The inspirational magic of one image awakening the creative muse of hundreds of artists.
If something burns your soul with purpose and desire, it’s your duty to be reduced to ashes by it.
Charles Bukowski
Today, Lady Gaga’s throne as a reigning pop diva is a 24 carat gold wheelchair, emergency hip surgery forcing the cancellation of her latest tour – a betrayal more devastating for her than for the typical performer, given her relationship with her fans. Her body has finally broken in sacrifice to the needs of her monsters for constant contact and reassurance. The question now is whether this brutal brush with her own mortality will result in the pop goddess pulling back from the edge – or only drive her to new heights of spectacle and influence?
tumult and tragedy, it does us well to consider that it is also a time of wondrous change for the better, a time when prejudices and nonsensical prohibitions burdening humankind for more than a millennium are withering away and being thrown off with astonishing speed. The election of a black president in the United States, the upheaval in Arab countries and the global normalization and shift from mere tolerance to full acceptance of LGBT citizens are all examples of beautiful promise.
why now? Has the average person’s ability to analyze the results of scientific inquiry and the elevation of the democratic model of debate and governance finally reached a tipping point in driving back the forces of backwardness and darkness? Might be. But not likely.
It’s the Internet. Not in the obvious sense of Wikileaks and 24 hour news cycles that incorporate Tweets and Instagrams directly from the core of the action; but because the Internet doesn’t forget anything and continues as a force of memory, inspiration and, more importantly aspiration. The vast storehouse of the Web puts people in constant touch with the iconic pop idols and imagery of their pre-cynical selves so it remains fresh in front of mind. They are not permitted to forget what they learned from rock and roll and what they learned from pop art.
The real agents of change today may be the pop culture people fell in love with early on influencing their lifestyles, along with attitudes and thought processes for decades later. The iconic images and music of John Lennon or Jimi Hendrix for one generation held forever in the their hearts and minds may have more to do with how they vote (or take to the streets) than the actual arguments of any political parties or charismatic agitators. Amazing to think that John Lennon wrote a song called "Imagine" with lyrics that are considered as dangerous today as the day it was first released. Those early cultural influences that come off as anti-social are preserved and shot back through the Internet re-igniting the taste for making it real.
Perhaps this is why so much energy is expended by the establishment in mocking and dismissing pop heroes intellectually even as they rake in the profits they make from those stars. They want kids and punks to buy the product – but to forget the message of peace and love (or anarchy and death) being indelibly tattooed in the corners of their consciousness.
The new permanence of what was considered fluff and stuff gives new relevance and immediacy to the current trendsetters and voices of this generation. It may seem to go by fast but in fact it stays around a lot longer. If you don’t delete your deviation on deviantART, it will be there, in practical terms, always.
Over the past five years Lady Gaga’s core message radiating out across the universe and energizing her devotees is a radical redefinition of beauty, self-esteem, and aesthetic artistry delivered in a truly unique environment that she masterfully constructs and controls. This unique-in-our times environment can only be described as a full acceptance without comparison to an “other.” A social construct of true equivalency, no one better, no one less, than the next in line. "So the last will be first and the first shall be last." In times of stupendously mind-numbing waves of predictability washing over all of us from within every pop medium imaginable and with the public at large being drowned in self-esteem killing marketing pitches, that can only be described as predatory at best, Lady Gaga has built a safe place to be precisely, exactly, who you are.
There is a real distinction in her humanity, in her tribalism with no messaging; an essential calibration of a sweeping inclusionary message of love with daring invitations to dream big in her lyrics. The first half of her equation we have all heard before. You can be anything you want to be. The Gaga twist is that Lady Gaga is asking you to believe that this statement is absolutely true despite the particular cards you were dealt from the great, unforgiving, deck in the sky – all without the self-beautification tools the system demands you purchase. This is no mere minor modification.
Art communicates through emotion, not through rational understanding. This is where art gets its power to reach the whole world. We are all connected through emotion.
=ApokryphiaArt
Make no mistake, no matter how much money, power, adulation or success Lady Gaga has amassed over the last few years, she still must endure the war on women that her fans endure along with all of the disdain reserved for an artistic outlier. Her weight, her looks, her sexuality and her skills in self-promotion have all been twisted into weapons used against her – to mock her influence and try to put her “in her place” and out of the “serious” pop narrative.
My Religion Is You.
Lady Gaga
But The Lady Gaga experience goes beyond her recordings, her videos, her performances and outrageous personal appearances. She makes a genuine effort to practically apply the message of unity in the monster community she promotes in her art. She provides counselors and self-esteem building experts at her shows for her fans free of charge. If you were down, feeling depressed, being bullied, or just needed a question answered about life there is an opportunity for comfort offered for everyone that comes to her show, anonymously.
When Lady Gaga came to London last year I cried as she sang Bad Kids. She told how when she wrote Born This Way her producers told her she was marketing to a niche audience and how it might not be wise to do so. Then she spread her arms and said: "This stadium seems like a pretty big fucking niche!", and that's how it felt.
To be aware that thousands of people around you felt every bit the outcast you did, made you feel normal again. Made you feel empowered and creative instead of like you were missing something that made you average.
It made you feel special, and as an artist - it feels pretty good to feel special instead of lacking.
`KathrynODriscoll
In the last couple years I have fallen out of interest with her work since it lost a lot of its bubblepop charm and turned more to shock value for relevance.
I learned from Gaga to stay true to your artistic vision and what makes you unique and appeal to your fans. Changing constantly is a gamble, and trying to become someone you aren't to become relevant to a new audience is sure to make you look like a tool.
I also learned the very transient nature of fame, and the importance of protecting your work from theft. I was very excited when she retweeted my fanart, but then it was stolen and reprinted many times, even tattooed on multiple people without my permission. This is an issue that affects a lot of people on deviantART.
`Yamino
The Born This Way Foundation that she built with her mom as a co-founder is powered by a phenomenal mission statement and unmistakable passion for moving humans from fear to bravery, from self doubt to self worth. This work goes on whether or not there is a tour happening or new songs are being released. Instead of just simply joining some fancy-flashy people in St. Barth's on vacation until the next marketing push rolls around; the promise of real help and real answers continues long after the show is over through this foundation and it's outreach activities.
There are very distinct connections between being a Monster and a deviant. A direct connection is that deviants "deviate from the norm", which equally (but partially) defines what Lady Gaga and her fan base represents. DeviantART is also the home to many fans of Lady Gaga, one of the many things that keeps us here is the continuous production of Lady Gaga inspired artworks. These inspired artworks allow the fans to view their idol in endless ways.
^ladygagz
The title to her next collection of songs and media that is to be released sometime in 2013 will be
Anticipation
electrified.
Lady Gaga will continue to manipulate the psychic vanguard of pop art, willing it to fit the needs of her music and her philosophy of a new sensibility amongst the masses. She covers her tour bus and green rooms with fan art. Her entire presentation leans on visual references drawn from rich resources of collaboration with true artists at all tiers. Lady Gaga’s vision would redefine beauty in all of it’s forms and contexts and as it’s defined by community for a new age. Her inclusiveness emulates the process we see everyday on deviantART where artists of every medium and stage collaborate and support each other openly and graciously.
Can Lady Gaga stage this at a new level uniting the world’s artists into a new power of influence? Lady Gaga has become a warrior for the replacement of the mathematical algorithms deciding “beauty” with, instead, the sincerity of intent between humans yearning to love free. Sincerity of intent is what her relationship with her “monsters” is all about. Lady Gaga can tap a new sincerity for beauty.
The Gaga Difference: The militancy of her demand for self-identification and self-expression. We live in a time when the masses, particularly those who are still young, are demanding the reality of democracy, equality and personhood in nation after nation. No more promises, no more rain-checks. In Christ-like fashion (employing much Italian Catholic faux-operatic and religious iconography) Lady Gaga has sacrificed herself as the model upon which her church has been built – a safe environment for all her “monsters” to gather and celebrate their otherness and oneness.
Lady Gaga is not just the context or agent for change. She and her monsters and all of their art may come to represent the change itself.
All this points to a real evolution in the relationship of entertainers, artists, writers and fandom. Gaga is NOT just the next exaggeration of pop excess and canned rebellion. The Beats, the Hippies, the civil rights workers, the early feminists and other social revolutionaries of the 1960’s and 1970’s in politics, culture, art and music left much behind and they are reminded of this all the more by the echoes from the vast storehouse of the Internet. As much as they lay claim to in terms of influence, many social taboos remained going forward including our modern struggle for LGBT rights and the increasing unfair separation of the “haves” and the “have nots.”
Lady Gaga posted a video on YouTube calling her state Representative to show her support for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Soon after, Little Monsters began posting videos of themselves calling their Representatives. The law was repealed. Lady Gaga and her fans are a tremendous force together.
~DarthPoe
Under everything, Is Just Another Human Being.
“Just breathe” - Eddie Vedder
Once there was a mutant named Jean Grey. She died in defending a fellow mutant, only to be resurrected by the Phoenix Force – the ultimate power for good in the Universe.
From a very young age, she was recruited into a team to help defend mutant-kind against those who would do away with those who were considered strange and different. As she grew, so did her powers, and so did the threats against her. Jean was soon recognized as one of the most powerful and important mutants in the world, and many attempts were made to harness both her powers and her genetic material. Mr Sinister, a brilliant, twisted scientist and a mutant in his own right, was determined to use Jean to create the future of mutant kind.
