Oh? Could you elaborate? I'm actually interested in hearing about this (and wouldn't be surprised, honestly. Stuff like that happening is the big reason why I'm not a fan of most "internet trending" artists these days, y'know the ones I'm talking about).
When I joined DA, she was one of he first I followed randomly. When she got popular , she lost interest in non PAYING fans and treated many like nothing. That's why I went from loving to hating.
Popularity tends to do that to people unfortunately, when I see snobby artists or artists that don't treat their fans right it just makes me mad because without their fans and supporters it only hurts them in the end.
Wow, that's pretty amazing! She's super talented, indeed XD
I used to follow her Facebook page until... She drew her usual sexy gender bent version of Aladdin's genie (whose features looked pretty similar to her other drawn chicks) in memory of Robin Williams. That just sent me the wrong message ^^;;
Yeah, I've noticed that on Patreon and DA how it's sorta like "PAY OR GET NOTHING".
Not to bash the artist of course because yeah, she's great at what she does. But tbh, these are a lot of the main reasons why higher up artists end up becoming jokes to me. They start placing themselves too high, and next thing you know you aren't a reader/follower anymore - just another number or dollar thrown into the pot. I get that it can be harder to keep in touch with so many followers when you get bigger as a creator, especially because as you progress, you often get much busier. But that's not an excuse to completely ignore the people that helped get you there in the first place IMO but that's just me.
She's still a great artist, but that's all I like about her and people like her - the stuff she creates. As a person, I don't know her personally enough to hold any value in knowing her, so unfortunately to me, she's just another one of the many artists who have forgotten their roots and have decided that people are numbers and paychecks. I would support her to see more great art, but not because I like her necessarily, and that stands for quite a few trending artists I've seen throughout the years. Thing is, often times they're only as memorable as they make themselves out to be - if Sakimi Chan disappeared off the planet, only a few people would actually notice in the long run, and others would just notice that their PayPal/credit card has stopped being charged.
man this pretty much just turned into a "let's bash sakimi chan" thread oops lol
Oh man. That's astounding! D: From my own vantage-point of a measly (but seriously and deeply appreciated!) $50 a month on Patreon442, that looks mind-boggling! Well done her!
As some people have said, it's a bit of a legal grey zone doing fanart for money, but if she's got licenses for it, I suppose it's alright. Her stuff is not personally my taste (I don't like that kind of photo-realism - I find more abstracted/cartoony styles more appealing) but I'm glad to see someone making it big like that!
@UzukiCheverie Here's the thing, though. While it might seem a bit silly to say that of someone making half a million a year off her art - she, and people like her (those who are "internet famous", or whatever) have bills to pay. Would you criticise a plumber for treating his customers as sources of income? Or someone delivering pizzas? Yes, being nice to people on the internet is a big part of her business, but it's not strange that she would have more interest in her paying fans than in her non-paying ones - the paying fans are the ones putting food on her table and a roof over her head.
As long as she's not actively trash-talking her non-paying fans, I don't really think we have any room to criticise her. Like you said, she's bound to have thousands of fans, and there's just no earthly way to keep in touch with them all - so it's only natural she prioitises the ones who are paying her bills.
All this frantic activity on social media makes us feel - wrongly - that we have some sort of proprietary right to be personally acquainted with everyone, even super-busy famous people, and that just isn't true. You only have a right to know the things about Sakimi-chan that Sakimi-chan chooses to share with you. And if she's holding some things back, then she's got all the right in the world to do so. "Ignoring" non-paying fans is not necessarily a reflection on her having "forgotten her roots" - it's probably just her being extremely busy and not having the time.
The semi-realistic style, especially in concerns to fan art, is actually somewhat common in Canada I've noticed. So even though her art is great (and a higher degree of semi-realistic), is nothing that I haven't seen before in mass at conventions around here. Again I don't think she shouldn't make money off of her work because it's still work (and honestly I'm happy to see artists pulling in money for their products) it's just somewhat disappointing in general (not with her) that fanart is the selling point (though if you check out her patreon she IS doing a heck of a lot for some of those that pledge to her)
On a side note I too am also more of a fan of cartoonish styles than semi or hyper realistic ones, cartoons and comics are always gonna be my weakness when it comes to being envious or a huge fan of art.
As for how she acts online, she's not really obligated to baby everyone that tries follows her art. Using myself as experience, even though I'm not a huge artist like her and many others I still have a significant sized enough fan base that even though I love to death and appreciate, will often tire or stress me out. As much as I would like to interact with everyone I can't, especially when I get weird requests or comments I don't know how to respond to (example: today someone told me to tell their boyfriend that his art sucked, because when she told him he wouldn't listen, but she thought he would listen if an artist he liked told him.) I can't pay attention to all of them, and unfortunately in my case the ones that pay DO get priority, and not because I feel they are more important, but because often (but not all the time) the people paying me feel they are more important than those that don't pay me, and get very antsy and even harass the me if they feel that their money is not going to good use. And because money is involved yes, it's important that I do what I can to make paying customers happy, cause at that point a negative review from a paying customer is severely going to hurt my business, sometimes they take so much time to deal with that there is no time left do deal with the rest of the fans AND do everything necessary to make and promote my work. I can't even imagine the amount of fans both paying and not that she has to deal with everyday.
