SJW Art and Extremes

[BIG DADDY]

Is that SJW art or just basic bitch gay furry art? There’s nowhere on the sheet that indicates he’s gender nonconforming or a PoC, and he indicates that he actually puts up with a bad boss instead of telling that shitlord off while Albert Einstein claps. That’s dangerously close to having to live in the real world.

I do want to know what kind of furry he’s supposed to be. Some kind of mink? Is he supposed to be based on Animal Crossing?

 

[One Man Bland]

It's a basic character design thing in cartooning to make characters with bulbous noses a different color IF that nose is a separate element on the face (separated with completed lines). It looks good. That's why Muppet noses look cute and funny on their faces. But, it crosses into "weird and ugly" territory when that big fucking nose is the same tone as the rest of their face.

But separate that element a little and WOW.

Night and day.

But how could I expect Tumblr kiddies to understand fundamentals of character design. Silly me. Regardless this potato nose trend needs to stop. It's hideous and often without real purpose.

If I recall correctly another influence came from watercolor and marker illustrations where its not uncommon to see a figure be given a skin tone by leaving them mostly blank and then highlighting a few key details - usually shadows and extremities to prevent them looking muddied from the texture.

But then I think those key factors in that artistic liberty were lost on Tumblr due having gone through such a long game of Artistic Telephone the original influences are long gone, and most Tumblr artists starting off as digital and having no reference to how or why traditional techniques are done the way they are. So you get a lot of Tumblr shit like that where characters have giant splotches around their noses, eyes, shoulders, elbows, and knees that make everyone look like they have a bad case of rosacea.

 

[Tanti-Fanti]

If I recall correctly another influence came from watercolor and marker illustrations where its not uncommon to see a figure be given a skin tone by leaving them mostly blank and then highlighting a few key details - usually shadows and extremities to prevent them looking muddied from the texture.

But then I think those key factors in that artistic liberty were lost on Tumblr due having gone through such a long game of Artistic Telephone the original influences are long gone, and most Tumblr artists starting off as digital and having no reference to how or why traditional techniques are done the way they are. So you get a lot of Tumblr shit like that where characters have giant splotches around their noses, eyes, shoulders, elbows, and knees that make everyone look like they have a bad case of rosacea.

I agree with this a lot actually. Slight powerlevel here, but when I first started digital painting I had no clear reference of what I was doing all I knew what that you drew on a tablet and stuff appeared, so learning to go through the basics and trying to figure out each tool and how to use it became the foundation for how I learned to use a completely different medium.

To add onto what you say, I think not only are these artists missing the foundations BECAUSE they haven't learned the basics, but also because they've become complacent. Too many of these artist use a similar style and I can see why. It's easy to do. Why put effort into learning how to color or lineweight when you can just put out the same doodling style over and over and say "lol, shitty wip. I know I suck guys XD" and not improve. These artists have fallen for one of the worst traps an artist can make, becoming complacent. Let's ask ourselves the question: why haven't these style changed drastically overtime? It's not just because the artists can't. As we see earlier in the thread, some of these artists had potential pre-tumblr.

It's because they're not just complacent with the style, but with what it comes with. If you put out shitty "feminist" art, you get people constantly giving you "YAS QUEEN! and SLAY!" and shit like that. And on Tumblr I see it everytime. Actual artwork with time and effort put into it will get like 20 notes, but the artwork with ambiguously brown characters, medical conditions, arm hair, leg hair, vitilego, etc. always seems to get 100's or even 1000's of notes with constant praise of being progressive. (Bonus points if the character is gay or trans and the artists talks about how it was racist/sexist/gender-phobic because their headcanon isn't reality.) I wouldn't be surprised if these younger people on Tumblr noticed this right away and thought they can do the same thing and become popular.

And while in most cases that shouldn't work, I'd argue on Tumblr it...kinda does. Maybe it's the fucked-up note system/tagging system or just the mentality or even both, but the fact is, from what we can see, shilling out a "progressive style" is what gets people views and why put in effort when you can just continue to cry "racism!!" whenever someone calls you out on it? As long as you are "in" the progressive crowd, essentially no one can touch you unless you fuck up real hard. People will just defend it because it's ___phobic if you don't.

 

[One Man Bland]

I agree with this a lot actually. Slight powerlevel here, but when I first started digital painting I had no clear reference of what I was doing all I knew what that you drew on a tablet and stuff appeared, so learning to go through the basics and trying to figure out each tool and how to use it became the foundation for how I learned to use a completely different medium.

To add onto what you say, I think not only are these artists missing the foundations BECAUSE they haven't learned the basics, but also because they've become complacent. Too many of these artist use a similar style and I can see why. It's easy to do. Why put effort into learning how to color or lineweight when you can just put out the same doodling style over and over and say "lol, shitty wip. I know I suck guys XD" and not improve. These artists have fallen for one of the worst traps an artist can make, becoming complacent. Let's ask ourselves the question: why haven't these style changed drastically overtime? It's not just because the artists can't. As we see earlier in the thread, some of these artists had potential pre-tumblr.

