Hey everybody, I've decided to retire from Eaten By Ducks. It's nothing personal with any of you. I really like a lot of your guys' stuff, it just doesn't feel like the right fit for me anymore. In a way, I feel like it's been a sort of crutch for me; all I have to do is post some drawing and get your responses and I've fooled myself into thinking I've accomplished something.
Also, I do think my sensibilities have changed a bit over the last year or so. To be honest with you guys, I could never see another monster drawing again in my life and I'd be fine. That's not to say I don't recognize the talent behind a really good one.
I'll still drop in, of course, but I'll no longer be involved in posting or any kind of moderation.
Flickr seems to me to be the best way to share artwork with people. If you haven't done so already, Add me on Flickr
So yeah, this is really about me trying to get serious about getting things done. This whole thing might be more of a symbolic gesture ( after all, I could simply only post once per month), but I still think it's the best thing to do.
I'm sure I'll be in touch with a lot of you.
It's been fun.
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30 comments:
Sorry to see you go Uland and best of luck with things. Can't help feeling irritated by your post though, one minute you're all enthusiastic about the blog and now you're escaping to the fabulous land of flickr. What's changed between now and then?
Don't get your problem with 'monsters' either, your own work looks quite dark and 'monstrous' to me.Also there are other artists on the blog whose work isn't 'monstrous' and you're free to invite other artists and change the direction of the blog if you want.
As far as feeling you've accomplished something simply by posting here and getting a few comments back, how can that ever be a satisfactory end result of the creative process? and how will posting on flickr be different for you?
To say I'm sorry to see you go is an understatement. Afterall, you are one of the guys that got me into Eaten By Ducks. However, I can't help but to be a little bit confused by your post. It frankly reads to me like a bunch of "art school confidential" bull shit. Yeah man we all change, we grow, and so do our tastes. But at this point I'm pretty sure you can post anything you want on this blog, and we'd be glad to see it. Any of us would give our honest opinion on it. And the whole thing with flikr- so your not happy with one internet expierence-it being fulfilling- you'll go and replace it with another, called flikr? Hey, look dude, I don't know about you, but for me, in my life, posting blogs, and all this interent bullshit is the least of my fuckin' problems. Anyway I think Eaten By Ducks was great because of people like you, and it's a shame. PAX.
err, weren't you going to do more of these "10 Questions" posts? i was really looking forward to that.
Oh well, you'll be missed, you started the goddamn thing! i hope you can stay in touch through the comments, i deeply appreciate your thoughtful, rigourous views.
the duckpocalypse...
Is the problem that you feel you have to post regularly but rather wouldn`t? I never really was into doing that. I wanted to post when i had something I wanted to share and I didn`t want to double up with my other blogs too much.
also, I get fatigue on the net pretty quick and unless I have something constructive to say I don`t say much. So maybe you felt too much pressure to be responding to all the posts?
It doesn`t have to be a monster blog for you either although I guess that is the most common ground between us.
I did kind of like the striving to make this place something special or focussed but I thought that was misdirected. I always thought it was about the few honchos who started it (you and Aeron to my knowledge) just inviting a bunch of guys they liked the work of to post some work to show each other sometimes. As such, just a nice blog. And that is better because I never liked the pressure to be a part of it or get lost after I was invited and like most of us I`m pretty busy anyway.
But I will also quote the pianner player from Eyes Wide Shut who tells Tom that he should try walking away from things sometimes because it feels good.
jon
Funny, this is the most I`ve ever written here. NEXT
No problems, U. Feel free to return anytime. Remember though that the great thing about this place above all else is the great community of artists we have to bounce ideas off of.
And I think I have, maybe more so than a lot of people because of Monster Brains, a very intense understanding of the monster theme in art. I know all too well that in the last few years it has become a very popular theme for many artists. But if I've shown anything on Monster Brains, it's that there is a very ancient and powerful tradition of artists inspired by the monstrous imagery and that there have been incredible works of art made over the centuries that have stood the test of time and are well and beyond any fashionable of the moment art expression.
