Using your name vs using an alias/pen name, which is better?

[ARMADS!!!]

So I know a lot of people here share their work (such as art, writing pieces) so I figured that it would be better to ask for advice here than say, on Reddit (where there's a lot of unserious people or people that have no clue what they're saying).

 

I decided to start sharing my stuff, not only here but also on an instagram account (and possibly on more plataforms) and for that I was thinking of creating a new E-mail (sort of a profissional E-mail). I don't want it to be associated with my real life self (not that I'll post anything wrong or NSFW, is just that I'm a bit embarassed that my friends or acquitances might see it, or if I get a job and my boss/coworkers happen to google my name and see it, I'd rather be sorta incognito), but I've seen people saying that if you don't put your real life complete name on the e-mail adress and then it gets hacked, you might never have a chance of getting it back, or if someone stole my art or writing stuff and started to sell it then I'd have no way to claim it was mine on a lawsuit.

 Even if the e-mail adress was my real name I'd not put my name on the account in any way, would use some other user name instead (you know, like most of these online artists), but still since the point of crating this new E-mail at all would be for "profissional" purpouses then I'd rather not have my name there either way because, well... I'd obviously be seen.

 By profissional I don't mean an acual profissional e-mail (like one to be given to a real life boss or to deal with real life business), it's more like the e-mail I'd let there for people that liked my online work to contact me if they wanted and to discuss my "work" stuff. I say "work" because I don't plan on making money from it (at least from now and some more time, unless I decide to do some comission), the stuff I plan on posting will be mainly for entertainment purpouses (and possibly for a "porfolio" if someone ever wanted to have something to do with my projects or wanted to make colaborations with me and things of the sort, I'd still release any of these stuff under the alias though so that's not a problem).

 

 So, for those of you that post writing pieces, art and the like (not divulgating your names as autors), did you ever have any problem for not disclosing your actual identities or names on the places you post? Or for not having your identities to be known? Or If I wanna be sorta incognito and have a pen name, I should still put my real name somewhere or sign my stuff in someway, or something like this?

[Jotari]

I think if it were twenty years ago your fears might be justified, but I think the internet is mature enough now that it's genuinely a non issue. Like, people have become famous under their internet handle...my mind is failing to conjure any examples in the writing or artwork spheres but I'm sure it's the case. And even before the internet pen names and anonymous writers existed. If your stuff is good enough then it will reach it's audience. Just call yourself by a respectable internet handle like Lord Lordington and not OffensiveBalls69. 

[Polinym]

One small advantage of using an internet name over a real name is that if you wind up creating something that you get embarressed about, you can always jump ship, come up with a new name, cut your loses, and just move on.

Another big advantage of using an internet name is, if you pick some made-up or really obscure word(s) for your name, you can dominate the internet search results. Also gives you a leg up if you ever decide to use your name for something like a website URL, since it most likely won't be heavily contested.

You can get along for quite a long time using just a penname... 'course, when it comes to commercial ventures, you'll have to use your real name on the legal documents.

If you're worried about people stealing your artwork, don't be. There's plenty of creative ways you can watermark your creations so there'll be some tie to you. If you're just drawing copyrighted characters or using existing IP stuff (like say, a Fire Emblem fanfic), it shouldn't matter anyway since nobody can claim it for profit.

[indigoasis]

23 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I don't want it to be associated with my real life self (not that I'll post anything wrong or NSFW, is just that I'm a bit embarassed that my friends or acquitances might see it, or if I get a job and my boss/coworkers happen to google my name and see it, I'd rather be sorta incognito)

I think privacy is an important matter to consider. How much of yourself are you comfortable with putting out there? I don't mean to pose that like it's a scary question, but based on your feelings here, I think you've already got an answer. Besides, all the usernames we use are technically aliases, lol.

However, I do also wanna say that there's nothing to be embarrassed about if you're proud of what you've done (unless it's something hyper-cringe, then yeah, definitely be embarrassed), and even if you're under an alias, you can still claim the work you've done as your own as long as you have the proof.

