My (spotty) DeviantArt Story

I put this journal under "Deviant events" or something. It is that, right?

Anyway, I joined DA officially 7 years ago, in my sophomore year of high school (wow). I think I found it when I was looking at art online and followed a link, really I'm not sure. I think I lurked for a while before getting an account, mostly because I had no way of contributing, so I didn't see the point.
I think I deleted my first art pieces from DA out of shame, but here's the oldest piece I could find, from January 2008.

I can see the artistic youth.
About this time I started my first webcomic, Netherworld, which unexpectedly gathered a little following. I had a lot of fun talking with people about my art: as a loner, as a lot of us are, the interaction invigorated me. Art had never been interactive for me before, and I loved it. Even though I didn't have any fancy digital equipment or a good scanner, I made a lot of material in this time.
In mid 2009, I got Photoshop and a tablet, and the quality of art from me went up, I think. I also got a lot more attention because of the colors and the fanart.
Around the same time, I started writing Landlocked.
I'd written fanfiction before, but never planned anything out (hence all the failed webcomics and fanfics), and never written about something that was such a big part of my childhood. The fanfic garnered a HUGE audience by my standards, and inspired a lot of art and fics from other artists. I even sold hard copies (though I did not make a profit). It is, to this day, one of the most exciting periods in my artistic life.
           
(Ariel/Jim art JUST BECAUSE.)

Somewhere in here I started offering paid commissions, which really helped me to grow as an artist.
    






Full-size to shout out to ALL those who commissioned me. Thanks so much!

After Landlocked, I became more interested in creating original content and became disillusioned by fanart. By that I mean, I saw creating fanart as a waste of time, though I loved drawing it and looking for it. Instead, I tried to start and failed to finish several projects.
I also got caught up in college, and so art production from me slowed down a bit, nearly coming to a stop after I graduated from college. I lost connection with a lot of my watchers, due to stupid computers, school, and lack of motivation, and I feel bad about that.
Now I'm looking forward to growing myself as a serious artist, and DA is an important part of that. It grounds me by reminding me that I'm not the best, and the people I should aim to impress are MY audience, not "important" people with incongruent interests to mine. The community also challenges and encourages me, and I cherish every interaction, every comment, I receive. Thanks so much for 7 great years, you guys. Here's to 7x7 more.

Now, some more of my favorite pieces: