This is not a suggestion list. Don't post suggestions for poses here.

As many of you know, due to theft and commercial misuse of my images, I've disabled the downloads to my stock, and placed the images behind a paywall.

This is to discourage those who would drive-by, looking for something free and fast and not bothering to read my rules, or just not caring that I have them.

I appreciate that not everyone can afford to pay for stock and not everyone uses DA's points system.

Please post a comment here with the stock packs you are requesting.

Keep it reasonable, like five. If you just say "all of them lol" I will ignore your post. (It's ok to make multiple posts as needed over time, I just don't think people need my entire library all at once)

I will send you a note with said links for free when I get around to it. It may be a while.

If you want the stock right away, you can still buy it.

I will hide the comment once the note is sent to keep track of who has been helped.
Non-request comments will be hidden. It doesn't mean I don't like you. Just keeping it organized.
If you already have my stock saved, I do not expect any sort of backpayment. It is fine for you to use. Please do not share or upload my stock anywhere. Personal use is fine.

EDIT: The article appears to be an Onion-style comedy fake report. It has nothing to do with me, but doesn't state so. Honestly, this is libelious because these are lies published next to my photo, implying that this is me. IT IS NOT ME. This is a fake article next to a stolen photo.

Email: 4e@uwgb.edu

Phone: (920) 465-2718

Fax: (920) 465-2895

Here are some other people to contact:

Phillip G. Clampitt, Chair of Communication (Journalism falls under this)

Victoria Goff, Victoria Goff teaches journalism and advises the award-winning university newspaper, the Fourth Estate.

Waltz was placed in a barbiturate-induced coma after falling down two flights of stairs at her apartment in Schenectady, N.Y.

Waltz returned home from attending a "Lost" season three viewing party May 29, 2008. Upon entering her apartment and going to the bathroom to change out of her McCain-Palin campaign T-shirt, she noticed strange sounds coming from her bedroom. She entered the bedroom only to find her boyfriend engaged in a round of naked "Wii Fit" with the couple's next door apartment neighbor.

Waltz's family, who lives in Green Bay, had her transported to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

"I wanted to get her as far away from that man as possible," Josephine's mother, Marilynn Waltz, said. "He'd hurt her enough."

Waltz said she holds no ill will toward her ex-boyfriend for the incident.

My name is not Josephine Waltz.
I am not 30 years old.
I am not an English teacher.
I do not have / have not had a boyfriend as described here.
I have never been in a coma.
I am not a Republican.
I am not from New York.
I do not have family in Green Bay.
I never watched Lost.

These are falsehoods published in connection to my name and photo and implied to be me.
There is no statement Anywhere on the article or on the parent column "The Fourth Wall" saying that such an article is false and written for comedy purposes. There is no statement saying that use of my image is for illustrative purposes only and that I am in no way connected to the events described.
This is libel whether intentional or not. You cannot make up false statements and attach someone's face and name to the article (in this case, my internet handle Kxhara is much more well-known than my real name, and is almost more damaging because my reputation is based on that name) without implying or insinuating that that person did the things you stated. Especially with no visible disclaimer stating that events are fictional and false.

Dylan Dobson represents the institution that is his shool's newspaper and its journalism program.

The About page of the Fourth Estate states:

Fourth Estate is the award-winning student newspaper from UW-Green Bay. The mission of Fourth Estate is to provide the campus and the Green Bay community with professionally written stories, while educating students about proper journalism ethics, editing skills and written skills.

This entire situation is embarassing. To all parties. It embarasses me by making up lies and putting my face and name next to them. It embarasses Dylan Dobson because it shows, on his part, a flagrant disregard for basic copyright law and basic journalistic etiquette; the very things his newspaper tells us that it is founded on. And finally, it embarasses the entire school program by showing us that it is producing journalism students like Dylan Dobson.

I would be much more forgiving if this were a highschool newspaper or a first-year, first-semester college student. But this journalist is a senior honors student at a university. It is April, and he is about to graduate. Dylan Dobson is one step away from becoming a professional journalist. And that scares me. And it should scare you. A professional journalist should understand the importance of and respect copyright law. They should understand the difference between comedy and slander. They should take responsibility for mistakes. More importantly, they should make every effort to not make those mistakes in the first place by doing research, reading rules and asking clarifying questions. You know, journalism. If this were the real world, Dylan Dobson would be facing much harsher consequences than a very lenient $300 fine for copyright violation, libel and identity theft.



Because nothing bad ever happens from sloppy journalism.

I'd like to point to recent events involving the boston marathon bombings as an example of the potential damage my situation can do. Several false accusations were made, plastering the photos of innocent people on newspapers and circulating through forums like Reddit. Before the real suspects were identified, there were witch-hunts organized and the accused were terrified. Black and Middle Eastern people were harassed in the streets, and were threatened with violence. All because of bad reporting and newsmedia that jumped the gun. I'm not saying that my situation and this situation are the same thing. But I am saying that the practices are similar. (not asking the right questions, spreading a photo before sources are confirmed, linking an innocent person to a crime before any evidence is found) When reporters fail to follow journalistic standards, people can get seriously hurt from simple misinformation.

DA has recently announced a new portal for users to search through those offering commissions to find artists they want to support.

The commissions system will be handled using DA's internal currency system of points, of which DA takes a royalty from.

Commissions are allowed to start at 10 points each for any type of art produced, from rough sketches and small icons to full digital works. Commissions is a great way for artists to offer their services, but are we creating a low-wage market where over-abundance of supply and lack of unification undercuts everyone?

That is to say, how can we guarantee that artists get paid fairly for their work?

• 10 points is roughly 13 cents. 1000 points may seem like a large commission, but it's really only $10.
  
• Right now DA takes a 20% cut of point commissions.
• DA's commission system also has a $50 cap set on it. Many professional artists charge much more for full, detailed art and simply won't use the system for professional work.

For more information on industry standard pricing and salaries, see the jornal below. Beside it is a USD to points calculator.
Graphic Artists of dA, Behold: A Pricing GuideHello, all. My name is Kellan Stover, a budding professional illustrator close to finishing up his time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, achieving my BFA in illustration. I felt the need to create this news article for the benefit of every artist on deviantArt who intends to make money from their talent.
When one visits the deviantArt 'Employment Opportunities' forum, they should be shocked at what they find. Startling low prices abound. These are both offered by the clients, as well as quoted by the artists. The sad truth is most people aren't shocked at all. The perceived consensus is that it's business as usual. A lower price means an increased likelihood that a client will do business with you, right? In some ways yes, but not at this extreme. You must remember that 'you get what you pay for'. It's widely accepted that the more demanded your talents are, the higher skilled you are, the more you can charge. If a client wants, no needs, your work over someone else, they wil

For an hour's worth of work, 10 pts / 13 cents is a pitiful wage, yet many young, inexperienced artists are willing to offer their work for such low costs. Worse, they're afraid of seeming greedy if they charge too much, and will undercut an artist that values their work at or above minimum wage.