The Robin Williams sexy gender bent genie thing that was mentioned somewhere in this thread though... I actually missed that one and have not seen it, and I'm actually kind of glad that I did miss that one because even just hearing about it I would have to agree that yeah, that was in very bad taste.
Patreon has a bad name after so many crooks on it, also if you're on it you have to sort out all your taxes yourself now.
Sure, it's great for her. But to be honest It kinda makes you look bad and devalues yourself.
Oh, and trust me, I get that. But one big major thing about being an artist - the thing that gets you to the top in the first place - is being interactive with your community and giving people a reason to want to support you, whether it's because they like you as a person or want to see you succeed, or because they like your art and want to see it continue to grow.
If you're making half-a-million a year, frankly, from my viewpoint, your bills are covered just fine and there shouldn't be an excuse anymore to continuously ignore anyone who doesn't contribute, because you're already basically set for life at that point. I know that you do have to keep giving stuff to people who support, but that doesn't mean completely shut out those who don't, especially because some of them might be supporting you in other ways - like sharing your art with people who haven't seen it yet, following your updates and commenting/liking/etc. every day, and basically just being a good part of the community. I dunno, maybe I just need more of a reason than the art to support someone? But I can't be the only one.
I mean, she can afford to have contests where she gives away up to $3000-$5000, probably more. I'm pretty sure she has no trouble paying the bills at this point, so the only part left is getting to -keep- people on her side, and that's not gonna happen if she's not well-liked. Some people will do it just for the art, but others, not so much.
In terms of your analogy between plumbers/pizza guys/Sakimi-chan, let's raise you this scenario. You order pizzas from this pizza place, but it seems like every person who brings it to you is a total dick. The guy on the phone is a dick, the guy who drives the car is a dick, and even the mascot on the website is a dick (okay so now I'm being a little silly here lol but bear with me). In the end, unless that pizza is the creation of God and you're willing to stick with it just for the product itself (which, albeit some people will do, if they're dedicated to the food/product), you're probably gonna get real sick of that pizza delivery place's shit. If you're not gonna get good customer service, you're gonna find yourself feeling pretty pissed off yourself and chances are, you might not go there any more and take your money elsewhere.
Artists are no different. When it comes to the business side of art, you do have to look at the money, but you can't forget about the social side of it either. I see artists all the time who make a decent amount a month from Patreon/here/etc. but still take the time to do livestreams for everyone, offer contests for everyone, etc. whether they're paying or not, just to help give the non-supporters a -reason- to support. People don't have to pay for the roof over her head, and are only paying for the benefits; and if they see past that illusion and realize they don't like the person they're supporting, then the artist themselves is gonna be in deep shit.
As for the art itself, the only thing really special about it is the cartoon character representations and the gender bender art. In terms of style, as someone has pointed out already, it's actually quite common and quite a few people have mastered it, making the style itself somewhat obsolete. I'm not saying it's not GOOD. I think it's great. But I also think the same of the many other art styles out there on the front page of DA that are -exactly- the same, some that even came BEFORE Sakimi-Chan.
So to make things short and clear, it's not that I don't like Sakimi-chan's art and her business. I think she's doing a wonderful job - and she must be to make that kind of cash every month - and hell, I used to be a supporter for her. But the amounts for rewards are going up, the highest bidder is getting all the attention as "the one that's making a difference" and everyone else, including the non-supporters who helped build her original fanbase, are left to sit in the dust, and unless you grew up as her childhood buddy, she's not going to bat an eye if you throw anything into the pot.
But maybe this is all stemming from the fact that this social downside of it is what I don't want to become. I'd love to be making 23k a month from my art alone, but I never want to forget the people who would have helped get me there in the first place. I just don't want to be one of those artists that becomes too busy and too good for the community they started in. There are so many artists I admire, but I wouldn't want to be them because I feel like I'd be miserable not taking part in the community; it's such a big part of what I do, and what many others do as well.
So again, she's doing great in the business of it. And hell, she could be donating half of that pool of money to charity, I don't know what she does with the rest. But from what I've seen, she could be doing better in the social part of it to help keep that business part of it afloat. That's all I'm saying on this.
I see this, and the only thing I can think of is: I have a new goal.
Eagle
(And some of the old ones were pretty grandiose!)
