T
The_Otaku
Guest
Hello, and Merry Christmas 
As some of you may know, Iâm an artist, and Iâve made several threads here in the past about my art, and this one is no different, but the issue is.
I also work on commission on the side. Itâs not a means of income and itâs more like just for fun. If people want to pay me to draw something for them, hey, I donât mind.
Anyways, I have a list posted on my site that lists my terms, fees, rules, etc. One of the sections deals with what I will not draw, or to put it simply a âdo not requestâ list. The list is short, but covers a broad spectrum of things which I consider immoral and wonât do. However, Iâm wondering if this is an issue that Iâm not being specific enough. I ask people to feel free to contact me if they have questions with whether their request is acceptable or not and today I had someone do just that.
A foot fetishist wanted me to draw a picture for him, and he vaguely described it. On the do not request list I have âextreme fetishesâ listed. Well, his request was/is not âextremeâ by my definition. So I feel like Iâm stuck in the middle here. By my own rules Iâve somehow implied that âextremeâ is subjective (which it often is with art) and I should be asked about it. By basically saying that, however, Iâve kicked myself in the butt, because now Iâm bound by my own rules to explain, if necessary, what is and what is not ok.
I did respectfully turn down his offer, but I feel conflicted now. If I go back and edit the list and just put âfetishesâ and take âextremeâ out it obviously eliminates all fetishes and people will know ahead of time not to request anything like that. That may seem like the obvious solution here, but it isnât in that I donât mind drawing some fetishes. Some are pretty tame and innocent enough and not all fetishes are sexual. How do I know what a fetish means to someone? I cannot read their heart.
In trying to do the moral thing Iâm conflicted here because this isnât something Iâll have to deal with just this once. It will come up again in the future no doubt when people see I do commission work. People think they have a freedom to ask whatever they want of an artist because theyâre paying you, and to make it perfectly clear this is not the case an artist should put up a list of objective and subjective subjects or themes theyâre not willing to negotiate on. And Iâve done that. NO porn, NO new age themes, NO blasphemy against religious figures, NO homosexual themes, etc.
The list is solid, yet requests like this somehow slip through the cracks and people ask about them occasionally. Iâve made it possible for them to do this, so I am to blame for any misunderstandings and contradictions.
The solution is to just take out extreme, and that limits the possibilities. But it also limits the types of commissions I could get that I wouldnât mind doing under proper circumstances. Do you think then itâs necessary for me to list those things as well? The reason I donât is because then Iâd get even more requests like this guy gave. My whole intent with the list was to give my no nos but otherwise be ambiguous. Itâs not good for business if you start telling people what they can and cannot ask of you before they even talk to you. It makes it sound anal, like youâre dealing with a lawyer and not an artist.
Anything can be a fetish these days. If a girl likes unicorns, and pays me to draw one, thatâs a fetish. If a guy is into tall women and pays me to draw a tall woman, thatâs a fetish. People donât like using the word fetish because it has the stigma of sexual deviancy attached to it, and this is especially true when the object of the fetish is a body part. People prefer using the word fascination and words as such, but in my book itâs sort of the same thing if the bottom line is the same.
This is issue is solved because I rejected his proposal. It wasnât âextremeâ by my opinion, but it just wierded me out and was kind of gross. Sometimes you have to laugh when you get requests, paying or otherwise. I once had a guy ask me to draw him a picture of a woman being frozen in cement and someone is smashing the cement with a sledgehammer. Now thatâs extreme and bizarre! LOL!
To close this up, thank you for any insight or opinions you can give on how I should handle this now and in the future. Should I make a list listing all the things I will and will not draw that can come to mind? That seems impractical and a waste of my time, but it would solve the issue. If Iâm blunt and to the point, that saves me the trouble but it doesnât make me seem friendly and makes me seem close-minded. If I choose to keep things as they are, Iâll have to deal with guys like this again. What should I do my fellow catholics?! Help me out!