We also have the problem of hobby and amateur* artists competing with professional artists** who want to create for a living. Amateurs don't care about wage and do it for fun, or don't feel like their art is worth much, and so offer a much lower price for their work.

Should DA work to ensure that artists who are providing real-money commissions work for at least minimum wage?

Should there be a set minimum price for certain complicated works like full-body drawings and animated art?

Also, what about commercial use and licensing? What are these commissions for and how will they be used?
I've had a lot of shady and questionable offers for my work, some of which I have been scammed into doing. I regret those decisions, but they have helped to make me less naive about the world of buying and selling intellectual property. Other artists will inevitbly experience the same thing at some point in their careers, but I feel as though older and more experienced artists have a responsibility to encourage new artists to value their work at a livable price, whether they feel like it is worth that or not.

In such a low-wage environment, how can we ensure that new, young, inexperienced artists are not being ripped off and abused by those who want free or cheap art and may even try to profit off of an artist's work?


My suggestions so far:



*In this case I define an amateur artist as someone
- Who draws as a hobby or simply for enjoyment
- May not have schooling or training in art
- Does not earn living income off of their art (they may take in money with a "jobby" but it's not the sole income)
- May not be able to guarantee quality or deadlines
- May be young, still in school or in a career that has nothing to do with art as their main job
- Does not consider themselves and their work professional

**A professional artist would be
- Someone who is trying to make most or all of their living income from their art
- Someone who charges industry standard price for their art
- Someone who usually has some form of training / schooling or a skill level that is the equivalent
- Someone who can guarantee quality and deadlines
- Someone who considers themselves and their work professional

Right now DA is hosting a very sizable contest for the new Tomb Raider game. The contest involves drawing the new Lara Croft character.

I've had several artists ask for my permission to use my stock as reference for this contest, which I have given. (thank you for asking, I appreciate the communication)

However, I went over to browse the official rules of the contest:

- may NOT be recognizable as the actor Angelina Jolie or any other recognizable actor;

- must be the Entrant's original work made for the Contest and may not use stock materials from others although licensed brushes and textures are acceptable as well as original assets from the Entrant's own work;

- may reference but not actually duplicate visual materials provided in the Asset Pack.

What this means is that any art using my stock would be automatically disqualified for entry due to contest rules.
I would hate to see hard hours of work get wasted, so I would suggest not using my stock as reference for this contest.

I would assume the reason is of course the legal ownership of likenesses. If my face was entered in the contest, the company would then have to legally compensate me for display of my likeness.

I don't know what level of reference would be allowed (I.E. just an arm holding a bow) or if not recognisable reference is allowed. I would err on the side of caution to avoid disqualification.

I need a real, actual lawyer.

I can't go into too much detail, but I can tell those asking 'why'
Yes, it's about copyright infringement. I have discovered multiple high-profile businesses using my stock images for profit without my permission / notification / compensation.
Straight-up stolen. This is not a case of one teenager tracing another's work and being a bad meaniepants art thief. This is multiple corporations profiting off of my unconsenting image and making me the face of their major advertising campaign. It's worse because both of these two completely seperate companies are international and don't speak English. Yes, my face was used two different times for two different advertising campaigns, both international.

I don't know how I am going to move forward, but I will do my homework. My stock is not a business. It was never intended to be. This brings me a lot of difficulty because I have only wanted to provide free or inexpensive resources to students and hobbyists. I never wanted to be a corporate model, especially without even knowing what these companies are selling.

For now the only changes you experience is that my popular stock images will be shrunk and watermarked, and only available upon request.

I also ask that those who use my stock do not ask for commercial permission until further notice. I just don't want you getting caught up in the crossfire. Personal use is fine, but until I can get a hold on this legal situation, it's probably for the best.

Answering a few questions about my latest piece

What pattern is it?

It's a modified Simplicity pattern Unfortunately, this exact pattern isn't available anymore. But there are other patterns that are very similar. I made bodice C and drafted new sleeves for it. I wanted round sleeves for the skulls.

The bodice is fully lined and boned, with inserted metal grommets. The instructions pretty much tell you what to do.
I used long zip-ties from the hardware store for boning.



Just clip the ends of and file them into rounds with a nail file. Flexible and strong!

How did you do the bleaching?

I used flour paste as a resist and bleach to discharge the fabric.
I can tell you how I did it, but I do not recommend trying these methods unless you are familiar with the chemicals you are using and the potential hazards. This stuff is TOXIC. It will KILL YOU. Like, really for real kill you if you do something wrong.

You need:

- Fabric that is already dyed, must be a natural celulose (plant-based) fibre.
- NO polyester, NO nylon, NO silk, NO wool
- YES cottons, YES linens, YES rayons
- Regular laundry bleach
- Safety gear (I wear goggles, a half-mask respirator with acid-gas filters, gloves and a chemical-proof apron) Bleach is serious stuff. Take it seriously.
- a ventilated space to bleach (outside)
- A plastic cup to hold the bleach and NYLON or other synthetic brushes. Bleach dissolves protein. Any hair-based brushes will dissintegrate.
- If you're serious about bleaching, you need to pick up a compound called Sodium Metabisulfite. It's a bleach neutralizer and it makes bleach... stop bleaching.
- A cup of flour
- A pot of about a cup of water on the stove, medium heat
- a whisk, possibly a blender

Start the process by preparing your flour paste. This part is harmless and is more about cooking.
Put a pot of about a 1 cup - 1.5 cups of water on medium heat. Wait for it to warm up to just below boiling. Don't let it boil, but don't do it cold.
Get your cup of flour and sprinkle it in a bit at a time, whisking really quickly. Destroy any lumps before they happen! You want it to be as smooth as possible.
You want it to be a gooey paste. Not too thick, not too runny. It's impossible to describe, but you easily get an idea of what you're looking for after a few batches.
Pour the whisked flour mixture into a bowl. If it's really lumpy, put it in the blender.

Your fabric should be prewashed, and if you're obsessive like me, pressed. You can do whatever you want on uncut meterage, or if you have a specific design or placement in mind, you can pre-cut your pattern pieces and only paste onto the cut fabric.
Use whatever you like, brushes, fingers, and whatnot to apply the flour paste. I like to use a large syringe or turkey baster to apply the flour paste.

Keep in mind, you are applying a resist to the fabric. You are working in a negative. Anything that the flour paste covers WON'T be bleached. It will stay dark.

This person has spread flour paste over the entire piece of fabric, and drawn a positive into it. The positive will be bleached.

When the flour paste dries, you can do interesting things like bending the hardened fabric to create a crackle, marble effect.

Wait for your paste to dry. This will take about 24 hours. Sometimes longer if there's a lot of water, or it's cold.

Prepare your bleaching space outside. DO IT OUTSIDE. Put on your safety gear and clear the table or area you're working on. Lay your fabric out and then go mix up your bleach neutralizer for after. Finally, pour your bleach, grab your brushes and get started.

Bleach, unlike painting or airbrushing is a time-based effect. that is, what looks like soft gradients on fabric is timing, not layers of application. I've tried using diluted bleach, but I find that I have enough time with pure bleach, you just have to plan what starts bleaching first.

