I thought I was going to be okay, but I got so many negative comments on my CW submission and nothing about how to fix them. It did say that it could get there with "some work" but I don't know how to fix sooo many apparent problems that can be summed up as "the art is bad." My feelings are hurt and I'm so disappointed.

(If any staff member sees this, please don't comment to give more detail justifying the submission being denied... This is about me being bummed, not the art itself.)

I kind of want to just stop Subeta but I know that's an overreaction. I haven't had so much negativity directed at my art in years. I'm not claiming the art was great, but I thought the submission comments would be like "this needs more contrast," etc. I thought the art looked better before it was shrunk down, which meant I had to remove some details to make it still readable at a smaller size, but apparently I have "not enough details." I'm just frustrated and I'm taking it really personally right now. :(

I'm sorry to hear this; art is such a tricky and complex thing. It's a form of expression, so it's very personal, and since it's inherently subjective, it can be difficult when you're pretty confident in your work, or at least more-so than you expect others to feel, but others have a different view on it.

I will at least say, coming from a place of encouragement, if you were content with where your work was at when you submitted it, that doesn't make your art bad art!

There are many reasons your work could have been rejected that don't necessarily reflect on how "good" your art is and I'm betting it boils down to how cohesive your art was with the current style of Subeta art. There are certain qualities of lines, certain shading styles, certain levels of detail that Subeta art follows and, while it's possible that your work might not have followed that style precisely, outside of the context of "trying to follow the art style of Subeta", if you were happy with it, then it's still good art!

Additionally though... This is more of a broader philosophy on the subjectivity of art but... I find that trying to determine whether elements of art are universally good or bad is reductive in what art is and the many purposes it serves for people? Because... what we think of as "good art" is a result of the cultures, experiences, and reinforcement of standards that we've been brought up on, often times standards that are reinforced by whatever group of people is dominant in a culture. It's very similar to how beauty standards fluctuate and change from culture to time period, etc. That's why it's so important, however, to have art that does break these rules and traditions because it shows the fluidity and subjectivity of art and paves the way for unconventional ideas and voices to be seen, heard, and recognized as great and valid. What I'm mostly trying to say, then, is that your work is still good despite the rejection. It might not follow the conventions of what was wanted for items on the site, but your art is still valuable.

I know ultimately you wanted your art to work for the purpose of being on the site, so it's still a huge bummer and I'm sorry the situation hurts still. If you're still set on wanting to submit work to the site, I recommend, if you have a friend that's close enough and that you trust to get advice from, maybe you could try showing them some pictures of Subeta art alongside your art and asking how you can make your work reflect the style before submission? I have a rough time getting advice from strangers on my work because, often times, my friends understand my goals and preferences for art better than someone else might.

Regardless though... the situation def sucks and it's understandable that you'd feel kinda burnt out on the site and stuff because of it. I hope things get better though and I wish you the best!

Thanks . I think I was ready for critique, corrections, etc. when I first submitted it (I expected it to get rejected), but the wait to hear back was longer than expected. I've thought about it and I really wouldn't enjoy a bunch more rounds of this, where it becomes a weeks- or months-long thing, because it's really not that important to me. It was more that I realized that this was something I could do and I thought it would be fun.

I wasn't 100% happy with it but I still gave it a good go, and tbh, I spent more work trying to fight the image formatting for the overlay than I did on the thumbnail itself. (I had to use 3 different programs - Procreate to Preview to Clip Studio - just to get the overlay to work as intended.) At first I thought the criticisms were about the overlay, but then I read them more closely. The overlay is fine "since it's just a scar"... It really did have detail, and a lot of tweaking and work, so that was the art I was wanting to submit. But apparently it's the image on the site that has the problems.

And I have no idea what to do about that, especially because it is such an afterthought to me in comparison to the wearable. I don't want to spend ages if I have to start from scratch each time. For me, the "custom wearable" is the point. (Again, not saying the mods should have the same priorities I do.)

The CW I submitted is a scar in a specific shape. I tried to match what others have done and put it on a model's head, but apparently that didn't look good? I read the style guides over and over. I drew what I was happy with, then tried to make it match the site style according to the style guides. I gave it a very thick dark line (not what I'm used to) but now it's rejected for being stickery. (I did read that in the guidelines but I still don't see the difference.)

I could draw a knife or something instead, but that seems pointless and boring. Like, who wants to revise and re-revise and re-revise a model head or a knife for weeks on end until I am finally allowed to pay $3 and finish the dang thing and get on with my life. It sounds like such a chore to continue revising until someone else likes it, at least, when I'm paying for the privilege. I get that people who make CWs regularly for CSC profit would have a reason to do this, but I don't.

I think it's just a bummer that it went from "a fun art project for a couple hours with some tangible results so I can wear a scar!" to "feeling like I'm not good enough and needing to work on it over and over until I meet standards for an image I don't even care about."

That is some really good advice though. Thanks so much for the encouragement.

it's always REALLY hard to get a denial, especially the first time submitting anything 💖 it's a lot easier said than done, but please try not to take it too personally; there's a lot of practice that goes into drawing "subeta style" specifically vs creating art for art's sake. i still really struggle with shading the item art because all of my creative roots are in illustration and that doesn't really help me out when it needs to be like...a very specific representation of a tiny object that vibes with the overall art of the site i'm submitting to. it's not easy and it's not intuitive to any other art i've made, and it took a lot of learning and some tears shed LMAO ;_;7 the last time i drew a CW i still asked a friend for help with a denial on the item art and i've drawn...a lot of items i think. i would have to look and then be confronted with my old art guiwgwhg

SPEAKING OF HELP THOUGH!! if you feel comfortable sharing the artwork on the forums, a lot of veteran CW artists have a thread for helping people with denials! ☀ CW Denial / Help Thread! ☀; they're all very kind people and totally understand the degree of separation between art and SUBETA STYLE art 💖

Oooooh yeah, that's absolutely 100% understandable. To have something small and fun drawn out like that only to end in disappointment would absolutely take a big toll on me too and I'm super sorry something that was supposed to be enjoyable turned into this, especially for something you weren't necessarily super attached to anyways. I'd get burnt out too! I think that you're def very valid for not wanting to go through that again and, in the end, you should def do what you think would be best for your mental health. I think what Varsna said about getting help via the forums sounds like a great plan if you do end up following through! But while it's always nice to wrap up projects in a satisfying way, there's also no shame in quitting and doing something fun and fulfilling elsewhere that's looser and easier to manage. Especially when there's enough pain going on in the world rn. Art should be enjoyable and fulfilling!

But, again.. like I said.. no matter how things turn out, whatever you decide to do, your art is always going to be valuable ❤

Thank you both. <3 I feel better.

If they can't give more than "This needs more details," that's not really a valid critique in my opinion. I try to give as thorough descriptions of what can be improved on when asked, vague just doesn't cut it.

Good luck with your later art though!!