The Factoid Firefly

Okay, I know I haven't written anything in a long time but this has been on my mind for months and I'm just gonna go Elsa on this sucker and let it go (yah I know we're all sick of the frozen hype).

The subject I will be tackling is entitlement and either a misunderstanding or a total disregard of time, energy and value. I'm talking about how people take artists for total granted and think because a person knows how to do art which is geeky (lets be honest here!) they should be grateful that they want an art piece from them. Well, I'm not here to be overly nice so I'm gonna just let off about this, because I see countless artists who face this and are abused because people have this mentality.

Note: This will be mainly aimed at visual artists but I see this with youtubers too (who are both graphic artists and not) so I will be addressing both.

It all starts, with the simple seemingly honest question....”Can you draw/paint/make/do a video with _______ for me?”.

To the average person, if you say no they should be oh okay, I guess it was worth a shot and be totally understanding...But is this how a lot of people act? NOPE! They're entitled, it's “how dare you not draw this thing that I demand you draw for me”. “Or, how dare you not do a collab with _____”......”If I don't get my way then I hate you”, some have even gone to the extremes of reporting people because “they were abusive and ungrateful”...How? How you may ask how they were ungrateful and/or abusive? Simple. They said no, no I have no time to draw something for you for free, and I don't even know you why would I do this?

I'm hoping that the majority of these stupid entitled people are kids and teens who are too immature to understand the value of time and money, but there is another issue that upsets me as much or maybe even more than this one.

The “You should” crowd. I don't mean the people who are being nice but using a poor choice of words, or even asking something just for them, I'm sure (or at least hoping ) that most of the people who say “you should” are just using a poor choice of words. I'm not saying I've never told a person that, I probably have I'm a person, I use a poor choice of words, however I do try to not say it because it irritates me a lot. But let me rant on this for one second.

“You should draw me a picture”

“You should draw ________ from _____”

“You should do ________ with _____”

“You HAVE TO DRAW ________”

“You NEED TO ______”

“You HAVE TO draw ____ FOR ME”

“Name your art piece _____”

“I want you to do _______ for me”

“You should make a video about ____”

You should make a video WITH____”

Uhm.

No.

No I don't have to, need to, want to, shouldn't won't, can't, and never will draw the three headed Pokemon Disney Star Wars cross-over you demand. And I don't have to collab with ____ either. Why should I draw this? Why do I want to? Who are you and why should I do anything for you? Why do I need to draw ____?? And also, who died and made you my boss? Who is____ I should be collabing with and why would I want to? I don't mean to say your ideas are bad, they might be good; but use a better choice of words. If you want a sure enough way to NOT have you suggestions heard, use these phrases. Suggestions are good and any wise person will welcome them, but nobody will listen to you if you are demanding. And trying to sound innocent whilst still demanding won't work 98% of the time either, people know when they're being played, especially when people are up their ears all the time, they just get a 6^th sense for it.

People, please, you need to grow up. I know people who are artists are interesting, I know their things they make are a party for the eyes, ears, or both. I know these things are something you enjoy, but they don't owe it to you to draw or create everything/anything you like or want. Jellie Bee loves to draw Steven Universe pictures, I don't care for Steven universe, but her watercolor style is lovely and I love it. I don't have to like what she does and she doesn't have to draw what I demand (even though as I said I love her style in and of itself). Just, please, these artists and video makers work hard every day, they work hard to make things to watch and sell for you to enjoy. Sure they are doing it for money, but they also want to make things others will enjoy. They aren't there to just make you happy, they are there to make a bunch of people happy. So if they don't wanna draw Kylo Ren genderbend with Ang from Avatar and PikachuXBlulbasour or collab with theodds1out..just..well, oh well. YOU'LL SURVIVE! I Promise! They aren't being mean, they aren't jerks, they don't hate you. Just think, if they do something for you, then they have to do something for the other 100 people. If you to the math, time doing stuff for free + using up expensive art supplies + no money coming in for said hours therefore no money to buy the arts supplies = nobody will get anything eventually because the said artist/creator is broke. So you being selfish thinking they have to do stuff for you for free is not only NOT helping you, but it's not helping anyone else. The same goes for any other type of artist or content maker, it's not all about you.

So why don't they owe you anything? Because they are doing what they love, and you happen to enjoy it too. Just because you being a subscriber or a follower is helping them get noticed that doesn't mean you have the right to strong-arm them in to submission for something you want or else you'll defect. They don't want that kind of negative energy around them, and neither to their true fans who love them no matter what they make, either. So if you're gonna be like that then just go away. They don't want you and neither do we who truly appreciate artists and content makers.

In the end, don't be these people:

(source is artists on other platforms I'm not saying who to prevent further embarrassment)

Warning: Strong Language (Because they're mature...right?)