(no subject)

[olivermoss]

I am working on having a logo and profile picture and website theming for my photography and I hate it. Okay, some of this is really interesting and could really help me but I am at the 'now make logo' phase and my brain hurts.


While AI is a blight upon humanity, I've seen a lot of people who like it talk about how hard it is to get profile pics and what should be routine assets made. Anyone who does creative stuff online, or even offline, needs things. What things vary depending on what you do. I get the frustration, especially as I have tried to commission stuff before. Having a good image based on me would solve so many problems I've been having for, quite frankly, a long time. I am currently working through some Skillshare classes because just doing it my GD self seems like the only sane option at this point.

I have joined multiple art commission discords only to get spammed with people who draw at a level that typically gets made fun of online (think sonic and yu gi oh fan art where there the eyes extend far past the outline of the head, simplistic distorted faces, etc) or by people offering to make hardcore porn, any kinks, just need to sign a thing promising I'll never post it online with their name attached to it. My etsy drawing commission was not good and not nearly what was promised.

Also, and this is a bit of a different thing... you know how I spent a bazillion hours re-editing some of my old photos in early 2020? Lightroom has red-eye removal tools, but they are not good on my version. People with later versions, people who pay the sub fee, could fix images I literally couldn't fix myself by importing images, pressing one (1) button and exporting. So I went on Fiverr and oh my fucking god... this should have been the easiest thing to get done in the history of ever. People kept sending me back seriously downsized images or making other edits I did not want. I am not kidding when I say this is literally a 'push one button' thing for people with newer versions and I literally could not pay money for someone to just (*&%&*^#(*&#&(*#ing do it. People kept sending me these 'web optimized' versions of the pics that were downsized and overstaturated and 100% not what I asked for.

So, while I agree with sticking with actual artists trying to do so suuuuuucks. And it's not just me. There is a serious problem where, yeah, here I am at Skill Share because I've just plain given up and don't even want to look at Esty or Fiverr again. (I am low key keeping an eye on some fan artists I like in case they open commissions. Some have, but it's either a style I don't think would work or it all starts at $200.)

For the class I am doing, I as supposed to make a mood board for my brand using Unsplash:



Then I redid the exercise with my own photography:



Also, it wasn't just 'make a moodboard' it was 'make ones using keyboards you generated from earlier in the workbook'.

Some parts of this process have been good, but yerg... 'pause this video for 20 minutes to make your logo'. Yeah, that's going to take me longer than that....

My hope is that having a logo, color scheme, profile pic, other assets will help my photography be associated with me, not the people who keep stealing it. Having a more cohesive presence... it's all one body of work, not random images...

But all my ideas for things makes me feel like my vibe is very dated hipster bullshit that's had no relevance since 2007

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

Logo design is definitely something I've never been able to get my head around. I LOVE good logo design, and can often recognize ones that are very clever or well-made, the right mix of simple and unique... but I'm definitely not good at thinking the right way to create one.

I hear you on the frustration of getting someone else to do a thing, though. :/ Even things that should be as simple as "click a button, send it back". ARGH. NOTHING ELSE!

And commissions are a tricky beast... I am 100% in favor of paying someone what they're worth, but I can't always AFFORD what someone is worth. And sometimes it's a whole new set of prices and negotiations if it's something you might use commercially or reproduce on your own works, like a logo.
And yeah, I never want to be a douche or a snob, but I've seen some REAL bad art being offered up sometimes. Eesh. I'm semi-grateful that when I was drawing bad fanart as a teen, I at least never tried to sell it (or my mad art skillz.)

[olivermoss]

I can find some money for this, esp since my photography portfolio represents several years of work. What I can't afford is people wasting my time and money. I'd certainly like to swing some money to a real artist with all this BS going on, but it's a mess out there.

Yeah, there is a lot of spam from people who draw like I described, or who just run your image through an iphone filter are like 'money please'. Just, so much BS. This is the exact problem that is creating an opening for the AI crapdoodle.

Well made logos are great. Yeah, same, I can appreciate them but I can't make them. The choices made in the example in class made a lot of sense but... I'm not a professional illustrator like the person who made the class. I have some ideas of illustrations that might work, but not something simple enough for a logo... yet.

I really want this all done. I feel like I am losing out by not having it.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah... I like the idea of paying for work, but only if the work is actually the quality you're looking for, and I've seen some pretty lousy commissioned stuff before, including works that aren't of the same quality as their portfolio.

Oh jeez, the filter thing. "Pay me for a generic phone effect!"
[Off topic, but Worst Person I Know tried to fake paranormal photographs with a really obvious phone filter, claiming that "omg, her phone just DID that, it must be the ~negative energy~."]

I wish I had the skill to do that sort of design. It's sometimes frustrating to be able to recognize the individual elements that work together to make a design work, but not be able to apply it to making new things!

There's a lot of appeal to just doing it yourself, though. I think it'd be worthwhile to do so... I can definitely understand that having a logo to help tie all of your accounts and your website together would be good - especially to keep the credit where it's due, rather than with the reposters.

[olivermoss]

Logos feel like they should be do-able, but they are tricky. Though, even if I change my logo if I have color palette and other stuff nailed down that will help. I need to start building various assets.

Sadly, logo making is one of those spaces with a glut of scammers.

[mistressofmuses]

There are a LOT of scammers in the logo design field, you're right. You definitely have to trust the person you hire if you do, because you don't want a crappy product, and even if you DO get something that looks good, you have to trust the artist didn't use any assets they don't have rights to.