HOLY MOTHER OF WTF Sakimi Chan's Patreon is at $23K

[eethy]

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.

@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.)

[eethy]

If you're making half-a-million...there shouldn't be an excuse anymore to continuously ignore anyone...

@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?

[keii4ii]

I clicked your avatar which took me to your profile page but didn't see a link to your comic or artwork

This is currently a big problem with Tapastic's forum. The forum profile and the actual Tapastic profile (with links to their comics and reading list) are two separate things.

The forum profile goes like this: http://forums.tapastic.com/users/USER NICKNAME/activity
The Tapastic profile looks like this: http://tapastic.com/USERNAME

Therefore if the username and the user nickname are different, there's no way to find that person on the other side of Tapastic, unless they provide a link. D:

[sundanceann]

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.

[zelkats]

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.

[SpavVy]

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 page

[AnnaLandin]

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'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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

[kitsuneonwheelz]

                            2644
                            patrons
                            $23,405.07

                            per 2 weeks

[kitsuneonwheelz]

I like her style, dislike certain things that were done.

[jonsaintamant]

I agree that someone else's take on a famous character can be interesting and nice to look at. I also think that it's a great idea to use fan art on social networking to draw more attention to an artist's site, thereby having those fans discover (and hopefully support) the original work. I understand the "going where the money is" situation. I just have to draw the line (personally) at selling fan art. I don't necessarily hate others for doing it, I just wish I'd see more artists at conventions promoting and showing off their own projects. Or maybe if there was more of a regulatory crackdown on the sale of copyrighted material, it would make it (and by "it", I mean cons like Anime Expo) more of a "creator friendly" place.

[eethy]

I just wish I'd see more artists at conventions promoting and showing off their own projects.

Try A.P.E. or Zine Fest.

Or maybe if there was more of a regulatory crackdown on the sale of copyrighted material, it would make it (and by "it", I mean cons like Anime Expo) more of a "creator friendly" place.

Seriously?

[gateofselidor]

I'm not convinced that regulating cons would make it more 'creator-friendly'. I know there are people who just make fan art, but many of the people who sell fan art at cons actually make original stuff too. I've seen plenty of artists complain that if they go original-only they can't even break even, that attendees are simply not interested in anything other than fan art. Selling the fan art and making a small amount of money gives them more resources to put towards their original work. Besides, the amount they make at a few cons isn't going to come anywhere near Sakimi Chan's income.

[AnnaLandin]

@gateofselidor It all depends on the type of con. Selling stuff at a big, anime-themed con, it's only natural that fanart sells better - but if you sell stuff at a small-print focused con, customers are more likely to come looking for original stuff. I've sold my comics and prints at a small-print con for years, and I've always managed to break even, and usually make more money than I've spent. It's all a matter of context.

[shaneesemler]

I'm not familiar with her. I honestly can't tell the difference between one decent manga-esque deviantART artist and another anymore. I've always been baffled by this sort of stuff and it's popularity. That said, drawing this much attention and making this much money, I suspect it won't be long before cease & desist letters start rolling in.

[kambreapratt]

There was an attorney who was talking online about copyright law. They stated that even if you are giving it away they can come after you for copyright infringement. So I think she could still get into trouble for this if they choose to pursue it. If she paid the licensing fees she should be okay though. If she didn't, well she might run into trouble soon.

[jonsaintamant]

When signing up for Anime Expo,I think I saw something about a limit or restriction on the amount of fan art an artist can sell. Maybe "crackdown" is a bit harsh. But maybe a licensing fee to artists who plan on selling fan art at conventions would encourage more original work, and make it legal for fan art to be sold. Thoughts?

[Drezz]

If you sell prints bearing the likeness of copyrighted characters, you can be taken to court.
If you promote your business using characters that are copyrighted, you can be taken to court.
The only LEGAL loophole around payment for copyrighted characters is through a commissioned work where you are being paid for your time/material to create a one-of-a-kind piece that YOU don't reproduce for future sale. It has to be done privately, and can't be used as promotional material.

[Drezz]

As for fan-art - conventions won't abolish it unless a company requests it as part of their conditions for sponsoring or attending the event. So if Marvel is going to have Stan Lee, a large booth and other Marvel related things, they can easily go to the con operators and force them to shut down any booths that sell merchandise featuring Marvel characters or any art created for mass sale (prints - not commissions) if the artist hasn't obtained a license to do so.

They'd NEVER do that, since fan-art has always been an honor-system type of thing. If you abuse it for profit, you get nailed.

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5-10 years we see restrictions popping up in the exhibitor guidelines in order to curb the amount of print-farms that appear at cons.

[angryman]

HOLY SH*T!!! Really This is ridiculous! I wish I made that much money. Long thread but I don't think selling fanart is bad? Maybe selling t-shirts is bad, but just art where you add your imagination to something existing. Is that really bad?

[kambreapratt]

Right, I agree. What I was saying is that the argument about her being okay because she is taking donations and giving it away is probably not going to work.