because I have updated on schedule for over three years. My production hasn't been perfect, but I've never vanished off the face of the earth for a month with no explanation as to why. You can't start a new project and then give up on it when you get bored if you want to be successful.

9. Lack of marketing. Advertisement is not very expensive. Space on FA, on project wonderful, in conbooks will get you lots of hits digitally. There are also business cards that will do you plenty of good. Just drawing sometimes isn't enough. You need to let people know you exist and the adage of needing to spend money to make money is all too true.

10. Greed. This ties into the other ones in various ways, but is an issue big enough to merit an entry unto itself. Someone once told me how they commissioned an artist to draw their character which was a white fox in a black shirt, thus they only wanted pen and ink. They then asked the artist when they were finished if they could color in the eyes. Two little dots of yellow that would have taken a second of effort. They were told no, doing so would make it a color picture and they'd be charged the rate of a full color picture. Getting paid for your work is good. Being mercenary about it is not so good. Learn when to give a little, when to cut a customer a deal, and when to lay off that guy who just wants to look. I have people in my streams who have never bought a thing, but because I don't push them or make them feel like they have to buy things they have encouraged their friends to come in who have bought things. It does pay off in the end.

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Fuck-Awful Art / Re: furries.jpg

« on: July 24, 2011, 08:25:27 pm »

Lame Krystalfox Tatoo (NSFW)

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Fuck-Awful Art / Re: Furry Fandom Parody Art (artists with a sense of humor)

« on: March 27, 2011, 07:34:35 pm »

Angry FurFag, coudn't say it better myself.

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Fuck-Awful Art / Re: furries.jpg

« on: February 19, 2011, 01:23:09 pm »

Something i saw at This years FC

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FA Obsession Collection / Re: FA Banning Cub Porn Again?

« on: December 05, 2010, 08:33:30 pm »

Which has led to banning Sonic Porn, which of course leads to this sort of thing:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1920986/

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Scandal! / Re: The Many Lost Toys of Jim Groat

« on: August 29, 2010, 01:30:42 am »

It's at the point that nothing the guy posts is believable. Maybe stuff like that really happened, or the sugar-in-the-gas-tank ordeals. But I can't bring myself to see it as anything else other than bullshit to suck sympathy by yanking on gut-emotion strings or to obscure real reasons why shit really happened.

Read that one too, and your dead on about Groat, I stopped having any sympathy for anything bad that happens to him, at best I get a feeling of Schadenfreude and have a chuckle about his latest misfortune.

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Scandal! / Re: The Many Lost Toys of Jim Groat

« on: August 11, 2010, 02:10:24 am »

His antics through the years paint him as a grifter. Furry fandom is full of naive, well wishing people who are prime targets for guys like him. I don't know how much is true about Groat and the "Tuscon Mob" taking advantage of that George Klontz guy, but if any of it is, it's just disgusting.

Speaking as someone who knows most of the "Tucson Mob", any stories you heard about them taking advantage of George, are true they told me about all of the shit they pulled on him to seperate him from his money. You see way back when George lived in this wreck of a house in El Monte, that he'd inhierated from his parents, this was 20+ years ago, so anyway he get's conned into the idea of relocating to Tucson, and sell the house he cleared about $86,000 for it. And the sharks out there circled in for the kill, You see George was a fool with his money and they took advantage of him.

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Fuck-Awful Art / Re: furries.jpg

« on: July 20, 2010, 09:24:38 pm »

Oh Jimminy Christmas...

It must be fudge flavored...........

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Other Topics / Re: An old topic about the history of furres?

« on: July 17, 2010, 10:21:15 pm »

I remember making some comments in that thread too, It sure was interesting at the time, and it still is too.

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Non Topics / Re: Curb Your Thetan

« on: July 07, 2010, 08:39:26 pm »

The clams have finally opened their new sales outlet, "church" in Old Pasadena CA, and have set up the indoctrination center lobby, with the usual bullshit stuff about how great L. Ron was, and that Scientology works.   

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Fuck-Awful Art / Re: furries.jpg

« on: July 05, 2010, 11:11:01 pm »

Then there's this.........

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Scandal! / Re: The Many Lost Toys of Jim Groat

« on: June 20, 2010, 06:32:59 pm »

More form the Jim Groat bitch and moan show.

If there was one of those days where everything that could go wrong...did...so heres my rant.

