thebingbang

<da:thumb id="487192462"/>

[CLOSED] Winner will be announced in few hoursIt's finished, winner will be announced in a few hours.

---
:iconnoire-ighaan: :iconniziolek:
(Don't mind me, it's just me being gay)

For those of you who know me well, and have seen my work over this past year, I'm curious about whether or not I should start doing commissions. I've had a few different people recently suggest that I do it, though i consider myself too much a novice to charge as well as wondering if any of my work would have enough quality to be worth anything, or if I'd even get requests. For starters, I'm still using references and tutorials though I am sort of creating my own style through mixing and matching existing styles from the references and books I'm using to continue working on my craft. Plus, the downside is I'm still not much past Line work, my color and shading needing A TON of work.

So, what do you all think? I'm taking requests to give me both practice and discipline to meet deadlines, but as you all definitely know, after a while of doing a ton of requests, though it feels great to see the pleased look at the person's reaction when they like what you've done for them, that feeling starts to wane when you see your never-ending request list with nothing else to show for it. But I don't know. So, please, help out a brotha!

 Or not...  For the few of you who do read my journals and stay caught up with me, this is for you. Sorry I've been MIA, not responding to comments, faves, replies, etc. but I had to reach a serious decision recently...
fin (I mean, we're talking obsessed with that to the point of spending hours googling, and still do, which is also part of the problem I have, but that'll have to wait till later on in this post!). I mean, that's how "My Deviant Story" started-yeah, I'm a little late on posting that, so sue me! :bademoticon: Anyway, after just joining the site initially as a guest about three or so years ago, I sorta just popped in and out occasionally whenever a link from google for a cool pic led me here. Then, a little over two years ago when i picked up drawing again, I wanted to find a place online to post my art, get some tips, and so on. So about a year ago, I remembered this site, updated my profile and began posting. From my last journal that was a feature you know of some of those who've been monumental in my development which is why I've cherished my time spent here. And for those who weren't in the last feature, but I'm in constant contact with and whom I consider friends who've had the same kind of influence, you know who you are and I hope to soon get a feature in for you as time and availability allows.

All that said, to use the horrible cliche from that Poison band, "Every Rose has it's Thorn." I apologize if that song is the bane of your existence and now I've put it in your head, , but I've discovered this true, even here. Now, I want everyone reading this to understand I'm not intending to start any debate or argument, but the thorn I speak of is a certain type of content on here that easily feeds an addiction I have developed that has been very toxic for me, and that I'm still in the midst of getting sober from. I'm also not here to argue about whether this kind of content should be here or not. I just got to the point where it became a gateway to feeding this addiction to such an unhealthy point that I was using it more for the addiction than posting and sharing art. Yes, there's a mature filter, but when there's no way to lock it or password protect yourself, and turning it on or off is a simple click of a button, it's kind of pointless to even have it. For me, it's the equivalent to putting a narcotic someone's addicted to in a case, but leaving it open where all you have to do is turn the knob, and you have access. I wrote a sort of ticket to the webmasters or whoever here if there was a way to lock the filter, and they said no, and they weren't going to.

So, I had to make a decision, that along with the other sites I protect myself from with a filter, I added a block to deviantart on my home computer. It's safer that way for me, and helps my recovery process even more. It was something that was extremely difficult, but I needed to do. The plusses did not outweigh the price my mind was paying. Now, you may ask, how am I on now? I'm at my local library, a public safe place where I can use the good parts of this site without the bad. Again, this is something I HAVE to do, and in no way am I judging anyone who does that kind of art or anything. But for me, just like the alcoholic who can't be around alcohol, I have to stay away from adult material on here. I hope though, to hit this library more frequently to update more, check my messages more, and all that great stuff! To all of you who've helped me and made this place so enjoyable, THANK YOU! Hope to be back soon!  