Whatever you bleach first will be the brightest.
Whatever you bleach last will be the darkest.

If you want, you can fill a spray bottle with sodium metabisulfite water and spot-neutralize for areas that are burning too fast. This also helps if you've dripped bleach onto an area from your brush.

Bleaching can take between several minutes and several hours. More if it's cold out. It depends on your fabric, the strength of the bleach, and how burned you want your image to be. If it's not taking very well, you can leave it bleaching overnight in a safe spot.

When you're done, submerge your fabric in the neutralizer. Let it soak, then start rinsing it with water. Basically, until it doesn't smell liek bleach anymore.

Peel as much flour paste as you can off of the fabric BEFORE you put it in the washing machine. Flour paste will clog your machine and sink. Throw it in the garbage.

Wash the fabric with detergent and rinse, possibly anotehr rinse cycle if it needs it. Throw it in the dryer.

Inspect your handiwork!

I've been very quiet online for the past while. All the stuff I promised to do pretty much didn't happen. I think you guys at least deserve to know why.

It's a difficult thing to talk about, since I don't know where to start. Yes, my dog died back in November. Before that time, my mother became ill. The thing is, she never got better.

It seemed like she just had a bad flu. Typical flu symptoms, coughing, exhaustion and whatnot. The flu cleared up after a few days, but her energy never came back. At first she could get around the house a bit with a walker. But then that became too much. We got her a wheelchair, and that was better, but her strength wasn't coming back.

Between October and now, my mother went from being able to walk slowly to not being able to get out of bed. Not being able to eat or shower or use the washroom without complete care from someone else.

And nobody knows what it is. I'm lucky to live in Canada where we have a socialized healthcare system. It's not as much of a financial burden as it would be if we lived somewhere else, but we don't have a diagnosis. We've done blood tests and had a CT scan, seen several specialists and everyone shakes their head. All we know is what it's not. It's not cancer. It's not chronic fatigue. It's not lyme disease.

My mother reassures me every day that she's getting better, that it's something she will push past, but that's not what the current evidence is showing. She can't sit up in bed without shaking uncontrollably. She can't hold the phone or a cup of water for more than a few minutes.

I am terrified by the idea of losing my mother. Especially so soon after losing my dog. Some days I literally don't know what to do with my body or mind. The idea of putting it all aside and doing work is pretty much impossible for me.

Having all of this happen so close to christmas has made me really think about what I have in my life. What my goals are. What I treasure. I look at friends posting about their new iPhone and other christmas gifts on facebook and I think about how I don't want any material thing in the world. I just want my mom back. I wish I could know what was wrong with her so that I could at least have an answer about whether she was dying or not.

I appreciate your messages of sympathy. I don't post this to try and round up comments, but I am thankful that others are out there. I can't reply to them all, but I do read them. I am simply at a point in my life where I am genuinely lost and scared and I don't know what to do. My goal is simply to get through each day, one at a time.

Wishing your holidays are much less of a disaster than mine,

Kxhara

EDIT 19/12/12: Instagram has responded.

Though the language they use seems to want to overly passify rather than address issues. "Your photos are your photos and we respect that." is a nice sentiment but does not necessarily exclude "we have the right to license and use your stuff even though you own the content" By signing up to instagram you are giving them permission to do this even though you do technically own the content you are submitting.

I'm not going to flail my arms about doom, but I will say, artists be aware. Not just about this, but about any contracts you sign. There is some real sketchy language in the fine print here that needs to be clarified or changed as of right now. More than just an "everything's fine, don't worry" letter. Company lawyers have a tendency to try to take the largest chunk of whatever they can, and only back off when their actions are made public and they are pressured into doing so. As artists, it is our job to push back and demand reasonable terms for both us as the end user and them as a profit-driven business. Educate yourself about copyright law and read the fine print. Make informed choices. Protect and value your work.

---

Look out, Photographers, it's time for some corporate policy changes that affect us all.

Instagram has changed its policy so that they can sell your photos without paying you or notifying you.


- On January 16th 2013, these policy changes take effect. Accounts created and content uploaded after January 16th will have these policies apply to them.

- Deleting your content or account after January 16th does not necessarily terminate Instagram's claim to ownership of your content.

- Instagram claims the right to license (sell) your photos to businesses for use. They do not have to notify you or pay you for you content.

- Instagram removes itself from liability such as class action lawsuits, including making formerly private photos public.

Those are just the main points of danger for an artist, but I fully reccommend reading the full article. Here is another article. Now that you've seen the language, take a breath. It's not time to panic just yet. Just because Instagram has drafted this kind of legal language, doesn't necessarily mean they will personally hunt down your private photos, sell them to an ad company and make zillions of dollars off of it. They merely claim the right to do so.

This is what artists should be mad about. That even if they don't follow through with their terms, the terms they are setting are unreasonable and hurt artists in pursuit of corporate profit.

Mad enough to do something about it? All right.

You can Tweet Kevin Systrom (CEO, co-founder) or Mike Krieger (co-founder) about the policy changes and how they affect you as an artist.

You can Write them a letter about it.

Something along the lines of:

---

To Whom This May Concern,

I have read the new Instagram policy changes for 2013, and I am deeply concerned.
As an artist, I believe that content submitters should have the option to opt out of commercial use of their content.
Artists should be notified and asked permission if a commercial party wishes to use their content for advertising.
Artists should have the right to refuse commercial use to anyone for any reason.
Artists should be compensated fairly for use of their content and maintain legal ownership of the intellectual property.

Your future policy changes are unacceptable.

Because Instagram forces these policy changes onto users with no option for termination, I will be deleting my Instagram account and removing all of my content before January 16, 2013 to prevent retroactive ownership of my content.

Sincerely, Name

---

(Last bit optional. You can write whatever you want, but try to avoid petty name-calling.)

I want you to feel empowered as an artist. Someone who has control over the content that you produce. I'm not asking you to do any of this as a favour to me. I just want you to be informed and able to take action if you feel strongly enough about the situation. Believe it or not, your voice does matter. Enough focused activism can change corporate policy for the better.

Good luck and own your art!

EDIT: Here is a Wired article that shows you how to download all of your photos and delete your account if you're interested.

I've added more to the bottom of this article, and I'm bumping it because I feel like it's important.
Also it's my birthday, so I do what I want.

This link. Right here.



Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony.

This attitude is not ok, for many reasons beside it being completely illogical.

1) You don't get to decide who is a geek or not a geek. Period. Geekdom is about acceptance, not rejection. If you're all about Not Liking Other People That Like The Stuff That You Like, you're not a geek, you're a hipster. Who found a pair of glasses.

2) You don't get to decide who is hot and who is not hot. That girl at the con with thick thighs and a little bit of muffin top? She is a perfect 10 in my book, bro. Except that women's bodies aren't up for the judging. Her attractiveness or lack therof does not define her geekiness. The same way that it does not define her social experience. Pretty girls can be socially awkward virgins who don't know how to talk to guys. Both genders can have difficulty with relationships. This percieved perpetual red-carpet treatment of human beans because they sport a rack of meatstuff on their chest is just myth. And if they do recieve different treatment, it's usually because of patriarchy, which is sexism, which is bad for us all. Like, if you see another dude insist on holding a door open for a pretty girl, or pulling out her chair, or telling her she's so pretty, you have to wonder, did she even ask for that stuff? How do you know she's not mentally begging for that creeper to get lost so she can meet up with her friends?

