Techta

So many of my favorite artists have moved to other platforms, namely tumblr, and it seems to be in response to (as well as adding to) the slow decline of DeviantART as a platform for sharing artwork. This makes me sad, because I still think DA is the best way to do it organizationally. It's how I keep all my artwork available online in proper folders with appropriate descriptions, etc. But I think I see why people are leaving, and I empathize...

I've been a member of DA for 7 years. I'm not prolific, but that's a long time to be moderately active on a website. I have about 35,000 pageviews, which also isn't much for a 7 year span, but still a LOT of traffic as a whole. Nevertheless, when I submit art, I am lucky to get more than 6 Favs or 2 comments. Now, this isn't all about being loved by the world, I'm just comparing some statistics here.

I don't track my tumblr, because i frankly hate everything about how that website is set up, but I do keep track of my Facebook art/cosplay page and my Instagram. In the 2-3-ish years I've had my Instagram, I've garnered close to 500 followers (thats more than the number of Watchers I have on DA by several hundred and less than half the time) and can guarantee 30-100 favs per upload. This is a platform in which you can't even write long descriptions, link to more material, have journals or customized profiles, etc. and yet it's ridiculously more effective at getting your work to audiences without having to whore out your work to a million groups to try to minimize the random aspect of discovery that seems to be the case on DA.

My Facebook page doesn't get as much attention, but that seems to be purely a fault of not flooding it with updates. FB seems to be better suited for sharing activities, in-progress work, upcoming projects, photography, etc. This is great for cosplay, but also works for artwork, too. As I force myself to post more often there, I have seen a drastic up-turn in traffic -- and FB TRACKS THAT STUFF FOR YOU BECAUSE IT KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH.

In summary, because this is getting long, I still feel stuck because I don't want to leave DA (and I don't plan to), but I do find myself disappointed that DA has failed to update the website to compete with newer platforms that do an obscenely better job. I tend to upload the occasional few "finished" works here and skip all the notifications building up, because I just don't care anymore. *sigh* 

If you're interested in following where I'm more active, feel free to check out my Instagram: @NovaChronum and my Facebook page: Nova Chronum and hell my twitter too, also @NovaChronum. (My DA Is the only place that is still Techta, and hell that might tell you all you need to know about the outdated nature of DA).

I've been really active in the last couple days -- trust me, I have no idea why I suddenly had the urge to do art again. It's probably been almost a year since the last time I cranked out several pieces in a row. Whatever, I'll ride this wave. It's fun to draw again.

I entered my Wikus cosplay to The RPF's Halloween Costume Contest. You have to sign in to vote, but if you feel like making an account or you already have one, if you like my costume, I'd TOTALLY love if you voted for me! I'll throw in a bribe if you vote for me -- I'll draw you a little sketch for free if you vote

I still occasionally get a new Watcher or two here and there, but since I haven't been submitting a lot of art (sort of trickles in), I was just wondering, what are your favorite subject matters that I've drawn? Ive got commissions I'm working on currently, so I haven't had much time to do original stuff, but I was just curious. 

I can't believe I finally reached this point. Really, when I got on DA, I never thought it possible. I want to thank all of my Watchers for sticking with me this long and commenting on my work.