deviantARTists Club

[Killix]

An avatar is just an avatar no matter what site you're on. It's not necessarily a face for "This is what my art is" People use them to show what they like, which is why you can expect someone to want to use a commissioned piece of art for their avatar. *shrug*

The only place on DA where I dislike people using art that they didn't draw is in their gallery. >_>
If they want to commission an avatar, use a chain-avatar with their friends or use a gift art avatar, it's fine with me. (as long as the art isn't stolen)

Actually, I rarely pay attention to avatars at all. XD

[Deleted]

Heehee, I'm part of Shinko's linking avatar. X3

I tried making my own avatar once, and it ended up being random squiggles. XD So, I use avatars that other people made. But, I give credit to the person who made it, so in a sense I'm advertising someone else's art. XD

[Tam]

I may as well join this too. ^^ I'm tamia-shade over there.

...Except lately I've been really bad about keeping up with anything on the site, be they deviations, journals, comments, replies, watches.... anything. I think I've just gotten a little overwhelmed. I started submitting to groups a while back, and I'm not used to getting twenty favourites and multiple pages of comments on a single deviation. xD; I don't have the energy to reply to everything, but I feel like if I only reply to some things, it's unfair to the people who get ignored... so instead, I just lurk and reply to pretty much nothing. Yeah. I know. Not exactly an ideal solution, that.

I kind of miss the days when I'd submit a picture, and one or two friends would comment on it, and we'd get into a spontaneous and completely irrelevant conversation, right there on the deviation page... *wistful*

I just feel very spread out over the site now. *shrugs* It's my own doing, of course; I can't really justify complaining to anyone else. xD; I apologise for the rant.

[insanepurpleone]

I'm ReticentPurple on DA.

In response to the nickname thing Nut mentioned earlier, I've been called Reticent on DA and other places, but most of the time they're not people I figure I'll end up talking to much anyway, so I figure it doesn't matter. Though I do usually list my name as Purple when the option is there, a lot of people don't pay attention to that.

I've been a lot worse at replying to stuff because my DA is annoying and doesn't like to load my messages 75%. Maybe it's my browser, or maybe the internet just doesn't love me. XP

I don't really care whether other people draw their own avatars or not, but my DA avatars have usually been bits of deviations of mine. Though my current one I drew specifically as an avatar.

[Komori]

:< I dunno. I just remember seeing Stuffed's avatar of her character, and thinking it was fantastic. Her avatar was an animated image of one of her characters, and it looked like her style. And she had animation in her galleries, I had no reason to not believe that avatar wasn't her own doing. And I was impressed, it was a really nice avatar.

Until I discovered Not-Quite-Normal's gallery, almost completely by accident. It was there that I found Stuffed's avatar, as well as a few avatars from other dA artists that I'd always thought was their own. None of those people credit their avatar to someone else (I mean, I don't know if they'd claim it as theirs if someone asked them directly). Personally, I was a little crushed, because here I was attributing talent to the wrong person, and that just isn't right. It's kinda' like hearing a song on the radio that you think is awesome, only to learn later that it was just a copy from someone else's song. :/ It's a disappointment.



But yeah, anyone can use whatever avatar they want. It's just I have significantly less respect for those who don't use their art, even if I'm probably being a snob about it. And if someone's using one of those Caramelldansen or screen-licking avatars, so help me....

[Killix]

Hmmm... I'd rather see a harmless screen-licking avatar than a sprite-edited-Sonic character. >_> <_<

but either way, I just don't care. It's their account, they can use whatever avatar they like. I'm certainly not going to be a snob about it. XD

[Ginz ❤]

I drew my current avatar in DA, but I can say it's definitely not my best work, so I'm pobably not advertising myself very well with it. XD I don't really pay close attention to other people's avatars, so it's never really mattered to me. ^^;

One thing about the nicknames, though... even though my DA username is imogenweasley, my avatar says "Ginz" so maybe that'd be a hint for people to refer to me as Ginz. (And to recognize me if they met me outside of DA and then found me there, I guess. XD)

[Speck]

I would like to join! Even though I haven't been as active as I'd like on dA. (Hopefully, I'll have some new stuff up starting this summer.) My screenname is speckledbat. It's funny: I didn't start going by Speck (or Speckley) on the Internet until after I created that account.


As to the whole avatar thing, I'm going to have to agree with Komori on this one. I definitely prefer it when someone uses their own art for their avatar. More often than not, I stumble upon artists based on their avatars. It's silly, but I usually assume that they're using their own artwork.

I'm not going to be too bothered if someone chooses to use something that they admire as their avatar, though. It's their choice. *shrug*

[Deleted]

xD I haven't changed my avatar since I joined, because it's a cap of the first drawing I ever submitted to dA.

