I've gotta get weirder

Grace!! (Please click for better quality this thumbnail is slandering my boy).I want to get this made into a foil print eventually. When I get manufacturing figured out I’ll probably post it for sale on my Etsy but I’m a lil worried because!! Never done foil prints before!! Mostly I’m really happy with how the shading looks. Went with something just a bit more realistic than my usual cell shading. I think it worked out (cough cough gonna try to make a Simon companion piece because I know what I’m about cough cough). All the little details I included under the cut!

Cicada sketches by Vincent van Gogh.

tw!!! a little suggestive! :р

So some fanartist drew a “sexy” (read: booby) version of a (cartoon) character who is traditionally very non-sexualised. Fans of the character got mad about it because it’s kind of groundbreaking how that character is written and portrayed and this art totally ignores the entire point of the character. They demanded the art be deleted. In response to that other people said, well what the fanartist did may be distateful but they have every right to draw what they’re into. The two sides fight for days and each starts a harassment campaign and even report their “opponents’” accounts.

So far so typical. But things eventually come to a head and they decide that this will be settled by votes - not through a poll. Through donations to a children’s education charity via each side’s portal. Whoever can get the highest amount of donation wins.

They're preying on insecurities to do it. Yes, you can write an essay - but can you write a good essay, they ask you. Do you not want to improve your output? Do you not want people to think of you as competent and very clever? Why go through the mortifying process of failing and failing and failing until you succeed if you can just skip the "learning" part of doing, and simply generate a ready-made product?

I'm preaching to the choir here obviously but it's a concerning thing to witness nonetheless. My kid is 6 next week and I've been teaching her that failing at things is morally neutral and in fact necessary even before the advent of AI, but it's becoming ever more important that we teach the kids that criticism and failure and discomfort aren't necessarily bad things, but just a part of the growth process.