My internet has been super-slow at home lately and last night it crashed and went "boom"! We were on the phone with the internet company and they need to send someone out to fix it, but that could take a while. Until then...we only have dial-up! And it totally chokes on dA! I do have high-speed at work, but I can't be on dA overly much--though I'll peek in when I can. Otherwise, I will be a bit MIA. So, don't hate me if I don't comment back or comment on your deviations for a few days! I'll be back as soon as I can.



I'm adding a bit of a ramble to my last journal entry. Most of the stuff from the Friday posting is below. Otherwise, I hope you'll tolerate my little dissertation.

This weekend I was working on the forums for my various sites. I wanted to add some new entries to my own legends and I was looking over the works of some of the dA old-timers such as `darkmoon3636, `hprince329, and ~phaethorn (all of whom allow off-site use of their emotes). I was floored to see so many of my all-time favorites in their galleries. Many of those emotes have been passed around the internet without credit. It was nice to finally know who had authored them.

I was reading the recent interview `Synfull did with `sml-e. One of the things that struck me was his answer when asked about the trends and styles of the emote gallery: "I hope that the people finally would recognize static emoticons! To show the right expression in only one frame is pure epic."

Some of the people who have visited my gallery have turned their nose up at the fact that more than half of my art is static emotes. (There is a reason for that, which I explain here [link] .) I have been admiring smileys/emotes for many years. A good deal of the classics which I "grew up on" were wonderful statics. It sometimes awes me that many deviants have not heard of Mazeguy (who I will say is the singlemost inspiration for me getting into smiley-making), or the fact that many of the dA revamps are based off his original work. Mazeguy created the majority of his emotes as static and they can hold a candle next to most of the animated types which are popular now.

Am I saying that we shouldn't have animated emotes? No. I love them. I enjoy making them. However, I think that statics get a bum wrap. Also, there is a bit of concern that simple animations are going that way too. If an emote is not super-complex, it's looked-down upon. That's just silly. I have seen some 5-10 frame animations which are pure brilliance. Just as statics can be epic, conveying something in a limited number of frames/space can be too.

I guess I'm writing this because there are times deviants feel pressured to animate their work or make it fancier to "compete" with other artists. (I have to admit, I feel that myself, sometimes). Don't be pressured or discouraged. Just take a look at the works of those classic dA artists and take heart that not all epicness is over-the-top. A good static or small animation can be equally, or even more, powerful.

Simple definitely has its place.



11/13/09

This week blurred by. I can't even give you an update because I truly have no idea what the heck happened! Senility...and I'm not even 40 yet!

Lots of things bubbling in this old noggin of mine. A contest, a dA Event, and a few other things. Don't know if all or any of it will come about, but it's dangerous when I get thinking. Just need a block of time (and a little help) and things could start happening. I will say I have been talking to another deviant about a holiday event I would like to do, so there should be news on that soon.

I ended up working on quite a few pixel animals for the most recent storyline of Bitmap World. (Note to self, emote rhinos are a PITA.) Expect to see some emote critters show up in my gallery soon. Plus, I found a few smileys I did a couple years back. I'll be posting those soon, too.

Today is my daughter Emma's birthday! If you have a moment, go over to my other account *mirz-kids and wish her a happy day! If you're curious, that account is actually a family account, where *Ravenswd and I post our kids' artwork and manage their faves. I have also been posting some of my artwork over there that doesn't quite fit-in on this account, so you may want to check it out.

I'm sure there's more, but it escapes me. So, I will leave you with a few more of my commenter/watcher features:

=Da-Blue-Monkey



**************

*ZhaneAugustine



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*Emotikonz



_{And since I am suffering from senility and lost the list of everyone who commented before for a feature, if I skipped you, please tell me since I want to make sure everyone I promised gets a feature.}



My recent features have been moved to my features journal here ---> [link]

Moved my recent pseudo-FAQ questions here ---> [link]

<sub>Close to my heart:


For fun:</sub>