Fan art is something I've been mentally grappling with for some time. As someone who uses most of his creative talent actually creating something 100% ORIGINAL, it's kind of frustrating to watch people make TONS of money off of copyrighted and famous characters that aren't theirs. I had a booth at Anime Expo last year, and about 90% of the artist alley is fan art. Meanwhile, my booth featured characters and stories that were all created by me. The furthest I ventured into fan art sales were commissioned mashups of my characters with a famous anime character. At the end of the convention, I made just enough money to cover the expenses of the booth, but I left with more genuine fans, and a general feeling of well-being, knowing that complete strangers liked (or loved) the things that came from my good ol' brain. While there are some really talented people making very pretty images, it kind of strikes me as someone looking to make a quick buck off the ideas of a creatively successful individual when they resort to making and selling fan art. My position is that it's okay to make fan art to get noticed, but I don't like the idea of selling it. Even receiving donations for it seems kind of shady. I don't know, I just think that it would be so much more interesting if these talented fan artists were to spend more time creating unique and original content. Fan art kind of seems kind of soulless to me.
@kurapikasuki That's nuts. Trying to drag you into their relationship issues. Some people just don't understand the concept of boundaries!
I'm kind of a Tapastic n00b so maybe there's an obvious answer to this, but I wanted to check out your work but couldn't find it. I clicked your avatar which took me to your profile page but didn't see a link to your comic or artwork. How do I find your work? (Or peoples' work in general.)
@UzukiCheverie Could you clarify what you mean by this?
I don't understand what you'd like her to do differently.
Did you post a comment and she didn't respond?
Do you feel she should offer some prizes/rewards to fans who don't pledge money?
I like fan art and original works. The thing I like about fan art is that you have an automatic connection to the artist (depending on how much you like the character/characters).
To me, drawing fan art is like drawing a bowl of fruit. Everyone knows what it is, but everyone has a different outtake on it. It's cool to see someone bring out different emotions in a character you love.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand where your coming from (it sucks to have art overlooked because it's original and not fan art), but I love drawing fan art and seeing other people do it too. It's also pretty cool to see people from different countries that love the same characters.
As far as the making money part, most full-time artists aren't making their bills or are living check to check. I can't really blame them for going where the money is.
I'm a little confused and maybe ignorant because I don't watch Sakimichan much. Has she been a dick to her non-paying and/or old fans? Did she diss people or did she simply not respond to every single person?
I'm guilty of following a person on the internet when he sort of started out and feeling bitter (to the point I'd find every fault in his actions and words) when he got super internet famous and unable to respond to comments and requests that I put a lot of thought into. I used to think that he owed something to each and every one of his old fans (AKA "roots"), but let's face it; with around 1 million followers it's not humanly possible to remember every person's name, old or new.
He and Sakimichan might have other things to worry about: personal life, fleshing out products to try and meet the expectations of thousands of people, and for all we know, they could be contractors working for other companies and they might not be allowed to mention it. There may have a good reason for not scheduling livestreams or whatnot for non-paying fans to visit and interact with her. Unlike a pizza shop, this is a one-man-show. They don't have managers, people picking up the phones for them or PR staff. The social part of her business may not be the same as in the past but the reality is, unless she openly misbehaves towards people or stops drawing, her business will stay afloat for a long time because many followers are coming for her work and not necessarily to connect with her. Customers come and go for various reasons, but evidently, her audience is growing at a high rate.
I agree, yeah she has talent and fan art did actually get me noticed by a lot of people but getting donations for my fan art is something I would never do, I don't want to make money off of someone else's creations it doesn't sit well with me at all even if some people are only supporting me as the artist. To be honest it disgusts me...
Vivian the creator of Zoophobia however uses her own creations to get donations which I love seeing!
She doesn't earn nearly as much as Sakimi Chan but she's got a good chunk of supporters!
Vivian's Patreon page125
I'm guessing that, making 46000+ a month, Sakimi-chan has tens if not hundreds of thousands of fans. Is there a possibility that she isn't so much continuously ignoring her non-paying fans so much as she's priotizing? That is a TRUCKLOAD of fans to deal with, and there are only so many hours in a day.
Is Sakimi-chan being "a total dick" to her non-paying fans, though? Ignoring them - while not the most sociable thing to do - isn't, in itself, dickish. Has she been trash-talking people? Is she actively mean to anyone? Is she telling people who aren't paying her to piss off? I'm asking because I honestly don't know. I've seen her art pass by on the dA front-page and photo-sets on tumblr, and that's as much attention as I've paid.
And to get back to the pizza analogy - you're pointing out that people who get bad customer service will take their money elsewhere. Keyword here being "money". If your main complaint is how she's treating people who AREN'T paying, they're not customers. They are not entitled to any customer service. As long as Sakimi-chan is giving the promised rewards in return for the money given to her, and doing what she promises to do, we can't really pass judgment on how she runs her business. And, again, is she mistreating her non-paying fans, and if so, in what way?
Are they? Is she? Like I said, I don't have a clue about Sakimi-chan and how she behaves, outside of what's in this thread. If the pledge-levels keep getting raised, I can see how that's a problem - if you choose to pledge at $3 a month, or whatever, you shouldn't suddenly find yourself paying $5 a month. But seriously - is she being terrible to her non-paying fans? And I mean, is she doing anything other than not replying to comments?
I am honestly curious.