Which brings me into:

3) Tony, I bet you've never had your ass grabbed at a con. I bet you've never had someone stare unblinkingly at you from across the room in a way that made you really uncomfortable. I bet you've never had someone take your photograph without asking. I bet you've never had someone follow you back from the con to your hotel.

(Just to be clear, I'm not talking about specific things that have happened to me, but they are so, SO common for women at cons, and just in general)

When you see a bunch of dudes hanging around and paying attention to a pretty girl in a con, your first, very first question shouldn't be "How / why is she preying upon those poor nerdy souls" but "Does she even want that attention?" Who here is really preying upon whom? Girls are trained to smile and laugh especially when they are uncomfortable. What you may observe from your male perspective as a girl lounging in tons of hormonal nerdy attention may actually be a girl who wants to be entirely left alone, but can't get away from dudes who feel entitled to her conversation and her body.

You talk about "giving them the time of day" whether they're at the con or not. Sometimes there's a reason why. If you creep on a girl at a con, she may think you're ok to talk to about fandom, since you're a geek too, but she's not really into dating you. She's not leading you on, she's not a cold-hearted bitch who enjoys strumming the tightly-tuned heartstrings of men, she's just there for the comics. Not a date. If you creep on a girl outside of a con, and she's not wearing a costume as a conversation icebreaker? She is probably thinking Is this creepy dude with a long, greasy ponytail in a black trenchcoat going to rape me? I kid you not, Tony. I kid you not.

And here's the thing about women at cons and woman at... life. If one dude tries to creep on her in his long ponytail and black trenchcoat, she may (for safety's sake, not out of malice) assume that all dudes in ponytails and trenchcoats are creepy quasi-rapists who breathe heavily and buy her "gifts" with the expectation of sex in return. You know, and I know that not all dudes are like that. That pretty much goes without saying. But bad experiences have a way of shaping a person's behaviour in the future. They want to protect themselves from future harassment, potential stalking and general Bad Mojo. So they snub strange dudes that they don't know. They avoid them. Because rapists don't announce themselves when they walk onto a con floor with a giant "I'M A RAPIST PLEASE AVOID ME" sign over their chest. It would be really helpful if they did.

So for safety's sake, some women choose to only hang around their girlfriends, or group of friends they came with. Because those friends are safe. They still dress up in the costumes that make them feel attractive and geeky and awesome, but they choose not to spend their time with unfamiliar dudes who are trying to find their girlfriend at a con. And Tony, that's ok. It's ok for girls to dress in a sexy manner and not want to interact with you, or to interact with you but not want to date you. Because women are people. They want to feel good about themselves and not feel like the owe everyone in the world a favour.

4) Now, I get what you're saying about sexism in the geek industry. Sex sells. Games and comics have lots of sexy female characters that women cosplay. And there are sexy ladies dressed up at gaming and comic conventions whose sole purpose is to prey on the budding sexuality of male geeks and who are only interested in taking their hard-earned pocket money. You know what they are called? Booth babes.

These are ladies who are hired by YOU, the industry, to sell a product. Are they fake geeks? Only so much as they are a product that you have created and you are selling. In this real-world economy, these ladies need a job, and industry booths hire them to stand pretty, take pictures and take young geek money. They are not there for personal satisfaction or to up their "geek/hot girl" cred. They are there to work, at a booth, just like you. If you want to deal with sexism in the industry and scantily clad women running around convention centres, you should really take a look at your own industry practices before you condemn female fans who are trying to emulate the characters that they love.

5) And lastly, that brings me back to the relevance of the long-running superheroine contest. If you SO abhor seeing fat girls in skimpy clothing, maybe you and your comic book pals could design a character or two that doesn't have gravity-defying ta-tas and an impossible self-supporting mobius-strip costume now and then.

Now, can we please stop hating on girl geeks and play nice?

EDIT: If this is not an issue about sexism, please, please point me to where folks in general are trying to stake out "fake geek" men. Men who play video games to garner attention, men who know nothing about comic book characters, but buy figurines because they "look cool". Men who cosplay their sexy, sexy body in a "sexified" version of a popular character, but are only in it for all that girl geek fawning. Do we quiz them on canon and origin stories? Do we look at those dudes who are just a little too attractive to be there and question their motives? Oh? A cute boy walked into a comic shop with his oxford shoes and buddy holly glasses? I bet he's not a "real" geek, I bet he's just a poser doing it because it's cool.

Because as a woman, you are constantly put on the defensive of your "geek cred". You are asked to prove yoruself to the gatekeepers of geekdom that you are, in fact, a legit geek. And god forbid you don't pass their internal test of what makes a geek. You read Elfquest but not Superman? Not a Real Geek(TM). You play RPGs but not FPS? Not a Real Geek(TM). Men are not questioned by the Geek Authority upon entering a sacred space like a comic book store or a gaming lounge. Men are assumed to be geeks first and foremost simply for being there. Women are assumed to be... evil? I dunno. I haven't quite figured out why we're in geek spaces in men's minds if we're not geeks.

Women should not have to prove themselves to be geeks, just to please the minds of people like Tony who is Totally Not Sexist and Kindly Differentiates Between Real Geek Girls and GurlGeeks. If they say they are geeks, they are geeks. If they only read a few comic books or dabble casually into gaming, but aren't really into tabletop stuff? Still geeks. Just like guys are still geeks even though they have differing tastes in geekdom. Movies, Cosplay, Games, Comics, Novels, Shows, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror, the world of geekdom is HUGE. We're all a part of it in some way. Because it's fun to be a geek. It's fun to share your knowledge with someone who doesn't know about what you love.

And girl geeks are SO GOOD at getting new people into fandom. You walk up to somebody's tumblr and are all "who is this hot duder in a scarf" and she's all "LET ME ASPERGERS YOU ABOUT SHERLOCK FOR AN HOUR AND SHOW YOU THESE GIFS" And that's how it should be. About sharing, promoting, loving what we love. Not forming some kind of hipster pit where the coolest person doesn't have any friends and damn well makes sure no one likes the obscure stuff they like because underground and stuff.

If you see a cosplayer at a con who is new to fandom, new to geekdom, or casually putting their toes into this space by wearing a costume, you have two options:

1) Leave them alone because maybe they want to be alone

2) Offer to teach them new stuff to make them a better geek. Teaching is fun. learning is fun. Making friends is fun.

Two other good responses to the subject: [link] [link]

EDIT 2: Friends, your misogyny is showing. You might wanna zip that up.

This slut-shaming stuff has to stop.

"I'm ok with cosplayers but not the slutty ones, we all know who THEY are" is some real sexist, woman-shaming crap on a stick. You do not define what is "slutty" and what is "not slutty". Especially when you do not hold men up to the same standards that you hold women.


