My DeviantArt Story

Late to the bandwagon as per usual, but I have an excuse this time, I was doing exams! Haha.
Anyways, I thought this would be fun and I really love seeing how far people have come with art. So, let's get started! LONG JOURNAL AHEAD USE YOUR OWN DISCRETIOOOOOON


According to DeviantArt, I've been here since January 27th, 2011. So three years.

Unnecessary Backstory Time!
I was always kind of an artistic kid, I guess. At my school, when you were told to bring stuff at the beginning of the year like pencils and books and stuff, they had the option of bringing a sketchbook. This was from around year 3 on to year 6 that this could happen. I've always loved drawing, but I was never really serious about it I guess? Every school day in year 6 after lunch there was a period of winding down time where you could either read a book or draw. Fridays was the only time where you could draw instead of read or something like that. I always drew stupid random creations with the pure intention of making my friends laugh, or making them happy, typically nothing for me. You know, the type of things kids do where they draw their friends and say "Thank you for being my friend I hope we can be friends for ever" that type of thing, I was really into that.
When year 7 came, I was 13 years old and my friends introduced me to the wonderful world of anime! No longer really drawing for my friends, I drew for my own benefit. And I loved drawing all of these anime characters! I was horrible at it, but I did it all the same. I decided that I loved drawing anime, (I'm pretty sure I would correct anyone who told me it was 'anime' and made sure that they said 'manga' instead, pfft ) and I wanted to get better. So I started drawing nonstop until I was better than everyone.
Unnecessary Backstory over!

While searching the internet for manga drawings, and how to draw manga and all sorts of things like that, one website kept popping up; DeviantArt. As soon as I realized it was a website that people used to post up their drawings, I thought 'Hey! This is awesome! I can show everyone my drawings and get feedback on them too!' so I decided to join!

My first username, ever so embarrassing and very much a weeaboo title, was none other than 'MissRinkitty'
Because I mean, I like cats. And Rin is my nickname I probably created for myself and the title 'miss' is kinda cute so? Peeerrrrrfect.

Around this time, I was experimenting with MS Paint of all things and didn't have much in the way of really good drawings so I was fairly quiet to start with. I had a scanner so that was awesome, and at this time I think I got Photoshop Elements for Christmas? So now I had an awesome painting tool at my arsenal! Granted I wasn't very good at it at the start. My first few attempts with layers and junk turned out... Actually, I don't even know what happened. See for yourself!
           
_{Here we have my first deviation(?) Pip, Susume and a comic about front fringes based on personal experience, pffthaha~}

I already had my own OC's at the time, and a few of you might remember Anoko Hace, who is my first one:

(She, Pip and Susume belong to the same universe which never got off the ground haha)
Also my first DeviantArt ID was this monstrosity, haha:

Which is where Reia Greene kinda stems from. The girl above became my persona of sorts, I guess, back when she was Rin and not Reia.
Because my friends were super artsy as well as me, I convinced them (I'm pretty sure?) to get DeviantArt accounts as well. Maplebirdie , TeagansTeaparty and chrispybacon3  were the original ones who got accounts, though they might be embarrassed for me to reveal that the first two had weeaboo names like I did with IgnitedNatsume for Birdie, and ArisaDragonMasque for Tea. Hahahahaha! My friends who joined before and after me include kirokyn (who inspired me to join as well), teaandsympathy23 , AlligatorM , Archkangel , anngeobak and kezbez
Chrispy and I seem to be the only ones left now, although they all visit from time to time. I'm just stubborn, I guess.

