The Silent Room

Before taking part in the local blogosphere, one of the bigger online communities I joined was deviantART, where artists, amateur and professional, hobbyists and students, gather to display and share their art and at the same time give out and receive comments and critiques. Being such a huge [worldwide] community, there’s a rainbow of variety when it comes to art quality and with it, attitude.

As a simple hobbyist myself, I find it rather hard to get myself involved with the big guns who get hundreds of views on the first day of their artwork update. Those kind of people are like celebrities, skilled and talented in their respective forte. We have masters in still life photography, fashion photography, anime art, digital paintbrushing, vector art and so much more.

Of course, I whole-heartedly admire and look up to their talent and skill displayed in their works, and I understand if they get too much responses and unable to reply personally [their artworks can easily get some 100+ comments, even more].

But what bothers me more is their attitude towards other lesser talented deviants. I made friends with one talented comic artist, Justin aka Pilatus, and I kind of initiated our friendship by requesting permission to colour one of his linearts. He was excited after seeing the result and I was glad about that, though personally I see there’s still so much room for improvement.

For one as talented as he is, I was surprised at the warmth in his gestures and eagerness whenever we interact. When it comes to issues of the less-than-humble deviants I mentioned above, Justin had this to say

“I have come to realize that all of us in this deviant community of ours have an opportunity to inspire others and I mean everyone of us has that power. I dont care if you’re 13, just signed up last week with 1 deviation or you’ve been here since the beginning and are a featured artist every week with your 12th comic book series coming out. We all have the power to inspire and we shouldnt take that lightly. I have unfortunatly come accross a few individuals who dont think their poop stinks…get over yourself…if you have someone looking up to you fuel it but not for your own satisfaction, for theirs.”

That is a very strong statement. I believe this same theory of inspiration can be applied to another new form of art as well. The art of blogging. Imagine the scenario I mentioned above, and compare that to some big shot bloggers that we have, and the small fries like me. A pretty similar situation, no?

What I wish to point out here is that, don’t take your audience lightly. Without an audience, an artist is lifeless.As an artist with an audience, your works entertain, inspire and initiate thoughts in the minds of your audience. Even if your entries aren’t profound or uber philosphical, it’s important to realize that you have people looking up to you.

No, it’s not about meeting up to expectations. It’s about fulfilment. Fuel that inspiration, not for yourself, but for them. They grow and improve by looking up to the big guns so they can learn by example. Fuel it, encourage it, grow it.

If you have a career in academics you should be able to understand the satisfacion of seeing someone improve because of your effort. Though this may not exactly be the main point behind a blogosphere, I believe this to be a very important element in any community.

Unless, of course, you’re kiasu enough to think otherwise.