Many people have seen a Fat Hulk in their con-going days.

Fat Hulks aren't questioned about their body. "Ew, you're not ripped like the hulk, cosplay to your body type! You've killed my attraction to the character!"
Fat Hulks aren't assumed to be "slutty" for wearing literally only ripped pants. "Wow, dude, put a shirt on. All the women are staring at you."
Fat Hulks aren't questioned on their knowledge of Hulk Backstory. "Yeah? What do you know about the Hulk? I bet you just picked the Hulk because he has a skimpy costume and you could show of your semi-hot body!"
Fat Hulk costumes aren't seen as "cheap" even though the costume is only ripped pants and green paint. "Oh, anyone could throw that together the night before. You put no EFFORT into it! You're clearly only here to attract Hulk fans and doing it for the attention!"
Fat Hulks aren't compared to better hulks. "Yo, dude, the Hulk over there is WAY more ripped, you may wanna stand back a bit"
Fat Hulks don't have pictures of their ass or up-shorts surreptitiously taken of them without permission "Well, if you're gonna walk around with no shirt on, people are gonna notice and take you picture. If you don't want people to take your photo in a public space, don't go out like that. Wear something less revealing." ([link])

In short, stop policing women.
Stop holding them to any sort of "nerd standard" I don't care if she doesn't know anything about comics and blindly wandered into a comic con thinking it was a shoe store. You are not allowed to judge her presence there.
Stop deciding what is "too little" for them to wear. It's none of your business what she does with her body.
Stop deciding what is "too much attention" being paid to her. Don't like her attitude or her thoughts? Don't hang out with her. Just leave. Don't be so passive-agressive and internetty about it. If you have a real problem with someone's behaviour, such as them physically touching you or hitting on you and making you uncomfortable, pull them aside and have a grown-up conversation with them.

Magic Words: "Hey, I pulled you aside to talk to you. See, I know we're all here to have fun, but you joke a lot about sexy stuff around me, and sometimes you grab me into these random hugs and it kinda makes me uncomfortable. Could you please tone it down around me? I just really don't like flirty, sexy stuff and I don't like to be touched without asking my permission first. I'm not trying to ruin your experience, I just want us both to have a good time at the con. Thanks for listening."

Most people will listen when you ask them to respect your personal boundaries. Running to facebook and whinning about those slutty sluts and their dirty slutness is just so counter-productive.
If that cosplayer is getting all friendly with someone else and that someone else is enjoying it? None of your business. None. Go read a webcomic and let them have fun in the way they want to have fun. You are not the slut-police.

Read more here: [link]
What is Slut Shaming? [link]

CONTEST CLOSED.
ALL ENTRIES HAVE BEEN RECIEVED.
TIME TO VOTE!
______________________________

Have an awesome mini-comic featuring female superheroes by Katlay

Also, to get you prepped for voting: Because there are SO MANY ENTRIES OH MY GOD, YOU PEOPLE, Voting will be staggered

This means that I will divide entries into groups of 10, chronologically, for the people's choice poll. There will be as many polls as necessary to give everyone a fair vote in a small group.

The winner of EACH poll will be a finalist. So it doesn't matter if the winner of poll 1 got 200 votes and the winner of poll 2 got 100 votes, they're both number 1, so they both advance.

YES, YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. YOU CAN VOTE IN EVERY POLL. YOU SHOULD VOTE IN EVERY POLL.
YES, YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. YOU CAN VOTE IN EVERY POLL. YOU SHOULD VOTE IN EVERY POLL.
YES, YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. YOU CAN VOTE IN EVERY POLL. YOU SHOULD VOTE IN EVERY POLL.
YES, YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. YOU CAN VOTE IN EVERY POLL. YOU SHOULD VOTE IN EVERY POLL.
YES, YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. YOU CAN VOTE IN EVERY POLL. YOU SHOULD VOTE IN EVERY POLL.

Finalists will be rounded up and put in a final poll for the winner.

Polls will be up for 24 hours and then the new poll will start.
Votes entered after the finalist has been selected do not count.
If a finalist does not wish to advance (some people just did the contest for a challenge, not for prizes) the position goes to second, and so on.

Sound good?

FINALISTS
_________________

Yes, I am doing much better today. Disabling comments has been a relief. I don't like limiting freedom of speech, but this works well for my full-body packs which seem to garner more unwanted attention that my headshots.

Back to business, I wanted to talk about my plan for Expired Stock.

I have extremely high standards, and like many artists, I become embarassed by, and eventually can't stand my old work. So I get rid of it. I know that many people like my old stuff, and I don't want to suddenly cut them off in the middle of a project, so my plan is to simply phase out old work I don't like. There isn't an exact timeline for this, but it should be enough that you notice where it has gone if you still need it.

First, it gets moved to the Old Stock folder at the bottom of my gallery. It will stay here for a while as I decide if I want to replace it or just get rid of it.

Second, it gets moved to Scraps. You can still download my packs in scraps, I just don't have to look at them anymore.

Thirdly, it will be put into Storage permanently. I don't need to delete them altogether, but they will no longer be accessible.

Rules regarding expired stock:

1) This is why I ask you to link my profile and not the deviation itself. I move stuff. I delete stuff. That would lead to a dead link.

2) If you have saved expired stock, you are welcome to use it for your own personal projects. Same content and commercial use rules.
Yes, you can post art made with expired art on DA / the internet, but just credit my profile, and I dunno, probably add a note like "this stock is no longer available" because you may get a bunch of people asking. (Just a suggestion)

3) Do not share or upload my expired stock. I don't like it anymore. I want to get rid of it. It does NOT become creative commons / public domain. I am simply not offering it anymore.

As you can see, I've already started this process with some of my oldest packs. If you need them, save them now. They are currently in scraps and will be stored in a few weeks.

I have to admit, I'm in a very poor mood right now.
I worked so hard all summer in high heat sanding, puttying, painting and fixing up my loft to have a decent space to shoot full-body pictures. I was so excited to be able to share new stuff with you, my watchers and artists looking for reference.

The first post I make with full body pictures has garnered numerous rude comments ignoring my request not to post about my body.

I don't know what to do.

I enjoy helping artists. I have a lot of self-confidence and I love my own body. I don't need to be told that I'm pretty. But hearing these comments and having these people repeatedly break this rule and get defensive when I tell them that it's written above just corrodes my will to go on. This is supposed to be fun. This is supposed to be about learning. This is not supposed to be about my ass or my feet or whatever body part of mine you deem to be unacceptable.

I am especially upset when I am faced with a victim-blaming attitude.

"It may be spelled out that you don't want comments of a certain type, but this is an art website and a public forum for people to critique artwork. I'm not sure that it's the artist's right to decide what kind of criticism they receive.
If you really don't want comments about your body, then perhaps putting loads of pictures of your body on the internet isn't the best idea.
I completely understand your point of view, the purpose of your stock and why you wouldn't want commments like that, but I still think that trying to dictate what level or quality of criticism your work receives is a little inappropriate."

