u/LimeGreenArt

OC drawn as the wrong gender due to misreading the reference image?

First time this has happened in my 5 years of ArtFight, so I'm a bit baffled so bare with me

I draw all of my male OCs with a distinctive lash style, sharp chest lines (in an out than in sharp single line to designate ribs and imply some pecs), and long hair, occasionally with a fuller set of lips (this OC has that trait). I can very easily see how someone would see my OCs and go "yep, woman" so I make sure all of my OCs have their gender stated within the first line or so of description, usually "Name, he/him, height"

Today I go to check my account and I have a new attack and it's one of my guys but drawn as a woman with a comment from the artist on how fun "she" was to draw and I just... I don't know how to respond?

On one hand I'm fairly upset, for what I consider obvious reasons. On the other hand, I'd feel awful to correct because it's a fullbody drawing and idk how much work it would be for them to remove the chest they gave him...

The only other time something like this has happened was when a friend of mine drew a different OC of mine as a woman but they only had a reference image and no context. So I know exactly what it is in my art that led to the confusion so there's the additional "my reference led to this" that makes me feel... worse when I want to correct them.

Should I just... thank them for the art and move on? It's fantastic art, my OC just *isn't* a woman.

Edit/Update(?): Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on what to do! I've gone ahead and decided to just leave it be, the longer I sat with it the less it upset me because, as many people here pointed out, it's most likely an honest mistake and those happen. I thanked the artist, and complimented parts of the art I really do like without addressing the gender. I'll be marking my references more throughly moving forward to hopefully prevent it from happening again/make it easier for others to read the character

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u/LimeGreenArt — 14 hours ago