Nuki News #7 - Why am I an Artist?

Wow, what an existential question for a title, haha! But not to worry, I’m not doubting myself or feeling blue or anything. The question was sparked after I had a conversation with a friend of mine about what it is I aim to do with my art.  If anything the title ought to be "What do I aim to do with art?" 

Being “an artist” is pretty vague, and if I don't have that clarity on WHY I'm doing “art”(aka drawing pretty pictures), then I'm not going to be able to demonstrate my value for people to want to get art of their character or ideas from me. Honestly my Patreon is an indicator of folks who may believe in what I can do. SO thank you again for your support(even if you just follow me here and can’t pledge)! These posts are more to keep me accountable to my goal of being able to art for my living. But the question remains, and it’s an important one to answer:

Why am I doing this in the first place? I love the furry community, is the answer. It’s provided for me in a way I couldn’t ever fathom. I want to be able to give back in some way every day for the rest of my life. Even still, why do I have to be a full time furry artist to achieve this? Why not keep a decent day job and do art on the side? And I’ve definitely pondered that back in 2017! But the rub with that is, I wasn’t fulfilled. Sure it was nice to have more time to play games n all, but I wasn't giving back. It wasn’t fulfilling. It wasn’t until I did my Raichu Rumble series that year I recognized the fulfillment I get from the fur community is getting to share experiences with others and having our characters interact in a fun(and perhaps indulgent) way! 

Link to the Raichu Rumble series of pictures: 

https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/the-b3ing/folder/415014/Raichu-Rumble

I do think I need to be more clear on why I do art, too. Or, rather, ‘doing furry art’ is more what I do, or at least, how I choose to express myself. Why I draw what I draw does have to do with the reasoning above- I want others to get that feeling of comfort, warmth, excitement, the thrill of seeing characters interacting in a satisfyingly intimate way. Why? Because I want folks to open up about physical affection, that it’s okay to express yourself in that way! I’d be such a miserable lonely person if the fur community wasn’t there and didn’t have that lesson to learn! I could go off on a tangent about that subject, but for now that’s where I’m going to close the topic! 

Another part of why I do these NukiNews posts is to get more confident at writing as well- I try to keep myself from hesitating on it by telling myself “I can always revisit these topics later”. I’ll probably revisit this one for sure- figuring out how to better communicate my ‘why’ more concisely, when I understand it better and also how to convey it through my actions better. Anyhow, that’s lucky number 7! Thanks for reading and I hope you got something out of it!