Dear Artist*....Surprise! I bet you didn't know you were that egotistical.

Maybe my 'open letter to Fantasy artists' posts should have come with a Spank Warning.
“Warning: The following comments may feel like a spanking.”
Because some people are still crying about it. What for?

You know what? You either have some insightful comments or suggestions about the art industry and current and future art to share with the group, or you don't. I still get wacky emails from the people who got to the party late, and I have a hard time believing that adults with basic reasoning skills do not understand exactly what the original comments were about. In fact, I don't believe it. But I revisit and clarify anyway:

A. I personally never said anyone was a bad artist. I never said any of the artwork was bad. I said a lot of it was the same. “bad” vs. “alike/similar” There's a difference, look it up.

You'd have to be f**king BLIND to NOT see that it IS same imagery and types of females depicted in Fantasy art. Is this like some kind of big f-ing secret??? I don't think so. So please don't try to make us the bad guy for pointing it out and asking for some variety.


B. I never said or even implied anyone was a racist. Never. Grow up.
And why does wanting diversity in art have anything to do with F-ing Obama. Please tell me what that could possibly have to do with this. Some of us were searching for some diversity in art long before anybody even heard of or gave a crap about Obama. That's not the topic. Grow up.


C. What is with the 'DIY' attitude? '”Just do it yourself and stop complaining”.
Welcome to Avoidance.
It's very telling of how obtuse some people choose to be, and how obtuse they intend to stay. 'DIY' is a pretty lame response to bring to the table, especially considering how it totally dodges the issue of bringing this to the working artists. If a person complained of a toothache, would you tell them to enroll in dentistry school?



I'm a huge fan and supporter of art and artists. Huge. I truly appreciate and even adore some of my artist pals, and I would never dream of them stopping their work, or doing something they didn't love to do. There are a lot of “traditional” themes that run through Fantasy art, and that's perfectly fine by me, I enjoy some of that stuff as well. I don't think there should be some mandatory checklist of subjects and themes you must do, I think people should do whatever they want.
At the same time-- I don't think wanting something different to choose from is a bad thing, treated as something offensive. As I said, for me personally, it's less about what the art is doing, and more about what the art is not doing. Not about what's there, but about what is missing.

I understand that creative types are sensitive people, so nothing I said was meant to directly offend anyone personally. Of course not! On that same note, instead of getting offended so easily, why not try taking your ego out of it for two seconds. And just listen (perhaps with an artist's ear??) to what is being said, especially since no one means any harm to you. If you're an artist in the public eye, I'd expect you to have grown a thicker skin, since you will never own some special right to be free of critique or to have only shiny, fluffy things said about art. Fans and buyers have the right to discuss what they'd like to see and collect from the art world. This is not a reason to get upset. As long as no one is telling you your work is awful, then what is the big deal?
But in the end, all we can do is bring the topic to the table and do our own work. You either care, or have some mild interest in the issue, or you do not. The End.

On a positive note, some of us do have interest in more diverse imagery in art and I was happy to discover a few artists that were open to this dialogue! It's a very pleasant surprise to hear a group of people say 'yes, we see exactly what you're saying, we agree and let's see what can happen'. Percentage wise, it's a small number. Out of maybe a hundred artists they are still only a handful willing to experiment or discuss going outside the box, but any new art is a blessing and some of us will gladly welcome it! :)


* “Artist” will be hypothetical person who we will call “Don” for future reference.