The number of folks who followed my art in places and would ask tons of questions I'd take time to answer and show examples and do draw-overs for then bailed the second I stopped doing that are gonna learn the strongest lesson of all- it's a small industry and ppl remember when yer just using them

I find it genuinely unsettling how folks online deify and treat professional artists and artists with big follower counts. At the end of the day they're just people, not your puppets or gateways to the industry.

I’m simple in that I am happy with “thank you!” and it is surprising how many people wont even bother with that after you spend time answering them in detail. I’ve been ghosted by a fair amount of people after giving them info and it makes me less likely to give it.

personally, I don't think that's entirely fair. some people want to learn. some want to enjoy the art. and some want both. it's perfectly fine to want to learn & I don't see it as using. we all started somewhere. and if you don't want to teach, definitely don't. I don't want to.

I had wanted to ask you a ton of art questions -- but I also knew that I needed to put in the hours to extract what I can learn from your posted art first. Both To be able to have specific, answerable questions, and to be able to understand the answer. Respecting people's time is a lost art, I feel

slightly off topic question- but are artists happy to answer if i have questions? sometimes i really wanna ask them how exactly they did such and such-- but i feel annoying doing so lol. but im at a point in art where i kinda *need* that help.

It sucks because I really like helping and elevating others, but I’ve since learned that a lot of people simply see that as some endless resource to exploit and it has really led to me avoiding even putting myself in a place of availability.

I've had similar situations with similarly wriggly worms. To some people you are really only as valuable as the clout you bring/your follower count/the tricks they can steal from you. How they don't realize that people will talk about them is beyond me.

I actually had to save the VOD where you gave me some of the most important words I've could have ever gotten at that time in my life and I re-play it so often to just remind myself of those things being said. It legit means the world to me and seeing you develop as a artist as well is a highlight

Just wanted to drop in and say you did a twitch stream where you did a draw-over critique of one of my pieces. Thanks so much for that! That moment still means the world to me.

Another crappy part is that these people also fuck over potential connections. So many people are jaded when new people approach out of genuine commonality because they have been burned. I'm chatty dude and when I talk with people it stinks they look at follower count hoping I'm not screwing them.