Raining-Insanity
1.1K
Watchers173 Deviations64.4K
Pageviews Journals27
Newest
Vent below
1 min read
Let's do something in reverse here. I'm going to let you do the talking in this Journal. Tell me what's on your mind. 
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Rant Saturday
11 min read
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
General updates and near future
9 min read
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Sooo... Wix bought Deviantart.
3 min read
I haven't been too active on Deviantart (for that matter, I haven't been active at all on my platforms) over the course of these past weeks. I had some exams and projects to work on, on top of having a new job. Today I come around and see the one new notice - Deviantart bought by Wix.com.
I know this site has been slowly sinking to oblivion these couple of years, starting with the redesign and introduction to Core membership that was an excuse to jack the prices of Premium up - but hey, at least I get a Core sign next to my name. This site, undoubtedly, needs a full-on revamp and a myriad of new features that all the standard art sites already have.
Wix.com is a platform that I decided to work with this summer to create my online portfolio. I decided to take up the free plan first and then decide whether I'll shell out for a paid membership later on or not, depending how the first impressions with the site go. Needless to say, my site is pretty much dead by now since I haven't uploaded anything since college started. Why?
First of all, the user interface and site building mechanism. It's pretty user friendly, I'll admit. Great for beginners. But as you get the hang of it, it gradually gets more and more confusing to tweak around your page. Once you edit one thing, another 10 fall out of balance. I just fell into the WYSIWYG nightmare circle each and everytime I wanted to update something on my page.
Second, the upload limits. I get that I shouldn't be asking for a lot if I'm going with a free plan, but a 500mb limit? I can upload about 12 high-res photos on my portfolio with that. In other words, I can get a hint of portfolio with that upload limit.
Lastly, the murky waters of photo and work licencing with Wix. Here's the deal with "Free" plan over at Wix. If by their standards your website and content looks good, they have the right to use your work (content) for promotional purposes. Which means, they will take your work for free and advertise with it. You can read more in-depth article about "Free" contract with Wix here.
It should be pretty clear that I do not support this business decision. I can get around fine with upload limits, heck, I could even get around the future new features and design. I'm used to DA charging for special features already, so I wouldn't beat my head over it. However, what I'm not okay with is the last thing I've mentioned, my work being used for free in a marketing campaign. The fact that I'm using your platform does not give you the right to jack my work and use it for free for promotional purposes. If this happens to DA, I might be forced to close my account over here and move on to the next best thing.
The fact that it came so suddenly - I for one had no clue DA made a purchase agreement with Wix - tells me who is going to pull all the strings in this business relationship. For those who had not seen the journal yet, read the details here: DeviantArt and Wix: With a Kindred Spirit.
I know this site has been slowly sinking to oblivion these couple of years, starting with the redesign and introduction to Core membership that was an excuse to jack the prices of Premium up - but hey, at least I get a Core sign next to my name. This site, undoubtedly, needs a full-on revamp and a myriad of new features that all the standard art sites already have.
Wix.com is a platform that I decided to work with this summer to create my online portfolio. I decided to take up the free plan first and then decide whether I'll shell out for a paid membership later on or not, depending how the first impressions with the site go. Needless to say, my site is pretty much dead by now since I haven't uploaded anything since college started. Why?
First of all, the user interface and site building mechanism. It's pretty user friendly, I'll admit. Great for beginners. But as you get the hang of it, it gradually gets more and more confusing to tweak around your page. Once you edit one thing, another 10 fall out of balance. I just fell into the WYSIWYG nightmare circle each and everytime I wanted to update something on my page.
Second, the upload limits. I get that I shouldn't be asking for a lot if I'm going with a free plan, but a 500mb limit? I can upload about 12 high-res photos on my portfolio with that. In other words, I can get a hint of portfolio with that upload limit.
Lastly, the murky waters of photo and work licencing with Wix. Here's the deal with "Free" plan over at Wix. If by their standards your website and content looks good, they have the right to use your work (content) for promotional purposes. Which means, they will take your work for free and advertise with it. You can read more in-depth article about "Free" contract with Wix here.
It should be pretty clear that I do not support this business decision. I can get around fine with upload limits, heck, I could even get around the future new features and design. I'm used to DA charging for special features already, so I wouldn't beat my head over it. However, what I'm not okay with is the last thing I've mentioned, my work being used for free in a marketing campaign. The fact that I'm using your platform does not give you the right to jack my work and use it for free for promotional purposes. If this happens to DA, I might be forced to close my account over here and move on to the next best thing.
The fact that it came so suddenly - I for one had no clue DA made a purchase agreement with Wix - tells me who is going to pull all the strings in this business relationship. For those who had not seen the journal yet, read the details here: DeviantArt and Wix: With a Kindred Spirit.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
On 2016 and artstyle.
7 min read
Yo.
First of all, Merry Christmas to whoever celebrates it, and for the rest, happy holidays! It's been a while since I've written a journal, or heck, even updated my profile. I hope I'll be able to make use of these holidays to update both of my profiles (for those who might not know, I also have an art account on here (Solsticea) that hasn't been updated since late summer this year), but I'm not promising, first and foremost myself, anything, since I never hold on to any of my promises Deviantart related - with the amount of exams, projects and math (math is a special category for me) I'm surprised I haven't started studying on Christmas Eve already.
