Hi everyone, I hope that 2013 has been a great year for you so far. Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the lack of activity on this account. If you've noticed, I've not been posting any new deviations for the past few months. I have my own various reasons for this, which I will summarize some in the following paragraphs.
I guess part of it has to do with myself. I've been losing motivation and momentum to post new works here, coz I feel that...most of them don't warrant posting really. I've been shooting but have not been very satisfied with my output in general. I guess you can call it a form of soul-searching, trying to regain passion and rediscover a drive...and also a style that I can call my own. I don't see anything in my current output that could serve as a spark to something new and innovative and fresh.
Which leads me to the 2nd part. And I've discussed this with a fellow dA friend a couple days ago - the reason is with regards to dA itself. Honestly I feel that dA's appeal and overall quality has been dropping noticeably. I think this is due to several reasons. The growth of the site has been nothing but phenomenal, probably hundreds of thousands of deviations submitted daily. I think that the current filtering and sorting system is flawed and needs to be urgently improved, there's way too much stuff out there and a lot goes unnoticed...as it is only the popular deviants' works regularly end up on the front page. The submission process, even for a single work, is annoyingly tedious, where on other websites it would require just a few clicks.
And then there's also Groups...a welcome concept when it was first introduced, but now it has been heavily overused and abused. There are lots and lots of groups out there, while it may not be a bad thing, but it means many multiple submissions to different groups, if one wants to promote one's works aggressively, and it results in unwanted spams in one's dA inbox. I've started unsubscribing to a lot of dA groups due to this and also due to the incredible amount of stuff which you have to wade thru daily, coz the mods of the groups usually accept just about everything thrown their way.
All in all, dA is slowly starting to lose its appeal to me, I still do login regularly to check, but I've grown tired of sorting thru so many deviations, the really good stuff I like perhaps consist of just 5% out of everything. Too many people treat dA as a gallery of sorts (a.ka Facebook gallery) and dump everything in it...dA doesn't really work that way, it is a website to showcase your best works and your portfolio. Not as a general gallery of your aunt's birthday party pictures or snapshots of your dog.
Sorry for the rant. I definitely want to stay on with dA, and I'll try to resume posting of my works, but I hope that radical changes are along the pipeline, if the current system doesn't get a serious lookover and a much needed overhaul, eventually my account might just go dead. Or I just might migrate to someplace else. I dunno really.
P.S. If you don't already know, I do have a Facebook page which is updated on a more regular basis with my works, you can view it at
[link] and I hope you'll support it!
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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I can get what you mean about how much exposure are our works actually being exposed to the world, and I, like you, unsubscribed from some groups cos I really prefer not to see the contents of those groups, even though I still submit deviations to them (oh the irony). I just keep posting here cos I'm most familiar with dA and I don't know any other site that serves roughly the same purpose as dA.
If I knew of somewhere that I could receive feedback from when I post my art so that I can learn, I wouldn't mind migrating there actually. Beats being here and listening to those already popular deviants having their work fawned over while we don't really receive constructive criticism to improve our creations. If in the end, you really do migrate, just remember to leave a link here
Hope you can find your creativity spark soon! I only just found mine two months ago by watching shows.
Re. feedback. Yes that is one thing unfortunately that dA lacks on a whole and which it needs a whole lot more...constructive and helpful criticism. They do have a "Critiques" comments function but it is sadly under-utilized. I think (constructive) feedback is especially important for artists, no point in posting your artworks and get almost little to no feedback, other than one word comments like "nice", "cute" or "good" etc.
Groups are (potentially) a good way to promote your own work and garner more exposure, but perhaps the system could be tweaked to be something better, instead of just pointless spamming of your inbox whenever the mods approve something. dA is one of the biggest art-related sites on the web but its size is also its Achilles heel. I think most aspiring artists starting out here find it pretty difficult to promote their works to audiences and garner exposure, recognition and critiques at the same time. It can be quite discouraging sometimes.
I think that there are other art-related websites out there but just that they aren't as big or well-known as dA or with such a huge community. I'm not sure if you've tried Tumblr, but it too has its pros and cons, so there's nothing absolutely 100% perfect out there. The problem I have with dA is that 80% of views and faves are for works that are in the top 20% of popularity rankings, or from popular artists. If you are not there, then you aren't. Simple as that. Its just you floating with thousands of other users in the sea of submissions, trying to desperately to promote your works to stand out and gain faves etc. Many ppl are relying on Groups to do just that, but in the end whats the point really. I'd rather value a heartfelt and constructive critique over 100 faves any day.
I'm not sure yet if I'll migrate to another place, but if I do I'll be sure to leave a link. Currently more active in posting to FB coz its easier to post stuff there and I'm there more often anyways.
Thanks! Hopefully I'll find it soon (my "creativity spark"), and get more inspired to post here again.
I am using tumblr actually! It's a fun blogging site, but I never really considered it a platform to share art. I have seen some works under the hashtag "artists on tumblr" so I guess I could try there too... I've been more of sharing fan art over there and it's actually pretty difficult to get feedback, since most people prefer to either like and/or reblog your work than to leave their opinions in their reblog post.
Personally, my spark came one after the other from strange sources that I usually don't come into contact with, so I would say that you should open your mind and read/watch more stuff, especially on things you've never really considered before but can be related to your interests/preferences.
See this post: [link]. Keep a positive outlook on your works. I can't really help much in giving opinion on photography, but if I could, I would help you without hesitation.
Tumblr seems quite fun. Same, I mostly go there to dig around for fandom-related stuff though. I have heard that it does have its quirky/weird/darker side as well. And yes most of the works there are reblogged and reblogged again...so I don't know where or who they originate from sometimes.
Thanks for the useful advice! I do try to draw inspiration sometimes from different sources. It is always good to keep an open and always learning mind. And that link is awesome, so much truth in it. Thanks once again! Appreciate your thoughts and words of encouragement. Perhaps I should try starting with a different approach to seeing things.
I admit that tumblr has its quirky side. For the most part, since there's very little actual person to person interaction, tumblr people tend to let their crazier side show up in their posts. If you have a tumblr site, link me! I'll follow you xD