for that matter why does all fanfiction have to be about ships. i am genuinely looking for something with a good plot. its so rare for it to be not 100% about ships
No, I’m not. I’m pricing based on how hard I work on my art and supply and demand. And not to mention, this is my goddamn job.
If you don’t like my prices, buy someone else’s art.
Just remember: You get what you pay for.
“Ripping people off” Where is that image of the industry standart art versus fandom art because if you think artists are ripping you off now boy if you had a fucking clue you’d sit on the floor and play with it.
I believe you’re looking for this! Which I fully agree with.
This is one of the reason why I keep pushing at people to raise their prices. It isn’t to ‘rip someone off’. It’s literally to make sure you are at least making a living wage. At the very least.
I think a lot of the reason people say ‘you’re ripping us off’ is because they don’t understand exactly what they’re paying for.
I like to break things down logically in my pricing, so that I know what to charge. It doesn’t work for everyone, a lot of painters charge by the inch. But this is the way I do it, if it’s helpful to anyone. Particularly people who don’t understand what the cost of that piece of art is.
So the first thing is materials. For people who don’t do art, an artist has to account for things like.. brushes, paints, the board it’s painted on, pencils, lead, erasers, transfer papers, glues, and frames if you are ordering a framed piece. I know that can seem kind of weird for people who aren’t artists? Prices are different all over the place, but I highly, highly suggest going to an art supply store and just.. browsing. Maybe check out lists of materials that classes on the type of art you want to by, lists for students to get. Check out framing shops, get a feel for what kind of expenses you’re looking at.
The next thing is the part that’s hard for people to understand. So think of it in terms of retail. If you are working at say.. a coffee shop. While you are at the coffee shop you are paid for that time, right? Minimum wage usually… let’s say $7 an hour (because I don’t want to play with change). Remember, while the artist is working on your work… they are not making money any other way. This IS their paid job. One 8 hour shift at $7 an hour is $56. That’s if the painting takes one day. Let’s assume it’s one day, you’re looking at at least $56 plus materials. That’s minimum wage, for the type of labor of someone who can flip a burger.
Think about that. Not a skilled labor, not training, we’re talking burger flipping. Remember, this is a skill that studies have said only 2% of the population possess, vs everyone having the capability to flip a burger.
Thinks about this. $56 for one day’s work, not even including the cost of materials… and look at the prices in the fandom. $10. $5. $20. What are they making an hour? How is this making it a viable career choice? How.. is this making it so that the artist who’s work you love enough to want to pay for it… be able to grow, to learn, to get even better, to be even more amazing? How are you supporting your favorite artist?
There’s a reason I charge what I do, and to be frank? My commissioners are people who I respect, and who respect what I do. I am taken seriously, and I work hard. But I never, ever let someone put me down because they think I don’t deserve to have a living wage.
The starving artist, tragic picture is over. I am not longer content to be a tormented, horribly suffering and starving figure to be a ‘real’ artist.
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also these tags were on fics right after each other
uses of the terms “lemon” and “lime” (apparently there was a difference. lemons were porn but i’m STILL not sure what a lime is. i also have NO idea how “lemon” came to mean “porn”. not sure i want to, tbh.)
soooo many “i do not own please don’t sue me” disclaimers
fics where the whole premise that the whole cast was trapped someplace together and the reviewers would leave questions in their comments and then the characters would answer them in-story. like “ask that guy with the glasses” except shitty and usually self-indulgent towards the author’s preferred ships. (i may have written one of these when i was 12.)
authors who legit updated on a schedule (and stuck to it). some every fucking day. (you still see this on ao3, but not NEARLY as much.)
fanfic authors who basically had a following and fandom of their own. (again, this still happens, but not as much. not sure if that’s a good thing or not.) not bad considering most of them were 13.
