dA Birthday!
Hurrah! I've been a deviantART member for 3 years! And in these 3 years I have accumulated:
735 watchers
Over 66,960 paveviews
16 deviations with over 100 faves (and 2 with over 600)
A senior member position
A deviousness award
A Daily Deviation
Given 28,098 comments on deviations
Sent over 10,000 Policy violations
Won prizes in 2 contests
So yeah- basically, I've had a pretty eventful time here, for me at least! And I'm still so happy to be here
I'll see if I can get a pic up today, but it depends on whether my plans fall into place, which they don't always, but we shall see.
Thanks to all of my watchers and supporters for helping me get to where I am

Better luck next time folks!
It seems no one caught my 66,666 pageviews
I had one late entry from *08Spectre80 of my 66,669 and one edited entry that I couldn't accept due to comment discrepancies with the late entry. I was online at the time, but saw my pageviews shoot from 66,665 to 66,668 in a few seconds, so I was sure someone had grabbed it! But not to worry. The one month sub will be up for grabs if any one catches my 75,000 pageviews, which is a long while away, so I will be sure to remind you all again closer to the time.
I repeat: CATCH MY 75,000 PAGEVIEWS AND I WILL GIVE YOU A ONE MONTH SUB!
Again- If I suspect an edited screenshot, I will not allow it.

Drop-outs
I'm a little bit pissed at the fact my models seem to be dropping out. I had a load of pics in mind with a few models, but it seems they've either left Manchester or don't want to do them any more, so I will be struggling to try and get some friends to help with photoshoots before I leave uni for good. As much as I love covering myself in blood, photos do lack a little when I have no hands to use the camera, so other models are essential!
There is the one light at the end of the tunnel with a very good friend from college who is willing to help me in any way with my photos (she's just awesome!), so I'll at least be able to come out with something good at some point when I'm back in the world of the anti-horror parents (I don't blame them to be honest!)
Rest assured, more horror will be coming, and also a macro shot of the baby frogs in the pond I was asked to get with my new lens

Graduation
I am eagerly awaiting my degree results, as I will be graduating on the 9th July. I will let you all know how I do

Drama
It seems a few deviants on this site to love to feud or throw insults at peoples work or other deviants for seemingly no reason. I've seen a rather big fuss recently of two digital painters (I am mentioning NO names), one who appears to have taken offence to critique on their work from the other.
Here are my two cents on these Drama issues.
Critique: A detailed evaluation or review of a piece of work (in this case art)
There are few deviants that are really against critique- whether it is from someone just expressing an opinion, or from someone with a higher authority and expertise in the field they are critiquing in. Critique is a way of someone else helping you to further your knowledge and skills in a field, so ignoring them and carrying on regardless will get you into a stagnant state of work if you're not careful. I'm not saying critique is right, but it expresses both opinion and also some damn good tips to help you improve. If you don't like it, let it lie and forget it, don't get a band of friends to slag someone else off.

Spam: If anyone doesn't know (and it seems they don't), SPAM (not the canned meat kind) is a form of disruptive and annoying message sent repeatedly or otherwise on a large scale to make a mess or get a scam across.
Flagging non-spam messages as spam (such as CRITIQUE) will just make you look like an idiot and the staff will not take it seriously, so if you're trying to get someone banned for taking time to critique your work, it's not worth the bother.

Acceptance: as hard as it sounds, you need to accept that there will always be someone better than you in what you do. I don't declare to be the best in Horror and macabre, as I know there are plenty better than me, people with different styles and better skills and resources (eg. make-up). And for you to progress and improve, once in a while, you will need to take a leave out of someone else's book and work on it to improve. I don't mean copy, I mean improve.
If you're upset or jealous, or even angry that someone has critiqued your work in such a way you disapprove of, just accept that their work or level of skill in a field of art may be better than yours, and if it isn't, take it with a pinch of salt.
You also need to realise your own faults. Your work will not be perfect in everyone's eyes- so you need to accept that you will receive comments from people that love or hate your art. Whatever someone says, it does not make it RIGHT, it means they have an opinion. Art is deeply subjective.
But not all is lost. I say there will always be someone better than you- but there will always be someone worse than you too.

Callling out: If you haven't experienced calling out, good for you. It appears to be a rather vicious, hateful way of getting people on your band wagon. It is basically calling out another deviant name so that your watchers can go and give them vicious messages themselves about how they suck, or about how they're such a bitch.
To be quite frank, this is disgusting behaviour, and you may just invite the same thing upon yourself. Don't be quick to defend people you watch that do this, as they may just be doing it instigate abuse, which is not fair on the deviant in question. Don't go and write abusive comments. Just express you opinion on the situation and leave it at that. If you start on another deviant, telling them they suck, or whatever, you should expect a ban for being part of it.

Need help?
Another reminder to watchers and other deviants that I am always available to give help where it is needed on dA. This comes in the form of: you asking for critique on certain images (don't spam me, and it is always nice to ask if it is welcome first), featuring clubs or contests that are going on, help with all things horror, how to use dA, help about things on dA you're not sure about and also reporting policy violations.


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