Jean had incredible powers, but she was only human. Like so many other mutants, she lost her life in defense of mutant rights and, ultimately, the greater good of the world. Family, friends and teammates mourned her loss, but death was not the final chapter for Jean Grey.
She had been chosen by an ancient force, the Phoenix Force, to rise again and serve as a protector of not just mutant kind, but all intelligent life in the cosmos.
The seeds of sincerity, non-cynicism and self-sacrifice that Gaga is sowing in youthful hearts may one day bloom in a love and respectful revolution with great impact. She is our Phoenix Force.
“ARTPOP” may be her “Sgt Pepper’s” and deviantART will cheer her rise from the ashes with a further avalanche of fan art and fan fiction exploding her message into the history of the Internet. As far as the distinction between messengers and messages are concerned, we are all flawed, all of us hopefully living our lives in a way that benefits humanity while still serving the selfish mission of making this journey on the EarthSphere as bearable as possible. I like people who endeavor to rise above their flaws for as long as they can each day. It’s not easy to be here.
In no way is this a May Crowning for Lady Gaga. We are not holding the pop culture achievement ceremonies or the sentimental artist awards here on deviantART. We are showcasing an incredible gallery of fanart and acknowledging Lady Gaga in the construction of a fellow community in a convergence of art, beauty, and aesthetic redefinition of a generation's self-esteem-battered constituents.
Is Lady Gaga in the pantheon of pop stars whose message is greater than the effervescence of pop?
Do you think the “establishment” consciously tries to degrade and devalue the significance of artists, i.e. attempting to portray them as eccentric, non-serious, possibly put-ons and phoneys?
If you are an artist, have you experienced attempts to paint you as a “non-serious” person – and certainly not one whose ideas on politics, economics, etc., could possibly be taken seriously?
Do you think you are the person you are today partially because of the singers and songs and artists and comics you love?
Do you think the Internet, twitter, etc., revolution is accelerating change around the globe as much because of the dissemination of the arts as the dissemination of political information? Are they equally necessary calls to human freedom?
Writers will always find inspiration in the visions of artists, always feeling compelled to tell the stories behind the moments captured in artists’ unforgettable images,
Just as,
Artists will always find inspiration in the words of writers, always feeling compelled to lend visual reality and habitat to the characters described in the scribe’s haunting words.
I was inspired to create this series by =naikki while looking through her gallery of diverse artwork and reading through her journals which are focused on her favorite inspiring writers and thinkers. I felt certain there must be beautiful artwork in the form of portraits and tributes to these writers and their stories. I found most of =naikki's choices of quotes to be inclusionary, redeeming and welcoming to any artist on their own path. Instead of just crediting =naikki with the inspiration for this new series on #depthRADIUS, I also invited her to provide a quote about Herman Hesse of her own to kick off this series.
“
Contemplations of the sharp-eyed mystic: when words become the palette to paint the journey to self realization.”
“There is no escape. You can't be a vagabond and an artist and still be a solid citizen, a wholesome, upstanding man. You want to get drunk, so you have to accept the hangover. You say yes to the sunlight and pure fantasies, so you have to say yes to the filth and the nausea. Everything is within you, gold and mud, happiness and pain, the laughter of childhood and the apprehension of death. Say yes to everything, shirk nothing. You are not harmonious, or the master of yourself. You are a bird in the storm. Let it storm! Let it drive you!”
– Hermann Hesse
I sped through heaven and saw God at work. I suffered holy pains. I dropped all my defences and was afraid of nothing in the world. I accepted all things and to all things I gave up my heart.
•••
Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf
Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day.
•••
Herman Hesse
The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world.
•••
Herman Hesse, Demian
In The Fog
It's strange to wander in the fog!
A lonely bush, a lonely stone,
No tree can see the other one,
And one is all alone.
The world was full of friends back then,
As life was light to me;
But now the fog has come,
And no one can I see.
Truly, no one is wise,
Who does not know the dark
Which inevitably and silently
Does from others him part.
It's strange to wander in the fog!
Life is loneliness
No Man knows the other one,
And one is all alone.
•••
Herman Hesse, Demian
Louie Schwartzberg has made it his life’s mission to use his cinematic artistry to raise the alarm for public awareness of the dire situation we are facing in the possible collapse of our taken-for-granted natural resources. The “colony collapse disorder” currently decimating our honeybees was the prompt for Louie’s new movie, Wings of Life, which at it's essence, is a love story that feeds the earth.
Disney is releasing the film on multiple formats and portals everywhere this week. The film is a cinematic wonder of beautiful camera work capturing natural beauty— the finest example of a “dialogue” between nature’s own “narration” and the “journalistic” skills of an artist with a true poet soul. The pure magic of this mesmerizing film is the fruit of such collaboration.
Anyone lucky enough to spend a little time with *louieschwartzberg and become caught up in the spell of his desire to save humanity from itself will be familiar with his profound dictum: “Beauty and seduction are nature’s tool for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with.” He refers here not only to people falling in love, but to bees, butterflies, bats and hummingbirds being attracted to the beauty of the various flowering plants that need to be pollinated so that their bounty (like honey and fruits and nuts, etc.) can continue to support human survival. I found the correlation of this idea to the very mission of art to be startling.
Louie Schwartzberg is not only a poet with a camera, but is proving himself to be one of the most important guides to the survival of humanity on our rapidly depleting planet. When an artist could easily simply rest on his or her laurels for their achievement in artistic innovation and excellence, it is truly heartening and inspiring when that artist chooses to take it that step beyond into advocacy for nature and humanity and use his or her art to educate and help heal the planet. This is the extra dimension to Louie’s life that makes him someone whose spirit we should hope to honor and emiulate in our own artistic endeavors.
That’s another Louie maxim I keep twisting round and round in my head, endlessly considering all its possible dimensions. The beauty of nature, the beauty of art, the beauty of love are what energize us and keep us forever wanting to preserve life – every life, including animal and plant life, planet life.
Louie is proposing that we do our best to create or curate artworks or other images that best illustrate this idea:
“Beauty as a Force of Energy.” Louie will soon share his vision for a project he will be curating around just this thought with the deviantART community, the depiction of Beauty, Kindness, Love, Joy, etc. as a force of energy could not only have an impact but change the world. I just thought I would get the ball rolling early! Louie is thinking of a collaborative project built around artworks that best depict the idea of Beauty as a Force of Energy. He will reveal more details on his page soon. If you have any ideas for him about what might make a project like that soar and really deliver the message around the world please send him a note as he is in early stages of building the project.
I love the Jumping Spider photo by ~dalimas. I once filmed a baby caterpillar being pounced upon and consumed by a jumping spider. The good news is that millions of Monarchs survive their caterpillar phase with a mass quantities strategy beneficial to both butterflies and spiders. Natural beauty may be savage, but it is purposeful and balanced.
In the "Closer Gallery", the Purple Dahlia by ~Coatlique touches the deepest part of my soul as I recognize the universal pattern of radiant symmetry and composition. Such are nature’s tools for creating a resonance within us. I believe that beauty is nature's tool for survival because we fall in love with what is beautiful and so we seek to protect it. Nature's operating instructions motivate our behavior to move our DNA forward – which is why Life is a force of energy.
Spiral II by *abey79 and Color Explosion by *IngoSchobert reveal that from the micro to the macro the universal patterns and rhythms of the Universe are reflected to us daily in these mirrors deep inside of every cell of your mind, heart and soul.
All of the work in #EARTH-SCRIPTURES speaks to the shift of consciousness that is happening as artists unite to inspire people to the truth, beauty, and intelligence of nature. We humans may lack the vocabulary to communicate with nature, which speaks to our own inadequacy. Artists at #EARTH-SCRIPTURES have their antennae tuned into scanning beyond the surface of nature to capture the spirit of nature that touches and opens our hearts to be present, conscious and connected with our friends, our families and most importantly, with ourselves.
The inspirational magic of one image awakening the creative muse of hundreds of artists.
Choose any media or medium and there is no question that Drones have become the white hot center of debate for a multitude of deeply consequential concerns for the entire Earth Sphere. No matter the digital end point or theatre of conversation, whether it be politics, war, privacy, pop culture, or the rise of machines – Drones or UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles) are the current catalyst du jour in any number of flashpoint discussions. From the front page headlines of news outlets around the world, to op-ed pages debating national security vs. non-juridical “justice,” to the big budget sci-fi film “Oblivion” with a main protagonist being a lonely drone repairman toiling away on a scorched earth, there is no getting away from the conversation.
Even more interesting is the tone of inevitability of outcome. Core discussion seems to focus on a coming drone-filled sky and how we might govern our selves accordingly as this fact becomes a reality. It would seem that we have surrendered to the “law” that if something is possible in its technology, it will inexorably come into being and have to be dealt with. If we can build it, we will, and our finger will itch to find a reason for pulling the trigger. Is this the dark side of human creativity and inquisitiveness that will ultimately one day spell our doom or the first signs of a coming technological Utopia.
As always, concerned artists around the world are responding, reflecting and creating. In NYC Adam Harvey has turned the very core idea of fashion on it’s head. His art project is not about being seen and noticed but about remaining unseen as there will now be no way to be unseen in this brave new climate of surveillance.
For a deeper examination of the intersection of future shock military terror and artistic response, *istickboy takes us on a journey through an art centered perspective on the subject. Jason Boog is not only a talented writer of finely crafted sentences, but he also brings a true journalist’s skills in research, analysis and balanced presentation to the topics he covers. His future contributions to depthRADIUS will no doubt prove as edifying and thought-provoking as they will be entertaining. Welcome, Jason.
