Chesmire

So, six years on Deviant Art now as of today.   This will have to be a somewhat shorter post than my previous anniversary writings.   So what went on between Aprils 2023 and 2024?

To start with, not a whole lot in terms of deviations submitted.  The past year was a rollercoaster for me so I had to focus my attention elsewhere.  Even when I wanted to work on something artsy with the wheels spinning nonstop in my head, most times I just got drawn back to either reality or to other work, events, and hobbies.  This would explain why so many deviations I made were based in photography or photomanipulation, since they're the simplest (theoretically) to make.  Of the photography I do have a few personal favorites, including one batch I posted just one day before this journal post here.  I'm no model but I did have fun with those pictures having the classy black coat look I wish I had in my school days.  I'm so glad to at least try it.  I'm even thinking of making that look my pseudo avatar at some point.

As for traditional art, I did succeed at one thing, which was to use up a twenty-five year old partial pack of pastels for a second and potentially last pastel art.  This was my first deviation of 2024, being the color drawing of the pond, and then I used the very last crumbly bits of pastels to whip up a spiraling abstract piece.  A lot of other deviants seemed to enjoy them, although it does disappoint me some that my first and far better pastel drawing I made (the Motocycle Comiot lady in her room, drawn in 1999 and posted on DA 2019) gets bypassed, and that's the one I'm most proud of.  That's the common risk of publishing your arts, though--that the things  you crap out get more recognition than the things you pour your whole being into making.

After quite a few digital arts I made in 2022 thanks to my first ever tablet (going on three years with it now, and using it currently to write this), I planned on making several more last year--and succeeded in making only one.  This is my potential comic book cover and head-canon concept piece about The Red Suitcase Adventures--basically my fictionalized take of a long-gone video review show and the obscure characters thereof, and then reimagining them as their own action-adventure series.  I still have a list of all kinds of fan arts I still want to make, and a good part of that list is this subject alone.  Even so, that was the only art I made about it; and while I'm glad it's done, it could be a whole lot better.  Sometime this year I want to fix up that picture with better quality, and finally make some more arts of that subject.  Also, I just want to actually finally make arts of the other subjects I have on that list.  As I said above, there was enough going on with me in my real world living that I couldn't really focus on making more art.  But if the recent postings this last winter/spring are any sign, I may honestly get some more arts successfully crossed off that list.

One pleasant interesting thing that happened in the past year is that I had more new watchers than ever before from past years--plus I started watching a few more favorite deviants of my own, including a few who haven't posted anything new in years, yet I still enjoy their work even today.  It's always a nice feeling to know others want to see what you can offer artistically, and vice versa.  That's why I'm on Deviant Art, for the community.  And yes I know, there have been the regular problems with site management and transparency, and I'm not ignorant about that--but my priority is not about engaging in such matters.  I'm here to be with you folks here.  I said plenty before, and I'll say it again and often--badges, points, money, sales, exclusives, politics, Core membership, subscriptions--these are not what I'm about or what I desire.  What I am about and what I desire is sharing, feedback, communication, interest, and relating.  That's my DArt purpose and presence.

Speaking of the site itself, another pleasant surprise came out of an unpleasant surprise the year before this last one.  In my fifth anniversary review, when I had far more to report because five-year anniversaries are more substantial than six-year ones, I wrote that I had my first ever complaint about the site.  Out of nowhere, numerous deviations--both mine and others'--were flagged and blocked with a mature filter, which means you could only see them if you were logged in.  The vast majority of those deviations were NEVER mature, offensive, off-putting, or otherwise, and they still had those blocks.  This was a huge blow to me particularly because I want anyone to just visit my DA page and gallery *without* needing to make an account login only for the sake of just getting to look around.  It reached the point when I had to take drastic measures--removing pictures altogether, rewriting descriptions entirely, chopping up and recoloring and editing pictures certain ways to keep them posted away from any algorithm nonsense--so discouraging, even heartbreaking.  And then sometime last year around July or August...the blocks were suddenly and inexplicably gone.  All those blocked deviations I had and other deviants had were fully visible and accessible again, without any expected or required loggings in, just like they always were before.  I still haven't learned why either change occurred in the first place--I'm just happy and relieved that things were and are back to the way they always used to be.  Even better if it stays this way permanently for DArt's lifetime.

As far as overall site changes go, I formally joined Deviant Art in 2018, and the Eclipse format came about two years later.   And...I'm okay with that.  I'm so used to Eclipse now I barely remember the previous site format, and there's so many features similar between them that I don't have a "why can't we still have this or that" mentality about it.  I had only the one epecially jarring issue I mentioned above, and it's seemingly been resolved.  One major change is the introduction of NFTs and AI to the site.  I'll keep it very short and say, at least for myself, that I don't engage in either.  I'm here for the art I myself make in itself, and for the arts others make themselves in themselves.

And finally, as for me, I'm still trying to plug away at making more art to finally get out of my head after so long and into the visible world for anyone to see, especially on Deviant Art.  So, back at it...