For those that left heartfelt comments or sharing similar experiences in my last journal post: sincerely, thank you. I honestly wasn't expecting to get any attention, let alone it being so relatable. I can't help but think of metrics as the only way to stay afloat as an artist with how much its been pounded into me over the years, this is fr the most motivated I've felt in like, forever.
Despite recent harrowing news, I urge everyone to be there for one another rather than sit in utter hopelessness, that's exactly what they want - and please, save whatever you can from Twitter or Tumblr, because things will only get worse before they get better. I despise the recent sentiment that anything posted on either site prior was all for naught or "tainted", just because terrible people came further into focus in recent years: these are memories worth protecting for anyone and for our future.
I also will try to stay more active in the coming months (and practice more again with SAI; I would really love it if anyone could give pointers to any available resources, be it tutorials or tips they know! I've already been digging up whatever I can starting this month).
You might be wondering why it's taken me this long to fully setup my page finally, let alone post any of my own art with how long I've been active previously on Tumblr and Twitter and how strongly I consider myself an artist. I really don't want this to come off as milking for sympathy, but rather just laying out my perspective as to why things have been hard for me.
Getting it out of the way first, growing up irl was very difficult and for reasons I don't want to divulge into; it's sad to say then that, despite being my only escape, my experience with the internet wasn't any better: I've had my trust taken advantage of so many times and repeatedly got sucked into in-groups that were terrible one way or another, yet with most of those examples it feels like my own fault. I still very much struggle with depression, motivation and social interaction to this day.
It's been 7 years since the aftermath of FOSTA-SESTA and the first Tumblr exodus to Twitter and In that time, I've seen so many artists across the entire spectrum, from multifandom to furry, hobbyists to professionals, comic artists to gamedev, come and go; I always wanted to put my piece into that long and varied history too, but because of circumstances outside of my control, I never really had the chance to until now. I just kept getting beaten down over and over back then and I hated it.
I feel like the culture of both fearmongering and hedonism brought on by Twitter becoming the only site that anyone really cared about and the reactionary bent it always had has seriously warped people, and it's sad to see with Bluesky that nothing has really been learned there regarding engagement - let alone how everyone else who was struggling or outright left behind, at some point or another, have already moved on from social media. I understand all of that, but I'm deeply sad with it too, and can't fathom the thought of any our work becoming lost forever like it has happened to others already.
I'm already 25 now and even with things starting to get better again, I feel like I'm entirely behind my peers and mutuals, not helping how everything feels alien to me now and with how much the landscape of the internet has already changed again.
I don't want to give up though - there's so much I still have yet to learn and accomplish, regardless of how bad things were or are now, and for the people who have stuck around with me for long as they have: thank you, for everything again.