The game concludes in 2025 with this nightmare scenario: terrorists have seized control of the entire United States drone fleet. The game has spawned deviantART collections and fan art as players create wallpaper stills, posters and scenes from the game.
Unmanned airplanes and other robotic fighting machines will obsess popular culture for years to come, and deviantART has already become a hub for drone art. Artists have tagged more than 19,000 posts with the word "drones” inventing everything from robots with laser cannons to My Little Pony drone horses to alien machinery to sleek unmanned airplanes to gorgeous robot blimps mining gas on distant stars.
According to Navy historians, drones first took flight in 1937, as the military tested remote controlled airplanes for research and missions. Just like drone bees under the command of the Queen, these early Navy drones were used for dangerous missions, target practice and other disposable tasks.
The humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch recently published a report about drone warfare around the globe. According to the study, US Department of Defense has invested about $6 billion every year into “the research and development, procurement, operations, and maintenance of unmanned systems for war.” In May 2010, U.S. drones surpassed one million flight hours and a short time later, in November 2010, achieved one million combat hours.
The great 19th Century artist and naturalist dedicated much of his career to sketching birds in beautiful and violent moments. You can download free copies of his illustrated journals at Project Gutenberg. In his journal, he described the magnificent killing power of birds of prey.
He described the violence of a black-backed gull hunting in a rainstorm:
The rain is driven in sheets which seem scarcely to fall on sea or land; I can hardly call it rain, it is rather a mass of water, so thick that all objects at any distance from us are lost to sight every three or four minutes, and the waters comb up and beat about us in our rock-bound harbor as a newly caged bird does against its imprisoning walls. The Great Black-backed Gull alone is seen floating through the storm, screaming loudly and mournfully as it seeks its prey; not another bird is to be seen abroad”
In the 20th Century, aviation art captured airplanes with the same gorgeous detail that Audubon brought to real birds. The movement took flight during World War II as airplanes brought mass destruction to the prosecution of war. Artists romanticized the deadly beauty of military machinery, painting a species of bird created by mankind.
In the five-foot tall panels, a comic book airplane blasts another fighter jet, creating a fiery inferno that engulfs half the painting with a comic explosion. The painting reproduced an image from a 1962 DC comic book, “All American Men of War.” Painting that image on an enormous canvas, Lichtenstein focused on the terrible beauty of an exploding aircraft.
An explosion of science fiction in the late 1940’s and into the 1950’s introduced rocket ships. There is a direct line to Star Trek and Star Wars through Blade Runner from Sputnik, the first unmanned satellite in space launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. The real thing and the imagined blend together.
The Starcraft series featured horrific Zerg drones, a combination of a wasp, monster and killer alien. In the Halo franchise, insect-like Yanme'e aliens are called drones. They fly and fight in hive formations, rallying around a queen like earthbound insects.
Just like these video game creatures, our real life drones were designed by watching nature. Robotic engineers at Boston Dynamics are creating the next generation of drones that will work on the ground for the military. These creatures all mimic real animals, strange works created by engineers --unnaturalists, if you will.
Inspired by mecha anime, deviantART artist ~izo84 has been developing a “Drone Army” video game concept for many years, posting some of his work on the site. He also cited professional devinatART members like `ukitakumuki, *Avitus12, *KaranaK and ~flaketom as inspirations.
~izo84 feels conflicted about his work:
I do not feel good about designing war machines. But I think as long as what I envisioned is pure fiction, I can continue working without remorse. On the other hand, I can see how fast the real development of unmanned war machines changed, and I have concerns.”
Inspired by press accounts of drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, artist ~turningaway posted “War as a Video Game” on deviantART. The political painting shows what a drone attack feels like for innocent civilians on the ground and reminds us of the consequences of these unmanned attacks.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was not created as science fiction. An Australian gaming site AusGamer interviewed Treyarch studio co-founder Mark Lamia who worked on the game. The founder explained the realistic art design behind the drone attacks: “We wanted to make sure that this is Call of Duty, it can’t be too sci-fi, it’s gotta feel like this is plausible. It’s part of the DNA of Black Ops where we set up these plausible scenarios and then we have our fiction going through it and our story... the flipside of major advances in robotics and technology is that sort of— on the flipside— is the dependencies on that and things that might be happening in cyber-warfare in the future. Things that used to be the domain of great science-fiction books is no longer, it’s reality; it’s happening; starting to play out in the headlines today, but certainly in the coming decade.”
While developing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the video game designers and artists consulted with P.W. Singer, the war scholar who wrote the most important book about drone warfare, Wired for War. Singer described why video game players are highly valued as drone pilots: “Having spent their youth online gaming, sipping Red Bull, and talking on their cell phones all at once, young drone pilots come to the unit with an ease at multitasking already wired into their DNA.”
Which do you think came first: the real drones or the artistic interpretations of drones?
DaVinci drew sketches of weapons and war machines as well as producing the most emotionally restrained and expressive portrait of a woman in the Mona Lisa. Is a sketch of a drone emotionally connected or is just an illustration of future shock?
There are all kinds of camera drones used by the military, by engineering companies to inspect pipelines, for example, and by film companies for all kinds of effects. What would be an art drone? Maybe a flying machine trailing colors, a guided laser obliterating ugliness or a device for laying down graffiti on inaccessible surfaces— do you have an idea for an art drone’s function or mission?
In Singer’s book, drone squadron commander Gary Fabricius talks about the lives of drone pilots: “You are going to war for twelve hours, shooting weapons at targets, directing kills on enemy combatants, and then you get in the car, drive home, and within twenty minutes you are sitting at the dinner table talking to your kids about their homework.” Is this really any different than spending a day in the studio drawing a comic or animations or illustrations of mass mayhem and destruction?
Do you think the proliferation of drones all over the world somehow brings us closer to a new world order or one world government?
A study in artistic diversity, Bernardo Medina embodies the renaissance spirit of the consummate artist, always inspired and inspiring artists around him to create and capture the rhythms of life and beauty in a multitude of mediums.
At the core is his love and dedication to the realism in captured moments of humanity that only the lens of photography can provide. With a background in architecture and design underpinning his artistic journey, Bernardo joined deviantART almost a decade ago and in that time has generated a formidable and impressive body of work on his own but also through collaborative endeavors with the other members of the deviantART community. He serves as a model of not only individual personal dedication to his art – but as an artist ever ready to share from his vast reservoir of spiritual support with any deviants or other artists who need only ask.
Bernardo specializes in building teams of artists to realize his visions when imagining public spaces filled with artwork, media, and inspiration. On a recent notable project he worked with `devilicious on bringing the interior of a 25,000 sq ft nightclub to devious life. On this, as with his other creations, much of the graphics, photography, modeling, design concepts, and artworks are sourced from dA when building massive public projects.
Many are most familiar with Bernardo’s work from his collaborations and photographic journeys in association with National Geographic that have yielded such absolutely beautiful imagery. He manages to capture the human condition and the global pulse of our living planet in an unvarnished and dramatic yet life-affirming manner. His images rank with the very best of what has made National Geographic the touchstone and authority in naturalist photography since before most of us were born.
But of all his most treasured collaborative work, Bernardo cites as his most enduring, fulfilling and inspiring the projects he shares with his son Tomas, ~teemoh. Like father – like son: Tomas also began his photographic journey on deviantART. Whereas Bernardo’s life in photography has focused on capturing moments in the natural world, Tomas, with his background in video and graphic design, is achieving great things in experimenting with light, form and sound. The father & son team is currently collaborating on a media show, “My Thailand Story.” Theirs is the sort of professional and spiritual relationship that best defines and illustrates in living practice what the deviantART experience and community is all about.
When did you first realize that deviantART was becoming your support system in your artistic endeavors?
When I started meeting many talented artists in deviantART, passionate about their work and about sharing it. They have been truly inspirational during the last 10 years. I come to deviantART every day. As an evolving community, it has a rhythm of it's own. In a world saturated with social media, deviantART remains true to it's original intent, connecting people through art. DeviantART has always been a reflection of new art trends, what's new, what's viral. In the modern world of business it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can share what you create and benefit from it.
Can you tell us a bit about your formal education and how it relates to the knowledge gained from an online community of photographers?
Architect by education. We have a Studio of Design and Construction in Texas. Photography is a source of inspiration for my architectural projects. It lets me play with the perception of the outside world, it's structures, forms, colors, illusions and cliches!
DeviantART artist/friends work with us on the artistic part of the architectural projects we do: graphics, photography, modeling, design concepts. The collab and team work is awesome!
Recently we worked with deviantART's `devilicious on a 25,000 sq. ft. night club project in Fort Worth, Texas. We produced many deviantART inspired images. Her visual concepts had a unique deviant flair. Working with `devilicious (Mary) is Nirvana!
Over the last few years some of my images have received photography awards and I've traveled with Nat Geo a couple of times. We are currently working on a multi-media show that includes a photography exhibit in Houston with The TAT ( Thailand Tourism Authority ) of the 2012 Thailand trip.
Do you feel like you’re an ambassador for the arts ethos of deviantART when you’re working in Thailand, etc?
A humble ambassador! It's always great when you have a deviantART friend tell you that your work inspired their creativity, or that they traveled to a certain place after seeing my photo.
What do you tell young artists about making best use of the human resources of arts communities as they begin building their careers?
