Is there any point to having a pen name as an artist these days? Or should I just go with my full name?
Seems like most of the big shots in art just use their real names.
porn
With the street art/ fine art crossover I'd argue the pseudonym is still going strong.
depends. if you don't have a marketable name it's useful. my name is almost the same as a celebrities name, minus one letter, so googling mine autocorrects to theirs..
if you can search your name on google + art and there isn't anyone else there with a substantial following, use your own name (unless it's embarrassing )
just use your real name. who cares. your not a rapper
Depends on your subject matter, obviously.
Are you fine with all the art you do being associated with your identity? If somebody searched your name and your art came up, would you be cool with that? Are you okay with all the people that like your art knowing who you are?
Then no, having a pseudonym isn't a big deal.
If you're worried about any of those things, then yeah, it doesn't hurt.
Also, if your name is "John Smith" it's nice to have something more distinct.
Then I pose another question: Can having a pen name hurt you in any way?
there is something neat about using pen names or internet names. Back in like 2005 everyone I knew used their internet names. Even the big artist did. Lolita-art, Yasahime, Mariyumi, Yuumei, Wakkawa, Artgerm, Zemotion and hundred others.
It wasn't until about 2010 when artist just started using their real names it seemed. I think it's more of an age thing with younger artist's using pen names and once they graduate college use their real ones.
>>2362845
The only feasible why I can imagine is
>associate porn or something with pen name
>draw some very nice non porn but also post that under pen name
>can not use nice non porn in portfolio without associating porn with identity
Also you'll be building up a following that you'll have to abandon if you make it and start doing professional stuff under your real name if the reasons you didn't want to use your real name in the first place still stand
>>2362862
Probably has something to do with everyone switching from forums to facebook.
Should I pay 13 bucks to change my deviant art name forever?
>>2363032
If you have a lot of fans and have built up a "brand" around your name then fuck no. If you're unknown or your name is something like "GoKuSaiyan420" then probably.
>>2362789
>tfw can't use your real name &have to abandon current pseudonym because stalker
>>2363044
Greentext anon
>>2363045
Wat?
>>2363046
tell us your story
My name is the name of a celebrity plus one letter. But I don't know which name to get.
I want a simple name but eady to remember like Zedig, kronprinz, peleng, etc. How to choose?
>>2363054
Use the GNU recursive acronym
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym#Notable_examples
>GNU — GNU is Not Unix
>BING — Bing Is Not Google
>ANX — ANX is Not XNA
>EINE — EINE Is Not Emacs
>MiNT — MiNT is Not TOS
>_(*i)n_ — [letter] *Is Not [artist]
>>2363054
when I first created my online name I choose something literally no one else would ever use. It's short and easy to remember too.
Also I got lucky for getting an uncommon but now is super popular name. But its still unique enough that all you get is my art if ya google me.
name is super important. Make it easy to spell and easy to remember. That way if someone sees your art and they want too google ya they aren't stuck trying to figure out how to spell it.
>>2363048
Oh.
There's some freak who lives near me and he's fucking obsessed with me. When I first met him I got a weird vibe off him but he acted friendly. I ended up telling him I draw and showing him some sketches on my tumblr on my phone and that was the beginning of the fucking end. I just set up a paypal with an 'alternate' name so I could do streams and shit without giving my real name. But this motherfucker deposited some huge amount on the account & I can't reverse the transaction so I had to call paypal. Of course they questioned the name. Now they're investigating why I and they couldn't reverse it so now I can't send the money I earned from streams to my real paypal & withdraw it to my bank account for fear of them getting even more suspicious. If my paypal shit isn't fucked after this, I'm gonna have to start a completely new tumblr, etc with some other name. Sucks since I'd been considering starting to use my real name on some stuff but because of this guy I never can.
>>2363060
>inb4 why not keep the money
Because I've been dealing with this guy for half a fucking year and he's fucking insane. I'm going to get a restraining order against him next week and I don't want them saying something like oh if you don't want to be involved with this guy why did you keep his money? or some shit.
