[x]

To artists who want to offer commissions. I would like to address something I have been seeing as of late here and on other sites. Artists who are asking if someone would commission them if they were to offer commissions and if so, how much should they charge or how much are they willing to pay?
I say this with a real heart to all artists, but that is a foolish line of questions.
Really. I have been there. I even did those myself. But look at it from the side of a potential buyer.
1: Would you even commission me?
Can you imagine if a doctor were to say that? If I were to open an office would you even come to me? That makes the doctor feel like a failure. Like he has so little faith in his ability to do his job he is afraid to do it. So he has to ask a thousand people IF he were to open an office would ANYONE come? Would you? Or would you want a doctor who just opens it and does his job and believes in his ability to treat you?
Same with an artist. You sound like you have no faith in your ability. If you do

A Crash Course in Slam PoetryThere are ten days left to submit to the Louder Than dA Bomb submission folder. With that being said, I'm putting out an article that offers some tips and quick solutions to problems a poet may be facing when writing their slam poem. But very quickly, I would like to address a stigma surrounding submitting "great" work to contests.
I'll keep this brief. The world is not set to your pace. Or anyone else's really. Everybody's just trying to keep up. This line of thinking can't be taken to the publishing industry (for those that would like to publish) or anywhere else for that matter. Applying the thought to your art or literature that unless it was created under certain circumstances is to not take your work seriously.
If you don't believe you can write and read a slam poem in ten days, I'm here to tell you different and to tell you the ins and outs of slam.
Slam Poetry 101
Slam poetry works the way it do

Managing Your Inbox: Some Tips on StreamliningI'm not really an organized person. Yeah, sure, I like to TRY to be one, but most of my attempts to clean house don't stick. The one exception, however, is in my online life. I keep everything to do with the computer tabbed and organized and that includes my dA life.
I posted a poll asking visitors what their inbox looked like on a typical day. As of this writing, of the 52 responses, 35 have full inboxes – that is, somewhere between 200 and up to (or over) 1000 messages to sort through. So about 70% of the voters have quite a lot to page over.

I hear horror stories quite frequently from deviants who are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things passing through their inbox. My personal inbox rarely reaches three digit numbers, and the few times it has, it's always been because something of mine has made the footer. While I can't promise that my personal methods will work for everyone, it n

Legal Free Music

1. Spotify
I didn't bother with Spotify at first because I figured it had only mainstream music, but it actually has a huge variety. It does have mainstream music, but it also has loads of obscure/indie songs (yes, I'm a hipster. :iconhipstermikeyplz

It's an excellent place to discover new music. These are some of its features:
1. You can make playlists with any songs you want and post them on Facebook or Tumblr or share them with a link. You can also search for playlists to find new music.
2. There are several applications you can download that offer more playlists, musician info, etc. (available for free in the program, so you don't have to download them from outside sources.) My favorite is Sifter, which works similar to Pandora: you type in a song and it gives you several similar songs. I've discovered great music that way.
3. You can read biographies of most bands and musicians, and find similar artists.
4. Like I said, it has incredible variety. It

Photojournalism: Discuss it! - Reaching Out Reaching Out
One of the most essential things I've learned as a photographer is the importance of reaching out and valuing all of the people who make what I do possible. All of the people I share the space with, my job with, the world with. Reaching out and becoming a part of the world I am hired to photograph has often been the difference between getting the shot, staying safe, and progressing in my field and not.

Every time you take out a camera you become the invader. James Natchtwey once poignantly put it as:
"The act of being an outsider aiming a camera can be a violation of humanity. The only way I can justify my role is to have respect for the other person's predicament. The extent to which I do that is the extent to which I become accepted by the other, and to that extent I can accept myself."
In this case he was discussing the nature of photographing tragedy and war, but it's also true when we photograph anything, anyone, anywhere.

Thoughts about communityCommunity is a word that is used on dA a lot. It's a huge part of the site and the main reason why I love this place so much and have stuck around for so many years, even when I haven't had time to indulge in my art or felt like sharing it for whatever reason. I've made true friends here who I care for deeply and can't imagine not using dA in some capacity to keep in touch with all of you wonderful people.
The thing with a community, in my opinion, is that it's kind of a by-product. I don't mean that in a bad or belittling way. What I mean is that you can't actually force a community to thrive, or even to exist. You can provide a context (like a website or a message board or a physical-world organisation) and tools (like comments or chat features online or a room to meet in for offline events). You can invite people to join in, encourage them to interact and even moderate destructive or negative behaviour but you can't make a community - it's something that happens by itself, th

How To Write A Critique For A ProfessionalProfessionals like myself will occasionally ask for a critique on something or other that we've done. I'm going to explain how to do a critique for someone like myself. I'm going to tell you now that this was brought on by a critique I received from someone who never did a critique before and had no idea how to do it.
Read Other Critiques
The worse thing you can do for yourself is write a critique when you have no idea what you're doing. It will be promptly rejected as it's very obvious to the person reading it. If you've never written one the best thing you CAN do is look at some critiques from other people. Example, I'm a writer so look at critiques that were done on other literature pieces. Also keep in mind that I'm a novelist so look for critiques for short stories instead of poetry or lyrics. They're a completely different genre.
Be Objective
If you're going to say something negative about a piece explain why you think it's bad and make sugge

Understanding Jihad

The word "Jihad" is derived from "Jahada" and "Ijtihad"
which both are synonymous to success and striving for a good moral conduct.

