Five things said to me at furry and fantasy events

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."
Now HOW does one respond to that kind of comment?

2) "You do cute kids and awesome sex, so why won't you do them together?"
If I have to explain this...

3) "You don't draw very many women. You should be more versatile."
As I am surrounded on all sides by scores of other artists' images of women.

4) "What's with all the black characters?"
It never occurred to me that this was a problem.

5) "Why do YOU have to be here?"
Apparently my lack of homosexuality is sometimes an issue.

Comments

[thaily.livejournal.com]

2. I want to stab those people in the face with bullets.

Not entirely sure why this post is in this community though?

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Hey I know you... You're the Elfquest fanart guy, I love your stuff (and Elfquest).

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

That would be me... the guy who got raked over the coals for weeks on end for making the observation that EQ fandom is composed almost entirely of women.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Really? People got upset about that?

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

He made a similar post before, I figured there's no harm in a little humor every now and then ;)

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Was just wonderin' :3

[armaina.livejournal.com]

which makes me think
is there a community solely for the retarded comments we get on our art, 'suggestions' we've received, and or other comments related to how we do our art and commissions. If not, think people would be interested?

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

There's fantards, but this seems more like "stuff you should be warned about possibly being said to you" than "my fans are retarded". Thin line, but...

[thaily.livejournal.com]

There's fantards but they're closed.
Then there's artrant.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

artrant

[dookiedragon.livejournal.com]

Argh, agreeded!
CP=No

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

While I recognize the community is primarily for keeping artists informed of difficult clients, I was going for a bit of generic "the stuff I've run into" examples without naming names. The idea is that others might be interested in sharing some of the bizarre, ridiculous, or just plain sad things they've experienced out in "the field" as it were.

Just trying to get a conversation going here without slamming on any particular person.

My apologies if I've strayed from the topic. {:o(

[crossedinverted.livejournal.com]

Black characters?

[dookiedragon.livejournal.com]

Lolz niggas!

[arrjaysketch.livejournal.com]

Good grief! Wow! Do people even think before they say some of these things? I mean, the first point, I guess the term "fantasy" is completely lost on them. I have no words for number "2". :P

For number 3 and 5 can be summarized by saying "It's such a waste of your talent to not cater to my personal fetishes and interests." :P

Some folks aren't openly racist, but they're latently so. They may not even realize it. Not that this forgives them, but it's amazing how people can say the things they do and not realize it. I would have asked the person, "So? What's your problem with black characters?"

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

The biggest racist I ever knew was not a frothing Klansman from Alabama but an Asian guy from southern California. He had this attitude that it was only natural that he not live among other races because he didn't want to have to deal with their bucolic, backward ways.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."
Now HOW does one respond to that kind of comment?

*snort*
like they're one to talk, cus you know, I totally thought my friends were anthropomorphic dogs and dragons

[lotus-kitty.livejournal.com]

oh yes, we're all quite fuzzy and if we don't be careful we might choke on a hairball.

[filthy-animal.livejournal.com]

I've only been in the artist alley at one convention (anime though, not furry) and got some equally rude comments myself. I don't get it. :(

And wtf, black characters? Why does it matter to them? D: People are people. Period.

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Well at least you hear equally retarded things at fantasy conventions as you do at furry conventions.
And yeah what is the problem with having black characters?
I would have countered, "what with all the white characters? Maybe I'm one of the few artists to deviate from the historically racist assumption that all fantasy characters need be white."

[brown-wolf.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I had coffee come out of my nose when I heard #2.

[joecifur.livejournal.com]

>> 1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."


I have gotten that one more than once at EVERY SINGLE furry convention I've gone to.

[silverfoxwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes and of course I look like a ten foot tall werewolf who is over ten times my weight. My mirror must be broken!

[donaldson.livejournal.com]

Shh. Some people really think this. You might offend them.

[heatherbeast.livejournal.com]

#5 makes me sad, too! I've had people IM me before with 'whoops don't realize everyone isn't bisexual'. Waaah. ;.;

For use at your own descretion @:)

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

1 - "I am bigger! *winkwink*nudgenudge* And, no. I won't show you."

2 - "Because my mind and hand refuse to do so. They are, however, currently locked in a battle of wills over whether I should gouge out your eyes with a pencil, or the table."

3 - "I prefer to think of myself as highly specialized." (Specifically not snarky because, well... Sometimes people just want to see what you'd do with something, mainly because they see something in your style that makes them think you'd do something really well. Unless they're just a clueless git with a one-track mind. Ask why. then let the fun begin. *grin*)

4 - "I keep spilling the india ink and out pours all this sexy..."

5 - "Why do ANY of us have to be here?" "The voices commanded it..." "Hetero-phobic much?" "SOMEone has to have a wrist strong enough to tap the keg/open the beer/punch the cop who tries to hassle you when the party gets busted." (Last comment reserved only for the blatantly hetero-phobe who's just going to hassle you all night anyway. Especially funny if everyone around him perceives him to be a clueless killjoy.)

Re: For use at your own descretion @:)

[celty.livejournal.com]

That last comment..
XD

Re: For use at your own descretion @:)

[jirashi.livejournal.com]

You scored so many points just now you know that ?

-Jiry

[digitalis.livejournal.com]

#2 would end in me thoat-kicking. >:O
#5 is just mean. ;_;

[azuredoragon.livejournal.com]

wow... most problems I have are that I get people telling me I shouldn't be taking commissions until I'm as good as Glenn,rakeesh (insert random artist here) blah blah blah and that in person I don't talk much :p

I would say about the cute kids, it'd be like.... you know you want to see a pikachu being stabbed with a knife, but how would YOU like it if I stabbed YOU with the knife?!

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

My husband, Strider, has gotten the comment, "You're STRAIGHT?! You draw THIS and you're STRAIGHT?!!"

It amuses me sometimes at folks' preconceptions of an artists based solely on their art.

[martes.livejournal.com]

You have to look at what people draw for pleasure, as opposed to what they draw for money. Work they do for themselves is a very good indication of what's going on inside. Work done for money is usually not.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

Thing is, outside of cons, Strider has rarely drawn for money, so almost everything he draws is for fun. He's had people thinking he's into:

gore
macro
inflation
herms
multi-breasts
rape
....the list goes on

...simply because he's drawn something along those lines once or twice (often at others' requests).

[martes.livejournal.com]

I should probably ammend the 'for money' to include "requests, commissions or art trades."

However, if someone draws gore, macro, inflation, herms, multi-breasts, rape ect of their own volition and not at the behest of someone else, then it's a pretty safe bet the subect matter appeals to them on some level. Since art is so labor-intensive, people aren't going to devote a lot of effort drawing something that they have no interest in.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

True, most people (myself included) wouldn't put that much effort into things that don't interest them. I guess Strider throws everyone off since that's exactly what he does. XD I'd say a good half of his pics are 'cause he saw someone's character he thought was interesting, or to see if he was capable of drawing the subject, or just to get a reaction, not necessarily 'cause he was "into" it.

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

Though you occasionally have to watch out for those people who can look at a body of work and extrapolate something that isn't there.

[darkyo.livejournal.com]

lmao, prejudice among furries, most ironic thing ever.

[wtfbingo.livejournal.com]

YEA FOR STRAIGHT, NON-PEDO FURS! WHOOO! Fight tha man!

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh my... pretty priceless. :)

(Wrong community, though?)

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

It was allowed because we all need a little humor now and then (see drake_anaya's comment above.

[the-snappy-wolf.livejournal.com]

black characters in.. black furred furries? Or black characters as in black people?? Cause I have a black fur or two and I don't have a black human charried but I do have bi-racial charrie.

[fascmouse.livejournal.com]

Humans, or human-like. Mind you, these comments come mostly from fantasy readers rather than furry, as Furrdom is so open-minded that some peoples' brains fall out and slosh around on the floor. ;o)

One of the most well-known has been my guy Hotspur, who is not technically black; more of an Islander. But I've had my share of what we in the US call "African-American" characters.


I just get these goofball comments sometimes--why do I regularly draw blacks when I'm not one, why all the cuddly families when I've never been married, why do I do gay material when I'm not gay... It's like versatility is out of the question or something.

[keeperofdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, EQ art. I muchly approve!

[lacy.livejournal.com]

omg furry racists ;P

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

You really should come to more furry cons :D

[mapdark.livejournal.com]

1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."
Now HOW does one respond to that kind of comment?



Errr..
"Sure . because the guys who draws x-men comics look SO MUCH LIKE Wolverine Storm and the gang !"



2) "You do cute kids and awesome sex, so why won't you do them together?"
If I have to explain this...


I'd slap the heck outta them..





3) "You don't draw very many women. You should be more versatile."
As I am surrounded on all sides by scores of other artists' images of women.



"Why don'T YOU draw women kiddo?" seems like a good response




4) "What's with all the black characters?"
It never occurred to me that this was a problem.


"Where are you from , the KKK ?"




5) "Why do YOU have to be here?"
Apparently my lack of homosexuality is sometimes an issue.


Same question applies to you!

[kitsuken.livejournal.com]

1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."

Any female artists asked this should try suggesting that their pits are more than "furry" enough to make up for the lack in other places :P

[jurann.livejournal.com]

1) "I thought you'd be bigger. You don't much look like your characters."
Really? o.O I'm surprised anyone would make a comment like that. How would anyone get a preconception about your build based on your artwork? *boggles*

2) "You do cute kids and awesome sex, so why won't you do them together?"
No-brainer. But then, with the lack of social graces some furries possess, they don't realize that their kink is socially unacceptable and considered miscreant by MOST of society... Cluebats™ should be issued and allowed to be freely used at furry cons, I think.

3) "You don't draw very many women. You should be more versatile."
WTF? You've drawn a lot of women. o.O I've been following your art for years, and I've been loving it ever since I saw it for the first time. I guess people aren't taking in the full "Steve Carter" experience, or they are just stupid. I'm guessing the latter. And if they don't like guys, like you said, there's a vast sea of other artists who mainly focus on artwork of the female species.

4) "What's with all the black characters?"
Wowzers. I mean, seriously. Yeah, what IS with all the black characters? I mean, WTF is WRONG with it? Again, lack of social graces, just because they are (openly or latently) racist, doesn't mean it's acceptable to drop racial bombs on you like that. I'm GLAD for the diversity, personally, it's good to see a mix and see representation for folks of all walks of life. Granted, in furry terms it's typically species and not race that makes the differentiation...

5) "Why do YOU have to be here?"
That's just sad. I'm very disappointed with the gay community and especially the exclusionary and elitist crowd in the furry fandom. These who are people who are supposed to be champions of diversity and acceptance because they want to be treated equally... Ironic that they wind-up being just the opposite in action than they claim to be in principle. Dude, you're fine, you have as much right to be there as anyone, and last time I checked your sexual preference wasn't a matter of public knowledge OR a prerequisite for attendance at a furry con. Sheesh.