Really? Don't post my stock? Don't try to help artists improve? Don't try to create a space where women aren't berated for every percieved physical flaw someone has decided needs to be talked about?

This is the kind of attitude that says "Well, if you don't want to be raped, you should never leave your house!" How does that accomplish anything?
The problem is not me for posting my pictures. The problem is the people who choose to willfully ignore the few rules I set out and act like my body and my art are public property.

My profile is not a democracy.

You don't have freedom of speech in the comments section. I ALLOW comments to be posted, that is not your automatic right, and you certainly don't just get to say whatever you please. See that "hide comment" button everyone has? I have one too. That means you need to read my rules and watch what you say, or else I moderate your speech. But the best thing to do is to not be an ass in the first place. It's not hard, trust me.

I'm sorry this is another rant journal so soon after the last one.
I'm sorry that I let these comments get to me. The majority is overwhelmingly positive, and that is worth mentioning. I shouldn't listen to these people, but I do. Their comments show up in my inbox and feel like a slap in the face.

I'm still going to shoot stock and I'm still going to post it, but my mood is very low right now.

I'll be better tomorrow.

To anyone who simply says "don't feed the trolls" I'd like you to watch this video. As usual, Jay Smooth says it better than I could have.

Found here at the Mary Sue

The mummified remains of "Princess" Ukok, as the scientists named her, was discovered nearly twenty years ago in the Altai mountain range in East-Central Asia. Kept for all that time in Novosibirsk, Russia, it was not until very recently that she's been revealed to the rest of us. But among the general wonder and fascination that always comes with finding mummified and ancient bodies, Princess Ukok has another: She's covered in remarkably preserved, completely badass tattoos.

People have been tattooing themselves and each other for almost as long as humanity has existed; it just seems embedded in human nature to adorn our bodies in one way or another, whether through cheap drugstore eyeshadow or ancient ritual inking.

From Buzzfeed:

    Princess Ukok and her warriors are believed to be members of the Pazyryk nomads who existed as early as the 5th century BC when they were described by the Greek historian Herodotus.

    Buried with Ukok, who died around the age of 25, were a meal of sheep and horse meat and six horses with bridles perhaps meant to escort her to the next world and most definitely evidence of her status in her tribe. From what knowledge has survived of Pazyryk culture, we know the tattoos were a from of identification, like a driver's license, meant to make it easier to find your family members after death.

Elena Shumakova of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography drew some beautiful reconstructions of the tattoos that cover the bodies of Princess Ukok and her warriors.

Challenge: What would princess Ukok look like alive?

This isn't a contest or anything, I just thought it might provide some inspiration if you're looking for something to draw today.

We've reached the halfway point for entries in the Fat Female Superhero contest. I must say, I am amazed at the support and commentary for such an event. I think that most people have realised that it's not about winning a prize, but about challenging the accepted norms of the industry and creating characters that we want to see represent us.

With such a loose contest structure, accepting any strong female protagonist who defies body conventions, I'm amazed at the diversity that has sprung up in the entries. I didn't want to constrain artists and have them create something that only I define as "fat". It was up to YOU to decide what the word "fat" and "fit" mean.

And really, "fat" is such a curious, loaded word. To many, it is an insult. "You're too fat." But everyone has fat. Some have a little, some have a lot. Some peopel interpreted the "fat female superhero" as someone who is overweight or obese. Some saw her as simply someone who has fat deposits on her body that exist outside her boobs and butt. Others saw the term as a way to defy what movies and magazines constantly tell us: that any size is too much size, whether that be fat or muscle.

Our bodies are all different. Some women have layers of muscle and fat that give them a stocky build and enormous strength. Some have wirey frames and lean muscles for running and jumping. Some are supermodels with long, thin legs and large breasts. Some are tall, some are short, some are unhealthy when thin, some are healthy and fat.

This here is a showcase of all the hard work these artists have put in and a thank you to them for creating imagery that is creative, relatable and fun. I especially want to shout out to all the artists who have never tried drawing a "fat" body before and have pushed themselves out of their comfort zone. Body diversity is fun practice for art, creating unique characters in a much more interesting world. For this contest, it's not so much about technical skill as a desire to create positive change in the comics and media industry.

Don't worry, there's still a month left to go if you're interested in entering.
THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS SEPTEMBER 17TH.

Contest - A 'Fat' Female Superhero VOTINGHey guys, we're voting now, check out my front page for the latest poll.
I'm a regular reader of Escher Girls, so when I read the latest post this morning, I was deeply concerned. The following post was submitted to Eschergirls and was not made by me. The artist is Selkiesiun
I DID NOT DRAW THIS PICTURE. :iconselkiesiun: DID. THIS IS A QUOTE OF HER EXPERIENCES.
I AM ONLY RELAYING THE INFORMATION.
Selkiesiun submitted to Eschergirls:
    "This is not so much a critique post as it is a conformation of how absurd the standards of art in the comic book industry have become.
    I traveled to San Diego Comic Con this year and participated in the portfolio reviews they where holding from Thursday to S





:thumb315800046:
:thumb315973401:










Chargerone: Blaring

"Can I look at that tinderbox?" she asked, pointing to a metal box in the showcase.

A petite woman with black hair so dark it reflected blue. She looked like she was in her midteens, but was really in her early twenties. She wore turquoise pumps, black denim jeans, a black and teal striped tube top and a mustard colored hoodie. She was plump in shape, but knew how to dress so she wasn't hiding her shape, or bulging out the sides.

The little corner of the indoor flea-market smelled of old books, and restricted air. Even if the dander in the air did irritate her eyes and nose, she still took her time.

The man opened the glass s

:thumb318596665:


:thumb319517217:

Hey guys, we're voting now, check out my front page for the latest poll.



Current entries

P.S. Congratulations to   for winning the 100 point random draw in my previous journal and for the 50 point bonus draw. Thank you for all your voting effort!

*Title stolen from a well-known and favourite book of mine
Part 1: Submitting with POWER

I know there are a million "how to be popular" guides on DA and a million more parody versions of them. This article isn't about becoming popular, or starting drama or racking up pageviews as fast as possible for the sake of seeing a larger number.

This article won't make your art better, or make you more a more popular personality. However, what I've noticed is that many artists are missing out on feedback and exposure that they should be getting if not for a few common mistakes. Time after time, I've read on Artist's Confessions, or just browsing through members' personal journals that their gallery doesn't recieve any traffic and they can't improve because they're not getting any feedback. They feel like their lack of popularity is a personal statement. That their art isn't worth looking at. This is entirely untrue.

Hopefully this will help you, the underexposed artist, to bring your art forward into DA.

Before we start, I want to make it clear that many people use DA for different reasons, and that it's ok to just use DA as a personal storage for your drawings if you're not looking for exposure. This was written for those who are seeking more feedback and networking opportunities for their art. Both ways are fine, but if you want friends and comments, you need to be active in going out and getting them. Your art could be the very best in the world, but if you just submit it blankly and then sit back and twiddle yoru thumbs, wondering why you're not getting any views, you're kinda shooting yourself in the foot.