[Capt. Fargus]

17 hours ago, indigoasis said:

I think privacy is an important matter to consider. How much of yourself are you comfortable with putting out there? I don't mean to pose that like it's a scary question, but based on your feelings here, I think you've already got an answer. Besides, all the usernames we use are technically aliases, lol.

However, I do also wanna say that there's nothing to be embarrassed about if you're proud of what you've done (unless it's something hyper-cringe, then yeah, definitely be embarrassed), and even if you're under an alias, you can still claim the work you've done as your own as long as you have the proof.

Seems like kind of a subjective term though. One person’s “hyper cringe” can be another’s “work of art”

[ARMADS!!!]

Ok, thanks everyone for the answers (I didn't thank before because I feared that as soon as I thanked, no one else would reply for assuming tuat the question was answered, but I think I've already got opinions enough on the matter). Everyone made really good points.

 I figure I'll make a topic to post my stuff here to try to get some opinions on how to improve and some good criticism before I make an Instagram account (so I'll avoid embarrasing myself for now, and then I make an account there and only post the good stuff after I improve). I can't get reliable criticism from the people I know in real life so the only way to truly improve by getting opinions will be posting it somewhere (and on Instagram people hardly give criticism, if you're bad they either ignore your account or ask for to go fuck yourself lol). Here people are pretty receptive and give good criticism at the same time so that'll be the place to post it for now.

 

 

On 1/23/2024 at 5:17 AM, indigoasis said:

However, I do also wanna say that there's nothing to be embarrassed about if you're proud of what you've done (unless it's something hyper-cringe, then yeah, definitely be embarrassed), and even if you're under an alias, you can still claim the work you've done as your own as long as you have the proof.

 Thanks for saying this. Sometimes Im embarassed because Im proud of a drawing for some months but then I look back on it and thing "shit, that's ugly how the hell did I think it was so cool?", but it isn't anything hyper cringe anyway (or at least I like to think so...).

 

On 1/23/2024 at 11:08 PM, Capt. Fargus said:

Seems like kind of a subjective term though. One person’s “hyper cringe” can be another’s “work of art”

 That's actually a good point, but at the same time there's a general notion of that stuff that is cringe for 90% of people lol (such as marie sue edgelord furry OCs and the sort or gore fanfic of Sonic) but I figure my stuff is not in this category, even if sometimes I look behind on some of my drawings and don't like them anymore.

Edited January 26 by ARMADS!!!

[indigoasis]

12 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

 Thanks for saying this. Sometimes Im embarassed because Im proud of a drawing for some months but then I look back on it and thing "shit, that's ugly how the hell did I think it was so cool?", but it's anything hyper cringe anyway (or at least I like to think so...).

Don't worry, the hyper cringe part was a joke.

Even if you're proud of something in the moment and then look back on it in the future to be like "ehhhh," that's all part of the growth process. Figure out what you like and don't like about it and see how you can improve from there.

I'm looking forward to what you have to share!

[ARMADS!!!]

2 hours ago, indigoasis said:

Don't worry, the hyper cringe part was a joke.

Even if you're proud of something in the moment and then look back on it in the future to be like "ehhhh," that's all part of the growth process. Figure out what you like and don't like about it and see how you can improve from there.

I'm looking forward to what you have to share!

 I'll post a bit of stuff in the morning/beggining of the afternoon, we're in the dead of the night where I live and I can't shoot the photos like this (I draw in paper and have no scanner, so photos it is).

[buttmuncher.ops]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:27 PM, ARMADS!!! said:

So I know a lot of people here share their work (such as art, writing pieces) so I figured that it would be better to ask for advice here than say, on Reddit (where there's a lot of unserious people or people that have no clue what they're saying).