Though, I'm relatively new-at least to being an active submitting part of the Deviant Community (though this procrastinator has yet to write HIS Deviant Story though not sure how many'd read it anyway )-I thought it was about time I featured a few of the artists on here who've not only been HUGE inspirations to me, but also come as close to friends as possible though hyperlanes of cyberspace that bridge the separation of states and even countries! Which, in my personal opinion, rocks my socks off! <----see? There they are (not really, but if those were my socks, 1. they'd be in my room instead of in a hallway and 2. I'd be totally rad for sucks with a cool face on them!

Anyway, on to the features! Duh, duh, duh DUUUUUUUHHHHHH!!!!!! (sorry! LOVE pics, which is really how I found DA-but that's another story for another day!)

Feature #1 Now note: These artists I've put in NO particular order based on one being cooler/more important/or I like them more than the other. This is the order they came to my mind in, that's all. SO TO THOSE FEATURED HERE, DON'T YOU DARE TAKE OFFENSE OR I'LL STAB YOU IN THE FACE WITH A SOLDERING IRON! (sorry! HAD to put that in there! )

OKAY! #1. Now, Lixadry is a really cool artist. She's from Germany (number one cool thing) and two she does cool art and has been super helpful in giving advice and chatting back and forth about stuff we both like! She's GOOD people, and though you might have seen and even favorited some of her Star Wars stuff, after I looked at her whole gallery, the Star Wars stuff wasn't NEARLY her best, so here's a Top 5 of mine that are NON-Star Wars that you should TOTALLY take a look at (again these are no particular order of preference!)
1. 2. 3.   4. 5.

It was SO hard for me to pick JUST five, and for a lot of her work that initially saw done on a tablet, I was amazed at how AWESOME her traditional stuff was, which is why they are at least two traditional pieces here! TOTALLY check Lixadry's page out (and not just the Star Wars stuff!)

Feature #2. Ah, Crimson! One of the first kindred spirits of Star Wars fans I found on here. What's more amazing about him-he'll probably yell at me in a message for saying this, but he was told he'd NEVER be able to do the kind of art he's doing because he's "legally blind." But his response was "Don't tell me what I can't do!" and so he did it, and his work is pretty phenomenal and keeps getting better! Been a huge inspiration to me as well as a confidant for many things Star Wars and non-Star Wars related (as plenty of our back-and-forth notes will show ) But here's my top 5 (in no particular order!)

1. <---this one got on the list because his take on the Cathar race is so cool and unique! And it looks fantastic! 
2. (very hard to pick just one out of the gazillion Ahsoka/Barriss pieces he's done, but I really liked how the only lighting on this seemed to be coming from their sabers, as well as each sporting different sabers as well!)
3. (Don't see a lot of Rio-in either TCW or on here as much as the "trio" of Ahsoka/Barriss/Ventress) but I liked her, her race, and this piece was great, background, lighting and all!
4. (had to do a non-Star Wars piece, and found this one-hadn't even seen it before today, and it's awesome! )
5. (This one was breathtaking, definitely from his heart because of its personal inspiration. Probably my favorite if I could choose.)

So check out his page, full of amazing art, even some digitally made comic pages of an original story of his, which are GREAT!

Feature #3. Charly, a seventeen-year-old German student (yeah, that's right! She's seventeen!) and already developed her own unique style which is quite, quite good. And she's a sweetheart, to boot! So here's my Top 5 (in no particular order, of course!)

1. (see the blend of partial anime, partial painted realism? And she's 17! pretty darn good, I'd say!)
2. (probably my favorite-again if I had to choose! It's just gorgeous!)
3. (such class! unique and creative style! )
4. (this one's just really cool, original, and FUN-not to mention the SHIRT! plus, the ps controller is THE BEST-behind maybe the GC controller. Argue if you want, but no other controller fit your hands better!)
5.  (And she even captures straight anime style in a cool way!)

You HAVE to check her page out! Just have to!

That does it for my first feature. For those of my other friends-you know who you are-be on the lookout, you'll be next! All of you have been huge inspirations to me and the reason I stay on here and keep working on my craft, both drawing and writing! Thank you SO MUCH!

Adam (aka Elija Anak)