Connect, connect, connect with artist-friends. The sorcery and charm of sharing our view of the world make it one of the most treasured of all creative arts. Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron once was to steelmaking.
We have followed `jsmonzani for many years. The range of his work is inspiring. His work mixes photography, graphic design and cinema, and we like that!
To be a successful entrepreneur, one needs a vision of one's work. If we dream, we will be inspired beyond the straight jacket of the everyday world. There is a profound connection between art and enterprise, which allows businesses to overcome its limitations and break the rules. Creativity is the cutting edge of the art business.
My son Tomas (~teemoh) joined deviantART 9 years ago. He went to film and photography school and now we work together on special projects. It's awesome! He is driven to create and has a passion for engaging with clients to turn their visions into striking images. As a video-photographer and graphic designer, he is working on several media projects experimenting with light, form & sound – the world in motion!
How has your Dad's arc as a photographer influenced your career personally and professionally?
It’s very exciting to be a part of a creative family. It gave me the tools to create my own vision of the world. Professionally, it's a great start if you have 4 eyes!
Can you talk a bit about your current camera set up and also offer some travel tips for the young photographer about to set out on a first trip as a paid photographer?
We like Canon Equipment, and we travel light, but bring very selective gear to cover any lighting condition.
Yes. Sometimes you can feel that instantly! But also, many great photographs are made only after observing a subject, learning when it looks best, and returning to photograph it at its most spectacular. This is how you make anything look extraordinary.
What happened that confirmed for you that you had chosen correctly in making the arts a focal point in your life?
Have you ever collaborated with a close friend or family member? Was it a moment of growth or did it result in a retreat.
Are you in the process of planning a full commitment to a career in the arts? Do you need to choose between many talents in the arts?
Do you think there is a well of inspiration waiting to be tapped by the right artistic stimulus in every human being?
The inspirational magic of one image awakening the creative muse of hundreds of artists.
Right brain warriors in the new age will be the coveted candidates ordained to lead and guide us; lifting the torch to light the way forward into a brave new beautiful world.
Artists have always feared that they are unappreciated and that the march of progress comes only from business, science and their machines. 1984 was imagined by an artist projecting these exact fears. Our guest essayist suggests the computer will never be our master, but only the super high speed counting machine it was meant to be leaving humans with only one pure task— being creative.
No, I’m not talking about an apocalyptic “Rise of the Machines,” but rather about the future ascent of people who excel in creativity, intuition, and the marshaling of original solutions, things that computers won’t be able to do for a long time. Tomorrow’s rewards will be won by creative people who contribute new ideas. Call it the Right Brain Revolution.
For the past few centuries, society has richly rewarded strong systems thinkers, logical, analytical, objective people such as computer programmers who build software, engineers who build bridges, lawyers who write contracts, and MBAs who crunch numbers. But as computers take over more of the pure systems thinking, people with only this skill set will find their importance decline. There are about 4 to 5 million engineers and computer scientists employed today in the US and few will be automated out of existence. But in the next 50 years, those that excel in creativity-- big picture thinkers, artists, inventors, designers -- will rise to the top. It could be as big a paradigm shift in labor market history as when tools made physical strength irrelevant, or assembly lines replaced the cottage industry. The illiterates of the future will not be those who cannot read and write or code, but those who cannot connect the dots and imagine a constellation.
From 1975 to 1994 only 0.5% of psychological studies concerned creativity, but now it’s a flourishing field complemented by an entire industry of self-help books on how to become more creative. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs from 60 countries and 33 industries identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future (more than rigor, management discipline, integrity and even vision).
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Instead of making a resolution to learn how to code in 2013, you might make a resolution to learn how to draw.
Auren Hoffman
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Computers are no match for the average fourth-grader when it comes to creativity.
Auren Hoffman
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Instead of encouraging your child to major in engineering, you might encourage her to study philosophy.
Auren Hoffman
In the United States, the key predictive score to spot a good systems thinker-- our future leaders-- has been the SAT and IQ tests. Our universities have, for the most part, outsourced their admissions decisions to these tests. And that was probably a good thing. In the last few hundred years, systems thinking trumped all other talents. We needed to build bridges and understand complex matters. While creativity, emotional intelligence, and other talents have been important, they were relegated to second place in predicting a person’s success. But while high IQ is important, it isn’t very correlated to creativity.
Over the next 30 years, we are going to see a big societal shift that will give outsized rewards to creativity. Systems thinking, while still important, will move to second-fiddle in the talent hierarchy.
Education and parenting should aim to provide the conventional skills (math, problem solving, and test taking skills) while also encouraging creative, out-of-the-box type thinking. Computers are no match for the average fourth-grader when it comes to creativity.
Instead of making a resolution to learn how to code in 2013, you might make a resolution to learn how to draw. After a few months of lessons you might begin to observe the world differently seeing details, light and shadows, shapes, proportions, perspective and negative space.
Instead of encouraging your child to major in engineering, you might encourage her to study philosophy, ask smart unsettling questions and practice making unusual and unexpected mental associations.
Albert Einstein said;
Auren Hoffman is an industry visionary with a global battlefield view of emerging business, commerce, technology, and social realities that is truly second to none. His analysis of current trends, unique in a revolutionary perspective, makes him sought after as an advisor to a multitude of divergent companies and business professionals. In a recent essay Auren sounded the alarm alerting his colleagues across multiple industries to the radical shift in direction necessary to ensure success by sharing his thoughts on what will be of most value in the coming decades of this new emerging reality - - you, the artist.
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Auren’s writing in future-speak. But the future may be now. The gigantic proletarian participation in the arts all over the Internet from deviantART to YouTube to Vimeo or smaller influential places such as Behance or 500 Pixels or the millions of Wordpress blogs and the complete wonder of a genuinely crowd-sourced and peer-reviewed Wikipedia— all of this is a massive popular takeover of the arts— not a revolution but an inconspicuous re-engineering enabled by technology.
$makepictures
Do you believe your art advances the human condition?
Do you believe that those with more creative rather than systems-oriented thought processes are destined to assume the leadership role at this point in human history? Do you see evidence of this happening already?
Have you ever experienced a knee-jerk fear of advancing, accelerating technology "taking over" all human relevancy? Or have you always felt secure in technology remaining a tool serving a human master no matter how advanced the A.I. becomes?
Are we at the apex of what is achievable technologically and now, as Auren Hoffman suggests, about to enter a Next Phase of human society beyond sheer survival emphasizing the arts?
Turn of the century troublemakers Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso began enhancing their paintings with glued on bits of cut out fabric and other materials, thus neatly blurring the line between the art categories of painting and sculpture. They shifted the emphasis or “meaning” of their painted images beyond an attempted interpretation of the painted “text” to thinking about the artists’ “process” – something wholly separate from the paintings themselves.
Is an assemblage of “found” junk really art? Is the artist’s technique in “building” an artwork more important than the artist’s aesthetic skills? Should ideas and feelings evoked in experiencing art come from a “story” or narrative painted on a canvas or are ideas and emotions with perspectives tempered by glued on newspaper clips and photographs just as valid? Is this “sampling” just a form of plagiarism? Is it simply an artist’s shortcut to his vision or expression, and ultimately never really his own best “statement?”
Leave it to the truly great artists and creative thinkers to leave more questions in their wake than answers. That the creation and interpretation of any artwork is a mad kaleidoscopic endeavor shouldn’t bother us so much a century after Picasso’s transgressions especially in a time of string theory and serious consideration of parallel universes. In fact, any evening spent in front of your end point of choice easily illustrates the triumph of the collage “idea” – as commercial after commercial batters us with seemingly disassociated sounds and images that somehow come together to push a singular perspective: like and want this product... because it is part of a desirable but unobtainable lifestyle implicit in the commercial’s collage of images.
But what of collage as a purely aesthetic artform? It seems the surrealists immediately following Picasso embraced collage, especially because it so nicely served in the presentation of political and anti-war messages, with the grim reality of war in photographs juxtaposed with the artists’s painted pleas for peace. Collage has never really gone out of style, as it seems to be that idea with a little added something that artists, like Warhol in the sixties, rediscover over and over to reinvigorate their messages. One particularly popular school of “wood collage” has endured, in which the artist glues wood cuttings or panels to painted canvases, again creating a painting+sculpture effect. Some artists use natural found driftwood to enhance their paintings, igniting again the “but is it art?” question. By now most of that conversation has died down into a truce:
Collage seems to have won a place in our collective hearts as an artform that “anyone can do.” We start cutting and gluing pictures in Kindergarten to add to our crayon creations and many happy homes have photo collages of smiling famiy members hanging on their walls. Whatever comment the serious artists are making about “process” or political activists are making about world peace is now wrapped warmly in the same artistic space as our baby photo collections.
“Digital Art” is the latest artform in search of a theory by the academics. But its commercial application as CGI is transforming the look of the imaginary worlds in films and video games and no doubt doing much, for better or worse, to imprint those (usually dystopic) landscapes in our sub-consciences.
Personally I love collage as an artform.
Is collage even relevant as a technique in the face of digital tools that instantly paste content into almost every image we see?
What is your first reaction to the “is ‘found’ art really art?” question?
Does the experience of the “meaning,” or at least your perception of a painting, being changed to a new perspective by added materials engage your mind in a positive way, or make you feel like what’s the point? Does too much relativity kill your soul?
How would you feel if some of the plates fell off your very expensive Julian Schnabel “painting?” Would you first wonder if re-gluing them made the work somehow altered or bogus? Would you wonder first about insurance or resale value?
