<style>@import ":link:[link]"; /*null:null:*/ /* */</style>


Hey guys!

If you have talked to me recently and I brought up the topic of devWatches, you may have heard that I hardly use the deviantWatch feature. The reason is because I watch so many people. Several thousand, I think? Either way, the list was getting so long that every time I added a new deviant, my Firefox would crash.

So, to solve that problem, I've taken it upon myself to trim my devWatch list significantly (in Internet Explorer ). I have never done this since I have been here, so I've basically devoted the entire day to it. My goal is to eliminate anyone who hasn't made artwork in over a year (or has no activity for a year). I also realized that what I liked in 2003 is not what I like in 2008, so a lot of artists I had watched for years I finally decided to move on.

(I also decided to wish everybody a happy 2008 while I was there, so if you see that, I watch you. Although, if I talk to you a lot, I just assumed I already told you at some point.)

Interestingly enough, 90% of what I'm removing are abandoned or banned accounts. Tons of people have just deleted their gallery and left. Many have even disappeared with full journals and everything -- who knows what happened to these deviants (I hope they're okay). There are so many talented artists who just up and disappear, never to come back. It's sort of a shame.

I guess I'm surprised I've stuck around this long. 2002? I've practically grown up on this site. So many of my friends have come and gone. I've known many of you since the beginning, some just recently, and I value you all for whatever we did together. Here's to more of it, if you're still around! I know during this time I've helped and hurt a lot of people, and I'm sorry if I did more hurting than helping though. It's really not my goal or anything. Friendships kind of go sour, things happen. I really don't like getting personal if I can avoid it through.

It's interesting to see how much things have changed. I've found my comments from 2003 on some pages. i dont think i had a shift key & i used at least 3 emotes in every sentence Sorta sad to remember that. Personally, I'd like to think that deviantART has grown to become a much better site than it was in 2002. For those of you who remember it, and can see without nostalgia glasses, I think you would agree with me there!

Unfortunately, I keep feeling like as I grow, my art remains the same. Sure, I get better at what I do... but I don't know what I want to do artistically. In fact, I feel more at home designing advertisements. I guess I could make mock full page advertisements, but I don't know that anyone would like to see that. (Practical advertising design is a pretty lackluster affair. I'm not a famous magazine designer. Yet?) That said, I still have a great collaboration on the way that I've been slacking on for months (it's been 90% finished for a long, long time) and that will come soon.

For now, try looking at other art besides my own. Do yourself a favor and click my favourites. (Or just click here [link] because you're lazy!) There's only 128 of them so it won't take too long. Everything in there represents something I love completely. I'm very selective about what I enjoy (20K deviation comments vs 130 favourites in almost 6 years?), so perhaps you'll find something new and amazing to make you happy too!

If anything, I do feel that I grew with the community. I'm trying to get more into the vector scene again and get that revived through ~vbu. Even if I can't make the best art, I'm glad that my tutorial has helped people in the right direction. That makes me happier than any of my art ever could -- knowing that I helped a lot of people create their own work. I'm also trying to revive my Vector Today article, which I did for a while in 2005. Hopefully I can help people with that and create a dialog about the vector gallery.

One last thing... people routinely ask what's it like working for dA (like, no, really, I have several notes right now...). Well, I love working for deviantART. I won't lie, it's always been a dream of mine. I love this site a lot, and all of the Creative staff are awesome people to work with. I've been on the team for about a year and a half, and I hope to continue helping to improve deviantART in any way I can. (Oh, and stay tuned for something neat coming soon that you guys may like! )

I'm not done cleaning up my devWatch list yet, so I guess I'll spend the entire day tomorrow doing more (it's really fun ). If you have to do this too, please note to not do it with an Apple Mighty Mouse -- it's impossible to use the middle click without scrolling. I said lots of happy words through the course of today.

But in all, it was really great to spend my time over this break cruising through galleries and doing stuff like I used to. I won't lie, I'm a deviantART nerd. And hopefully I can convince you guys to become one too (if you're not addicted already!

(Hah, that is if you care enough to even read this beast of a journal! I wrote a novel!)


_{//lemontea||more.addictive.than.heroin_+''
end-++_''}