you guys... it's ****ing plastic
I make custom flags for a living, and I've had people say (when they hear my prices for my work): "It's just ****ing
fabric!"
True, flags are made of fabric but so are wedding dresses and parachutes. There's labor, there's love in these little chunks of plastic for the artists and hobbyists. I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, sth -- I tire of the butthurtedness, too.
"There are no art forms now, just capitalism"
Wisdom.
Pac makes pretty good case about all the artisans (with Binge being the exception) to making keycaps based on intellectual property that they do not own. I don't really buy the argument that at least some of these people (GirlDC as the most prominent example) possess greater skill and/or talent, and so that somehow makes their infringement of other people's property rights some how less? It clearly makes them more artistic, more skilled, no argument there, but it's still not legal.
Some of the people on that list aren't in it for their 'art' -- not that I care, I don't buy into the whole selfless artist stuff. They looked at the market and said, "Hey, anyone want a Hulk keycap?" (People screamed, "Yissss!") and then they made them. Artists (good artists as defined by the market) should produce art and be well-fed and housed for their work and not smell at all like patchouli. But that's not the same as an artist who uses his or her skill to engrave a printing plate so they can counterfeit $100 bills. Do I respect that person's skill? Yes. But is what they're doing right? No, not really. And the fact that they're doing it to a big corporation instead of an individual, to me, is irrelevant.
And hey, I'm totally guilty of buying these things! So, pin a Crimson 'H' on my lapel. I have a Space Invaders keycap! I'm a hypocrite and I'm ashamed. (looks at Space Invaders keycap and fights back tears) Ok, I'm a little bit ashamed -- enough to not pretend I'm right.
Sheesh, no wonder there are no services like mine. I try to give back to the community and get stabbed in the back for it.
Toughen up buddy, you're an artist. Just do me a favor and don't strike a messianic pose -- just make good stuff that people want and don't pretend to be an artist if you actually aren't. I (seriously) wouldn't think any less of you. And go ahead and make some money in the process, Pac, I'm all for it.
Also, I speak from some experience at being a failed artist -- well, not really an artist. Is flocking a keycap artistic? The closest I came was mixing two colors of flock to make a new color, so... I mixed two colors and now I'm an artist. LOL! And the keycaps that results started out really, REALLY lacking. It took time for them to improve. There was still no market for them, but I was having fun making them. For me, the thrill was in making something -- anything, really, that was new, even if only in a minor way. If they had sold, and been popular that would have been icing on the cake. My point is that people can be artistic (Krog pushes two fingerpaint colors together and revels in his raw talent) and they can want financial success -- because people express their love for art sometimes with money, and money ain't so bad. As it was, I nearly begged people to try out my stuff, LOL!
Anyway, since GH is to intellectual property rights what the Wild West was to gun safety, let's just all agree to be less butthurt and continue making stuff for all sorts of reasons.