Have you outgrown DA?

Does anyone feel like they've outgrown DA? I mean there is only so much scribble-posts-passing-off-as-art that I can stand. I am not in any way saying there should be any regulation of what art is allowed, but if this is the kind of art that Deviant art attracts, perhaps I’d like to be associated with a website that has better quality art. Perhaps if DA was a little bit more exclusive... or perhaps if they created a branch of DA that was more mature and meant for "industry professionals only". A site that could connect to twitter, Facebook, and linked in with very clean professional looking galleries. DA has some really cool new things, but they can be SO much better. I feel like DA is growing and maturing little by little. Right now DA is at its "cool college" age. Trying to be "professional looking", while maintaining the fun of adolescent life. It’s about time, in my opinion, for the DA look and functionality to grow up and change dramatically.

This post is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I’d LOVE it if these journal posts mimicked the functionality of a blogger blog post, where I have the ability to easily add links, change font, size, embed things, etc. without having to know a ton of code. I’d love it that when I put a link to somewhere else on the internet it would actually GO TO THAT PLACE instead of showing me that stupid character telling me I am leaving DA... really? (In my opinion that was the worst thing they could have done. that alone makes me want to leave)

This may not be a popular thing to say here, but I HATE that fella character. Hate him. I hate the design I hate the colors. For a website that promotes the creation and evolution of art his design has been very generic, immature, and unchanging. Yes, I’ve created characters like that... when I was in middle school and I didn’t know how to draw any better. But as my skills have evolved so has my character designs. Even the character designs I made that looked similar to fella evolved and changed with my skill set. I’m not saying I am better than the owners at DA, but at least I know when to give up old tired designs and work on new ones. The logo for example; when they did that whole fun contest to come up with a new DA logo so they could rebrand themselves I was REALLY excited because I know there are some amazing logo artists here. But, sadly, instead of choosing one of the many amazing *free* logo designs they got, instead they chose to stick with their tired old design and put it in a box. o_o . So much for "deviant" art. There is something fundamentally WRONG with a "boxed-in" logo for a site called deviant art.

Forgive the rant, but these are the problems I am facing with this website. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve been with DA for YEARS. In fact I’m writing this while wearing a DA hat a bought from them. I love the service they provide and I know some amazing artists and have met some amazing friends on here which otherwise I wouldn't have known. But if DA doesn’t get their act together and move forward FAST they will fail. It’s sad to say, but to me, it seems like a fact.

Perhaps these are invalid opinions. If you agree or disagree, I’d love to hear your side of the story. What has deviantART meant for you?

Here's me Alex Velazquez a.k.a. x2creator signing off maybe for last time.

www.x2creator.com

:/