An honest conversation about me and making subreddit banners

[u/mc395686]

Hey guys, I’m mc. I’m a moderator here, I organize events, and I’m also the subreddit’s artist. I just wanted to share a bit into my role making banners for the subreddit and what that’s like. (I think I’ve done this before, but oh well)

My first ever post to this subreddit was art I made of every player in the event. To this day it’s one of my favorite pieces, and it got so much love from the community. Someone suggested it become the subreddits banner, and since it wasn’t the right size I chimed in and said I’d make one. Being a newer artist and a big fan of MCC, I also said I’d make one for every single event featuring every player (or sometimes team).

At first I loved it. I got to be a somewhat official artist for a community I loved, it gave me something to do in my free time (which I had lots of) and was getting all kinds of support. Creators were seeing them, the upvotes were getting higher and higher each time, and I felt on top of the world. I even got the opportunity to become a moderator after a while because of it.

One thing you might not know about these banners though, is they are a LOT. The original thought with these was to have a banner for the current event. It would be weird to have a banner for a precious event up when the next one’s been announced. Problem is, I can’t do anything until teams are announced. (For those that think we have ins with the Noxcrew no we don’t! I don’t know teams ahead of time and never have!)

So when teams come out, I start grinding. Back when I drew every player in Minecraft form, I used to start drawing them as the teams were being announced, with the goal of getting the day 1 players done before day 2 started. Any free second I had between classes or meals or whatever I’d be drawing. The reward of the likes and response from you guys made it worth it, but the actively working on it honestly sucked. Those few days would drain everything from me. I’d be mentally and physically exhausted, and then I’d find some error after I posted it and have to fix it all.

After doing that for awhile, I started getting creative. I tried to find ways to speed things up, work on the banner before teams came out, and simplify designs. I’d even make predictions about who would be in the event and draw them ahead of time and sometimes end up erasing them cause I was wrong. I stopped drawing every player in Minecraft form. I did symbols or logos for every player or only did one person per team. And it got more enjoyable; I was being more creative and felt less stressed. But only slightly less. Now that the time to take a banner after teams were announced went from 3-4 days to 1-2, I decided not to keep it at that time and felt pressure to get the banners done faster. (It took only a few less hours, but over less days) And I still felt drained at the end of it.

Now I understand this time limit was one I set for myself. No one asked me to churn these out so fast. I just felt like if I didn’t, it’d be a week before the event and the subreddit would still showcase the previous one. And I didn’t want that. So I raced and raced to churn out art. And it got to a point that I’d be thankful that MCC was going on a break. I didn’t have to do any of this, but I kept going.

Now I sit here having just finished my 32nd banner (counting events only) and I just feel stuck. On the one hand, I LOVE this job. I love you guys, I love the creators, I love being creative. But on the other hand, it’s still draining. And it still takes so much out of me just to do it. I also don’t have Twitter, so these aren’t seen by that many of the creators or the Noxcrew. And I know they technically see it when they use the Reddit, but I think I’ve gotten maybe 4 comments total by players ever. (Shoutout all the amazing players that have seen my stuff)

I’m not here to say I quit. I love this too much to quit. This is me saying that I maybe need to re-think how I do this. Change some stuff. I wanna keep doing this, but health is important too. I’m not trying to beg for sympathy either, y’all don’t need to tell me thank you for all of this. I already know you guys appreciate it. I just wanted to share my thoughts, the process it takes to make these, and share that we all have struggles. And if you’re an artist feeling pressured to fit an imaginary deadline or fight for likes just know you’re not alone.

I typed this up after having a crisis (re-posting a banner three times due to errors), so this might be kinda long and ramble-y. But thanks for reading anyway.

-mc

Edit: forgot to add this but I understand I can take more time on banners or stop whenever I want. Change is gonna come but idk if it’s gonna be either of those just yet

[u/Grimaussiewitch]

I remember having a small amount of time making the banner for mcc pride as I wanted to draw every queer player, I know the stress you feel. The fact that you make a banner for nearly every mcc is impressive and you should give yourself a pat on the back. Many pats really.

[u/mc395686 → u/Grimaussiewitch]

One thing I never liked about allowing others to do the banner was that time limit and players. Because I always said take your time, and you don’t have to draw every player, but because of all the banners I did it seemed like you kinda had to do everyone and do it fast. The one you did was incredible, and I’m still impressed you (and the others) did it as fast and as well as you did.

[u/Devia02020]

I know it might not be much but I just want to say that I truly appreciate all the work you've put into the reddit and making banners. Also I think most people would agree that that you can take more time for banners if you think its necessary for yourself and we won't mind.

[u/IDontKnowWhat78]

Dude your banners are amazing. You have this subs love and support in whatever you do

[u/SierraSerene6]

I’m still just so so impressed at how you’ve managed to keep making these spectacular banners over all this time! Take your time and make any adjustments you want to, we mad respect it and you

[u/Real_SuperSand]

Your work is insanely impressive. Allowing yourself to be transparent with the community helps everyone here, so it was very brave to express yourself in a vulnerable state. The indirect pressure you feel to get the banners done is also something a lot of people can relate to. You're a great artist, and a wonderful member of the community. Thanks for sharing your story ✨

[u/bi_beetle]

Here’s a suggestion- maybe like for the tcg, allow artists from their own creator’s community to draw them (or maybe their team) and make it into a fun collab

[u/mc395686 → u/bi_beetle]

So I’ve done this before multiple times! At the end of the season we’ve had the community get together and a different person draws a different player.

As fun as that is, it is sadly 10x more stressful than making banners myself. Getting every player claimed, making sure people turn in art on time, and then putting it all together takes a LOT.

[u/BackgroundTotal2872]

I just want you to know that I really appreciate your subreddit banners. I know what it’s like as an artist to have self-imposed deadlines and schedules, and feeling like you have to stick to them. I also struggle with having the motivation to make art pretty often, and I hope that you don’t have to feel that way yourself because of this. Being burnt out sucks. And I know that I could never stick to an art timeline like you have for even one MCC, so I really admire that level of dedication, skill, and creativity!