And I know a lot of artists here are monster fanatics, however it is good to have a more well rounded array of artists inspired by other ideas. So don't feel like this is the monster club and if you aint showin fangs you aint down. It's not like that, man!
Anyway, your welcome back here anytime, but good luck beyond the ducks!
- aeron
When you develop new things it’s a shame to loose what you achieved before. OK you need more than EBD but do you need to leave? Zeke made an exhibition; did he leave EDB because he developed something in Berlin? What matters is what you’ve got in your bag, as long as EBD is in it, it will always be of some support for you. If you leave I’ll have the impression that we are going to miss something out. I mean do what you please. Your drawings bring something interesting on EBD plus, if you change direction with your work you may bring even more on EBD. I like your drawings very much. Anyway do what you please. For the rest, I don’t get you with the monster thing. You are doing something with LDC on Flickr aren’t you? Isn’t LDC monstrous? I may say concerning what I do, I don’t feel I’m drawing monsters, I draw the human form.
Mostyn Here. I just want to say I'm sad to see you go. I think what I loved about this blog was the diversity of styles and subjects. Monsters, animals, politics, etc. I have often had the problem of thinking of things in polar terms of either or. It can also be both. I for one have been so busy, it has been hard to post as much as I would like but I still check in now and again and have never felt like people were bugged about it. I wish you the best but also hope you might include EBD as part of your multi-pronged approach to getting work out. Either way, best wishes.
I have a different kind of character than some of you is all. I'm bad at balancing things, though that's pretty much all I try to do. EBD is something that just doesn't work with the balancing act anymore.
I apologize if I've offended any of you. There is no reason to think that EBD can't continue to be a great blog. I'll stop back in often.
Hey no offence taken at all Uland and think the response here shows that you'll be missed by quite a few of us.
Make sure you do stop by now and again to feed the ducks.
Thanks Zeke. I was feeling pretty bad there for a second. I just need to shake things up with myself a bit and refocus myself in a direction that'll help me get things done, best I know how.
I'm not sure if you guys are like me at all, but I have to work a day job and pay lots of bills. I find myself spending far too much time online when I'm not working, and EBD is a big part of that.
I have an addict type personality and very little self discipline.
I started that interview thing, and I'm going to see that through. I could email them to one of you guys and you can post them here, or I might start a blog solely for that purpose. I plan on interviewing some of you guys too. But I want to limit my blogging to that. Flickr is great because it limits me: I can only really show work I've done and that's it.
I feel really inspired right now to follow through with some bigger projects. The "sensibility change" really has to do with wanting to follow those things through, and they're things that require me to isolate myself from the immediate satisfaction of simply drawing some weirdo monstrous thing, posting it, and feeling like I've accomplished something. That's my problem and I'm trying to rectify it.
Here's what I'll do: Someone send me an invite and I'll rejoin but only post the interviews once every two weeks or so.
Sounds like you are depressed. Especially after reading that post on YOUR blog. I definitely feel the frustration with the internet... & the desire to stop & start things to add some degree of control in your life, but anyhow, i think you should get a job you like & do what you wanna do & not accept that you gotta be a wage slave, cos you don't. You can go squat in some crazy city. You can move to Rotterdam & squat. You have choices. I work part time as a teacher & pull money out of the air occasionally. You can do it dude. I'm not saying "sad to see you go" partially because of your punk-ass anti-monsters comment, but also, because i know you'll be back.
wow...
I've had the feeling that you've behaved like a punished person. But I didn’t realise that you were and that you were the punisher as well. Sean gave you right advices. Have some fresh air ; walk along the shore ; The best of the two poles is to be found at the border ; and as soon as you feel all right and mightier don’t forget to show us your new accomplishments.
**g**
wow, I see you guys have been watching some Dr. Phil when you're not drawing monsters.
