#support people
there have been many cases already international clients dropping their commissions from filipino artists or avoiding commissioning filipino creators altogether, either due to a fear of consequences getting associated with us because of current events or the misguided notion that not supporting us somehow hurts the oppressive government we’re under. lemme address both those issues:
for the first reason, nothing will happen to you, a foreigner, for supporting filipinos. theres nothing to be afraid of, youre not in this country and wont suffer any consequences. many of us, however? we’re afraid. especially artists and creators who rely on commissions to support themselves and their families
for the second reason, you are not hurting our oppressors at all. you are hurting filipinos, majority of which did not want this to happen and are actively speaking out against the looming dictatorship. dropping filipino creators does nothing but hurt us. our inflation rates are predicted to rise, and money is fast becoming an even bigger issue for so so many
so if youre looking for art, dont give up on us. commission filipino artists and/or boost commission posts! 1 USD is literally enough to buy a meal here, it really helps. here is a link to a thread of filipino artists posting their commission rates. and here is another thread of filipino commission rates. tips and donations outside of comms to these artists help even more.
edit: fixed links
signal boost
it’s so frustrating (and heartbreaking) to see so many writers going on indefinite hiatus / deleting their blogs because they are not motivated to write anymore. worst of all: people would always be like ‘no why are you leaving we don’t want you to do so :(’ but they were nowhere to be seen in our notifications beforehand. the lack of support on this platform is a huge issue and it’s a shame that content consumers don’t get the hint when writers have been waving the red flag for months.
pleasesupport creators by rebbloging their posts, interact with them by leaving a few tags, a comment or an ask! if you’re too shy then hit that anon button and you’re good to go. show them that their works matter and you enjoy their blog, because when the decision to leave is made, it’s already too late.Normally I’m not one to add my two cents to a post but I think this has inadvertently stumbled into exactly the reason why readers aren’t getting engagement: because their audiences are not communities and don’t see themselves as such, but ‘content consumers’.
Writers and artists create because they are compelled to, but they share because they want to engage with the community. When we approach their works with the emptiness of the term 'content’ that so characterizes the commercial media landscape, we devalue the work and intentions of writers and artists.
Yes, comment! Yes, reblog! Yes, support! Because as a reader and audience member you are a vital part of the community! I think there is this sense that you are only valued if you share your creative efforts, and only then can your voice be appreciated, and that simply not true! Audience, we love and appreciate you because we share for you! You are a part of the community too!
This is a really important thing to share. As someone who loves to write and create, I also love interacting with people on the things I create. Yes, I create them because I love doing it. Building new worlds whether via writing or art or even design is something that I feel like I thrive in. It’s when I’m in the best zone for me. It’s why I spend endless hours designing new things not only in the fandom world, but in my field as well that just get me so excited to talk about and share. I just LOVE creation and world building and what better place to get lost in that then in fandom?
It’s such a fun feeling to share something you worked hours on with someone out there who might see it and offer up their interpretations of it in a way that maybe you hadn’t considered or something about it touched them in a way that means something special to them. As an extreme introvert when I first started studying design I was terrified of showing my creations and having people say they were terrible. It scared me to get up and present my work because there’s that fear that someone is going to hate it. Each time you put yourself out there in displaying your art, you are offering a piece of your own creative center that you don’t often share with the world around you (at least for introverts like me). When someone offers positive feedback and a response no matter how little the response may be, no matter if it comes from an anon it makes my day. It hits a spot inside of my creative brain that makes me want to create more, to design and world build and feed not only my creativity but others around me with the idea of sharing these things that have inspired me.
So many times I’ve seen people get frustrated and give up because they pour their heart into something and then they are met by silence. Silence comes about for a lot of different reasons all personal, but silence can stifle a creative person’s drive to be creative as they start doubting themselves and wondering if what they thought was inspiring and fun wasn’t so great after all. All artists whether they are writers or artists are seeking out validation. They do what they do because of a love for their craft and their creations, but if someone gives artists love and support it can move mountains. Community is so important for artists, writers and readers alike! This message is such a good one to be heard and shared :)
Imagine for a moment that you are presenting your fic or artwork to an audience, matching the size of your fandom/ship/niche. But you send it electronically to everyone’s phones. They all get their phones out and everyone is looking at their screen. A few people smile while looking at their phone, or laugh, or gasp, or even cry, but you have no idea if they’re even looking at the thing you sent out into the audience. They could be scrolling on Twitter for all you know.
The auditorium is awkwardly silent. Your anxiety eats away at you. Was no one moved by what they read/saw? Was it awful? Was it boring? Did no one care? Did anyone even look at it?
That is how it feels when you put your heart into something, find the courage to share it with your audience, and receive absolutely no commentary on it. It’s no wonder artists and writers alike will walk off the stage and leave the room. And then some people, sitting there looking at their phones, who never said anything, have the audacity to be all “why would you leave???” as if leaving a silent audience we presented to is somehow inconsiderate on our end.
But then there’s someone who says something.
Someone says the dialogue was so witty, or the lighting in the artwork was so captivating, or the plot twist kept them at the edge of their seat, or the expression in a character’s face made them feel something. I now know that this person not only read/saw my work but they didn’t think it was absolute garbage. Until proven otherwise, creators assume their work wasn’t good enough.
We live in a fast paced world full of instantaneous information and so much fanwork that it’s like being at an incredibly overwhelming all-you-can-eat buffet at times. This is great because fic and art is so much more accessible now and it is so easy to share the things we like with others. But this means people have also gotten incredibly lazy when it comes to showing creators that they gave a damn.
Kudos/likes do little to encourage or inspire an artist/writer. Let me explain why. A lot of times, people will kudo a fic when they’ve only read the first chapter (even for a 50 chapter 150k fic). People will like an art to save it for later to reblog at another time. It’s so easy to press a button but there is little heart behind clicking an icon that is supposed to represent the very thing that is lacking. You don’t want to see your audience pressing a button to show they supposedly “liked” something and still be met with crushing silence - you want to hear people talking about the stories and art you’ve put your whole heart into making.
A chef doesn’t want people to silently eat their beautifully crafted meals and leave a tip - something that is pretty standard and expected regardless of the quality of the meal. There’s a reason why “giving compliments to the chef” is a thing! People want to know their work is appreciated when it is good! We want to hear it from the mouths of our audience. We don’t care people pushed the button. It does little to tell us if people enjoyed or even read our work.
People constantly say “I wish I could leave more kudos!!!” Guess what. I have mind breaking news for you. You can press buttons that show your love as many times as you want, on your keyboard, in the tags, in the comments, in the reblogs. You want to leave 500 kudos on your favorite fic? Leave a 500 character long comment. You want to like an artwork 100 times? Reblog it and leave 100 characters worth of tags. These very simple, very quick, very painless actions don’t feel like 100 or even 500 kudos to a creator, they feel like thousands.
The algorithms have gone to shit. All across the board: Instagram is a mess where even people with tens of thousands of followers are struggling to be seen unless they churn out something every hour, half the time posts don’t show up in the tags on Tumblr, Twitter is so clogged up with things that aren’t tweets from people you follow that tweets have a visibility period of a few seconds long. It is harder than ever for artists and writers alike to be seen that so many of us are standing awkwardly in front of silent audiences for far too long. We don’t know if people enjoy our stuff let alone if they’re even looking at it.We need to be told. Otherwise we will leave.