Do you have personal collages of friends and family? Did the placement of individuals’ pictures within the collage have any particular significance?
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I have never found a companion who was so companionable as solitude.
Henry David Thoreau
I always thought Thoreau’s comment was simply a word game— ultimately not of much value and false at its core. A Valentines Day in solitude should mean being all alone and alone means being unhappy, pure and simple. Still, it will turn out in life that the most alone we can feel is ironically in the crush of family and friends and even in the embrace of one’s Valentines Day companion— but lost and unfulfilled in one’s dreams and visions.
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Become aware of your aloneness— which is a reality. And it is so beautiful to experience it, to feel it, because it is your freedom from the crowd, from the other. It is your freedom from the fear of being lonely.
Osho
Most all art has to come from a singular obsession. Is a companion, even for Valentine’s Day, a weakness to convention in the face of a need for excellence? It an be many years of Valentines Day cards and chocolates before the true source of loneliness descends: a disconnection to your muse, your art, your desire – the essence of that which makes you an artist. Will you abandon the false happiness of crowds and the search for that special somebody and nostalgic rituals and embrace the search for connection throughout the fullness of the universe through art? Solitude is the path to ultimately connecting with us all— to really touch others with love.
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Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio or looked at television. They had 'Loneliness' and knew what to do with it. They were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood in them would work.
Carl Sandburg
Our truest love lies in what we find within ourselves and then share with all humanity. The artists, writers, collaborators, appreciators, and visionaries, here at deviantART, perhaps in solitude in front of their screens and canvasses, share this grand conversation with each other everyday through their own personal, yet fully connected art journey. You can never be “alone” on Valentines Day ever again. The key is in the words of Paul Tillich, the existentialist philosopher, who once said: “Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.”
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The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.
Jean de La Bruyere
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The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.
Vincent van Gogh
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We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Orson Welles
Would you rather experience the loneliness of a loveless Valentines Day, if you felt it aided in your art? Or is Valentines Day the sort of thing that feeds your art too much to be abolished for even one year?
Do you have an understanding of what it means to be truly alone in the world as an essential ingredient in making a truthful and moving piece of art?
Do you like being in solitude as meditation to art or do you need the support and love of another?
Do you know a difference between sadness and solitude?
Street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called it the “decisive moment”— the captured instant when all the photograph’s elements come together to tell a story in a way a text narrative of thousands of words could never begin to. It is what hooks people, both practitioners and advocate-devotees, on the art form. It is uniquely completely immersive in life— step out into the streets— in which the moment of artistic epiphany can never be guessed at until it suddenly happens. When it is properly mastered, it is as pure as the dawn of each new day, as true as the living organism of a teeming street scene catching a breath as one.
It's no easy task to pull a book together for publication and "The New Street Photographer's Manifesto" currated by Tanya Nagar (`tanya-n) is an excellent first effort for a first time book editor and publisher. Let's celebrate this devious success story with an interview and feature on all of the artists involved.
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It embraces and runs with the idea that in street photography the best camera is the one that you're holding, whether it be a mobile phone or dSLR. This perspective makes the book, and the genre-at-large, accessible to everyone. My photos that are included in the book reflect this as some were taken with a film RF, some a digital EVF, and some a phone. I feel truly honored to have been asked to participate in The New Street Photographer's Manifesto, especially since I am a believer in its core concept.
Profile of Tanya Nagar and the deviantART artists that have contributed to the book she featured on her profile.
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The street was my school of photography and i wish i had had the opportunity to read a book like Tanya's at the time i started taking photos, it would've saved me a lot of time figuring out what was good and what wasn't! Although it gives a very wide range of how street photography can be like, the quality of each reference or contributor is really inspiring and i'm honored to be part of this book.
I've always had a fascination with different cultures and human behaviour. I studied Psychology at university as a result, and found that photography is a way of being able to document human behaviour in the most obvious and simplest form. It's subjective and objective at the same time and the possibilities are endless. For me street photography is about observing and capturing the fleeting every day moments all around us, which can so easily be lost among the noise of daily life.
What appeals to me most about this type of photography is the spontaneity of it; you can't predict what's going to happen on "the street". It's impossible to get bored of it because there is literally so much to capture which could be lost in the blink of an eye. It's challenging, requires quick reactions and when done right, can produce some fascinating insights into the world around us, which most people may ordinarily ignore or not notice. I love capturing those kind of scenes - the ones that are a true reflection of our society.
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A few years ago, one of the only places I could look to for quality, contemporary street photography was deviantART. At this point, the only books out there on the subject were very outdated and didn't feature modern life at all. Seeing the work of Tanya and Severin on dA inspired me, whilst getting feedback on my own images was a big step in my progression. It's amazing that I can now walk into my local bookshop and see our images together in print. I think the book is a great resource for beginners of the medium and I hope it gives others the confidence to get out with their cameras and share their visions.
I don't think I've ever felt anything negative towards street photography. It's a lifestyle more than something I consciously aim to do. I don't decide 'OK today I'll do some shooting'. I try to have my camera with me when I'm out and about, and some days I'll shoot a lot, and other days nothing at all.
I've had people threaten me before and once got pushed by someone (not a subject but another photographer at a protest I was shooting), but on the whole I restpect and reason with people who object to being photographed. I just don't see the point of arguing - why would I want a photo of a moment that's now lost because the subject has objected? I've shot in supposedly dangerous parts of India, the West Bank and Uganda, but so far haven't been faced with anything too serious.
The one time I was in real danger (through my own doing!) was when I was hanging out of a moving train in India trying to shoot a man a carriage down who was also leaning out of the train. I was using a manual film camera and had to focus, compose and shoot using one hand, while holding onto a pole with my other hand. Trains in Mumbai don't have doors (security is lax, to say the least!) yet I didn't really register the danger until after - I guess adrenaline takes away fear in these situations.
I've mainly used a Canon 350D digital SLR and a Nikon F3 film SLR. I also have a Canon 5D which is heavier and bulkier but I absolutely love using the 50mm f/1.8 lens to its full-frame potential on it. The 50mm f/1.8 is my favourite lens on both film and digital. For street you don't need fancy equipment - the aim is to capture raw moments as they are, so using HDR photography kind of defeats the purpose.
I'm working on a couple of other book ideas - slightly different but not completely unrelatted to street photography - and I've already been in talks with some deviantArt members about this as I really feel their work should be showcased and is a valuable source of information to others. So watch this space!
DeviantART was initially my biggest inspiration when I started off shooting, as I hadn't developed any notable style and was still at the point of not even knowing what I enjoyed photographing. It's where I discovered street photography, and I spent a lot of time back then communicating with other photographers in the dA chat rooms and talking about photography. It was a forum where I could experiment, debate, get feedback and advice from like-minded people, which was hugely important in my development as a photographer.
The majority of contributors in my book are also members of deviantART, a number of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting and shooting with in person.
The book itself came about as I wanted to bring street photography to a wider audience - not just people who necessarily spend time online in search of information. A publisher was interested in my work and book idea, and it all took off from there.
So many writers and artists from around the world contributed amazing gifts of their wildest imaginations, collaborating with each other and offering suggestions and encouragement to each other in the friendly Odyssey environment.
The true spirit of the deviantART community was on full display, with moments of elevation provided by helpful angels’ wings far outnumbering the moments of snark and cynicism. There are still glitches technical and human in the Odyssey Project, but this is a dA “show” that will definitely go on – so long as talented arts “deviants” with spiritual leaders like *CliveBarker are willing to use their time and effort to pioneer new roads into creativity in the emerging Internet powered narrative.
In the end it was ~BillBlogins, a regular contributor to both Odyssey competitions, who was able to somehow, employing an economy of words that nonetheless achieved a fine dreamlike flow, pull together all the dangling threads of the intergalactic takeover tale concocted by our chain of writers and then let Paul convincingly save humanity on Earth – only to then debark into the cosmos to save other worlds. Wonderful for what had to be done in so few paragraphs.
And Paul, after having been a tortured victim throughout so much of the story, was finally able to redeem his protagonist’s role and go out a real hero. The use of sound vibration warfare was just what was needed to elevate this horror-science fiction thriller into the incredibly memorable.
London CallingPaul's Journal (February 28)
Six months.
One-hundred and eighty three days from vomit on my pants to the fall of civilization. John Dryden once said, "...mighty things from small beginnings grow." Yeah, no shit.
There were more entities than we thought, hidden in other cities on other continents, and they all rose together in that terrible final struggle to fight us for control. I was wrong to think I was strong enough to stop them. I was so wrong.
At dawn, on the one-hundred eighty-fourth day of the war, all I can see from the roof of the House of Commons is the apocalypse. Across the Thames, the London Eye looms over the riverbank l
Odyssey II - Chapter 8: The Oroboros Wassail
Have you ever seen sound?
There's a condition named for it: Synesthesia. The ability to hear and at the same time SEE what is, or might, be there.
Paul was experiencing something similar to that right now. Each word that had poured our of Maya's mouth had rung a bell in his mind. One that pulsed with all the colours of the void, similar to a violently organic oilslick that danced and twitched and wrapped around the edges of his consciousness.
It was how he'd been woven back together, the very sinew of those kaleidoscopic utterances stitched into his body now.
The word was being strangled by those tendrils. Tal'Shen was the final spin
Nightmare Virus"I trust you." Maya said inching closer to Paul.
Paul lowered to the ground and hugged Maya tightly in a loving embrace.
"Everything is going to be ok now."