>>2363062
so are you some kind of super cutie or what.
can I give you money
>>2363065
No fool, do you think only women get stalked?? But this motherfucker is legit creepy. He was literally watching me through his window like this when I was coming back from a store run today. He was watching me take the mail out of my mailbox. I swear to god it's like that movie Disturbia.
>>2363068
Sorry not Disturbia, Lakeview Terrace. Whatever. One more thing about the money, I didn't want that kind of amount being deposited so soon after I opened it since I can't verify it with a fake name. Unverified accounts have restrictions on how much they can transact in a given month without being frozen or at least attracting attention. I'm so fucking pissed at this asshole, I really need the money from those streams.
That's a lot that is not good to hear.
>>2363062
I know exactly how you feel. I manage a small video game store alone and there's this guy that's obsessed with me. I pity the guy on some level because I know he can't help the way he is, but he's annoying as balls and the fact he considers me his best friend just because I'm nice to him puts me in an awkward position-I can't bring myself to tell off somebody that isn't just flat out being an asshole even if his persistent presence alone is enough to drive me up the damn wall. I used to work at that store full time but I went down to part time not only to work on my art, but partly to ditch him, I can't take being this guy's therapist every day for four hours. I'll be helping customers while he pretends to rifle through product that he's seen dozens of times already, just awaiting his opportunity to come up to the counter again. JUST.
>>2363054
http://www.spinxo.com/tumblr-names
enjoy spinning the shit out of this, took me 3 hours to find a name i liked, but damn it's a good one
>>2363084
Fuck, getting stalked at your job is the worst shit, I went through that too. I used to work at Gamestop and the same shit happened to all of us there. There'd always be one or two dudes who just have no life and you can tell nobody likes being around them, so they just hang out at the store all day and spill their spaghetti on you because you're a captive audience. Like you said it sucks because it's the way they're wired, but it's such a drain. With this guy though it's gone way the fuck too far with some of the other shit he's done.
>>2363103
>With this guy though it's gone way the fuck too far with some of the other shit he's done.
You can't just say something like that and end it there; tell us more! It's good to get this kind of stuff off your chest.
>>2363103
Tell us all about it, anon, no need to bottle it up.
>>2363108
>>2363121
Man...I don't even fucking know. He's got this disabled chick he lives with, supposedly her caretaker and she's exactly like Steven Hawking with the wheelchair and the robot text to speech thing. So one day he sends her over to my door with some gift because he figures nobody would turn away someone like that and risk looking like a complete asshole. I at least opened the door to tell her I didn't want it rather than ignore her sitting out there but of course I felt like a total fuck. I mean fucking mind games and shit dude like...you don't even fucking know.
>>2363068
You could be a male cutie
You could be my cutie
>>2363133
Nah bro, it ain't even like that.
>>2363132
The thing that really cinched it was the cyber stalking. Once he had my name and penname he started tracking me down on EVERY fucking platform he could find. Facebook, tumblr, DA, every god damn thing. I just left it but once I told him to give me some space he doubled up on following me on everything, started sending me twice as many messages. I had to start blocking him to stop the fucking spam. That's where it really got fucked up.
>>2363139
>That's where it really got fucked up.
>>2363139
Once I blocked him everywhere I could I thought it was done with, and it seemed to be for a while. Then I posted something that got reblogged by someone really popular and I was getting a lot of new follows and comments and stuff. One of the newcomers kept sending messages after the initial 'u gud' type shit, asking about my art and stuff. It went on for about a week until I realized it was him. It was fucking him. I went and looked at the profile, it had just been made and was only following me and had nothing but reblogs of my drawings. That's when I knew this guy was fucked, man.
