To all of my deviant friends, I humbly and sincerely apologize for my extended absence.

I apologize as well for the massive number of uploads I'm about to make.  I promise I'll zip most of them up as packages, OK?

Okay, this is going to sound offacious. I don't really care.

I am a professional artist.

I make a living with a pencil, paper, and computer. It's what I do. What does that have to do with DeviantART?

A heck of a lot, I'd have to say.

DeviantART is an artist's community. It is a showcase, true. But any website would serve for that purpose. Why build something as colossal and complex as DeviantART? I'll tell you why.

It's a big, ugly world out there. And, in my experience, artists have always been at odds with the rest of reality. Almost all of the professional artists I have met or worked with share some common traits that are starting to be noticeably glossed over here. They shouldn't be, because every artist wants to be professional. Even if they are not A professional by trade.

Artists take care of their own. No drama, no "I'm better than you, because..." There's a saying from the American West, "there's always someone faster on the draw." Equally true in art. No matter who you are, there's always someone you will admire, be inspired by, be vexed by, and someday hope to equal in their domain. It's a glorious ecosystem.

If you're still reading this (amazingly), and you consider yourself an artist, I would ask one thing of you. Keep your eyes open. Every apiring artist or novice is walking along a road that would look very, very familiar to you. We've been there, and we're still there, albiet maybe at a different gas station along the way. As artists, it's a case of "Us against The World." Every empty criticism (note: this is different from critique), every bigoted statement, and every dream we stomp on to make our own ego feel a little less threatened weakens us.

Critique: don't be afraid to. Point out weaknesses that artists can work on fixing, as well as strengths they can exploit mercilessly. If someone disagrees with you, pay attention. They might not be right, but they might not be wrong, either. Anything that makes you think and consider things is good; anything that makes you close up and roil in spite is worthless and doesn't need to be propagated here.

Somewhere, that perfect bit of advice or inspiration is out there for us. And, in turn, we owe it to our Art to strive to be that advice or inspiration for those with us.

Thank you.