Maya then collapsed on to the floor and her body shook in violent spasms.
"Maya!"
Maya's mouth peeled open like a sack of dead flesh. She exhaled a dying moan as her body melted like candle wax boiling into a red stump of slimey flesh that seared through the floorboards like sulphuric acid.
The windows began to fog and the room walls blackened like hot cigarrette butts as the sound of demonic bull-like grunts warped any dillusions of victory Paul had into unholy nightmarish madness
The Mandala Turns"Are you sure about this?", Maya muttered as they made their way over rooftops on a helicopter Maya was "borrowing."
"Yes. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I have to get closer to her." His voice seemed... deeper, and it carried a strange resonance to it that distracted her. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and pointed. "Thar she blows, as the saying goes." Up ahead, illuminated by the city lights, was Tal'shen. Her form was huge and amorphous, a gelatinous mesh of pieces of that seemed to belong to the menagerie of the deep sea. The skin was a murky grey that crackled with bolts of rainbow colored lightning and gigantic tentacles l
End Times Paul lay in bed listening to the radio, still shivering from the battle weeks before.
He remembered his pursuit of Tal'shen, but on reflection it had been less of a chase and more of an allowance to follow her, perhaps she had known that Paul had the seed to defeat her.
Despite his brave words to Maya, he was not truly purged of the beast. A small sliver of unnatural life lay trapped around his spine. Paul kept it for a reason, knowing the link, no matter how tenuous, would be the key to sooth the abomination.
Tal'shen had waited for him in a side street, one of London's many capillaries that litter her maps.
She could not speak
Read Chapter 8 Literature Winner for Artwork Inspiration
A magic of effective art can be a drawing that appears to be a movie still, clipped from a film narrative, evoking a powerful sense of storytelling— and the viewer wants to know the rest of the story. This phenomenon has recently manifested itself on deviantART— and in a big way— once again.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will produce a movie based on a drawing (“sweet Halloween dreams”) by deviantART digital artist *begemott. The drawing depicts a tiny teddy bear with a tiny wooden sword and shield defending a sleeping child from the advances of a hideous beast sprung from the child’s nightmare.
The drawing was spotted on deviantART and brought to the attention of The Rock, film company, New Line, and the production company that produced The Rock’s successful movie “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.”
“Begemott’s gallery is full of wildly imaginative art works... We want to become a part of that world and find out what happens next.
Begemott’s gallery is full of wildly imaginative art works that succeed in capturing the moment in an idea’s “story” that represents a portal into a separate world. We want to become a part of that world and find out what happens next. Almost any of the images from this artist’s gallery could serve as a more interesting story platform than the mostly stale stories released every Friday in our movie theaters. So what at first blush might seem a bit crazy— constructing an entire film narrative from a single artist’s image— becomes much more understandable.
Even within short viewings, the striking and evocative story possibilities of *begemott’s artworks spark the imagination. But so many of these paintings deserve longer viewing sessions offering even greater reward by allowing the constructed tableau to percolate and truly come to life. Sensing the dilemma these characters are facing becomes the core focus when viewing these works. Empathy for the subject and situations and the just occurred events comes easily as the scenes unfold and the characters’ relationships with themselves and others become clear. These newly familiar characters exude more identity and personality than the scripted clichés populating too many a screenplay.
The creativity, imagination and resonance with seekers of art that is always next-level, delightfully wicked and yet thoroughly human, always the portal moment of a story we want to enter, is what makes begemott’s art so special. And as a moment of captured “living narrative” his work is drawing in those in the entertainment businesses charged with finding life buried in the stacks of deadheaded old-thought pitches and submissions.
DeviantART's great proletarian aesthetic is infusing media. Presented for your consideration: the likeness of a central character in Bioshock Infinite was sourced from a prominent cosplayer on deviantART, *ormeli; and the recent suggestion by a snarky critic that the key art poster for The Great and Powerful Oz must have been made by a “14 year old on deviantART”— it certainly reflects deviantART because that’s what the world wants to see.
This community is the dominant aesthetic.
DeviantART is becoming known as the place to come to, where the imagination for the new millennium and the new narrative spaces of the Internet are to be found. And begemott is the newest example of the narratives being discovered here.
Deviants should be made aware that this phenomenon of Hollywood finding movie ideas in the galleries of deviantARTists is not novel. This community’s impact on the aesthetic and narratives of all media is substantial and constant though frequently invisible. This event is distinguished by the high profile acknowledgement of the artist and of deviantART as the source of his work.
Is there a particular artwork, or an artist’s work in general, in which you notice this “moment from an unwritten story” phenomenon?
Have you ever been intrigued enough by a “narrative moment” artwork on dA to ask the artist in a comment to tell the rest of the story? Would you like to do that?
Do you think the Hollywood studio trend in seeking more imaginative narratives in dA’s “unwritten stories” will increase?
Is this because audiences in the Internet age in general are demanding more full spectrum or multifaceted platforms for their narrative entertainment?
Which brings us to each year’s communal celebration of the passing of our lifetimes:
New Year’s Eve
So what did you “actually get done” in the past year? How closer are you to a grand goal in life? An assessment is made and then the inevitable Step 2 of the yearly process is engaged, which is often a word for word repeat of last year’s Step 2:
The New Year’s Resolution
There seem to be two main strategies that emerge at this point of facing the New Year, a “brand new morning.” The lone wolf quietly acknowledges goals not yet reached, and is even more secretive in the “new plan.” “I’ll show them,” becomes the new private mantra. It works for some people, but my experience has been that I’m splurging on Star Wars memorabilia by Valentine’s Day.
I’ve found that rather than making secret contracts with myself, a much higher success rate is always achieved as a combination of two other elements.
Pablo Picasso
To a truly worthy vision, maybe even one that cannot be achieved in a year, but in a lifetime, is just the sort of quest that engages the starving soul so much more than the common shaving a few digits off of the weight scale. (I personally implemented the "no cookie left behind" program this holiday season so I might want to think about that one too.) But the truth is, New Year’s comes but once a year. It would seem better to me to go big or not at all. Pick projects of real importance in your life – ones that require the more personal attention and dedication to the better.
Should not be a dirty word in the strategies of personal achievement. It has been my experience that the more genuinely useful support I’ve received from the like-minded (as well as the merely curious) has always gone a long way to keeping my Big Picture from faltering. When the potholes in the road forward begin to resemble archeological digs, as it seems they usually do, there’s nothing more heartening in being able to take it all in stride than a word of admiration, advice or encouragement from a fellow dA community member.
In his book "Outliers" Malcolm Gladwell outlines the 10,000-Hour Rule, the thought being that spending ten thousand hours practicing a particular discipline is necessary for mastery of that skill. He also brings up the importance of support in the from family, friends, and mentors in the ultimates success of an individual. No one achieves the highest summit's of success alone. No one. Even the most unique vision requires the nurture of human camaraderie if it is to be developed to it's fullest potential and efficacy.
I find myself thinking about recent achievements as well as a grand vision currently in formation here at deviantART, and how much the atmosphere of this community – how much dedication to art and artists, and how much they are supported and support each other – and I can’t wait to see where life will take all of us in this new year. A tough statement to put out there, considering the unbearable horrors that have recently rained down in our world from weather catastrophes, classroom atrocities, civil wars and the violence related to a radically altered political landscape around the world. But it’s true. I am still hopeful. I am still ready to rededicate my dreams on New Year’s Eve. I’m not sure I’d be making that statement were I not now ensconced and engaged in the deviantART community. But as Kurt Vonnegut used to say, “So it goes.”
For the ReaderDo you make New Year’s resolutions? If not, why not?
Does a goal achieved with the help and support of friends in any way diminish the power of that achievement, or does it become something made all the more memorable and special because of the participation?
What’s the most farfetched resolution you’ve ever declared?
What is your yearly resolution that has still never been achieved?
Do you think it helps to rededicate oneself to a cause, no matter how large or small, regardless of how many times the attempt has failed?
Can you share with us the personal discipline system that works for you as an artist in bringing your work to a next level?
More specifically do you have any tips for those of us balancing multiple responsibilities along with our creative endeavors?
W
e are facing yet another grave prediction that we are in the true end of days this year and this time, this time, we have been inundated with five years worth of investigative shows, frightful books, and alarmist interviews outlining evidentiary “proof” that this is the one date on the calendar, certified by a now vanished people in what is now the jungles of Mexico, that humanity will not escape.
The one fateful day has been carved in stone, forged in blood, aligned with the stars and set in motion thousands of years ago by learned men. There is a most intriguing science lesson from MAD magazine; in the introduction to an article on the dark art of palm-reading, the text stated: “of course, any 7-year-old could explain that wrinkles appear on hands from folding them… but since we don’t have a seven-year-old here today, let’s continue with our idiotic premise.” So, with the same logical acuity, let’s decide that so many websites couldn’t all be wrong, and so the Mayan Doomsday is real.
Now... If the entire list of humanity were at your disposal for one final grand soiree on the way to oblivion, with whom would you prefer to spend your last few hours?
Then again, maybe there’s that one enigmatic figure you’d want to have all to yourself for your last conversation, e.g., the Dalai Lama, Bob Dylan, David Beckham (this last one maybe not just to talk to)? There are only a few days left until one of the great “Mystic events” days is proven out one way or the other. Just enough time to get those invitations out!
