Comrade Del ☢️ Gasmask Mothman

Hey Bunkoholics! I'm Comrade Del, the local fulltime Gasmaskman, part time Mothman and part time Brand Risk! I'm a variety streamer, professional ranter and I run the Virtual Vibe news! I also play the guitar once in a blue moon! twitch.tv/comrade_del youtube.com/@Comrade_Del

And this here is why I always call out the prices. Because it DIRECTLY affects the market. They are pushing their own market towards the blender and the majority of clients towards AI. They are, as always, their own worst enemy.

With all the discourse and nonsense that I've seen artists say recently... it's honestly not even surprising why the general public has been increasingly disliking them. The general attitude from how the artists describe it can be summed up as this: Normal person, literally anyone: "I want more money, so I need to do MORE work. Find another job, trying hustles, side gigs, whatever. I need to do EXTRA work to get more." Artists: "I don't want to do extra work. I already pull 60 hours in 4 months from the comfort of my home. It's already slave labor, having to utilize my hobby and passion. So I think I DESERVE more so I will just ask for more money without doing extra work for it and you just HAVE to accept it." Hey, don't look at me! That's generally what the diatribe they're spilling all over the place can be summed up as!

lol, note how the first part is about how it hurts THEM, not the artist themselves. The whole treat yourself with respect is like an afterthought, as though they remember "Oh wait, I'll look like an asshole without adding this". So full of crap

If there is one thing that the artists seemingly don't understand... is that this little luxury market they're crafting for themselves is liable to evaporate within a year or two. Look back just a year ago. People didn't post AI art all over the place and whenever they did, there was public outrage and shaming. And now? You can see AI art left and right. People even praise it. Some people have Patreons and donation pages and people pay them. Paying for for AI art. Most people in general... don't really care all that much anymore. The moment AI art becomes just a bit more acceptable... and it will happen by the looks of things at the rate it's going... their river is going to dry the fuck up. They're trying to cater to the top payers to cash in as much as they can but they're also the ones who will be the first ones to bail on them the moment it becomes a bit more socially acceptable. Why pay thousands of bucks for something you can get for free? Because that's the only thing that is holding their market together. The threat of harassment and public shaming. Not skill, not quality... just that. Most people genuinely don't give a shit about AI art... but they do give a shit about public backlash and the moment you remove that factor, they would rather keep their money. And what would the artist have then? Nothing good I'd wager, considering they're spending their time shaming the wider client base and artists that cater to them, being as obnoxious and unprofessional as possible and instead of spreading themselves to have a foothold in the market and endear themselves to a client base... they do the exact opposite and push 90% of people out of it and actually speed up the process of AI acceptance.

Gotta love how they bitch and moan about how artist can price their work however they want... but if the price is low that's suddenly very wrong and harmful. What a manipulative bunch

More artists should be doing this. This actually gives artists a good name and makes them look good. Showing that not all of them are deranged wallet leeches. If you have reasonable prices, SHOW THEM OFF! This is EXACTLY the kind of moment to do so! They'll whine about artist solidarity and all that nonsense they say while they'll try pressuring or bullying you but don't listen to that tripe. Don't let them drag you into the dumpster fire they'll pushing the market into!

Is this really that common? I've seen 2 artists admit that today and another one getting pestered just like that. Are artists really pestering and bullying those that charge low prices??? Kinda ironic that they have the audacity to keep telling us to just find someone cheaper but apparently they're also going around and trying to make those cheaper ones to disappear so it would normalize their high prices. What a manipulative market...

lol. Lmao, even. Anytime people say that the prices artists demand are outrageous, some wise asses come in and say "Just find somene cheaper!" Here's someone cheaper and the result? "Raise your prices! Your low prices for quality art make us look bad!" But think about the artists, they'll likely say. They don't think about the artist either. It's purely selfish self-interest because here's some quality art for lower prices while they keep chargings an arm and a leg and look like scamming leeches. They'll peddle the bullshit that they care about the artist, but all they care about is maintaining the 'virtuous' look of their ridiculous price lists. Artist can charge whatever they feel like and it's their right... but not when it's low enough to make them look bad. Hypocritical and self-centered. It's this sort of sentiment that does more harm to the artists. At a time when they need to solidify and entrench their position in the market, they do their utmost best, down to pestering other artists, to price themselves right out of the wider market and remove themselves from it. It's like they're trying to maximize their profits while they can and cash in before shit goes up in flames because they know they're fucking it all up. Their own worst enemies, as always.