So, I was obsessed with Manga and Anime and all that sort of stuff, but now I was starting to rekindle an old love of mine; Pokemon! Back then I thought it was super lame and cheesy but it was incredibly nostalgic for me. Also I'd acquired my first pokemon game, SoulSilver, which kinda set the ball rolling. Facts are a bit fuzzy around this time, but I'm positive that Chrispy was the one who showed me the ever inspiring 'Random Doom' comic by the equally as lovely TamarinFrog (back when she was BehindTg). I immediately fell in love with the concept and saw Tama as sort of an artistic enigma... An awesome artist who showed other people how to do comics like her. I was super scared to talk to her because well known artists are stereotypically busy as heck and I didn't want to disturb her with silly questions. Haha! I'm pretty sure I didn't start officially 'watching' her until I discovered Pokemon Crossing, but first I need to talk about Soul Beach.
You see, I've discovered only recently that I used to take a lot of ideas and inspiration from other people, especially Tama. When I saw Tama's pokemon comic, I thought 'I want to do that as well! I want to have my own pokemon comic!' so I started Soul Beach. And I pretty much copied Tama's concept, but tweaked it to make it seem as if it was original It was a pretty badly written plot line and the characters weren't very thought out, haha. Soul Beach, the name, comes from SoulSilver and the fact that my characters lived near a beach. How original. But they didn't live at a ranch, no! The lived at a cottage! Which is totally different, right? Haha, the story and characters have since changed and it is nothing like Random Doom now, but it was very much a copy of the concept at first, sorry Tama! OTL

SB didn't take off much, but when I discovered Pokemon Crossing... A whole range of possibilities opened up. I'd never heard of anything as radical as this group! It looked amazing! It was wonderful! AND POKEMON WITH ANIMAL CROSSING TOO! Gosh was I excited! I stayed back for a while to get the gist of the concept, and I didn't attempt to join until I'm pretty sure what was the third opening. PKMNC was very, VERY young and I'll say inexperienced back then, but they were nonetheless sophisticated and tough. I tried joining with a human character called Aqua (Probably a self insert) and I was so cocky that I didn't ask for critiques.
You can probably guess by the lack of art of her anywhere in my gallery that she didn't get in, haha!
I was so angry at being rejected that in 'revenge' I decided to join a different group that was just opening up, Retype-Depths.

Retype-Depths had a brilliant concept, and although they accepted my Mary-Sue of a character, I really feel like without it (and PKMNC's rejection) I wouldn't have known so much about characters as I do today.
Vega was my romanticised version of what a character should be, and she was essentially an angsty, yet painfully optimistic damsel-in-distress. I really feel sorry for my RP partners, especially you Ally-Ooops haha! Oh gosh Vega was so annoying... Have some art.
          

       

I felt that RD quickly turned from a happy fun-loving place, to a dark and battle-orientated place, but I stayed for as long as I could because for the first time ever, I regarded Vega as a real person and became incredibly upset at the fact that if she left RD (now Retype-Gates) then she would die as a character. In addition to this, I was overjoyed at the possibilities that could arise with her and Ally's character because IT WAS SO CUTE I CAN'T EVEN
OTP
OTP 5EVER

Ahem.
Anyways.
I hung on for a bloody long time.

Eventually, I joined PKMNC, and although Arizona was somewhat like Vega being all Damsel-in-distress like, I didn't connect with her as much as I did with Vega. I was finding my artstyle in this time, and I tell you what, I think PKMNC was the best thing that happened to me on this website. A bit sappy, yeah, but I finally figured out how to character design and I was a lot happier in this place because everyone was so nice! PKMNC really helped me with my art skills and let me make a few friends which I will never forget. You know who you are!
Have some beginning, middle and end art of the progression of Arizona:
                                       


Other groups I joined included Eternity of Dreams (which I joined for the first time with a friend), Idlewood Forest, Glitch Republic which I mod and (for three months) Amie Academy.

        


In terms of artistic development, I have sure improved a lot since I joined. I've always been learning and trying to help others and not really knowing why I was really drawing except for my own personal achievement. I realized later on that I really loved illustration and watercolours and storytelling, so from early on my attempts at painting always seemed to tell a story if you looked hard enough. My first watercolours I put up here weren't the best, but they were my first and I loved them!
            

I began to slowly see the conceptual side of things, and I didn't really paint anything just for the sake of painting it anymore.
    

