Journeys

So. devArt is 14 years old? Happy birthday!

It's with some surprise that I find I've been here for exactly half of that time.

When I joined I worked exclusively as a Graphic Designer. My fine-art college beginnings were mostly forgotten, but I'd just been working on a brief where the client had no money but still wanted an illustration, so I'd had to have a go myself. I'd forgotten just how much fun I used to have simply drawing stuff. 

I'd been aware of dA for a while, but hadn't bothered joining until that point. As a designer, I felt I had no need to really, but I knew from the comments on work I'd looked at that the community was a vibrant and vocal one. This was exactly what I needed as I started to draw again - just for my own enjoyment - as it offered the opportunity for me to get feedback on my fledgeling doodling.

In those seven years I've been here, I've received so much help and constructive criticism that it's helped me go from a full time designer to an illustrator who still does some design. I've contributed illustrations to over 20 books, and achieved a long-abandoned childhood dream to have some of my comic work published.

devArt has been a teacher. A source of inspiration. A resource and, perhaps most importantly, the place I first met people who are now my friends.

Recently I've noticed a drop off in some of the more interactive elements of the community. Critiques are rarely given these days, and after seven years I still haven't done anything that's even remotely worth a DD, but devArt is still the first site I look at in the morning. A creative, supportive haven in the maelstrom of the net.

Here's to many more years!