C
ontemplating the decline and ultimate demise of a society’s reign on the planet whether it be the Mayans, Atlanteans, or Romans demands a certain level of retrospective analysis of the historical event by our scientists, academics and thinkers. But, to imagine the end of the Earth in one fell swoop within one day’s time will require a whole other level of forensic evaluation and interpretation should sentient beings from other worlds come upon our planet’s civilizations in ruins and try to divine what might have been here and just what our diverse societies were up to. Just as we unearth an entire community in the deserts or mountains of a remote region and begin the process of piecing together the everyday life of a people forgotten, so shall the space gods or our time traveling future-selves come upon remnants and begin the same process.
There is a tried and true thesis altering, eye-opening notion that is used by teachers when discussing a multitude of subjects including critical thinking, philosophy, politics, comparative religion, organizational behavior, and many others; in one hundreds years from this moment there likely will be all new people on the planet. Every one of us replaced with the next. But consider this even more startling "truth" that one day far, far into the future of existence the sun really will die out and all will perish (unless we... well that's what sci-fi is for).
Even with the certainty that all of the world's art, music, and literature will be wiped away, even though we are only here for a short while, we must continue to create, paint, write, build, compose, sculpt, choreograph, carve and photograph to our greatest abilities. If, one day, there is indeed only a ghost of us left in the cosmos — perhaps in the form of a few “cave drawings” inside our abandoned intergalactic escape ships — it is still our duty to treasure our time and leave this world a more manageable, loving, less painful place than when we got here.
I
$techgnotic of deviantART, without Mayan heritage unless they also ran Italy and Ireland back in the day, promise you that the world will not end this Friday December 21st. If you are worried at all that any of this might be true please know that you are going to be fine and the world will go on. I promise. Please make plans for a wonderful Saturday morning and enjoy your weekend. And if this greatly disappoints you… well, maybe from here forward the world will embrace you instead.
Who would be the five people you would have join you for the final toasts at the end of the world?
Who would be at your final deviantMEET?
What would be a relief to you were the world to actually end?
What would be your greatest regret if the world came to an end December 21st?
What is the single work of art, architecture, music or literature you would save from the destruction of the world?
We have decided to extend the writing deadline for the last chapter to December 31 and we're expanding the Word count to 800 words for our final chapter! Artists will then have two full weeks to illustrate our final chapter - meaning artwork for Chapter 8 will be due by January 14, 2013. Any Animations/films and poetry deadlines are now extended until Jan 14! We will then unleash, I mean publish, this tale of Paul’s very unexpected journey!
~BillBlogins, whose name assures a necessary jolt of action to the storyline, always well-executed. He was also a regular contributor to Odyssey I.
~Sayuri14, packed with dramatic action every time. No longer startled to read such compelling hard action being produced by young female writers. This writer packs a real punch.
*littlecrow and her evocative artworks. Her nightmare illustrations of the “transition” scenes in Odyssey II are quite effectively horrifying.
*SeldinTaase’s psychological observations. His observations on intergalactic psyches lent a whole new dimension to the story as political drama. His noirish text was pleasingly atmospheric, a difficult feat to achieve with such limited space.
~EmpyP, of the consistently smoothly-written prose, well-imagined. Her description of these weird sisters internecine struggle is knowingly executed.
~markmywords85, with such clever turns of phrase. No wonder one of his chapters was chosen. His rollicking prose feels like a dragster race down a mountainside. Yet it somehow arrives at precisely the moment to delver the most narrative impact.
~Kill-Natalie, whose vibrant kinetic wordsmithery is always a pleasure to read. A young artist with a sense of grotesquerie that’s quite remarkable.
*EsselPratt, whose descriptions of the intersection of knife’s blade and human flesh are so effectively frightful. But he is also quite good at bringing in a real sense of humanity and human needs, even in an extreme horror story. There is no sense of the perfunctory in his heart-hewn writing.
The atmosphere of friendly competition, mutual aid when needed and fulsome community that has endured throughout all the glitches and hiccups of Odyssey and Odyssey II is something I will always be grateful to have beheld and well worth all the 4 a.m. technical meltdowns. Hopefully this is only the beginning of many such innovative projects. The real prize in this “contest” is witnessing how deviants and other creative entities from around the world can come together in a mere flash of time to help each other build something unique in storytelling that points to the very future of the written narrative.
The special kind of dedication, spirit and discipline devoted to the assembly and construction of a successful Group within the vast technicolor ocean of artworks, artists and art appreciators that is deviantART might very well be the experiential epitome of what it is to be a part of the deviantART journey. From the very first conception, through the ten thousandth practical step, ^alltheoriginalnames and his cadre of steadfast partners in artful curation have built a virtual sanctuary of the fantastical— #Realm-of-Fantasy. Housing the largest and most significant collection of exceptional fantasy art in the world in every genre, they are among the most magnificent shipbuilders of the highest order navigating the waters of deviantART while inviting all of us to sail with them.
Groups on deviantART build community in a multitude of incredibly unique configurations. With both tiered content and tiered involvement at play it never ceases to amaze me all of the ways in which the Groups platform is utilized by all of us. Whether a founder, mod, blog writer, participant or appreciator there is nothing quite like discovering a well organized and managed Group laser focused on just your favorite medium, artist, world, or subject matter. Sure, Groups Platform is line for some major improvements based on the frequent comments that come through HQ but it still produces a home for everything from private clubs to vast niche audiences.
Many of us, myself included, have struggled to divine and then apply the nuts and bolts and dedication necessary to build a successful Group. One of the writing partners with whom I have built many worlds over the years #F09 have been so inspired by their success with #Realm-of-Fantasy. The hope is that this interview will help all of us manage our Groups in a more efficient and rewarding way within the community. No matter the subject, occasion, fandom, story, or artistic genre you have chosen to build a Group around, ^alltheoriginalnames has given us a rich blueprint in which to follow. I learned a lot from this interview and I hope that you do too.
We will be featuring many more Groups in profile next year. Please let me know the Groups you feel that I should be featuring.
Running a Group is a very fun and rewarding experience; but it takes time, patience, dedication and a strong passion for the Group's subject and focus. Some of these key factors will lay the very foundation for a Group. Without a strong foundation, the structure will crumble and the Group may falter. Many new Groups have given up before they get off the ground do to no member activity , while some other more established Groups that have gone dormant do to Moderator inactivity. I have found that one must nurture and cultivate a Group before it can become a living breathing community. Develop a system, and learn the Group format inside and out, front to back. Learn, adapt and grow. And don't be afraid to show your passion, and give your Group a soul.
Running a large high traffic Group such as #Realm-of-Fantasy does take a lot of work. With hundreds of deviations submitted to the Group daily, countless message correspondences and notes incoming, and constant gallery maintenance it can be a handful. In the past we have had some new Group Mods step down after just one day because they can get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of messages, it can wreak havoc on ones inbox lol. The difference between a small Group and a large one is comparable to the difference between a quiet suburbia and a busy metropolitan area. Very fast paced, with tons of people. Both exciting and busy, but no rest for the wicked.
It depends on the day and who you ask lol. All joking aside one of the most rewarding aspects of being an admin at #Realm-of-Fantasy is being introduced to so many new artists and artwork, coupled with the joy of being able to share this artwork with others in the community. #Realm-of-Fantasy has become a nexus of Fantasy and Sci-fi related art here on deviantART, connecting Moderators and Members alike to artwork we may have not come into contact with otherwise. Not one day goes by that I do not find a new artist and artwork to fav, it is always a joy processing incoming submissions. I look forward to it every single day.
There is the more technical aspect to administrating the Group as well. We take time with each submission, and there are many things we must verify before one is accepted into the galleries. Issues can include Copyright Infringement, Validation of Resource Credits and links, Presentation etc. Answering questions, taking feedback, resolving any issues our Members may be experiencing. There is a lot of public relations involved with running a Group. Each day poses a challenge, but overcoming all those challenges is rewarding in of itself. There is nothing better than finally clearing the submission que after a long grind of processing a huge backlog on a busy day.
I do feel that the joy of working in the Group and the experience of it far outweighs the more grueling technical aspects of it.
We first had to focus on a subject in which people had a passion for and a connection to, which in this case is artwork and Literature in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres. Having a focus is not always going to be enough. With so many Groups on deviantART one must find a way to make a positive impact on that focus or genre to your audience. What makes your Group unique? What makes it stand out from countless other Groups with similar interests? This is a very important aspect to take into consideration when developing a Group.
Then we had to make this instantly recognizable to others by the Group name and presentation. Face recognition and presentation of it, along with a short explanation of the Group to inform people is very important. This instantly lets people know what the Group is about. Too short an explanation and people are confused and don't know what the Group is about, too long and people are bored. If people don't know what your Group is about or have to search around to figure it out, they will lose interest. So instant recognition of Groups' focus and intent is key.
We then had to develop an organized format in which to present and share this with others. Folders and Categories named simply in which people can recognize and relate to. This helps with both ease of browsing as well as submitting art. But we needed just the right amount of categories, as too many options can over complicate. We want people to get to where they are going in as fewest clicks as possible so that they may enjoy their experience.
Then comes the information. We had to establish guidelines for our Members to inform them of how to submit to the Group and any rules regarding these submissions, as well as guidelines for the Mods that process them. Let people know how they can participate. And communication is so important on all levels. We communicate with fellow Mods, and with our Members at every step of the process. Without these checks and balances in place, a Group can quickly become complete chaos.