Anyway, if you're not offended in any way, shape or form by the rarity of my posting, give me some feedback or a watch on my art account (perhaps it motivates me - perhaps) if you want to (who am I to force people?).
Today I want to talk about something that was perhaps the hardest thing for me to develop and accept both in photography and art in general - how do I develop my own unique art style. As I'm contemplating ripping apart the fifth paper in my new sketch block (that had a total of 13 papers in it and now it's down to 8 already), this topic came to my mind. I was always fascinated, and I still am, by other people's work. We tend to think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and it's no different in art for me. I tend to just sit for an hour browsing whichever site with artworks, in awe, thinking how much better all these people are at anything that I do. I'm aware that these people haven't improved overnight just as much as I haven't, and that it probably took years and years of practice to get to the point where they're at now, but a part of me still wishes that I can just sit and draw, paint or photograph something a genius masterpiece in 30 minutes, and I'm pretty sure anyone who does art feels the same. In the five long years I've had this profile, I can see and feel how much I've grown, developed and improved with my photography and it's kind of astonishing that after all this time, I've managed to improve and learn this much, and thus develop my own personal artstyle. I'm hoping that my Watchers feel the same. I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who gave me a Watch, all 857 of you. It's been a while since I've hit the 850 mark but I never got around to thank everyone of you who decided to support me and my work. It's absolutely crazy so many people gave attention to me and my work, how many of you like, comment and overall give feedback to my work. I am definitely thankful for each and every sign of attention towards my work, I read all comments even though I rarely respond to them - I'm hoping in 2017 I'll improve with my communication skills, build more friendships and develop even further. I'd also want to thank to all of the people who've been frequent commenters on both of my journals and artwork, who shared the thoughts, constructive criticism and overall support with me. 2016 has been a pretty crazy year for me in all ways possible and probably the best one so far and I sincerely hope 2017 will be another crazy, crazy ride like 2016 was.
Since I've gone off tangent completely (I'm bad with math), I had to go ahead and add in the "2016" part to my post title as well - and to return back to my tangent, in my years of development, an artstyle was something I struggled with the most. The main reason for that is that I'm a person that enjoys everything - I enjoy almost all styles and categories of photography. I just can't imagine myself doing only (self)portraiture or only still life (even though these are my most frequent photographic categories). I know I could photograph anything I want while still keeping my own style, but to be honest, I'm also the type to get bored from sticking to only one style. This is why it took me years to reach a point where I'm finally happy with the work I put out, sticking to and developing my particular style, a bit more day by day. This is why, in the future, my style will continue to change, bit by bit. While I'm at that point in photography, I definitely cannot say the same for my drawing or painting skills. Since drawing and painting hold so many different categories, styles, techniques, it's really difficult for me to stick to one.
I was always drawn to drawing (no pun intended) but it never became my passion the way photography did until the recent 3-4 years. I'll admit, I have no patience to sit and learn - I only have it when I have a burning passion for something. With my drawing, however, I've always been very lackluster. In the recent years I've tried to force myself to listen or read a few tutorials, lessons and such - and I did learn a great deal from all of those, even from the bad ones. But I'm not a type of person to study something like this for hours - which is the sole reason why I never decided to pursue arts as my career. Also, the thought of reading and studying anatomy books alone makes my skin crawl.
Whenever I try to sit and draw like I said, I usually end up crumpling up the paper and, visibly annoyed, trash it, because I'm a) too impatient to develop my own preferred style, b) usually drawing right out of my head and c) having someone else's style in mind and/or having my own visualisation so when things go south I get way too pissed off to continue. To simply put it, I'm trying to run a mile within two seconds with the heels of my feet super-glued to the ground (which is not simply put at all) - or, I'm getting way too ahead of myself. The reason may lie within the fact that I've already went through all of that with photography style and it's truly bothersome for me to go through all the phases with my drawing style as well. Most of my pencil work ends up being a sketch - if I take a break from it, for about 1-2 days, I just forget to finish it. On the other hand, when I dedicate myself to a piece, I'll forget to do everything else that I had to do for that day (if you were wondering, the record is 10 hours). All or nothing mentality, which is shitty and wonderful at the same time.
I'm hoping to drop this mentality (at least partly) in 2017 and try to dedicate myself to development of my art skills as much as I possibly can. Somehow, I can't imagine myself without any form of art - I think life without it would be pretty darn boring.
To wrap this up, if you want to hear a complete experience with how I found my photographic style and what I do/use, let me know to keep it for my future journal topics. I'm guessing this journal didn't offer much substance for you to learn from my experience, it was more of a look-back at 2016, but I hope you still enjoyed reading it. I hope you're having a nice time and I wish you all a successful 2017.
Happy holidays and until next time!