It's very easy to armchair quarterback some kind of diagnosis and offer some cheap platitudes about living the way you live as a cure. Like I don't get fucking fresh air, or understand how I feel about working shit jobs. I've ben working shit jobs this whole time!
You know, my mother in law did not buy a house for me. I actually do have to work a job. I must.
Fact is, I'm just not into the blog. I've been contributing to it for two years now, and I'm just ready to move on.
AND IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER MONSTER DRAWING AGAIN I WILL BE OKAY.
bye
Luke, alright, i know that unrequested advice is not in good form, for sure, but to count my good fortune against my opinion is really sour grapes. I still pay rent every month dude. As for the monsters, sure, you're tired of them, when you gonna change your werewolf teeth & eyes icon then?
The anonymous shit is working on my nerves, who posted "bye" and who's "g"? If your gonna talk do it under a flag, especially in these situations.
Furthermore, I thought this converstation had ended a while ago, anyway. It's getting too heated in my taste- and over words again. I thought we were hear to make art. For heated converstations I recommend CNN.
I don't think luke intended to offend anybody. Especially after the amount of energy he and aeron invested into this blog.
I apologize for getting out of hand. I'm offended by some of you guys making this personal.
I wish all of you nothing but the best.
G is Gaiihine. Sorry if I offended you. A friend of mine said to me “have a walk, have some fresh air » because he knew I felt fucking wrong. Two friends of mine were in mental institution. The only things I had seen for months was psychotic crisis and suffering. I slept only three hours a day. I had some fresh air and I felt better, I mean I was panicked and I didn’t even realised that I had to change direction and start to live again. My advice wasn’t against you but truly I wanted you to feel better. I love the way you draw. When I arrived on the blog I knew that you were one of the guy who worked a lot for it and I didn’t understand why you wanted to leave. I should have shut the fuck up… Well may be you actually still want a party as you said. I sing the first song for you :
Happy, nappy, tinny star.
I gonna get you where you are !
Down under the world is so wild,
Like a devilfish in the see,
Happy, sappy, mini star.
I gonna get you where you hide !
Sorry, I am annonymous cuz I am too lazy to sign in when I post late at night. My bad. I usually sign my name.
I said bye cuz I was stunned at how heated it became. Just dont think of EBD as the place for that. ANyhow. Best wishes to you Uland. Good luck.
MOSTYN
You know what's hilarious, is you guys that think this place isn't for heated discussions, you should go back into the archives until you find when Noah Berlatsky was still a part of this blog. Oh man! It was like some kind of Comics Journal letters or forum insanity.
NO SEAN YOURE WRONG!!!!! JUST WRONG!!!! how's that?
mostyn
Heated discussions : if peoples are so passionate about Uland’s retirement party probably means that they care about him. Many comments are ambiguous but there one things that always stay the same : « don’t forget to feeds the ducks time to time… »
Gaiihain
DAVE SIMS OR GARY GROTH SAYS YOU ARE A FUCKING PUSSY! YOU DRAW LIKE WALT KELLY ON GARNOZAPRAM!
Who are you talking to Sean ?
Sean, who are you talking to ?
I'm just getting into the spirit of things. But seriously, everyone on Eaten By Ducks draws like Gary Glitter banging Donald Duck's grandma drawn by Walt Kelly on Garnozapram.
Although this is really touching, I'm confused on why people are inclined to give Uland advice. Just let him move on and find other forums on the internet. If he dosent return I will be shocked. And rest assured he will be looking at all the things we post on the blog all the time. At heart he really loves this stuff..even "monster drawings."
Trust me, this happens every fall. It's the transitional season..
You know me too well Justin...
Noah Berlatsky used to post here? Damn, I missed that. I think he's good... even if he's a bit of contrarian, I tend to agree with a lot he says.
I don't know Luke or (any of you guys) personally, or well enough to presume any motivations for any actions announced or seen here on the site -- But I like Luke (and everyone else) and find it dispiriting to see any of us arguing or at odds, and I agree it's only because we'll miss his posts.
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