I've just stumbled across a gallery by a very talented traditional artist. His name is ~Robbin-Veldman and he's probably one of the most underrated artists on dA with a total of only ten (!) watchers (including me). So, have a look at these beautiful paintings and give him some love

A little sample of the work of the next fifteen of my watchers. If you find something you like, go and take a look at their galleries, I, for one, found it very interesting to browse through their work You can find all the features here: [link]

DeviantArt has released its new critique feature to the masses (see FAQ #95: What is the Critique Feature and how do I use it? for details) and there have been a lot of comments on the subject, most of them dividable into two different parts - those who love it and those who hate it. Some say we don't need a new feature for critiques (especially not one which is accessable only for subscribers) because that's what comments are actually for. Some say it's alright but the minimum amounts of words is too high or the rating system is too open for abuse. Some say it's really great to motivate people to think before they comment and take time to write something which might actually help the artist to grow.

And while I somehow agree with all of them, while I think this new feature is a step in the right direction and it's good to bring up the issue, I still think that it's much more important to make some people on dA realise something: it's up to us to change something!

There are so many people complaining that their artwork doesn't receive any attention, that they never get helpful critique and rarely comments and favs. So many people argue that dA is going downhill, that the popular artists remain popular and new better artists stay unnoticed and that dA is more of a social network than an Art community. But how many of those actually do something about it? When is the last time you wrote a comment that was more than the average "Wow, that's great!"? If everyone who complains about their work not getting enough attention went out there and wrote constructive comments instead of sulking and blaming dA, the problem would be solved.

"But what's in it for me?" you might ask. And that's a considerable question, since we live in a society where "altruistic" is not one of the traits most people associate themselves with. The keyword is exposure. Nobody will comment on your work if they don't even know your work exists. By writing comments (be it in the forums, on deviations, on news articles or whereever) you get your name out there. And if the comments you write stand out from the mass of "Cool!", , "Nice work" or "Wow, that's so sweeet!!!1!!elven" chances are that someone will notice and want to know who's behind those comments. If you give helpful feedback, chances are that someone will want to return the favor and drop a similar comment on one of your deviations. Of course there's no guarantee they will, but I can assure you that they will not if they have no incentive to do so. Give them one by thinking before you write!

This is one of the occasions where you can actually change something. Maybe not on the large scale, but definitely for one person - the artist whose work you comment on! It doesn't need to be a hundred words long and you don't need to write about all the aspects suggested in the new feature (although you're free to ). But you could tell the person why you like their piece, how it makes you feel, what it makes you think of. If you think an artwork needs improvement, why not tell the artist so he/she can actually do something about it? And you don't need to be a subscriber to do so, you don't need to use a fancy feature, you can do so in the good ol' comment box.

Of course you don't have to do that and if you think it's too much of an inconvenience or a waste of time, I will probably not be able to change your mind (and neither will dAs new feature). But please stop complaining and blaming the system, since you're a part of it and people like you made it that way.

This is just my opinion and I'm guilty of the occasional "OMG awesome!" comment myself, but at least I'm trying If you want to read some more on how to give constructive comments and critiques, see the thumbs below.

=witchi1976 is holding a Twilight Fanart Contest and I'm one of the judges The entries that have been added so far are amazing! You'll have until April 15th to submit a creative drawing of anything twilight-related. Further information can be found at this News Article. I hope you'll all join in and spread the word!!