And here's the kicker: it may not be the quality of your art. So many artists lose confidence because they're not getting as much feedback as X artist out there. Unless the difference between your art is staggering (a middle schooler vs a professional illustrator) the main reason between your levels of feedback probably isn't the quality of your art. Many professionals quietly use DA as a portfolio or storage, not taking advantage of the networking opportunities available. They've been on here for years but either through lack of desire or lack of knowledge, haven't pushed their art out into the open forum.

Your skill is not the biggest issue when it comes to getting feedback in DA.
Your attitude and your willingness to challenge yourself is.

Your skill will always improve if you seek feedback and take in what you recieve.
Your attitude is what will build your skill up or tear it down.

Be open.
Be positive.
Be constructive.
Be humble.
Be honest.

Don't pity yourself.
Don't tear others down.
Don't turn DA into a competition.
Don't worry so much.
Don't be shallow.



Submitting your art. But is it worth submitting?

You know how I said skill doesn't matter? It doesn't. But effort does. Doodles and joke-art are fine, but put them where they belong: in scraps or on Tumblr or Photobucket. Keep DA about the art. No demotivators, or cut 'n paste fan-art or art you just didn't put your whole ass into. Really, if even you felt lazy doing it, chances are, other people will think it looks lazy, too. Submit your best work, not every doodle you do on a napkin. (art dumps and sketchbook progress are fine, I'm more refering to a cluttered gallery with 500+ individual pieces)

When you're able to select your best work, now we can go on to really promoting the good stuff. And you know what? If you make a piece that you're especially proud of, you should definitely promote the heck out of it. Show it off to people and get attention for that piece. Don't overpromote every piece you make, just the ones that you are particularly proud of and that best show your current skill level. Let the so-so stuff slide, but if you worked hard on a piece, show it off!

Category

Your art has to go somewhere. DA is huge. If you're a new member, I highly suggest exploring DA's treed system of categories to become better aquainted with where your submission might belong.

Quite simply, put your deviation where it belongs. Doing so otherwise, in the long run, is just shooting yourself in the foot.

It's true that Deviantart imposed a new ranking system for popular categories that puts a handicap on well-known galleries like Fan Art and Digital Art, while boosting the exposure of categories like Artisan Crafts and Street Art. It's also true that some people choose to deliberately miscategorize their work to recieve this extra bump of potential attention, but in the long run, it doesn't benefit anyone.

By miscategorizing your work, you make it so that people can't search or browse for your work unless you categorize it properly. Yes, putting your digital fanart in Tattoos may have it hit the popular>8hour page for a few minutes, but no one will be able to find your fanart again because they won't look in tattoos. The reason why is obvious. It's not a tattoo, and it's a rarely used category. People don't browse it. People won't look for fanart in it. You're sacrificing long-term exposure and views for short-term gain.

And of course, people hate you. Duh. They see you being manipulative and trying to cheat the system and think less of you as an artist and a user. Great way to get fans, no? Honesty is the best policy here. If you make fan-art, put it in fan-art. People will look for it there and will find it. It works better for you and for everyone in the long run.

EDIT: It's ok to make mistakes or to not be sure about where your piece belongs. Not sure if it's macro or still life? You can submit it to the category you think it fits best, then either ask in the description where people think it should go, or send a note to your friendly gallery mod.

Description

Anything can go here, right? Well, yes, but there are also things you can do to help increase your exposure. Aside from your own comments, you can ask for critique, or, as a premium member, place hand-picked thumbs to similar deviations in your gallery.

Personally, I can't stand the "more from" feature on the upper right of the deviation page. It shows other pieces in your gallery, but they're never relevant, and often they show old, bad work. If you're going to do your own "more from" feature, pick out thumbnail links that are relevant to what people would logically want to go to next. Always think about who is viewing your art, and what taste they might have. Getting inside other people's heads and understanding what they want is the best way to know what to give them.

If your art is pokemon fanart, you could just link to your other pokemon fanart. This lets people know that you have more to show, rather than chancing on them feeling like they perhaps maybe should go to your gallery and check it out if they have time maybe if they feel like it, but OH HEY DISTRACTED LEAVE. Keep people interested in your whole gallery, not just a single piece.

When making a thumbnail network, keep it cyclical.

In picture 1
Link it to 2, 3, 4, 5

In picture 2
Link it to 1, 3, 4, 5

In picture 3
Link it to 1, 2, 4, 5

And so on. This leads people around your gallery without getting lost and without having to go back to your main page and main gallery to browse. You may lose a few hits on your profile page, but people are looking at your art and that is what you want.

You can see my example of thumblooping here: I post related, relevant deviations in the immediate vicinity of my content. Unfortunately, this is only available to premium members.

Keywords

Keywords are what will make or break your art's exposure in the long run. Sure, you may be close to the front page of popular/8hour for a while, but once that drops off, your art is sinking down into a bottomless abyss with no hope of return to the surface if you don't have a way for people to search or browse for your art.

Make no mistake, DA's search function is horribly weak, but this is all the more reason to overcompensate, not ignore it. When people are able to find your art in the long run, they will keep coming back to it, even long after you have posted it and it is not ranked on the new or popular pages.

Put your name in your keywords. Every time.

Open up a new tab of DA.
Switch the rankings to "popular-> all time"
Type "Kxhara" into the search

Don't worry, I'll wait.

You get me. Pages and pages of me. Because I put my name in my keywords, when people search for it, they get me.

Put your piece title in your keywords

Believe it or not, DA's search does wonky things when you don't have your title in your keywords, and sometimes it won't find it at all. If someone is looking for a specific piece of yours, this is an easy way for them to find it. It also provides a starting ground for filling out the rest of your keywords.

Use all of your keyword space

You're not given that many, fill them all out. You don't need to spam or use irrelevant tags like #Bieber or whatever. Just describe the important elements of your art and most importantly, consider what people are looking for in your art. What will they search for if they were to search for your art?

Good keywords include characteristics, style, and information. Some of it might be abstract, but try not to be too vague or too micro-specific.

Kxhara <- My name
Walking
In
The
Night <- Title

People can't spell. Compensate for this.

Forest
Forrest
bridge
brige
bridg
mountain
mountin
mounton
beauty
beutie

Use synonyms and variations of keywords. Not everyone thinks the same

Face
Profile
Portrait
Head
Girl
Female
Woman
Photo
Picture
Image
Draw
Drawing
Fantasy
Fantastic
Dark
Elf
Elves
Elven
Elfin

If you speak another language, or want to appeal to a non-english speaking audience, you can add non-english keywords as well.

Do a popular -> All time search for "doll"

Now search for the French "poupee"
Or the Norwegan "dukke"

These are all words for "doll" yet they all return different search results because of language. Knowing what other people are searching for will help them find you.
Personally, I don't speak any other languages well enough to do that, so people who want to use my stock must have a basic grasp of English.

I know you're all excited by now, and you just want to mash that submit button as hard as possible to get your art up onto DA, but if you take the time to properly submit, categorize and keyword your art, you will get better exposure in the long run.

