Oh fandom. Why do I have even have to explain this.
From previous experience with the J2_SPN Big Bang I already knew to prepare for a hangover the day after posting my artwork. Not because people aren't lining up to leave loving comments, but because after months of obsessing, creating and artistic fiddling, I suddenly didn't have anything else to do but wait and see if people would notice my work. So I always feel a little empty and lost afterwards.
Not that I had high expectations: I picked a relatively rare pairing and I know not everyone is running to comment after a post appears anyway. I too am way behind in following the spn_reversebang and I also don't always know what to say right away. But this isn't about me or anyone else receiving a lot of comments. It isn't about the quantity or even quality of comments at all.
What does leave me feeling down is the fact that once again all the attention goes to fiction while art is disregarded. I really thought the nature of this challenge would have at least the members and followers of the Reverse Bang community showing their support for the artists. Especially since this time there wouldn't even be fiction if it hadn't been for the artwork prompts!
I did receive some awesome comments (and really, even if they were negative or constructive I would have appreciated them;) but to my utter surprise and annoyment more often the art was passed by on the way to the accompanying story. In the second best case scenario, people left a comment on the author's post to say that the art made them read the fic, but usually they only mentioned their praise on the story.
It's especially frustrating because I can tell from my lj-stats that the artpost gets significantly more hits than my usual posts, so clearly people do at least take a peek at the work.
Fair is fair, I myself hadn't commented on any other artwork for the Reverse Bang yet, so I figured I better do something about that, before bitching about artists not receiving love. I spent my Sunday leaving feedback on all the art that was submitted. And although it was awesome to go through all those posts, it left me even sadder. Because now I know I was not imagining it; the lack of comments on the artwork is truely appalling.
Really fandom? You can't spare a couple of seconds to give credit to the artists? Not even to thank them for inspiring all the fic this time? Fail. Major fail.
We are all in this fandom together and it would be nice if everyone's creative efforts were at least awarded with a bit of attention. You don't even have to pass judgement, a simple 'good job' to validate the effort or a smile to acknowledge the existence of the artist would already mean a lot.
It doesn't matter to me personally; I make artwork to challenge myself and I learn a lot from simply allowing myself time to play with Photoshop (and the occasional old fashioned pencil). The whole experience of dealing with other people and setting deadlines teaches me a lot about myself. I always manage to feel accomplished at the end of a challenge.
I'm also rude enough to call people out and don't mind asking them directly to come over and give their opinion. (I'm also excellent in being passive aggresive about people ignoring me, but I'm working on that). I did indeed lure some people back to my journal, but I'm not gonna keep begging for attention.
If you don't see the time and effort artists put into their artwork, if you can't be bothered to appreciate their contribution to fandom, that's your loss as far as I'm concerned. You should at least know they all put as much love, sweat and tears in their artwork as authors do in their stories. It would be nice if you realize that.
Now get your ass over to spn_reversebang and share some love, dammit.
Not that I had high expectations: I picked a relatively rare pairing and I know not everyone is running to comment after a post appears anyway. I too am way behind in following the spn_reversebang and I also don't always know what to say right away. But this isn't about me or anyone else receiving a lot of comments. It isn't about the quantity or even quality of comments at all.
What does leave me feeling down is the fact that once again all the attention goes to fiction while art is disregarded. I really thought the nature of this challenge would have at least the members and followers of the Reverse Bang community showing their support for the artists. Especially since this time there wouldn't even be fiction if it hadn't been for the artwork prompts!
I did receive some awesome comments (and really, even if they were negative or constructive I would have appreciated them;) but to my utter surprise and annoyment more often the art was passed by on the way to the accompanying story. In the second best case scenario, people left a comment on the author's post to say that the art made them read the fic, but usually they only mentioned their praise on the story.
It's especially frustrating because I can tell from my lj-stats that the artpost gets significantly more hits than my usual posts, so clearly people do at least take a peek at the work.
Fair is fair, I myself hadn't commented on any other artwork for the Reverse Bang yet, so I figured I better do something about that, before bitching about artists not receiving love. I spent my Sunday leaving feedback on all the art that was submitted. And although it was awesome to go through all those posts, it left me even sadder. Because now I know I was not imagining it; the lack of comments on the artwork is truely appalling.
Really fandom? You can't spare a couple of seconds to give credit to the artists? Not even to thank them for inspiring all the fic this time? Fail. Major fail.
We are all in this fandom together and it would be nice if everyone's creative efforts were at least awarded with a bit of attention. You don't even have to pass judgement, a simple 'good job' to validate the effort or a smile to acknowledge the existence of the artist would already mean a lot.
It doesn't matter to me personally; I make artwork to challenge myself and I learn a lot from simply allowing myself time to play with Photoshop (and the occasional old fashioned pencil). The whole experience of dealing with other people and setting deadlines teaches me a lot about myself. I always manage to feel accomplished at the end of a challenge.
I'm also rude enough to call people out and don't mind asking them directly to come over and give their opinion. (I'm also excellent in being passive aggresive about people ignoring me, but I'm working on that). I did indeed lure some people back to my journal, but I'm not gonna keep begging for attention.
If you don't see the time and effort artists put into their artwork, if you can't be bothered to appreciate their contribution to fandom, that's your loss as far as I'm concerned. You should at least know they all put as much love, sweat and tears in their artwork as authors do in their stories. It would be nice if you realize that.
Now get your ass over to spn_reversebang and share some love, dammit.