>HURRR DURRRRR I'M SOOOO RETARDED DURRR HURRR IS ANYONE ELSE RETARDED TEEEHEEE

No.

>>7960175
define """"results""""
If we're talking internet clout, from my observation artists that are known for one particular subject/fetish etc tend to do better since people know what to expect from those accounts and will follow if interests align

>>7960177
>>7960179
All of the most popular artists I follow are known for a 'thing', the more versatile they are, the more concept art oriented they are, thus being relegated to being slaves to corpos and their slop projects.

So there's this thing called branding and it's more than just drawing the same thing over and over especially as a crutch to avoid learning

>does specialization yield better results?
in that particular thing yeah, that's why it's called specialization. It produces faster results as well since you don't need to learn everything, just things within your specialization. Arguably, specialization into being a generalist is the best way to get work as an artist since most artists pick up things over time eventually leading from specialist into generalist. Then you have people who just specialize and do nothing else

>>7960191
If you're not in a position where you have to be a one man army and handle a big project by yourself, why would you care about being a generalist at this point? Long gone are the times where someone like that was an asset, all the companies are actively trying to remove the human element and the audiences don't necessarily care if you can do a lot of different things, in fact they prefer to follow people to get a very specific type of content. I say content not because I view art as such, moreso that it's described and treated as such by the unwashed masses

>>7960196
Are you the OP? You've confused yourself on the topic you wanted to discuss. You asked for opinions on versatility generally speaking but continue to talk about it only through monetary prospects.

>>7960196
well I'm a generalist because I want to be able to create any idea I can think of. While I am aware of the pros of specialization and how it can be an easy point of entry into the industry, the industry is chopped atp and no matter what anybody on this board says, AI is becoming a requirement. That's just the reality of the industry because it's far cheaper and faster to generate slop and have an artist touch it up. "AI assisted assets" are already being normalized. It's just not something I want to be a part of. In addition, as a generalist, you can just take on a visdev role for an indie studio, which is a lot more common these days for freelancers.

>>7960196
Because the AAA market is increasingly consolidated and risk averse, the indie and midtier space is where the actual creative energy has shifted. For an indie studio, hiring five different specialists (modeler, rigger, texture artist, lighter, concept artist) is a financial impossibility. A generalist fills that role

>>7960212
I fucking hate corporations. They suck the life out of everything in the name of profits. The other day I took a step back and realized how, at least in America, so much of our lives have been sterilized and dictated by corporations that only care about harvesting everything from us.

congrats on being the 139th hidden thread
you win nothing, fuck you and fuck off

>>7960217
wrong, it's been given away by the people who reward sterilized, generic, safe products and punish everything stepping over the line
there's no ebul corporation stopping you from having nice things, the status quo is what the market dictates

>>7960203
If money is not a factor at all, then any discussion is completely pointless, because at that point any drooling retard can do whatever they want and it's in their right. I'm not saying only paid work is real art but if we're discussing in terms of results, obviously there has to be a benchmark of some sort, and art is too subjective to have any benchmarks other than monetary gains.

>>7960204
>>7960212
Looking at the state of indies nowadays, they're barely above the shit ocean that is the industry, you could go as far as to say that they're small corporations at this point because of how bad the product is, having a small team doesn't make it special if the result is the same.

Fuck all that for a moment, the topic was really about growing an audience, and I personally believe being a generalist does not help or may even hinder growth in that specific aspect. Other artists will adore you for having multiple skills but they will not be the ones to give you money.

>>7960222
I think you're thinking about what being a generalist means far too narrowly, which is kinda ironic. While specialization does allow you to do something well, for example, like normies love the fuck out of portraiture or hyperrealism, being a generalist allows you to create whatever you like, as long as you have good ideas, being a generalist has far more potential in growing an audience, but it requires a lot more investment. If you're looking for fastest way to grow audience then specialization is it, whether it be fanart, portraiture, or whatever else normies love.