 

I decided to start sharing my stuff, not only here but also on an instagram account (and possibly on more plataforms) and for that I was thinking of creating a new E-mail (sort of a profissional E-mail). I don't want it to be associated with my real life self (not that I'll post anything wrong or NSFW, is just that I'm a bit embarassed that my friends or acquitances might see it, or if I get a job and my boss/coworkers happen to google my name and see it, I'd rather be sorta incognito), but I've seen people saying that if you don't put your real life complete name on the e-mail adress and then it gets hacked, you might never have a chance of getting it back, or if someone stole my art or writing stuff and started to sell it then I'd have no way to claim it was mine on a lawsuit.

 Even if the e-mail adress was my real name I'd not put my name on the account in any way, would use some other user name instead (you know, like most of these online artists), but still since the point of crating this new E-mail at all would be for "profissional" purpouses then I'd rather not have my name there either way because, well... I'd obviously be seen.

 By profissional I don't mean an acual profissional e-mail (like one to be given to a real life boss or to deal with real life business), it's more like the e-mail I'd let there for people that liked my online work to contact me if they wanted and to discuss my "work" stuff. I say "work" because I don't plan on making money from it (at least from now and some more time, unless I decide to do some comission), the stuff I plan on posting will be mainly for entertainment purpouses (and possibly for a "porfolio" if someone ever wanted to have something to do with my projects or wanted to make colaborations with me and things of the sort, I'd still release any of these stuff under the alias though so that's not a problem).

 

 So, for those of you that post writing pieces, art and the like (not divulgating your names as autors), did you ever have any problem for not disclosing your actual identities or names on the places you post? Or for not having your identities to be known? Or If I wanna be sorta incognito and have a pen name, I should still put my real name somewhere or sign my stuff in someway, or something like this?

howdy. im originally known around here as..well you all know my pen name if you know the website. right? so the real question is having the aspect of customizability..as long as you are creative about your "moniker" you may be creative about your "name holds meaning."

my e-mail? first name, last names initial, 0-4 more letters and the @ sign

mind if i shop myself real quick? see how i already am doing it: according to "quotebook cookbook" the best responses are the ones you can quote.

On 1/22/2024 at 6:55 PM, Polinym said:

One small advantage of using an internet name over a real name is that if you wind up creating something that you get embarressed about, you can always jump ship, come up with a new name, cut your loses, and just move on.

Another big advantage of using an internet name is, if you pick some made-up or really obscure word(s) for your name, you can dominate the internet search results. Also gives you a leg up if you ever decide to use your name for something like a website URL, since it most likely won't be heavily contested.

You can get along for quite a long time using just a penname... 'course, when it comes to commercial ventures, you'll have to use your real name on the legal documents.

If you're worried about people stealing your artwork, don't be. There's plenty of creative ways you can watermark your creations so there'll be some tie to you. If you're just drawing copyrighted characters or using existing IP stuff (like say, a Fire Emblem fanfic), it shouldn't matter anyway since nobody can claim it for profit.

this explanation really sums up the vote i have for using a pen name. i'll leave y'all with a free quote from the book im involved in:

"some put pen to paper, others put blood to water"

if you understand, you understand. if you don't, you don't (hint: we're on a forum about a game with weapons in it.) therefore, the logical bibliography quote for the quote above is:

"the pen is mightier than the sword"

so a "moniker" student replies, "if tested by water itself, does it become ink? or blood? i believe this is the final question of the quote and how to let it cook"

[ARMADS!!!]

47 minutes ago, buttmuncher.ops said:

this explanation really sums up the vote i have for using a pen name. i'll leave y'all with a free quote from the book im involved in:

 

Ok, thanks for your input too, I already did an e-mail account for my alias and while I still barely posted anything (or rather, at this moment Im not sure if my images are still not working on my art thread or not, if not I guess that'd count as not having poster anything yet...), I still didn't actually use the alias, so it's nice to see more people voting on the decision, makes me feel like I really did the right choice by making one.