About our FIRST TIME at DA:




Some of us have reached this community thru a variety of means. Personally, I was asked to come here by 2 different friends, in 2 different times. First time was back in 2002. I made an account, but I soon gave up of DA.
Why? Simple, it was my first time in an art community and, in that time, I wasn’t very interested in this kind of sites. Also, this site is so complete that I found it rather confusing and complex, too much for me.
After that I went to other communities, mainly flogs (you know, blogs of photos). But, without exception, I never found one better than DA. But that’s just my actual thought, of course.
It was needed me to fed up of those shitty flogs to have a friend of mine reintroducing me DA and its magic/spirit, in last years October! (And this time I was very much interested in art: mainly photography.) Oh, and what a wonderful world I’d gave up since 2002, just because I got lazy and ashamed to ask for help to understand it!






DA is better :



You don’t believe DA is better? No? Then let me prove you wrong:

1st: At DA you have no limits of submissions, journals, shouts, comments, notes, favs, devwatches, etc…;
2nd: At DA you can submit your art without it being deleted (DISCLAIMER : If it is mature content and you don’t tick it then you got it deleted; if it isn’t at the right category then it’ll be deleted; and some other rule’s exception that I don’t recall now) by DA’s staff;
3rd: At DA you can truly improve yourself, enhance your skills and make friends;
4th: At DA you can report if someone is flooding/picking-on you;
5th: At DA you can rate comments, which is important in order to other deviants read only the best comments to a work and don’t repeat that person’s comment, or agree with it, etc…
6th: At DA you have all of this and much more and you also have it organized.
7th: At DA you get recognition and respect (DISCLAIMER : and if you don’t get a respectful comment you just have to don’t reply to it, just rate it bad.
8th: Want more? :D


So, this is all that you can notice in a very productive first time at DA!







About first deviation:




I remember that I got so hype and enthusiastic that I started deviating right in my first day. I started with a web cam. Oh, what a lame ass, I know… Silly I, being so naive believing web cam could be art. (And we can discuss about it. There can be art in a web cam pic, can you believe it? No? Then ask yourself “What is Art”?) But guess what? Even ‘tho’ I never made another web cam in my life since I got into DA, I don’t renegade my past. I learn, I have an evolution and I’m pride of it. So, everyone who has made and submitted (at least once in a lifetime) a web cam, please stand up… please stand up…! :P










About first comments:




I also remember getting my first decent and respectfully comments and it was so great… almost better than chocolate! But I also remember getting my first “webcam is shit”; “this is so pixelated” comments and it was heartbreaking. I got them mostly because I didn’t quite understood categories (not like now, that we have them all explained) and so, I wasn’t posting them into webcam’s. This fact may (or not) justify some rougher comments I got. Even tho, if they just spent some time and saw that I was a newbie and explained me categories… but no…!









OUR  main FLAW:


The main flaw of DA and, therefore, OUR main flaw is lack of time. We are always in a buzz, commenting deviation after deviations… for what? I guess some of us have forgotten DA’s spirit and what are comments about, but I have most sure that the majority of us doesn’t even know it yet!
So, it would be great if you all read :devtangledweb: ‘s “CRITIQUE”: ( http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/3819364/ ) opinion after reading this work of mine, because I agree with him in most things and I’m not going to repeat what he already said!









First step to Evolution:


The ones who truly care about our evolution had devwatched us without any fears. And that’s what’s happened and what’s happening to me and most certainly to you too, I hope.
In my opinion, it is important that we show them some respect and appreciation. Especially for those who comment on your work. Show them some love and comment back, don’t just say “Thanks”!
It is important to respect others opinions and thoughts because we live in freedom of speech; because we submitted a work at DA, and that means that you want to share your work and get others thoughts about it; and because its deviants comments, mainly, that help us to evolve!

Take for instance the example of my path:
-   Got an account
- started  on webcams
- devwatched a lot of people, including ~nuozek (:giggle:)
- evolved into manual classical photography
- faved a lot of photos
- learned some composition rules (thank you all)
- bought a digital cam in less than a month since re:first time at DA
- learned other photography rules
- Got very critique and unfaved some deviations (please, don’t judge me by it like if you never done it… Oh, my.. And you didn’t! Well, good for you… but till this stage I didn’t quite understood what fav’s were for!) And I also undevwatched some deviants too, by the same reason… sorry, I’m not perfect you know?
- learned DA’s spirit thru experience with DA’s “elders”
- Learned how light is important in photography, as well has concept is.
- Learned to pay attention to descriptions (they are really very important)
- Learned that is very important to see a deviation’s full-view, in order to make a good comment
- Learned that we are all here because we want attention to our work and efforts
- Started to give tips and help newbie’s (aww… just imagine that!)
- Started to question DA’s rules and understood why they exist and accepted them
- Started to understand copyright’s importance and fight for them
- Started topics at Forum asking links of deviations to comment
- Used Journal to feature friends, deviant’s deviations and random deviants that, IMO, have quality
- Edit deviations and enhance them
- Delete my majority of deviations because since day one till clean up’s day my sense of critique has evolved
- Started a club to support deviants using digital cameras
- Used signature to promote my favourite work of mine, because I do really wanted some serious thoughts about it and on it; to promote other deviants and clubs
- Started to submit few per day, and few days per month
- Started to comment more
- Being admin of 2 clubs, besides my own
- Made friends from former Yugoslavia till Canada passing thru Singapore and, of course, my own country!
- Even enhanced my poor English!
- Started another accounts: stocks, erotic and writings, I order to don’t mix up things
- Got a subscription after 6 months of first day
- Wrote a resume of my life story
- Made ID’s for contests
- Never unfaved a deviation, ever
- Never undevwatched a deviant ever (except for one that refused to respect me and my opinions and thoughts. If a stalker can’t give his opinion, then why continue to stalk? Unless the stalker is a masoquist I don’t see any reason!)
- Started to write this and am now submitting it!




