Hey guys, Aria here, I’ve been a small artist on Tumblr for about 3 years now, and for the past three years I’ve been doing art on the side while attending college but I’ve always made an effort to make sure I put as much effort into the art I post as I can. For 3 years I was content and never paid much attention to some of the issues in the community. Over those 3 years, I noticed little gaps and problems that struck me the wrong way but turned a blind eye to it.
One of those problems being how stifling the community is towards artists and writers. There is a clear status quo on what type of art should be made, what kind of stories should be made, if you want your work to get attention. If the art or story doesn’t fit that predetermined role then it is cast aside to be ignored except for a few accounts that do care. On that topic, let's talk about the community, there is none. There hasn’t been for a long time. There hasn’t been real engagment, it's more like you find a few mutuals and that’s it, that’s really the only people you can engage with.
Another is the treatment of actual writers and artists. They’re hardly seen as people but rather a source of entertainment, they make the cool looking pictures and the words that make up a story, and that’s it. It’s disheartening that the work that so much time and effort has been put into goes either ignored because it doesn’t meet the same plastered mold that has been established or it has ‘too many words’ to waste spending time actually reading. It’s almost defeating and one of the reasons I’ve found myself struggling to even draw. I put so much time and heart into my work only for it to be overlooked because I don’t meet the mark.
Despite the overwhelming unified response from the gt ‘community’ in driving out Nora (as I’m typing this), it still contained some issues besides the biggest one being art/ story theft. The ignorance was outstanding, well known artist not seeing what was clearly stolen art. It was in the reblogs, the comments, and no one cared. The writing was on the wall and yet bigger named artists and writers blindly (or maybe not so blindly) said nothing. One of your own was having their work cannibalized and yet they stood and watched. It wasn’t until larger names called it out only then did they actually do something. Some doing nothing at all and sticking their heads in the ground.
After all this and reflecting on the past 3 years, I’ve come to the decision to leave Tumblr. I’ve found that it isn’t a place really worth staying anymore and it’s time to cut my losses. I want to thank everyone who has followed me throughout these 3 years and supported my art, it has meant a lot. I hope that maybe things will change but I’m doubtful. Good luck to the true artists and writers on this platform.
