Adding to the masses of dA Stories!

MY dA story. Wow. It's been a ride, for sure, there can be no doubt about that!

Lesse. I've been drawing since before I could stand, so I can't really say that dA made me an artist or anything, but there's certainly no doubt that it's made me the artist I am today.
I started out just kinda... knowing the site existed. I actually joined dA on April 1st, 2009, thanks to my cousin sandblade's near incessant badgering. About 5 years ago now. I was 22. And he doesn't even still USE this site... In all honesty, at that point in my life, I was actually still kinda new the net at all... I didn't really have a computer growing up, and I'd only just started using the net maybe a year before making my account here. Now, initially, I basically just lurked around a bit, looking at some stuff and leaving. Even after I did join, actually didn't do anything with the account. I made it and looked around and got lost and felt overwhelmed and logged out. Yup. I think I MAY have faved a few things. I actually started posting about a month later, and I'm pretty sure I hadn't watched anyone yet. I basically just kinda grabbed some pics, scanned them pics, and posted... those pics. I'd upload a few pics and then forget for a few days and go do it again. I got a few comments sometimes.

As I continued to get more and more familiar with this whole internet thing, and dA specifically, I found myself surrounded by memes that I had never heard of and realized that the less confusing dA became, the more confused I was in general. And then the floodgates of understanding kinda just broke. Once I realized what memes where and how they worked, I was pretty much inundated with them, almost like they were waiting for JUST that particular event to come to pass.

So, to start off, yes, I have deviantART to thank for basically introducing me to memes in general and teaching me how to deal with them as a normal human being (which I technically qualified as). There wasn't a lot of art happening, I was posting old stuff, getting one or two comments total, not watching other artists, and really seeing very little of what the site had to truly offer. All I really know is that memes. And then memes. And then OH DEAR HEAVENLY LORD OF HEAVEN, I'M LITERALLY DROWNING IN MEMES I'M NOT BEING SARCASTIC I THINK I BREATHED A FEW IN SAVE ME oh wait I get it.

Heh... once I got past that, some actual art stuffs started actually happening. I don't really remember a whole lot, but I can say for sure that I met some cool people (many of whom I haven't talked to in years now, which is a little upsetting), learned a LOT of new things about styles, overall composition, techniques, and digital coloring in general, found my own limitations and boundaries, found ways to bend them and in some cases shatter them, and grew so much on a personal level that I can't honestly imagine not being here. This site has its drama. Goodness knows. No really. It has some inherent issues, the kind that come from mashing image hosting with personal responsibility and respect for others' work, and then blending in social media. There are a lot of sides to the community here, and some of them are rather sad and unfortunate. I've certainly had my experiences with such people over the years, but in all truth, nothing that's happened can really break me from my love of the better parts of this site and the people who use it. I've become a better person in general, not just as an artist, but in terms of empathy and understanding, and I really have this site to thank for showing me what kind of people are out there.
Also, there simply is no way that I would've found so many people who have like interests with me. It's freaking HARD to find Sonic fans, and I can still remember the shock of finding a somewhat defined group of actual Sonic fans on this site. It was a weird experience, because I'd never interacted with another Sonic fan before save for a handful of people who liked it on a normal level. I had never seen someone who went crazy over the fact that there was that one time when that one character looked at the other character with that certain look that spoke literal volumes but was never confirmed until this new cutscene but it looks like it wasn't intentional because they have a new writer and then and this and how and and AND!

Heh...

ANYway, it's been a real trip, to be sure. I never would've expected to meet so many people, and find such a massively extensive fanbase to interact with, and find such clever ways to draw or color things. I have dA to thank for a lot over these last 5 years, for SURE.

Also, all this thinking of old stuff made me nostalgic, and I couldn't help but read over my old journals and look at the comments, and look at my older art... and I realized that I have some friends that I've been missing, and didn't really realize that's what was bugging me. I'll have to rectify that.