>>7960225
Obviously being able to do backgrounds, characters and aspects that go beyond drawing itself like writing will allow one to create a good story, only a generalist can do that. However, I have a feeling that the ratio of successful and recognized artists is heavily skewed towards specialists, which makes me believe that if an artist has a specific interest, it would probably be better if they sinked all of their time into it, rather than bruteforcing the process of becoming a generalist just to become more versatile for its own sake. That's my opinion on it at least, what I'm referring to wasn't explicitly stated in the OP but that's where our conversation got to.

>>7960233
I mean we're in agreement, I never said being a specialist doesn't yield good results, it's arguably the best way to find success for investment on time. I was just talking about why I'm drawn to be a generalist. This also isn't like a video game where you're locked into one path, the specialist to generalist and generalist to specialist pipeline is pretty real.

specialization is what took humans from banging rocks together to exploring space
even with small teams having different specialities means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

>>7960175
I wouldn't say you have to be a 'one trick pony', but if your clientele like that fact that you make paintings of sexy witches, it's probably good to occasionally go back to that well.
It's probably better to try and make that thing your known for, a far more broad topic; like if people like your sexy witches, go from that to more scary but still sexy witches, to just pure scary witches, to scary zombies/werewolves/wizards/whatever, become the horror guy, or the sexy horror guy, but not just the sexy witches guy.

>>7960253
the usefulness of specialization is directly related to the complexity of the task, brainlet
you don't need a team of furniture movers to be specialists at different things, it's more useful for all of them to be average truck drivers than have one guy who's super good at driving the truck but bad at moving boxes
art is not a complex task, look at american comics vs manga to see what having specialists for different parts of the process looks like

>>7960256
OP here, based on your example of the sexy witch to sexy horror pipeline, wouldn't you say that being THE sexy witch guy could be potentially more rewarding than being A sexy horror guy? Granted, witches are a subject that shines more during specific times of the year, but ignoring that you could still make an argument that being known for something very specific is still better. It's hard to speak in the general sense since there's always an example of someone who's far more successful than the examples we're trying to conjure in our minds and they happen to be very skilled in different areas.

>>7960264
even manga has specialists: in backgrounds/3d, machinery, etc
but its usefulness is indeed correlated with the task's complexity
something simple like an illustration might not warrant a team, but there are many projects that do (and those usually have more value)

I think everything that needs to be discussed has already been discussed and brought up and you're all just going in circles now

I believe that about sums up the discussion, I feel any more would inevitably retread past arguments.

This should conclude the topic at hand, anything past that would be an exercise in futility

>>7960175
sure, yeah one trick pony yes.

But autistic planners will just get stuck (((Thinking))) anyway lmao

forever mogged by onetrickpony doers everyday

>>7960279
>But autistic planners will just get stuck (((Thinking))) anyway lmao

I'm exactly that, should I bite the bullet and paint the pin-ups of beautiful elven princesses?

>>7960281
yeah, don't get stuck on defining what beauty is champ. Just draw them beautiful elven princess pinups already.

hell you might get stuck on what kind of drawing, go with black Inked drawing of beautiful elven princess pinups

Why are you guys still doing this?Cmon, your lives cant be thaaaat boring.

>>7960175
It's more that the success comes first, and then the artist becomes a one trick.
Most artists bumble around experimenting and trying out different things until they find that one thing that blows up and starts bringing bread to the table.
Autists on deviantart see that and build a cargo cult around hyperfocusing on their retarded fetish thinking it's a key to success when in reality it's the market that decides what you should focus on.

>>7960175
Not really, you can just focus on the fundies and practice everything and you'll be pretty good. Though you will lose speed. But if your fundies are strong, you can draw anything and everything. Just look at popular artists, half the time they can do quite a bit besides "one focused area". From portraits to landscape. Idk feels like a /beg/ trap to me. Granted you have to practice a lot more but still doable.