To me, an avatar is a picture of the user's personality/interests/etc. But I generally only click to see their galleries if what they say and how they act is interesting. If all they spew is LOLOMGYAY1337awsum! Then I would be very discouraged.

[Komori]

Jul 6, 2010 22:57:02 GMT -5 Killix said:

Hmmm... I'd rather see a harmless screen-licking avatar than a sprite-edited-Sonic character. >_> <_<

I'd rather not see that either, but if I don't want to see sprite Sonic characters, I don't go to their gallery. Their avatar winds up on my pages whether I want to see it or not. :/ But yeah, people treat dA like different things. The screen-licking avatar people are using dA like another Facebook or Myspace, which is totally their prerogative. I prefer to see dA as slightly more srs bsns, especially considering that every single bill I've paid in the last few years wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have a dA account. :B And to me, the art's enormously more important than someone's likes or personality or interests, because I'm looking at deviantART, not Twitter. But I can't expect everyone to treat it like that.

[Killix]

Well, yeah, drawing is just a hobby for most people, so they don't take it so seriously.

[Nut]

I tend to expect people's avatars on dA to be made by the artists themselves. I also prefer to see dA as more an art site than a social networking site, and the avatars really are good advertisements, so I don't see why you wouldn't use your own avatar if you're at all interested in getting people to look at your art. ...Which reminds me, I really need a new avatar. One that has my preferred nickname on it in clearly visible letters.

Jul 6, 2010 16:30:31 GMT -5 Komori said:

*dies* That hurt me just reading it. First that random horrible comment "Especially since all the gaming girls I've seen are fat ugly slobs.I'm the only skinny,pretty one who can actually draw anime!" Wow. Just... wow. If I'd read that, I'd hide that comment immediately, because they are obviously a hideous person on the inside, saying that everyone else is a fat ugly slob and they're pretty and skinny. *dies*

And then how she condescendingly encourages you with pats on the back and nods? D8< Rawraawrrawr!

And then calls you a dummy? No, no, no. If that happened to me, I'd block that girl and hide all her hideous catty comments. DDDDDDDDDDDD8<<<<<<

*deep calming breaths*

Yeah, I... have no idea why I've been being so nice to her. I've told her a couple of times to not bash people or address me with swearwords, but I've been tiptoeing around her completely inappropriate behavior and she's not taking the hints. Hiding her comments is a good idea; nobody needs to see hurtful remarks like that. *does this*

Jul 7, 2010 10:08:05 GMT -5 Killix said:

Well, yeah, drawing is just a hobby for most people, so they don't take it so seriously.

Really? I was under the impression that most people who spend any worthwhile length of time making art are usually serious about it/interested in pursuing art careers, because the people who aren't serious tend to get discouraged in the early stages of learning to draw and give up trying. Sure, a lot of people on dA are too young to be working as professional artists, but if they're still interested in art when they're older, they may be treating it as more than a hobby.

[Komori]

Jul 7, 2010 10:08:05 GMT -5 Killix said:

Well, yeah, drawing is just a hobby for most people, so they don't take it so seriously.

*nods* Yeah, dA seems to have different sets of users using it for different sorts of things. You've got the Facebook-like people who participate in lots of memes, those chain-mail "you've been glomped!" comments, the various avatar fads like the Caramelldansen/screen-licking, that sort of thing. You've got the artists who use dA as an art gallery or an advertising platform for their Etsy/commissions/prints. And then there is that one set of users who are industry professionals, and post their professional work on dA, like Patrick Smith or Tom Bancroft (though Patrick Smith hasn't really posted anything on his dA in quite a while. u_u). And it's pretty cool that there's that much variety, though I wish there were more of the last group. ^^


So yeah, I'll change my statement then. Those artists who are pursuing art as more than a hobby really ought to be using their own art for their avatar. If they can't even create a simple little 50x50 image, how can they ever be expected to be taken seriously as a professional?

[Ginz ❤]

To me, art is just a hobby. It's my favorite hobby and it's the one I spend the most time on, but it's just a hobby. I'm studying design, so I guess I'm still pursuing a creative career for which drawing is a very important tool. But when I go on DA, I choose not to feel or act like a professional. I'm just a girl who really likes art. I want art to be the central focus, but I like a laid-back casual environment, because sharing that artistic interest with friends and having fun are important to me too.

[Killix]

Jul 7, 2010 13:43:03 GMT -5 Nut said:

Really? I was under the impression that most people who spend any worthwhile length of time making art are usually serious about it/interested in pursuing art careers, because the people who aren't serious tend to get discouraged in the early stages of learning to draw and give up trying. Sure, a lot of people on dA are too young to be working as professional artists, but if they're still interested in art when they're older, they may be treating it as more than a hobby.

*raises hand* I've been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil, but I am certainly not seeking a career in art.
DA is a free and easy to use site that I joined years ago to show off my pictures. That's all it has ever been to me. XD