It's because they're not just complacent with the style, but with what it comes with. If you put out shitty "feminist" art, you get people constantly giving you "YAS QUEEN! and SLAY!" and shit like that. And on Tumblr I see it everytime. Actual artwork with time and effort put into it will get like 20 notes, but the artwork with ambiguously brown characters, medical conditions, arm hair, leg hair, vitilego, etc. always seems to get 100's or even 1000's of notes with constant praise of being progressive. (Bonus points if the character is gay or trans and the artists talks about how it was racist/sexist/gender-phobic because their headcanon isn't reality.) I wouldn't be surprised if these younger people on Tumblr noticed this right away and thought they can do the same thing and become popular.

And while in most cases that shouldn't work, I'd argue on Tumblr it...kinda does. Maybe it's the fucked-up note system/tagging system or just the mentality or even both, but the fact is, from what we can see, shilling out a "progressive style" is what gets people views and why put in effort when you can just continue to cry "racism!!" whenever someone calls you out on it? As long as you are "in" the progressive crowd, essentially no one can touch you unless you fuck up real hard. People will just defend it because it's ___phobic if you don't.

Complacency is a good word for Tumblr's approach to art. Also explains why so many Tumblrinas REEE at the mere suggestion that traditional art is pretty essential to improvement and learning the fundamentals.

 

[polkadot]

Is that SJW art or just basic bitch gay furry art? There’s nowhere on the sheet that indicates he’s gender nonconforming or a PoC, and he indicates that he actually puts up with a bad boss instead of telling that shitlord off while Albert Einstein claps. That’s dangerously close to having to live in the real world.

I do want to know what kind of furry he’s supposed to be. Some kind of mink? Is he supposed to be based on Animal Crossing?

This guy is Komiya from Aggretsuko (Aggressive Retsuko)

He seems to be... a meerkat, I guess?

But yeah, I think this headcanon is pretty harmless and kinda cute.
It doesn't have that shitty vibe that tumblr headcanon art usually has.

 

[Tanti-Fanti]

Complacency is a good word for Tumblr's approach to art. Also explains why so many Tumblrinas REEE at the mere suggestion that traditional art is pretty essential to improvement and learning the fundamentals.

Shit, I've seen that too. I don't know why, but even with traditional art they carry the same attitude of not wanting to learn about it. I agree with the sentiment that traditional art doesn't need super fancy supplies, but at the same time it really helps if you know what you're drawing before you draw it.

I'm not saying digital art is a shortcut to amazing art. I would argue it's even harder because the translation from paper to a screen can be really awkward, but that doesn't excuse not knowing how to draw on paper.

 

[WoodlumHax]

A good friend of mine is an artist and I'm concerned he may be falling into the SJW rabbit hole, but I'm not entirely sure. He has some very nice figure studies and life drawings, but I'm a little on the fence about these character drawings of his. I'll do my best to provide context for these characters.
The first is a decaying zombie punk rocker who's half Hispanic
The second drawing is of a homeless drug dealer who's always sick, and his design is based off of Holden Caulfield somewhat.
Then there's this mechanic and botanist who's Korean Canadian. He's a fully transitioned trans man who works in the engine room on a space ship.
Then there's newer art of the zombie guy, without his hair gelled up. Also, my friend claims He based this guy's face off of Brandon Boyd

 

[HY 140]

is he punching Butt-head

 

[One Man Bland]

Shit, I've seen that too. I don't know why, but even with traditional art they carry the same attitude of not wanting to learn about it. I agree with the sentiment that traditional art doesn't need super fancy supplies, but at the same time it really helps if you know what you're drawing before you draw it.

I'm not saying digital art is a shortcut to amazing art. I would argue it's even harder because the translation from paper to a screen can be really awkward, but that doesn't excuse not knowing how to draw on paper.

Based on the two incidents I've witnessed first hand of this attitude - once when artists were salty that the Inktober guy said they'd only be sharing works on the official Inktober account that used physical ink (from ballpoint pens to India ink) since he felt digital work didn't reflect what participants were supposed to learn from the exercise, and again when Butch Hartman made a generic "digital art is great but it's still important to learn traditional skills" positivity post that everyone got their panties in a twist over - and the two most common trains of thought I saw being against this were:

1. Praising traditional art is "gatekeeping" because you're supposedly putting a barrier of entry into art by expecting people to purchase art supplies despite good digital arguably being a greater financial investment between the computer, tablet, and/or handheld devices like ipads.
2. People who practice traditional art are backwards dinosaurs who just don't like that digital tools with features like the undo button and layers have rendered them obsolete, and traditional art therefore provides no learning value whatsoever

What's often overlooked however is that traditional art doesn't just teach you skills like life drawing or color theory, it's also very important for learning about the more subconscious aspects of art like posture and hand positioning. You learn quicker with traditional art, for instance, the importance of not letting the side of your hand drag over your page and to reposition yourself or your sheet because doing otherwise smudges your work. It's also important in developing a faster drawing/painting pace while maintaining coordination because you often have a limited number of attempts to get something right before you have to start over. All of these things translate into improving your digital art because while things like transform tools and Ctrl+Z are undoubtedly useful, it's much more efficient in the long run if you hardly have to use them at all.