Much love and Merry Christmas!
As some of you may know, Iâm an artist, and Iâve made several threads here in the past about my art, and this one is no different, but the issue is.
I also work on commission on the side. Itâs not a means of income and itâs more like just for fun. If people want to pay me to draw something for them, hey, I donât mind.
Anyways, I have a list posted on my site that lists my terms, fees, rules, etc. One of the sections deals with what I will not draw, or to put it simply a âdo not requestâ list. The list is short, but covers a broad spectrum of things which I consider immoral and wonât do. However, Iâm wondering if this is an issue that Iâm not being specific enough. I ask people to feel free to contact me if they have questions with whether their request is acceptable or not and today I had someone do just that.
A foot fetishist wanted me to draw a picture for him, and he vaguely described it. On the do not request list I have âextreme fetishesâ listed. Well, his request was/is not âextremeâ by my definition. So I feel like Iâm stuck in the middle here. By my own rules Iâve somehow implied that âextremeâ is subjective (which it often is with art) and I should be asked about it. By basically saying that, however, Iâve kicked myself in the butt, because now Iâm bound by my own rules to explain, if necessary, what is and what is not ok.
I did respectfully turn down his offer, but I feel conflicted now. If I go back and edit the list and just put âfetishesâ and take âextremeâ out it obviously eliminates all fetishes and people will know ahead of time not to request anything like that. That may seem like the obvious solution here, but it isnât in that I donât mind drawing some fetishes. Some are pretty tame and innocent enough and not all fetishes are sexual. How do I know what a fetish means to someone? I cannot read their heart.
In trying to do the moral thing Iâm conflicted here because this isnât something Iâll have to deal with just this once. It will come up again in the future no doubt when people see I do commission work. People think they have a freedom to ask whatever they want of an artist because theyâre paying you, and to make it perfectly clear this is not the case an artist should put up a list of objective and subjective subjects or themes theyâre not willing to negotiate on. And Iâve done that. NO porn, NO new age themes, NO blasphemy against religious figures, NO homosexual themes, etc.
The list is solid, yet requests like this somehow slip through the cracks and people ask about them occasionally. Iâve made it possible for them to do this, so I am to blame for any misunderstandings and contradictions.
The solution is to just take out extreme, and that limits the possibilities. But it also limits the types of commissions I could get that I wouldnât mind doing under proper circumstances. Do you think then itâs necessary for me to list those things as well? The reason I donât is because then Iâd get even more requests like this guy gave. My whole intent with the list was to give my no nos but otherwise be ambiguous. Itâs not good for business if you start telling people what they can and cannot ask of you before they even talk to you. It makes it sound anal, like youâre dealing with a lawyer and not an artist.
Anything can be a fetish these days. If a girl likes unicorns, and pays me to draw one, thatâs a fetish. If a guy is into tall women and pays me to draw a tall woman, thatâs a fetish. People donât like using the word fetish because it has the stigma of sexual deviancy attached to it, and this is especially true when the object of the fetish is a body part. People prefer using the word fascination and words as such, but in my book itâs sort of the same thing if the bottom line is the same.
This is issue is solved because I rejected his proposal. It wasnât âextremeâ by my opinion, but it just wierded me out and was kind of gross. Sometimes you have to laugh when you get requests, paying or otherwise. I once had a guy ask me to draw him a picture of a woman being frozen in cement and someone is smashing the cement with a sledgehammer. Now thatâs extreme and bizarre! LOL!
To close this up, thank you for any insight or opinions you can give on how I should handle this now and in the future. Should I make a list listing all the things I will and will not draw that can come to mind? That seems impractical and a waste of my time, but it would solve the issue. If Iâm blunt and to the point, that saves me the trouble but it doesnât make me seem friendly and makes me seem close-minded. If I choose to keep things as they are, Iâll have to deal with guys like this again. What should I do my fellow catholics?! Help me out!
Much love and Merry Christmas!