I am, to bee frank, quite buzzed at the catalog of bee and wasp art on this fine platform. I rarely use this platform in general, but I decided to use it to find mature art relating to these species. Unfortunately, the quality and quantity of the art is diminutive at best. In this bustling hive of furry art, I expected a treasure trove of art relating to these beautiful creatures, but I found the content subpar.
Don’t let me bee too quick to cast judgment for this transgression on the artists. They have put great effort into depicting the most incredible bugs on earth in a flattering and attractive manner. I understand that this post is likely to bee a bit of a buzzkill, but I feel that the true guilt of this horrific failure to properly give God’s creature’s a worthy art form is on the shoulders of us all, akin to Adam’s original sin.
Of course, this will be seen as quite a negative post. But I know that you catch more flies with honey, so let me explain why this is a beeneficial post in the long term. This sort of discourse is conducive to a free and prosperous society. If this genuinely can convince people, it may not only improve the opinions of Hymenoptera and their kin on this website, but dare I say it, the world.
Let me start at the beeginning.
Bees are a winged insect related to ants and wasps, are some of the most productive pollinators on Earth, and are on every continent except Antarctica. They are also used in apiculture to harvest their products, such as honey, propolis,
and royal jelly.
The humble bee has evolved along man as a faithful ally, from pollinating the crops of the peasant, to helping the king sweeten his tea with honey. Artificial beehives were found in the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb, and writings of beekeeping in Palestine predate Jesus’ birth.
Few could argue the fact that the beautiful bee is one of the most important creatures in the history of mankind, and in the delicate balancing act that we call the ecosystem. As much as a man like myself may love these animals, Mother Nature loves them more.
It is estimated that Hymenopterans are responsible for 20% of all pollination on Earth. Farmers in the United States pay beekeepers to pollinate their fields, and in South Asia, migrating bee colonies will pollinate rice paddies. Millions, if not billions of people would die if bees were not here to pollinate our food. We should thank these beautiful creatures, and give them a hive-five for their work.
Now that everyone is properly acquainted with these incredible insects, we can discuss their role on this website. E621 is an incredible site for sure, but the quality of the bee art on here is, for lack of a better term, a-bee-symal.
The vast majority of bee art on E621 has fallen short of the quality these bees deserve. It is often lazily drawn, missing that certain ‘je ne sais quoi.’ I wish for, nay, demand a renaissance of tasteful bee and wasp pornography on this platform.
The role of the bee on this website is, similar to its role on Earth, a humble one. The first post with the bee tag was in 2007, by the artist Ferris. Since then, the tag has grown to boast over 6,000 posts.
I would dare to posit that since then, there have been two of what I would call the Great Bee Tag Awakenings.
The first, which was by far the largest amount of attention brought to the tag, was when the best selling video game of all time, Minecraft, added bees as a creature in the digital world. This brought quite a buzz of new visitors and new posts to the bee tag. It both brought newfound popularity, but it also brought more low quality content, disgracing the humble name of the bee and only overfilling the hive. Despite this, it was mostly positive and productive.
What, however, was not productive, was when the internet webseries “Helluva Boss” had a character called “Bee-elzebub,” a female bee-adjacent demon. This brought popularity to the tag, but unfortunately flooded it with art of this character who is barely even distinguishable as a bee. It truly is a shame, but there is no changing the past.
I mention these examples to say that, as I see it, the bee tag is making a beeline towards a certain demise. If the only popularity it can find is from new characters in other media, which will only degrade the quality of the tag more, it will soon go the way of the dodo tag, which has less than 400 posts. I make this forum post in the hopes it can convince people to create art for this humble, carefree species. If it doesn’t not, this tag will surely face an abrupt case of colony collapse disorder.
It makes my blood boil when I think about how few people put effort into the bee and wasp tags, but I felt it so important that we save this endangered tag, when none else will.
I conclude with this; the bees are your friends, and maybee, with enough time, your lovers too. Have a bee-utiful day.