kinopia asked: Ah nooo! Did I honestly miss your lucky pack ;n; Are there anymore?
wah i’m sorry! i only had 6 print packs and they are indeed gone :<
HOWEVER…i have some sticker packs left over from last year’s cons! i should probably get those up in my store…
tonoxtono asked: I don't have anything to ask. I just want to say that the level of detail and vividness in your artwork is nothing short of amazing. All I can think of when I look at your work is "wow". It's just so beautiful and you're a great source of inspiration for me (well when it comes to wanting to color something). Okay, that's it. I just wanted to let you know that.
thanks so much :D i’m glad to hear my work inspires you!
babubearrr asked: So Bara, when you do your traditional work, do you line over and completely erase the sketches? or do you line on a separate sheet, maybe with a light table or something? Your pages always look so clean!!
same sheet of paper, i don’t have a light table/lightbox/etc. thanks!
comiccharm asked: You gonna play RO2 Bara? :D The open beta starts tomorrow. D8 So excited!
oh…AS USUAL i am slow to reply, but ._. i wasn’t sure if i’d bother playing, i don’t have a lot of time for games anymore and RO2 just isn’t the same…i was thinking that if i did play, it’d be whatever version iRO gravity releases, and not the asiasoft release, as i’d heard bad things about them already. the recent IP ban just totally clinched all those things lol
arthypink asked: I used to follow your works in DA back in 2007 because you were simply AMAZING! I even had a folder filled with your works for inspiration purposes. Sadly, i decided to stop following you because someone told me my art looked too similar to yours. T_T i think i unconsciously adapted your style. Nevertheless, i decided not to follow your works in 2008 because i didnt want to be "barachan's ripoff". Today's the first time since i last saw your art in 4 years, and i am still in AWE!!!! *bows down*
aw! thank you, i’m happy to hear you still like my work so much C: if you ever feel that your art resembles someone else’s too much again, try diversifying your influences — seek out lots and lots of other art, even from totally different genres, media, time periods, etc. it really helps!
satoshi-san1 asked: How long have you been drawing and how did you get soo good?
thanks! i’ve been drawing for as long as i can remember, but i think i started making a more conscious effort to improve when i was around 14; i’m 30 now
i guess i’ve just…drawn a LOT (every day if possible! ALL day if possible!!) i’ve experimented with different styles, media, and subject matter, and i’ve tried to surround myself with tons of different kinds of art
hymnofthefaith asked: First off, i've been following your art for 8 years. You have been a massive inspiration to me! But to my question. Have you ever worried about your online presence and what not in regards to prospective clients? Do you tone down content you post or reserve some alter-alias for content you wouldn't want a prospective client to be able to google easily?
thanks so much! <3 well, i’ve been pretty self-conscious about what i post for a long time; i have family that likes to visit my site every now and then, and when i was younger, the thought of my dad seeing anything skanky or my boyfriend’s stepsiblings (who were quite young, when they first saw my art) looking at characters smoking really bothered me, so i tried to be mindful of what i drew and posted most of the time. i also learned very quickly that everything you say and do in front of a large audience can be picked apart and totally misinterpreted, that many people won’t hesitate to assume the worst about you, and that art communities are often overflowing with drama, so it seemed best to me to just keep my online presence low-key to avoid as much of that as possible. i guess being shy and oversensitive was a good foundation for maintaining a professional presence, haha
there have been a few times in the past i briefly considered posting other content under another name, but it seemed like more effort than it was worth — i don’t really draw much that i’d be afraid to be associated with. well…that’s a lie, i draw stuff i hate all the time! but as far as crazy fetish porn goes, no, not much of that. SORRY EVERYONE. 
andreja asked: Dear Bara, I am sure you have met with the issue of art theft many times before, so I was wondering how do you deal with it? I remember once one of your work was stolen, slightly edited and put on the packaging of a chocolate bar. Taking legal action seems something not many can afford pursuing especially when it is an issue happening in a different country. Is there really nothing we can do as broke artists but to think "shit happens", toughen up and get on with our lives?
the best action against art theft is to try and prevent it in the first place, since, as you mentioned, it’s usually outside our means as independent artists to attempt to make a lawsuit out of it once it’s already happened. even worse, art theft isn’t particularly illegal in some countries, so if your work is stolen in one of them, there is absolutely nothing you can do…!
don’t ever post high-res (i.e. print quality) versions of your work where just anyone can access it. i know this sucks if you’ve packed a lot of detail into a piece, because a tiny low-res image will nuke all of that, but you can provide selective close-up shots of that detail if you like. sometimes, people may still try to steal your low-res images to make stuff out of, but printed out it will look awful, unless they stick to tiny items like stickers and buttons, which…probably aren’t going to net anyone billions of dollars in profits anyway, so whatever.
for work you’re particularly invested in, anything you think may be at increased risk of theft down the road, etc etc, you can always apply for a documented copyright with the US copyright office for roughly $30-100, assuming you live in the US. i’m not sure what the process is like in other countries. of course, the US along with many other countries is a part of the berne convention, so anything you create is automatically copyrighted to you, but an officially registered, documented copyright would be a glorious bit of proof in a lawsuit (should one ever arise) that your work was created on a certain date.
honestly, though? it doesn’t hurt to take on the “shit happens” attitude either. when i was younger, i used to get ridiculously butthurt about art theft, even when it was completely harmless. it took me a while to put things into perspective. is it worth getting my blood pressure up over an individual making a few bucks off my art? not really! but if it were a multinational corporation making more off it in a week than i make in a year? OK, maybe, but that’s yet to happen to me. that chocolate/cookie/whatever packaging…i actually just thought that one was funny, since they edited my art and stuff. it was from a fairly small country (and uh…one with a not-so-free market) so i kind of doubt even that raked in insane profits for the people who stole it. haha. in general, as long as you’re not making more off my art than i am, i don’t care too much. and hey, maybe some little kids on the other side of the planet liked the packaging!
additionally: i can’t really get mad about others using my work to meager ends when i draw and sell a bit of fanart, eh?