First of all, Merry Christmas to whoever celebrates it, and for the rest, happy holidays! It's been a while since I've written a journal, or heck, even updated my profile. I hope I'll be able to make use of these holidays to update both of my profiles (for those who might not know, I also have an art account on here (Solsticea) that hasn't been updated since late summer this year), but I'm not promising, first and foremost myself, anything, since I never hold on to any of my promises Deviantart related - with the amount of exams, projects and math (math is a special category for me) I'm surprised I haven't started studying on Christmas Eve already.
Anyway, if you're not offended in any way, shape or form by the rarity of my posting, give me some feedback or a watch on my art account (perhaps it motivates me - perhaps) if you want to (who am I to force people?).
Today I want to talk about something that was perhaps the hardest thing for me to develop and accept both in photography and art in general - how do I develop my own unique art style. As I'm contemplating ripping apart the fifth paper in my new sketch block (that had a total of 13 papers in it and now it's down to 8 already), this topic came to my mind. I was always fascinated, and I still am, by other people's work. We tend to think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and it's no different in art for me. I tend to just sit for an hour browsing whichever site with artworks, in awe, thinking how much better all these people are at anything that I do. I'm aware that these people haven't improved overnight just as much as I haven't, and that it probably took years and years of practice to get to the point where they're at now, but a part of me still wishes that I can just sit and draw, paint or photograph something a genius masterpiece in 30 minutes, and I'm pretty sure anyone who does art feels the same. In the five long years I've had this profile, I can see and feel how much I've grown, developed and improved with my photography and it's kind of astonishing that after all this time, I've managed to improve and learn this much, and thus develop my own personal artstyle. I'm hoping that my Watchers feel the same. I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who gave me a Watch, all 857 of you. It's been a while since I've hit the 850 mark but I never got around to thank everyone of you who decided to support me and my work. It's absolutely crazy so many people gave attention to me and my work, how many of you like, comment and overall give feedback to my work. I am definitely thankful for each and every sign of attention towards my work, I read all comments even though I rarely respond to them - I'm hoping in 2017 I'll improve with my communication skills, build more friendships and develop even further. I'd also want to thank to all of the people who've been frequent commenters on both of my journals and artwork, who shared the thoughts, constructive criticism and overall support with me. 2016 has been a pretty crazy year for me in all ways possible and probably the best one so far and I sincerely hope 2017 will be another crazy, crazy ride like 2016 was.
Since I've gone off tangent completely (I'm bad with math), I had to go ahead and add in the "2016" part to my post title as well - and to return back to my tangent, in my years of development, an artstyle was something I struggled with the most. The main reason for that is that I'm a person that enjoys everything - I enjoy almost all styles and categories of photography. I just can't imagine myself doing only (self)portraiture or only still life (even though these are my most frequent photographic categories). I know I could photograph anything I want while still keeping my own style, but to be honest, I'm also the type to get bored from sticking to only one style. This is why it took me years to reach a point where I'm finally happy with the work I put out, sticking to and developing my particular style, a bit more day by day. This is why, in the future, my style will continue to change, bit by bit. While I'm at that point in photography, I definitely cannot say the same for my drawing or painting skills. Since drawing and painting hold so many different categories, styles, techniques, it's really difficult for me to stick to one.
I was always drawn to drawing (no pun intended) but it never became my passion the way photography did until the recent 3-4 years. I'll admit, I have no patience to sit and learn - I only have it when I have a burning passion for something. With my drawing, however, I've always been very lackluster. In the recent years I've tried to force myself to listen or read a few tutorials, lessons and such - and I did learn a great deal from all of those, even from the bad ones. But I'm not a type of person to study something like this for hours - which is the sole reason why I never decided to pursue arts as my career. Also, the thought of reading and studying anatomy books alone makes my skin crawl.
Whenever I try to sit and draw like I said, I usually end up crumpling up the paper and, visibly annoyed, trash it, because I'm a) too impatient to develop my own preferred style, b) usually drawing right out of my head and c) having someone else's style in mind and/or having my own visualisation so when things go south I get way too pissed off to continue. To simply put it, I'm trying to run a mile within two seconds with the heels of my feet super-glued to the ground (which is not simply put at all) - or, I'm getting way too ahead of myself. The reason may lie within the fact that I've already went through all of that with photography style and it's truly bothersome for me to go through all the phases with my drawing style as well. Most of my pencil work ends up being a sketch - if I take a break from it, for about 1-2 days, I just forget to finish it. On the other hand, when I dedicate myself to a piece, I'll forget to do everything else that I had to do for that day (if you were wondering, the record is 10 hours). All or nothing mentality, which is shitty and wonderful at the same time.
I'm hoping to drop this mentality (at least partly) in 2017 and try to dedicate myself to development of my art skills as much as I possibly can. Somehow, I can't imagine myself without any form of art - I think life without it would be pretty darn boring.
To wrap this up, if you want to hear a complete experience with how I found my photographic style and what I do/use, let me know to keep it for my future journal topics. I'm guessing this journal didn't offer much substance for you to learn from my experience, it was more of a look-back at 2016, but I hope you still enjoyed reading it. I hope you're having a nice time and I wish you all a successful 2017.
Happy holidays and until next time!
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In