It's been a helluva ride, but I'm finally getting settled back in with a normie job, a new apartment, and a bunch of bureaucracy to wade through. My primary art focus is on commissions and a solo project that I will launch once commissions are fulfilled. Besides the obligatory "not dead" update, there are some very specific issues that have been coming up over the years that I wanted to address in brief.
First, there is the issue of certain "friends" of mine who don't seem to respect me on a professional level when it comes to my artistic abilities. I talked about one of these people in this video, but there have been others who follow a similar M.O.: ask me if I want to try drawing one or more of their OCs, escalate it to an obligation, and get offended when it comes to a point where I have to tell them that my paid commissions and projects I plan to monetize take priority over their "just between friends" requests. It has come to the point that I will no longer take requests for free art, even just rough pencil sketches. (This has been in effect for a long time now, but I'm just bringing it up here for clarity.)
On a similar note, I've had several partnerships for pet projects that fell through - these were not commissions, as said projects were mutual brainstorms built from the ground-up, and we would have split royalties after the fact had said projects come to fruition. I have absolutely no problem with this arrangement (though I'm not doing anything like that at this time), provided it follows the aforementioned pattern. However, if someone comes to me with their own original idea that they want me to draw, I consider that a commission, and will charge accordingly - I will not sign onto someone else's idea and agree to only get paid "once it sells." This is because of the time and expense it will take to commit to a long-term project of that nature; I mean no offense to the potential writers and I do wish them success however they end up going about their plan otherwise. Thankfully, most people have been understanding about this, but I want to make sure there is no ambiguity for the outliers.
The other main issue is more of a personal matter - sharing details of my stories with people close to me. I have only recently started doing this, more as a means of intellectual discussion than looking for feedback (which I just realized sounds incredibly pretentious), but I do keep an open mind on suggestions and welcome constructive criticism. However, a few people I have opened up to seem to have the impression that by inviting them into my mind, I am inviting them onto my writing team (with all the benefits that come with). As I mentioned before, I am not adverse to having a partnership if the idea is mutually built from the ground up - but just as I'm not going to latch onto someone else's idea for free, they are not welcome to do the same to mine. My ideas are my own. I already have plans for the direction my work is going in; I am not looking for free concept writers or coattail-riders.
And on a similar note, most if not all of my characters take inspiration from people and situations around me - there is no character based off of you in any of my stories. I am fed up with people thinking that I've created friend-insert characters and thinking they have claim to said character's development. Granted, this is a nuisance I brought on myself by mentioning behind-the-scenes details (said characters/situations would be unrecognizable otherwise; that's how little I've actually ripped off of real life), so I don't really have the right to complain. (And to be clear, if someone did recognize a character/situation as parallel to their own and privately mentioned that they did not want it used in that manner, I would alter it.)
This is not an attack against anyone. These are not accusations toward people I have not confronted about said issues previously. It is a guide to my boundaries as a professional that I'm more or less laying out for future reference, should these issues occur again. I know that a lot of what I just complained about is on me for not drawing the line sooner, so I am fixing that now to make things easier for all parties involved.
Now, it's back to business.
~ Sarah Elaine