Our Group is what it is today because of all of the talented people of whom have dedicated their time to it. I have the pleasure of working with the best Group of staff of whom freely volunteer their time to help keep this Group going. From processing a flood of submissions, to dealing with issues, they do an amazing job. I can't stress enough how hard these people work, and it shows. And the amount of dedicated Members of whom visit consistently and participate in the Group regularly is astounding. We have people that have been with us for years, and we see them every week. It's great, you feel like you actually begin to know these people. And you meet so many interesting and wonderful people, I really dig it.
I honestly don't have the exact numbers, but I can tell you that beginners to professionals all participate in the #Realm-of-Fantasy Group. I have seen people that have posted their very first artwork to our Group, as well as those that have just finished another massive well known media project.
It is just as rewarding to see an artist take their first steps and watch them grow; as it is for a top professional in their field to submit concept art for a blockbuster movie, comic or project. #Realm-of-Fantasy incorporates a very eclectic Group of people, ranging from all skill levels, and from all over the world
Patience and understanding. You must be able to first understand the problem, and how to deal with it. And you must have the patience to correspond with someone of whom is unhappy. Public relations is a big part of running a Group, and sooner or later you are going to run into some very unhappy people with a problem. So one must try to find a way to resolve the issue to the members satisfaction. Sometimes there is no resolution, and that can be an issue. Copyright Infringement and Resource Credits are both really big issues, and we call people on it. These are things we simply can't bend on, and some people are not happy about it.
So simply do the best you can, treat the person in a polite and respectful manor, and hope that level heads prevail. If worse comes to worse, one must simply end the correspondence. It is unfortunate, but sometimes that is the only way to deescalate a situation from degrading further.
We do have Group policies, and sometimes Members may not abide by them. When called on this some may get agitated. Just don't shoot the messenger, we're here to help lol. I have seen some of our Mods deal with a lot from people, when they are simply doing their job. And I commend them for keeping their cool under fire.
Some Members do have valid concerns, and mistakes can be made. So we take each and every issue seriously. We must keep in mind after all that this Group is for them. It is their Group, and we want them to be happy with it and have a great experience.
Contests and rewards are very important to our members, but in all honesty we do not host these events as frequently as I would like. We decided that the quality of a contest is more important than the quantity of them being pushed out to the masses. We had a handful of smaller contests, and they were fun. But very early on we decided that we did not want to spam our members with too many smaller contests. So we focused on a very large scale one. Our last big contest for example was a few years ago; and for prizes it had over 20,000 points, commissions from professional artists, a Wacom Intuos tablets, and a feature spot in ImagineFX Magazine for the top 3 winners. The turnout was unbelievable, with hundreds upon hundreds of entries. It was amazing!
We had every intention of doing one big one each year, with a few smaller ones staggered throughout. But we took a year off of big contests to reGroup, as we learned a lot of things in the process. Hosting a big contest in a larger Group takes a lot of planning, resources and promotion. The contest subject is important as well, we didn't want to fall into the trap of having a contest subject that was overdone or cliched. And we want to do it right, so we are taking our time with the next one.
I can't divulge too much information at the moment, but I can tell you that we have a very large contest in the planning stages right now. The subject will be both interesting and inspiring, and the prizes are going to be amazing. I would also like for #Realm-of-Fantasy to collaborate with deviantART in an official site wide contest as well. I think that would be a great next step for our Group, and for Groups as a whole.
This Group is a constant work in progress, always striving to evolve and grow. deviantART has provided us with an amazing platform for artists and enthusiasts with similar interests and passions to connect with one another, and to help promote these artists and their work. While the Group system is already proving to be a great improvement over the older unofficial Club system we used to have, I would like to see the Group System itself grow as well. I have so many ideas on what could be expanded upon and improved in the Group system in order to better streamline the Group experience, from front page presentation of Groups to back room Group administrative tools.
I would really like to correspond and work with deviantART to help bring some of these ideas to fruition. This would definitely help run and present larger high traffic Groups such as #Realm-of-Fantasy, as well as up and comers. We have shown that large Groups like #Realm-of-Fantasy can reach the limits of the present existing Group system, and would like to see where deviantART can take us from here.
We will always be deeply firmly rooted in the deviantART community. But we do have plans in the works to expand the Realm of Fantasy beyond. Our focus will be on the creation and promotion of Fantasy and Science Fiction in every aspect of mass media. We have very specific goals set regarding the directions in which we would like to take #Realm-of-Fantasy, and without saying too much I can assure you that we intend to develop #Realm-of-Fantasy into a well respected name in the industry. #Realm-of-Fantasy on deviantART is just the beginning.
A journey is a great way to describe it. #Realm-of-Fantasy began as an unofficial Club account long before the deviantART Group System was established. We may not have the luxury of being on the front page of the Group Search, or a large offsite social media following, nor a sponsorship by a corporation, yet we grow. This started as a grass roots movement of Fantasy and Science Fiction Artists and enthusiasts. Connecting with one another and promoting the genres through art and literature.
If just one person discovers new art through this Group, if just one artists gains exposure by being presented here, if just one person discovers or rediscovers the Fantasy and/or Sci-fi genres; then it is all worth it. This is how I measure the success of the Group. Not by pageviews, or the amount of Members/Watchers, or the size of our galleries.
While those are great, at the end of the day it's just numbers. (although Hitting a million pageviews was a cool benchmark) It is only when I saw people interacting with one another, and discovering new art and artists, and gaining exposure that I felt that the idea behind this Group was a success. That being said, I don't feel that we have completed our journey, just at a particular stage in it. All that, and being offered an interview by $techgnotic.
I would like to thank *rackelstar #Realm-of-Fantasy's Co-Founder, of whom I have the distinct pleasure of running this Group side by side with and has been there since the beginning. While she may be more of the silent partner in #Realm-of-Fantasy in comparison to my more vocal approach in day to day operations, her input and dedication to the Group is invaluable.
I would also like to thank the Groups Admins *Isbjorg, ~TheWildGrape, =iisjah, =raysheaf and ~GloriaPM. All of whom I have the pleasure of working with, some of them for years now. Their hard work and dedication knows no bounds.
And to all of the Moderators of whom have helped us along the way.
And most importantly to anyone of whom has found a home at #Realm-of-Fantasy. This Group is what it is today because of you.
Thank you deviantART, and especially to $techgnotic for this opportunity.
^alltheoriginalnames
To me Groups are so much more than just submitting artwork. It’s about inspiring, encouraging and engaging it’s members and creating a community where everyone can feel comfortable.
*rackelstar
It’s been three years since I opened my inbox to find a notice from #Realm-of-Fantasy searching for new mods. I was both surprised and honored when I found out that I had been chosen. It’s not a “job” to me at all but a fun way to spend 20 to 30 minutes a day voting in the Group and just taking a moment while forgetting about real real life problems. There is an incredibly friendly atmosphere cultivated by the mods which is one of the defining aspects of #Realm-of-Fantasy. We are one of the few Groups on deviantART that sends a note to every artist that is declined with an explanation and feedback. I am very happy being a mod at #Realm-of-Fantasy.
*Isbjorg
I suppose it’s no secret that fantasy-related works make up a large part of pieces around DeviantArt. So even before becoming a moderator I appreciated the fact that ‘Realm-of-Fantasy’ actually brings most of these works together in one place.
At the same time it’s not just a ‘dump for everything’ or – the opposite – some ‘elitist’ picky Group. It truly is a gallery that does it’s best to have a wide range of techniques, talents and levels of skill, with only (and quite logical) restrictions towards the content and the presentation. With rules in place that are simple and and reasonable so that it’s not that hard to be a moderator one can really enjoy managing the Group on a daily basis.
And, I guess, the best indication that it works is that even when a members work is rejected they do not leave immediately with a door-bang, but take the sensible and constructive criticism and correct their small flaws. So that when I click ‘yes’ on their next submission I know my job is done.
~TheWildGrape
Being a moderator for year and a half in Realm of Fantasy was and still is a great experience. During this time the Group has grown from 25,000 to 35,000 members and watchers. It is a real net of it's own within a social network. Being connected with so many affiliated smaller Groups and with such massive potential for new members the Group wields a positive influence throughout the DA community. From pure novices up to established artists, veteran cover designers and illustrators, professionals from the gaming industry, etc. people consider it prestigious to have their works presented in our very rich galleries. This makes me very proud and this is exactly what our work as ROF staff is geared towards - to bring all of this wonderful art to everyone and to popularize these works in the best presentation possible.
It is very fulfilling being able to help our very young members move past beginners mistakes, to learn how to better evaluate their own art from our feedback and critique and enjoy the play of imagination as it relates to what art truly is. Our "Tutorials" gallery section is full of useful information and shared experiences to facilitate this.
=raysheaf
Having been Moderating #Realm-of-Fantasy for quite along time was and still is such a fantastic experience. Helping so many deviants in the community from beginner to professional level get recognition for their work and inspiring artists to create even more incredible pieces week in and week out really makes me appreciate what we are doing here at #Realm-of-Fantasy (All the artwork makes me feel inspired too!) And with a really friendly atmosphere and so many nice helpful people, it's an absolute pleasure to be an integral part of keeping things up and running at this level excellence.
=iisjah
How many Groups (and which ones) are you either participating in, working with directly, watching avidly or lurking over?
If you had to recommend just one or two Groups, which ones would they be and why?
If you could get tiny elves to make a Group you would love but we don't seem to have yet on deviantART, what would you have them cover in terms of subjects and what would you have them build?
Do Groups ever make you run the other way so you can continue to be an iconoclast non-joiner? Are you like Groucho Marx who said: "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."
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