Legendsmith

Jack of many trades. Programmer, game designer and artist.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@SpellyDoesArt When working on the Katie's Room/Katrooms game for her b'day I was working 14 hours a day for weeks. The vision of the finished game and how people would react pulled me along, and in the end I was richly rewarded.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@run_runesque Even if you show the work is yours the vibes based concept of "heavy referencing" means you can be burned at the stake anyway.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@MrOvis_ I reckon there's a better way to put it: The campaign must be the most interesting thing to happen to the player characters.
I've had space catgirls and psionic elves in my games but the character concepts were a one sentence pitch.
Straightforward rather than "boring."

[mixnmatt 🔞 comms open! @mixnmatt1]

this is revolutionary. like holy fuck

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@EchoDaydreamVT @BuhnyBuns I agree. This is punishment for simply referencing one of the hardest parts of the human body to draw (the hand). "Heavy Referencing" already seemed like an insane distinction to me, now I can see it's straight up anti-art puritanism.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@lollylollipops2 @SketchesbyBoze That's not the case. Physical hyperactivity is just one type. Verbal hyperactivity (can't stop talking) is another, and the most common for ADHD is mental: Racing thoughts and/or intrusive thoughts.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@MattXtrela If you use Ctrl+Z, unbind it. Easy undo is a devil that makes you 5x slower for no benefit. The line was fine the first time.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@espenolsenart Exactly. Each piece can teach you one or two things. The more you make the faster you improve.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

Filian once did the spirit bomb on stream and that moment has lived rent free in my head until I drew this. #filianIsArt

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@_fish_ears @Bidya_James @ChromaFlowx Exactly. Draw it, if it's not good enough, draw it again from the start. That's what being fast means. It's the fastest way to improve too.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@MelonbreadFBP Yes

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@ashenmash I got an instagram late last year and I agree.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@Kaizen_3D Part of this is the Apex fallacy, pricing based on the top of the market. Another part of it is bad defaults, that's presumably UNLIMITED commercial content and merchandising. The idea of limited licenses never occurs to these people. VGen has a problem with bad defaults.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@csaurageul @Yuneless Sorry bro, having hand eye coordination is cheating now.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@USA37107692 I like this a lot.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@csaurageul @mothman_47 If it helps I found you due to this drama.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@Mystikart_ Your game is incomplete. You've got some core mechanics, you might have some systems but where's the rest? Where's the game "mode" part of it?
It's like you've made the free flight mode of a flight game. Simply giving people a few mechanics doesn't make a game.

[CSAURAGEUL @csaurageul]

So I wanted to make one final point about criticism and art in general, because judging by some of the reactions to what I thought was very mild advice for beginner artists, a lot more people need to hear this.

If you pursue art in any form, whether as a hobby or a career, people are going to give you criticism that is unsolicited, vague, subjective, harsh, or sometimes just wrong. That is unavoidable.

What matters is whether you are mature enough to process it.

You do not have to agree with every criticism or obey every suggestion people throw at you. But if your response to criticism is hostility, smugness, or treating every flaw pointed out in your work as a personal attack, you are going to sabotage your own growth.

Part of the problem is that a lot of people have convinced themselves that art exists completely free of standards, technique or structure. Every time somebody gives practical advice, you immediately get people rushing in to say “there are no rules in art” or “just do whatever you want.”

I think this mindset does far more harm than good.

Every artistic medium has fundamentals.

Drawing has anatomy, perspective, composition and colour theory. Writing has pacing and prose. Music has rhythm, scales, chords and timing. Comedy has delivery and setup.

These things matter because art is communication.

You can have deep emotions, powerful ideas, and sincere intentions, but if you lack the technical ability to express them properly, the message can completely fail to reach the audience the way you intended. Tommy Wiseau genuinely wanted The Room to be taken seriously as an emotional drama. Look how that turned out.

A joke is not funny simply because the comedian intended it to be funny. It becomes funny through skill, timing and delivery.

Art works the same way.

People hear “art has fundamentals” and immediately hallucinate some elitist argument that you are not allowed to have fun or experiment unless you have mastered realism first. That has never been my position.

Some people just want to draw for fun, relax, make things they enjoy, and spend time with friends. That is perfectly fine, great even.

But there are also people who take art extremely seriously and genuinely want to improve as much as possible. Those people need honest criticism, even when it stings.

Some of the most valuable advice I have ever received came from people who were blunt, harsh, and completely unconcerned with whether my feelings got hurt. Without that criticism I would not be where I am now.

Some criticism will be stupid, malicious, or come from people who have no idea what they are talking about. Your responsibility is to sort through it, keep what is useful, discard what is not, and apply it where it helps. It is not your audience’s responsibility to perfectly phrase criticism in a way that protects your feelings.

And honestly, a lot of people who claim they desperately want to improve actually just want validation. You can tell because the second somebody points out a flaw in their work, they become defensive and treat criticism like a moral failing instead of a normal part of growth.

Eventually people stop trying to help them.

Because despite what people online say, skill matters. Technique matters. Execution matters.

Once you reduce art down to pure intention while dismissing craftsmanship and technical ability, it potentially opens the door to arguments that gen ai is real art too, and I'm not giving those fuckers and inch.

So ask yourself honestly what you actually want from art.

Do you want it to be a comfortable hobby where you unwind and have fun? Or do you want to push yourself as far as you possibly can, knowing that growth is often frustrating, repetitive and difficult?

Both approaches are valid.

But if you truly want to improve, you cannot spend your entire life demanding honesty while punishing everyone who gives it to you.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@RedclawDraws @DheeruPra Yeah it is insanely abusive. These people really are sacrificing their health and lives.
I'd advocate for a seasonal model like anime has now but I don't know how it'd work between seasons.

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

@RedclawDraws @DheeruPra Are you going to pay like 4x more for manga so mangaka don't work themselves into sickness or death?

[Legendsmith @LegendsmithAU]

The artistic purity spiralling has to stop.