>>2363146
I just kept trying to block him and avoid him. So he started sending messages to my mom. MY FUCKING MOM. I don't even know how the fuck he got her email address and she doesn't either. She has some business cards so she thinks he might have gotten one of those. He sent her this godamn 5 page long email, just... you guys just don't know, I'm getting fucking tense even talking about this. Like I said, I'm just going to the fucking cops next week.
>>2363146
Just stop replying to him man, I honestly don't know if you can get a restraining order against him or how effective it would be based on internet correspondence. Do you think you could PROVE that it's him under this new account? You might be expected to. Just stop talking to him man. Getting a formal restraining order might be more trouble than it's worth and cause some kind of unexpected blowback.
tl;dr ignore him as best as you can and buy a Smith and Wesson M&P shield or a Ruger LC9s in case he tries to break into your house and tickle your butthole or something.
>>2363151
Oh, I should have known you would have been smart enough to try and ignore him. Yeah that's some creepy stuff. What the hell kind of stuff did he say? Do you live with your mom? He might have been able to find her name and email address just by putting your address into google.
>>2363154
I have stopped replying to him, I stopped replying to anything he said to me in person or online at least a month before he pulled that impersonation shit, and when that happened it was the last time I ever sent him a message and the message was just to say leave me the fuck alone. That was in October and he hasn't let up at ALL since then even though I've made every possible effort not to have contact with him. I have proof it was him because he wanted to explain it in that long ass email he sent to my mom. Between him fucking with my mom and fucking up my paypal shit, a restraining order's my only hope.
>>2363154
Open carry too, really conspicuously as you're coming home fif he really watches you that intently and shit. I don't mean to wave the gun around or anything but just have it out in the open where you know he'll see it. Trust me dude, a $350 gun is like an insurance policy that never expires or cares what your pre-existing conditions are.
>>2362809
Okay Pablo Pocasso
>>2363158
>impersonation shit
Oh man, it just keeps getting better.
>>2363156
I do live with my mom, but like me she didn't think anything of telling him her name when we were first getting to know him, we thought he was being neighborly, he's not the only neighbor whose names we know and talked to often but I don't know about her email. She has a tumblr page too, it might be on there. I don't know. But this shit has been eating me for months.
I'm not getting a gun involved though. This guy was in the actual fucking army, in the 70's and 80's too, he's not going to fucking be impressed by me toting some peashooter, he probably has bigger fucking guns in his apartment. Besides I don't have the money and there's no way in fuck my mom will allow a gun in her place because of some shit that my brothers got into when I was a kid so not an option.
>>2363166
>I do live with my mom, but like me she didn't think anything of telling him her name when we were first getting to know him, we thought he was being neighborly
With my personal weirdo I made the mistake of giving him my cell phone number before I knew him. I'd done that with other customers as a sort of formality-never ONCE suspecting I would end up actually talking to any of them on a regular basis, and I was right...until then.
"Ding"
Oh it's him
"Ding"
Oh it's him
"Ding"
FUUUUUUUUUUU-
He texted me three times today, come to think of it.
>>2363160
i've been rumbled
>>2363177
Yeah I'm so glad I never gave him my fucking phone number. He asked for it a few times but I never gave it because even though we were trying to be nice and all, I never fully shook that creepy vibe he gave me.
I feel a little better for talking about this, it's been a bug up my ass all week. I'm still kind of pissed thinking about how I'm going to have to uproot myself though. I can't repost any of my old shit on my new galleries and I have to give up the name I've used since middle school. I was thinking of making kind of a fresh start anyway, and I guess now is good since my style has kinda changed and I don't have much of a brand yet. But I am pissed about losing the use of that and my real name. Just hope I don't lose Paypal too.
>>2363192
does your bitching end?
>>2363196
>>2363197
Why do you keep posting that?
Anyway I'm done now I guess. It was good to vent but now I'm gonna try to forget about it and draw something.
>>2363202
>>2363203
Are you gonna post the thumbs-up cat next, the laughing Jordan, or the upside down version of this one?
>>2363204
...
>>2363204