“yaoi!!! that means boy kisses!!! don’t like don’t read!!!”
putting “————-” or “xxxxxxx” bc ff.net wouldn’t let you insert a horizontal line to show the end of a section
very long, very rambley author’s notes
some of which had the authors interacting with/talking to the characters in the fic.
fics that weren’t so much stories as they were a chapter-by-chapter detailing of all the cliche plots and tropes used in that fandom’s shitty fanfics. (i actually sorta miss these, tbh)
songfics. no, not fics inspired by songs. fics where the lyrics were put in between every paragraph, with some lyrics altered to fit the characters. it was horrific.
fics that were up-front about the oc being a stand-in for the reader so they can read about themselves getting with their fave character. as in, it was written in second person and the summary outright said the pov character was meant to be the reader.
the forums being used for roleplay before tumblr rp was a “thing”
long, LONG author profiles, filled with things like “copy/paste if you’re a [whatever] shipper!” or obviously fake sickly sweet anecdotes (think chain email levels of bad), or worst of all (in my opinion), a pro-life anti-abortion story from the point of view of a fetus. it was as bad as it sounds, if not worse.
listing all your ships on your author profile page
seeing a title that was all lowercase letters and thinking “lazy” rather than “aesthetic”
“101 one ways to annoy [insert character here]” (voldemort was popular for these things)
it being fucking impossible to find f/f fic that wasn’t porn
writing ships as “characterxcharacter” instead of “character/character”
author’s notes in the middle of the story. literally you would be reading a fanfic and all of a sudden, in between paragraphs… “A/N: awwww isn’t it cute how they’re thinking the same thing!!! XD”
for that matter, author’s notes using the XD emoticon
people FLIPPING THEIR SHIT whenever their fave author (or just a well-established author in the fandom) changed their username. ESPECIALLY if they changed it from something fandom-specific to something more neutral.
“character x/character y. NO CHARACTER X/CHARACTER Z.” bc apparently you think i’d think your fic clearly marked character x/character y would be nothing but character x and character z making out.
trollfics trying to capitalize on my immortal’s infamy. there are still trollfics, of course, but they tend to be more subtle.
for that matter, trying to pass a trollfic off as a legitimate fic rather than just admitting it’s a parody
specifically reading fics for your notp just to bash it in the reviews
people putting replies to reviews for the previous chapter in the author’s notes (this died down a LITTLE once ff.net finally added a reply function, but not much)
the great fanfiction.net purge (ahh yes. history lesson time. basically, back in the olden days of fanfiction, when everyone actually used ff.net, one fateful day, back in biblical times – 2011 – ff.net decided to make MA rated stuff – basically porn – not be allowed on the site anymore. ofc people kept posting it anyway, but then ff.net started deleting stories from the website with no notice to the authors. just poof! gone. the aftermath was HORRIFIC. people were FURIOUS, as a lot of people had no backup and just lost their stories. so ff.net stopped enforcing the rule, but the damage was done. this was when people began to officially leave for ao3, i think.)
lots of harry potter fanfics about the my immortal versions of the characters interacting with the canon characters. some of these were actually quite funny – i think they’re still around, but i don’t see them as much. (i actually wrote one of these stories. it is still, to this day, the most popular story i ever wrote.)
drabbles that were ACTUALLY 100 words long.
fictionpress (a sister site for original fiction. it was like wattpad before wattpad was wattpad. it never really took off. come to think of it, i may still have some stuff on there from when i was 12 i need to take down)
“crackfics” that consisted mainly of “lulz iM SO RanDOm!!!111!!!!!oneone XD cheeeeeeeese!!!!!!” humor
“i suck at summaries”
“this is my first story so please be nice”
“i’ll only update if i get 10 good reviews”
AUs before “AU” was a really widely used term, so the author’s note would have a length explanation for why they had to change things for the story and apologizing over and over instead of just noting the AU in the summary
AUs out of laziness rather than for creative/plot reasons (ie, “luna’s a gryffindor in this fic because i couldn’t find another reason for her to be here”)
authors notes apologizing for late updates
being genuinely shocked when you found a GOOD fanfic