We can resume OUR evolution into just one of DA’s features: Comments service!!!









About DA’s need for rules:



1. We can’t edit and/or delete our comments. Also, if you ever edit or delete your long past comments, besides installed chaos, you would destroy the rating service’s purpose and also, you’d be relegating your past, and that’s the first step to stagnate!

2. We can’t delete other deviant’s comments, even if they are in our deviations. If we’re able to do it, we’d never get real, we’d never get in touch with this worlds arrogance and we’d also never just grow up and evolve. We’d never think before submit. We’d never knew other’s opinions and we’d never learn to respect others views; even tho they aren’t respectful. Once again: if you find an unrespectful comment please just don’t reply to it. Instead report it, if that deviant continues to pick in you!

3. We can’t post other deviant works or manipulated works, unless they are stock, without their permission. If we could it was called stealing, and that’s a crime and an attempt of copyrights, but mostly and most important, an attempt against the artist’s sweat!

4. If we have a mature content (we can discuss that concept relativity, but we all have a common sense about it: violence and nudity; in short, everything a minor can’t see) deviation and we don’t tick its box then we’ve our work deleted. That happens because we have to respect other deviant’s wish to don’t see mature contents in previews of DA!

5. We have to write a description to our works. Unfortunately there’s not anybody checking every description text box, because what we most often find in descriptions is, and I quote: “…”!!! If we all write a good description we could prevent questions like: how was it done, where, when, why, etc… :? In fact, there should also be a rule that obligates us to read descriptions first! This is another flaw of us: if we aren’t writing descriptions; how can the few of us that wrote on it expect others to read it? Sad, but true, my friends!

6. We have to write also key words, mainly because our fellow deviants that are also subscribers have a feature called search and it’d help a lot in their search for specific works! So, please respect their (our) feature.


7. We are here for sharing. Sharing art, our work, knowledge and opinion. But please, do it respectfully or you can even get a ban! It’s a matter of ethic and sensitivity! R-E-S-P-E-C-T, got it?









About DA’s Spirit:


www.deviantart.com is the main URL of this community; we all know it so well. But how much of us had spent some time thinking on what it is to be deviant and what is deviant art? If you take a look into :devspyed: ‘s Journal you’ll see detailed what I’m talking about.
So, once again, go read it after reading this work of mine!
To me, DA’s Spirit is called SHARING! Yes, my fellow deviants, it’s all about sharing: sharing our best works, in order to show some evolution; sharing our opinions, tips and thoughts, in order to help one another to evolve and also in order to make some new friends; sharing our time, our life, our feelings, ourselves…
DA’s spirit first weapon is, obviously, the comment service, and I’m never tired of thanking you all. I thank DA for gathering so much great artists in the same place. I thank all of those great artists for being here and for helping us. I thank you, just for being here, reading this till this “chill out” zone!










Some TIPS, advices of my own experience and lil’ requests to all deviants:




Submissions:


We haven’t any limits of daily submitances (at least I never saw any). That’s good, because each of us has our own rhythm and, this ways, it gets respect. Tho, I must ask you all something: Please, try not to submit more than 2/3 deviations per day. In fact, if you submit one per day you can get them all into DA (no rush, DA isn’t going to end) and get more comments on every work. If you submit more than 3/5 deviations per day you get comments, but fewer… And I learned it for my own experience.



Favourites and Originality:


We just love some deviations and then we fav it. We fav it because we find them just amazing, original and “perfect”! We should also fav them by its concept, because art isn’t just technique, it is FEELINGS too! We often feel a certain frustration of being falling into some kind of clichés. That happens. (Just like shit! LOL) that happens because everything was already created and we can only recreate it, enhance it, etc… this is what I call being avant-guarde: we have a boot and we add it something of ours into its front. And *poof*, we got an entirely new boot! That’s being creative, nowadays.
So, if you take a cliché and turn it into something personal to you, you are getting it original and you have my support!




DA’s Journal:


Why don’t you use DA’s journal? You don’t have to make t a diary, you knew? You can do so much stuff with it…

You can:

- Feature deviants, deviations, friends and clubs (for icons write: :icon nickname : -> all together; for normal nicknames’ link write: :dev nickname : -> all together again)
- Make surveys
- Ask for links of works to comment
- Request collabs
- Promote clubs, other sites, your views about everything, etc…
- Promote deviations showing their thumbnails and make headers and footers (subscribers only; and yes, it is much better paying and it doesn’t cost that much, if you think of all the great things you get!)

I only ask you this: please resume yourself into a journal and please don’t use more then 10 icon’s in it, people with bad networks connections don’t have fault! :(







Be Yourself:


Above all: just be yourself, don’t try to answear to others expectations, and don’t sell yourself into page views. They don’t measure your work’s quality, only your popularity!






Chill Out Zone:



Because I’m very DA addicted and feeling community spirit, I wrote this since 00:00 till 03:00 am, and I’m not English, I must remember!
I just want to remember that these are just some of my thoughts, this will be a forever “work in progress”, and because evolution is DA’s spirit’s middle name (respect is the last) and that I wanted to share them with you!
Because of me believing DA is really the best in its category, I am finishing this writing. (I also have pity of you all for reading this… oh, brave ones, finally: The End!