Dear Co-worker asshole, I could have been out the door AT 7:30AM and getting the replacement rental truck, But No, you gotta flap your chaw filled Pie-hole an additional 40 minutes and take me to a truck agency a half hour away instead of the one 5 minutes away...because the other one was closer to YOUR Route start. Your actions didn't allow me to leave til 9:30.

Dear Prior rental Asshole, thank you for being a total douche and filling up a diesel truck with regular gas because you didn't want to pay the higher diesel price. Your actions killed the engine while I was in the middle of nowhere.

Dear Ryder rental asshole, telling me that you will be on site with a replacement truck in 20 minutes I expect you to arrive in 20 minutes to a half hour. Not 95 minutes later!!! You added to my delay.

Dear Cottage Grove police and parade assholes, I understand you were having a parade soon, but it was a half HOUR before it was to start and you refuse to allow me cross the street to let me get 6 deliveries done. Plus you funnel me MILES away from where I could escape your damn Pride Parade, More delays.

Dear Eco-Nazi asshole, Thank you for bitching at me for my idling diesel truck 2 doors down from your house while I was making a quick delivery. You insist on blocking me while you had the gall to call police for violating a Winter rule on idling trucks in city limits. Oh and BTW, Bush is no longer President, You can remove that Impeach Bush sticker off your Prius.

Dear Rottweiler owner Asshole, You tell me that Cujo is a sweet dog, but a snarling, barking, frothing dog is not a sign of being sweet. Yelling at me for NOT bringing your delivery directly to your hands while you held a thick CHAIN to hold the dog doesn't win you care points.

Dear Home Owner assholes of the 500 block of Panther Avenue, ever hear of house numbers on your home or at minimum mailboxes? Yelling at me for misdelivering to the wrong house is partly your fault (8 houses, 7 were missing numbers!)

Dear Business Assholes, Thank you for closing 3-5 hours early so I can't deliver that load of 200 pound deadweight boxes you insist I deliver Saturday!

Dear Insane Cat lady asshole, Thank you for telling me that being allergic to cats is all just mental and not actual while you have your house infested with by your own admittance "Over 200 cats", it smells like a giant uncleaned litter box and my asthma attack was very real! You fat lazy bitch can't even go to Wal Mart to buy your cat food, you instead pay Wal Mart to ship you cases of cat food!

Dear Department of Transportation Assholes, thank you for fining me $125 for working on the road in excess of 13 hours straight! I was trying to catch up from being delayed almost 4 hours due to repeated truck failures. But No, you don't care do you?

And..Dear Isuzu assholes, Thank you for making a shoddy vehicle that rattles like its rolling sideways down a hill, and rusting up in nothing flat in a less than a year old vehicle.

There....vented. My day starts at 6AM, I would have been done at 4PM, I didn't get done til 8PM and STILL didn't get the Cottage Grove deliveries done thanks to a Pride Parade, had I done those 6 on my way home, add at least another hour!


I'm broke, hungry and seriously need a shower.

The rest is here, mostly replies from hangers on, and "friends" of Groat: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1490616/

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Scandal! / Re: The Many Lost Toys of Jim Groat

« on: May 30, 2010, 06:57:30 pm »

Then there's these gems from the AC meme that's making the rounds on FA:

Can I hang out with you?
Maybe! If you're a pal, But during business hours in the dealers room, the answer is no. I can talk, but can't have you glued to the front of the table all day. I may invite you behind the table.
I do love invites to join a group for food outings though. Sometimes i get overlooked and i end up not having anyone to go with and i starve. Invites welcome! ;___;

That's because Groat never pays for meals, and expects some sucker to pick up his tab for dinner, I know because I've been out to eat with him in a group, and as is usual, some sucker will pick up his tab. and this includes a friend of mine.

Then there is this

Oh the stuff in the art show, that never sells or gets bids, every con I've been to, and in every art show Groat's stuff  is in no one ever bids on his stuff, he should just give it up, it's been over for years now.

And Finally the most telling answer he gives.

• Can I give you money?
Is the Pope Darth Sidious? Does the sun rise and set? Of Coarse you can give me money, I need money.

You can ssee the rest of his answers here.. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1433526/

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Scandal! / Minor laughs thread

« on: May 30, 2010, 04:50:32 pm »

All the usual furry shit, money owed, art not done/finished, and a whole lot more.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1440441/