u/Kappatrap

Any showstopping lizard tail at all. Just one. Please? 😭 missed chance if you ask me.

I've seen a bit of this sentiment across social media and fandom culture increasing as more folks get the opportunity to showcase something that matters to them.

We, as artists, are extremely personal. The art we make is personal. We share it with the world as a privilege. Sometimes, we overestimate how much we are willing to share, so yes sometimes our decisions change and adjust especially as we grow older and have new experiences. I'm not the same person I was a year ago or two years ago, neither is my art or what I value in it. Yes, I expect a variation of reactions to my art, and I cannot control how it will be interpreted or used. I still do my best to mitigate the damage, and either way I'll have complex emotions. I'll fixate on what a few people say, I'll watch someone who I look up to look down on my perspective and misunderstand it, and I'll have the urge to fix it. To scrape together a thousand corrections and hope I can restore the full picture. It's a human reaction.

At the end of the day, that's not always possible. So then, you close up. You cut off a little bit about yourself and you have to wrestle with that. You have to wrestle with what people might think of you. Wrestle with what is worth being vulnerable about, what you're willing to let get hurt about yourself, or if getting hurt is worth the people that will feel seen.

It's worse when you're known and your face is publicly out there. It's hard, and many artists are lucky that they can remain anonymous. Even big artists like Ado who fought to remain anonymous, because there's that automatic shift in how you're perceived just waiting.

I know I risk a lot by putting my art out there but that's what artists do. We share personal things, how we view the world, how we view ourselves. If I have to take a few steps back sometimes, then I will. But that should be up to me only.

This entire situation is such a non-issue. I see a lot of things being stated as non-negotiable facts when the truth of the matter is that Keath majorly just made a request and fully understands not everyone will follow that request. Beyond that, I do think the artist is entitled to do what they want with their own project.

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Feeling a type of way about it is another thing, but a lot of people in this community are not feeling. I'd be sad and frustrated if someone took down their art or fanfiction, but ultimately it's their choice.

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I think, especially with more indie projects lately, people have gotten increasingly... possessive? Of something that ultimately they have no control over. Even if you support the artist, studio, whatever, monetarily, unless what you're buying is control over the media, you have to accept that it might not end the way you want to. It might not even finish. Hell, it may never even start.

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You are not an investor. Don't go into media thinking you'll come away with everything you ever hoped for. At the end of the day all of these indie projects have a single person or a few people pouring their heart out. And maybe we pour our hearts out right back. Don't respect their decisions, do respect their decision, it's your choice, but also stop acting like you have a stake in it.

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Remind yourself that you don't, that everything on the internet is at liberty to simply stop and you might lose something and that it'll probably suck. If you love something, archive it. Find archives of it if it's popular.

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And that being said... we can all acknowledge that requests don't have to be listened to. We can also acknowledge that people will go out of their way to enforce it even when it has been made clear that isn't what one should be doing... just don't harass people yall. If it is that egregious, block 'em!

Bipedal anthropomorphism on its own isn't considered out of style.
Dogs that are not Winona are not considered out of style.

Is Capper and the rest of his species only considered out of style because the movie was too new? A distinctly different art style paired with a new species we haven't seen in any other form other than Opalesence?