Another way to look at it is imagining of traditional art was a bicycle and digital art was a motorcycle. Between the two the motorcycle is the more advanced tool and provides more powerful/efficient features that you can't necessarily get from a bicycle, but it would be crazy to hop straight on a motorcycle if you've never ridden a bicycle before since the bicycle helps you with the most basic of concepts that are still applicable to the motorcycle.

Tumblr artists are often the people who declare the bicycle to be obsolete with no useful skills to offer and then proceed to putt-putt away going 2 mph on a $2000 Wacom motorcycle because they have none of the skills to use it properly.

 

[Hummingbird]

Based on the two incidents I've witnessed first hand of this attitude - once when artists were salty that the Inktober guy said they'd only be sharing works on the official Inktober account that used physical ink (from ballpoint pens to India ink) since he felt digital work didn't reflect what participants were supposed to learn from the exercise, and again when Butch Hartman made a generic "digital art is great but it's still important to learn traditional skills" positivity post that everyone got their panties in a twist over - and the two most common trains of thought I saw being against this were:

1. Praising traditional art is "gatekeeping" because you're supposedly putting a barrier of entry into art by expecting people to purchase art supplies despite good digital arguably being a greater financial investment between the computer, tablet, and/or handheld devices like ipads.
2. People who practice traditional art are backwards dinosaurs who just don't like that digital tools with features like the undo button and layers have rendered them obsolete, and traditional art therefore provides no learning value whatsoever

What's often overlooked however is that traditional art doesn't just teach you skills like life drawing or color theory, it's also very important for learning about the more subconscious aspects of art like posture and hand positioning. You learn quicker with traditional art, for instance, the importance of not letting the side of your hand drag over your page and to reposition yourself or your sheet because doing otherwise smudges your work. It's also important in developing a faster drawing/painting pace while maintaining coordination because you often have a limited number of attempts to get something right before you have to start over. All of these things translate into improving your digital art because while things like transform tools and Ctrl+Z are undoubtedly useful, it's much more efficient in the long run if you hardly have to use them at all.

Another way to look at it is imagining of traditional art was a bicycle and digital art was a motorcycle. Between the two the motorcycle is the more advanced tool and provides more powerful/efficient features that you can't necessarily get from a bicycle, but it would be crazy to hop straight on a motorcycle if you've never ridden a bicycle before since the bicycle helps you with the most basic of concepts that are still applicable to the motorcycle.

Tumblr artists are often the people who declare the bicycle to be obsolete with no useful skills to offer and then proceed to putt-putt away going 2 mph on a $2000 Wacom motorcycle because they have none of the skills to use it properly.

I feel more of a connection when I do my traditional work (my medium is crayon) as well.

 

[Azafran90]

The first is a decaying zombie punk rocker who's half Hispanic

How can someone be half-Hispanic if being Hispanic already means having a mixed heritage? it´s like saying "this ice-cream is half Neapolitan half chocolate"
the artist is clearly reaching for brownie points with this one

 

[weed weenus]

How can someone be half-Hispanic if being Hispanic already means having a mixed heritage? it´s like saying "this ice-cream is half Neapolitan half chocolate"
the artist is clearly reaching for brownie points with this one

Hispanic actually just refers to anyone of Spanish-speaking origin, so Hispanic people can be of any race. Latino is actually the proper term here, since that specifically refers to people of Latin American descent.

 

[edgy username]

is he punching Butt-head

my fucking sides hurt after laughing so hard at this

 

[burlap dress]

blacked out the name to make it harder to guess

Spoiler: guess who

 

[magikarp]

Naruto?

 

[burlap dress]

dammit, you got it
supposed to be these guys

 

[magikarp]

I only got it because I recognized the little symbols on Sasuke's clothes. Otherwise I never would have figured it out since I haven't watched Naruto since I was 12.

 

[Meowthkip]

This guy is Komiya from Aggretsuko (Aggressive Retsuko)

He seems to be... a meerkat, I guess?

But yeah, I think this headcanon is pretty harmless and kinda cute.
It doesn't have that shitty vibe that tumblr headcanon art usually has.

I refuse to believe he doesn't have a crush on Ton, though.

He does love kissing that guy's ass.

it´s like saying "this ice-cream is half Neapolitan half chocolate"

That just means that half of the ice cream is chocolate, one sixth is vanilla, one sixth is strawberry and the other sixths is chocolate again.

Obviously.

 

[Rose]

Miss charming and princess tiana...

 

[edgy username]

Miss charming and princess tiana...
View attachment 443924

Some of it could use some work, but thankfully they don't have those god-awful Rudolph noses that most SJW artists use.