Rose tinted dA-ys

edits for spelling and clarification made on 18/11/25

There's a leaflet blogpost doing the rounds on bsky, and starting a lot of conversations. Give it a read and see what you think!

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— ˚ʚ Belle ɞ˚ @ working too damn much (@torrent-empress.bsky.social) October 15, 2025 at 4:04 AM

Now, I actually disagree with a lot of what's said in the blog. But I always think it's brave to be the person who says what they're feeling. Not a lot can do that. It taps into the frustration a lot of artists are feeling right now (or, tbh, everyone). We're living through a worldwide cost-of-living crisis, unending war and famines, lack of housing, a lot of people want to vent their frustrations and are thinking back.. to better times... when they were a teenager and you didn't have to pay rent or put food on the table...

I do agree that there's a lack of spaces and events geared towards "newb"/younger artists/hobbyists. In fact, I think there's a lack of spaces for everyone. Full stop. We're all using the same 5 or so platforms; it's not for niches.

deviantart

Now that blog paints dA as a wonderful place... they even compliment dAs point system! ...I do not remember this the same way hahaha When the points system came in (around 2010?), it was hated from the get go. The conversion rate from real money to points was abysmal. And, a lot of friends who were active on dA at the time have told me the second-hand embarrassment they feel now by BEGGING older artists for point trades LMAO

I'm going to assume the OP is a good few years younger then me, because the downfall of dA happened a bit before points were brought in. A lot of its userbase was starting to move to Twitter and Tumblr around this time (I joined Tumblr in 2010... : ) Did you know I was a big 1D fan?). dA's points were a sort-of canary in a coalmine moment. It's kinda like when people cite Tumblr's 2018 pornban, but really it was the 2015 search overhaul that made the sites tagging feature unusable. That had people already moving, that pornban was the greater push.

I do agree that dA was GREAT for beginner/younger artists. At the time. But there was a lot of bullshit happening as well, like it does on any site that has a wide age range in its userbase.

But times have changed. Have you seen how good 15 yr olds are at art now? The tutorials, the resources... everything has improved!

Money talks

Here's where I completely disagree with OP.

When artists now are now asked, after years of being on social media platforms and these lackluster art sites, what their dream art website looks like. They describe a store. A store that is allowed to sell pornography also. A place where they can display their wares, take payment in the form of currency and likes, and maybe - often as a distant third - have the ability to share the work of their friends. To be frank - it's embarrassing.

You have to laugh at how angry this is, sorry op! I don't think it's embarrassing for artists who want to sell their work. What's wrong with selling porn as well? Have you seen the wave of censorship lately? Should I nickle and dime my life because I draw? I think my art is worth it. Don't you?

Believe it or not; art is people's livelihoods. Have you seen the job market? People have to pay rent! Yeah, I'd love to be 15 again where I can do art trades for dA points. But I can't.

There's this talk of "gatekeeping" brushes and knowledge behind a paywall. If you think it's worse today then it was back in dAs wild wild west!!! HAHAHAHA!!

Today we have the clip studio asset store, thousands of podcasts, videos, written tutorials about every part of the art world! I would have killed for what we have now! It's amazing how much we all freely share!

When I was younger, I would have never dreamed to be able to go onto youtube and see how mangaka approach their art, be able to hear both artists I admire and peers discuss their workflow or inspirations via podcasts or interviews. I've made friends with artists all around the world! I get to see more art then people 10 or 20 years ago did. Tell me that isn't worth its weight in gold.

If I were a novice artist today, my only way to contribute would be to upload a picture, like some posts of artists I already follow, and hope to god that others would do the same in return.

Isn't this... what we've... always done...?

Lemme give you a hint, what op is glossing over: Commenting. You can comment. : ). YOU CAN COMMENT!!!! YOU CAN TRY TALKING TO PEOPLE!! PEOPLE LIKE BEING TREATED LIKE HUMAN BEINGS!!! This is what drives me crazy and leads into my next point:

YOU HAVE TO TRY. God. Why can't everyone comment on MY art?!?!? Huh... Wait... I have to... comment? Aren't people supposed to come flocking to me when I post??

When you get to the end of the blog, you end up thinking.. does op.. like anyone else's art?? haha or is it just about them. What do they want out of all this? Art trades????

YOU can go comment on someone's art. YOU can make a webring. YOU can ask your friends if they wanna join you in a gamejam, for a zine, have a drawpile together.

I don't know the OP of the blog, but I got this sheer sense of frustration from one part in particular. They don't speak about themselves positively! They just assume they can't do it! They assume they'd fail : (

Listen. If you say "I can't do this/I'm stupid" enough times, people will believe you. Worse: you'll fall for it yourself. Don't give up on yourself before you even let the thought finish.

The one thing I hope anyone takes from this is you are capable. I see a lot of Oh, I could never make a website, I couldn't run a webring. There's a power in how you talk about yourself. Why not? Why couldn't you? Why not try? What if you found a new hobby, or made a new friend? Or.. what if you had fun?

I think everyone should think they're capable of trying whatever hobby crosses their mind. Everyone should think they're smart and fun and able to do what they want.

A lot of people are worried no one will show up to their party. That's a real fear to have. It's tough to put a lot of time and effort into something and not get anything in return. It's easy for me to say oh just enjoy the process!, that's a journey everyone has to make for themselves, and these socmedia sites do not make it easy.

I love shilling making your own website; but it's not for everyone! It's a big time sink, and it's fairly overwhelming at the start when you're at ground zero. But I find the "indie web" open and very willing to share their information freely. I guess I'm wondering what OP's dream art website is, or what they've tried outside of socmedia .

Resources

I can say all that, but let me show you some places to start:

• Petrapixel's Webringu (I use this for my hndr line fanlisting)
• onionring (I use this for the yuri evn ring)
• Kingdra's Event Mod Guide

No hate or anything to OP. I think she's voicing what a lot of artists are feeling! I miss dA too!! I just think it's odd that they take annoyance with websites and strawpage and offer... no solutions... People are telling you what they want, but the user is wrong? Ok... then what do we do about it? Stew???

I don't think there's a perfect solution, you're going to have to find what suits you best. But remember, we're all in this trying to figure it out together.

listening to...

--xoxo becky