OMGitzSam

Can't believe DeviantArt is 20 years old today! Honestly that makes me feel so old haha. This place is where it all started for me personally, and that's truly no exaggeration. I really think my life would have looked totally different if I hadn't signed up to dA as a 17 year old, even though I had no idea what that impact would be at the time. This is the first place I started working on my 'social media' presence (that word didn't exist at the time), frequently updating my gallery with new art and interacting with an online art community - an approach that is now foundational to how I make a living from my art. It's also the first place I started finding new inspiration and connecting with other artists (some of whom I still talk to today!). It's where I started developing my style and artistic indentity. Even today, when I give talks and workshops, I always talk about joining deviantArt and the huge impact it had on me! So this birthday has a lot of meaning to me - It's bringing