As an example, here are the keywords I've used for my "Let's Draw lighting Angles" stock image

kxhara stock photo photograph picture image reference head headshot portrait girl female woman eye mouth lips angle draw help tutorial let's lets angle light lighting backlit front back side up down dark shadow shade shading rembrandt bulb

Critique

If you're a premium member and interested in getting serious feedback about your work, enable critique if you want. It doesn't necessarily increase your exposure very much (though it does place your deviation on an open list of critiquable items) it does let those who view your art know that you're looking for help improving. If you don't have a premium membership, you can simply write in the description that you're looking for critique.

Prints

We're going to ignore this, because this is about getting feedback and improving, not selling our art. Unless there is a growing demand for your art, it's not necessary to make prints of everything so soon. Learn more, get better, become known, then make money. For now, we're focusing on networking, not cash.

Groups

Now you've just submitted your work to the great wide internet. You sit back and twiddle your thumbs. You're done, right? Not yet. We haven't considered groups. Groups are the vital catalyst to attracting more people to your art. Be they one-time viewers or potential long-term friends and critics.

Submitting to groups puts your deviation in group watchers lists, even if they're not directly wacthing you. If they're looking for pokemon fanart and following a pokemon fanart group and you submit to it, they're able to find your work and see you as an artist. Groups are networking gold for users to meet and interact with each others' art.

Look at your art like you did for keywords. Decide what elements of it you want to highlight with groups.

Is it fanart?
Is it a certain theme? Fantasy, Dark, Realism, Kawaii?
Is it Anime?
Does it have action? Romance? Drama?
Is it a photograph?
Is that photograph a resource?
Is it an artisan craft, but also a fan-craft?

There's a group for this. There's always a group. In fact, most times there are multiple groups and clubs dedicated to certain things, and luckily for you those groups usually have affiliates you can browse through to find similar groups to your liking. One portrait photography group is probably affiliated with a black-and-white-only photography group. There is no limit to the amount of groups you can join as long as you

DON'T SPAM

It's not necessary. Really. There are enough groups out there that your deviation will fit into properly that there's no need to miscategorize or missubmit your work for negative attention. Read the rules of the group, follow them, and you will do fine.

So, say you drew a piece of digital fan-art with a romantic couple in a winter scene.

There are groups for digital art, groups for winter backgrounds and scenes, groups for couples and romance, groups for characters and generally groups for the whole show or series. All of these different groups widen your exposure based on content. And that can be better for you than just submitting your deviataion to only fan-art groups or only digital art groups. You're bringing in different people with different interests and experiences to your art.

Variety is the spice of life. Start where you are, but go and seek out new places to network and new people to meet and look at your art. A well-run group will have helpful members and generally also has things to do like challenges, contests and themes, but we'll get to that in part 2: Going Out and Getting That Feedback

using my Let's Draw Light Angles submission as an example:

I decided to pursue groups that would find a stock image / tutorial of lighting angles helpful.
Yes, this is a photograph, but it's not an artistic photograph, so there's no need to submit it to photography groups that wouldn't look at it and wouldn't find it helpful. I chose to focus on groups that are based around stock and resources, but also tutorial groups. While this may not be a tutorial in itself, people who are looking for lighting tutorials will probably also be looking for sample images like this.

(tutorial and drawing) (tutorial and drawing) (stock collection) (stock collection) (anatomy tutorials and stock)

Just to name a few.

Network with relevant groups to create a stonger presence for yourself and for those groups themselves. They want to have you bring in watchers and new member to their groups! You don't need to worry about getting your work into large or exclusive elitist groups. If you're invited, great. If not, you're just sharing your work with a different audience.

So with the renovation of my gallery, comes work on my space itself. I haven't been posting much new stock lately as the Attic aka Photography Lounge aka Dreamatorium is currently under construction.

I've done a massive clean-out of my space, removing years of old junk and freeing up my general area of clutter. The next step was ripping up the masking tape grid on the floor in preparation to paint the space. I'm also planning to take out the giant built-in easel that I usually crop out of the left of all my photos. This means that I will no longer have the fabric-draped white background, and instead I was thinking of opting for painting the entire room a neutral grey to cover the floor and walls. (Is there a particular shade that is beneficial to photography? I was thinking of the lighter side of things)

Also, the grid will be replaced, but definitely not with masking tape. The glue has eaten through the paint on the floor and is a giant sticky mess of chemicals and dirt. It will be replaced with neatly painted black lines which I will hopefully be able to continue up the walls. I hope to keep doing stock while construction is happening, but it may just be more portraits or anatomy stuff for a while more. That or the images will be heavily photoshopped to take out the mess of filling in the holes in the floor and walls with putty and general renovation stuff.

As a third point, I've also been renovating my body as well. I've had enough rest from school and now I'm trying to keep up a schedule of 1 hour of swimming every second day, and 30 mins of strength training / dance training every day. And when I say dance training I mean dead-simple stuff like releves and plies and stretching. I am a terrible dancer with no training, so don't ask for dance stock. There are much better dancers out there. More exercise means better muscle tone and more energy in my photos!

Don't forget! There are additional points to be won! The goal is almost met and we only need a few more supporters! We're so close!

Help A Friend Out With a Few Clicks?My friend needs your help to get a chance to get a small business grant provided by Chase bank.
He needs 250 votes in the next four days to be eligible.
Please visit https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/ click the "login via facebook" and search for Delmar's Vaudeville Publishing.
Thanks for your support!
Comment if you helped out and I will raffle off 100 points randomly to one lucky winner!
(Yes, I occasionally shamelessly use my popularity to help people in need out ;D)
EDIT: Looks like we're up to 126 votes! Keep 'em coming!
EDIT: 176!
EDIT: 195!
EDIT: 213!
We can do this! The last 50 voters will be raffled an additional prize of 50 points!

My friend needs your help to get a chance to get a small business grant provided by Chase bank.
He needs 250 votes in the next four days to be eligible.

Please visit [link] click the "login via facebook" and search for Delmar's Vaudeville Publishing.
Thanks for your support!

Comment if you helped out and I will raffle off 100 points randomly to one lucky winner!

(Yes, I occasionally shamelessly use my popularity to help people in need out ;D)

EDIT: Looks like we're up to 126 votes! Keep 'em coming!
EDIT: 176!
EDIT: 195!
EDIT: 213!

We can do this! The last 50 voters will be raffled an additional prize of 50 points!

I've gotten a couple notes lately asking about purchasing a license or doing sets of custom stock.

The short answer to this is "I don't know yet."

I really need to get things figured out, both legally in terms of usage and prices and fees. I want everyone to be happy. I don't want to rip people off, and neither do I want to be ripped off in return. I first need to speak to someone who can help me figure out these things and perhaps give me a hand helping me manage the business side of my work. It's great that people are interested in commercial use, but I want to represent myself well, not be taken advantage of, and also make a fair income for my work.

So it's not a flat-out "no" but I need to figure some legal and business stuff out first.
If you know of anyone reputable that I could get advice from, that would also be helpful.