I really started to try and paint things digitally now. It was a lot of work, but it took a lot of time. At some stage, we had to reset our computer and that got rid of PS Elements, so I downloaded the app for the 3DS called Colours!3D which up until recently I have been using for digital paintings. I feel like I've really improved a lot, through guidance of everyone here on DA.


         

The last three here were on Colours3D. I'm still very proud of the first three, hehe.

To get practice for my own stories and illustrative adventures, I created the short comic 'Folk' which allowed me to learn a lot.
   

Now, at the present time, I still have a lot to learn but I'm still going. I'm not sure much else that I can say, other than that I'm very proud of myself for having gotten this far!

Now, I must be the sappy sap and mention all of these wonderful people who've helped me and made my stay enjoyable;

Ally-Ooops : Ally, my Canadian wonderful friend! You've put up with me for so long, and I really can't thank you enough for being my friend for all of these years. I think so much of you, and I really love how much you've grown both artistically and as a person, it's incredible! You've been there for me through all sorts of things, and you might not realize it but you've helped me a lot with character design, to be honest. I appreciate your support so much, and you being my friend means so much more to me than you realize~ You've made me smile so much over these years, and you seem to be able to always make me squirm in my chair from happiness whenever I see our lovely characters interacting, haha~ I love you and I want all the best for you in the future!

KayVeeDee : Oh gosh, where do I start? You are one of my best friends on this website, you have no idea what you mean to me. I always look forward to talking to you, and your comments just make my day a little bit brighter even if it's just a simple 'Hello'! I even get really sad when I can't talk to you for a long time, like when you go to India and when I have to do pesky exams, but just seeing your little icon in my message bank is enough to make me happy for the rest of the day. We met through PKMNC, and since then I reckon our characters have become as good friends as we are now, to be completely honest! I can't thank you enough for helping me out in my art adventures and cheering me up with your awesome knowledge of literary devices and satirical humour and science and school systems and cultural differences~ I know I can trust you with so much, and it brings me great joy to have had the pleasure of becoming your friend!

TamarinFrog : Tama! My beautiful, kind and helpful friend! Without you I would have strayed off the path of Pokemon, and I would have never have met you or my other friends on here, and that's the truth! I love talking with you, you are just so kind and thoughtful to everyone you talk to regardless of how annoying some of them might be, haha. Your art style brings a smile to my face, and I always get excited when a new deviation of yours pops into my messages~ Thank you so much for being my friend, you mean a lot to me and I wish you all the best in your future endevours!

tritn : Aaah, Cher! Did you know that you made me want to become an illustrator? It's true! Your art style makes me so incredibly happy to see and you are such a lovely wonderful person. I always love seeing these long comments from you on my artwork and others as well, because you know just the right things to say which really brings the concepts and aesthetic qualities to mind and to life. You really inspire me! Thank you for being you!

our-birdsongs : Poppyseed! I think I'm still going to remember you by that nickname, ahahaha! I've really enjoyed getting to know you over these years, and you were the one that got me into Florence and the Machine, you'll be proud to know! I've loved talking with you and seeing how much you've improved as an artist, it's really inspiring~

Spashai : SPASHAAAA! Ahh, I've loved seeing how much you have grown in your artistic adventures! Also as a person, I can see that you have matured a lot since you first joined DA and I'm really proud of you for that. I have too, so I guess we're now sophisticated? Hahaa! It's really interesting talking to you and I'm so glad I got to become your friend~ Also I'm still jealous of your art style, haha! You make everything look so easy and clean and wonderful, and when I try it just ends up as a blob with legs, hahaha!

Other notable inspirations and wonderful people include but are not limited to:

funnyforbunnies Openly-A-PokeNerd SurvivingExtinction BaconBaka Saki-Chin scilk Salem-the-Psychic PinkBuizel Yrucrem91 

Thank you all for commenting and creating awesome inspiring works of art!

That's it for me now, have a good one guys.
Dizzyrin