It is a pure misconception that non-Muslims
carry even Muslims that Jihad is a holy war.
Holy war in Arabic transliteration goes like this "Harb Muqadassa"
and it is found nowhere in the holy Qu'ran.

Jihad has many levels.
The most important form of Jihad is the personal one.
Which means striving to make yourself a better person
and resisting the evil temptation within one's self which includes:
lying, stealing, engaging one's self in adultery and loose sexual whims.
If a student is passing an exam or a patient going through surgery
he is doing personal Jihad by striving to become better or achieve satisfactory results.
It does not mean to kill any human being be him a muslim or a non-mus

Dime Que Te PasoSigo aquí buscando una solución...
sinceramente no se que te pasa...
quiero que sepas que...nada,
que tu eres la mujer de mi vida...
Yo se quien tu eres, (Esto no me puede engañar)
yo fui tu hombre, tu mi mujer
yo se que tu me quieres... (No puedo con tu sentimiento)
si yo te lo di todo!!!...
Tu me hieres... (Eso tu lo sabe)
y mi corazón se muere... (Chica reacciona por favor)
Dime que te paso
tu no eres así...
si tu amor se apago
dímelo de frente, estoy aquí... (Y ten el valor)
si el problema soy yo...
y no siente nada por mi...
dímelo y yo me marcho
que dios se apiade de mi...
(Ya no aguanto mas)
Dime que te pasa
se siente fría la casa
ya ni me besa, ya ni me abraza
trato de arreglarlo, mi intento fracasa
dime que es lo que pasa
por que me rechaza
y yo no se ni que hacer no tengo salida del lió
trato de besarte pero el cuarto sigue frió
ella me grita, le grito y empieza el desafió
yo confió en que vuelvas a hacer mi princesa...
(Yo lo que necesito es que tu me mires a la cara)
Háblam

Why Wal-Mart should be broken up by the government1. Wal-Mart ran many small business owners out of business.
2. Most of the merchandise is manufactured overseas and is of poor quality.
3. Employees are receiving unethical treatment. They are underpaid, overworked, and forced to work off the clock.
4. What Standard Oil was from 1870 to 1911 is what Wal-Mart is from 1962 onwards.
5. When we think of McJobs we think of McDonalds. We must also associate McJobs with Wal-Mart.
6. The prefix Mc is a throwaway word.
7. Wal-Mart has too much power and too much money. They exploit not only employees at their stores but they also exploit third world nationals for cheap labour.
8. Wal-Mart has contributed to labour outsourcing and replacing many manual jobs with robots and technology.
9. Someone needs to put an end to Wal-Mart's monopoly. The next small business what Wal-Mart runs out of business will be the last.
10. Wal-Mart will have to appear in Federal Court for an anti-trust trial. If the jury rules in favour of the platiff then the little

in The SideWalks Uncertain of it's own actions
a society busy of it's own.
Products now produced,
all empty hands of bigger ones.
Minds made to consume,
lights, movements, vibrations.

Thoughtful desks,
all said actions untold.
What in the question,
click, a pulse from same machines.
Not the same to know,
questions the marks.

Tight in feeling,
shapes these perceptions.
Plugs and channels,
in remote sit, electricity.
Drive-thru by walk,
wheel of businesses.
BloodArt(literature) pinterest, facebook, skydrive

Podria importar del todoSi yo no estuviese aquí mañana, a alguien podría importarle?
Y si mi tiempo hubiera terminado, me gustaría saber si estabas feliz de que estará aquí.
Si yo no estuviese aquí mañana, podría alguien perder el sueño?
Si yo no fuera tan duro u hueco, entonces tal vez tu me extrañaras.
Yo se que soy un desastre, pero quiero ser alguien, alguien que me guste mas.
Nunca lo podre olvidar, así que no me lo recuerdes por siempre.
Y que si trato de olvida lo que soy, podría importar del todo?
Y que si yo solo trato de no recordar.
Todas las oportunidades que me han pasado, importaría si me dieran una oportunidad mas?
Podría importar del todo?
Si yo no estuviese aquí mañana, a alguien podría importarle?
Aun atascado dentro de este dolor, no tengo nada y voy a ningún lado.
Se que soy un desastre, pero quiero ser alguien, alguien que me guste mas.
Podrías ayúdame a olvidar, no quiero sentirme así por siempre.
Si me voy mañana, podría a alguien importarle?
Atascado en este dolor yendo a ningún la

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Beta Testing: New Thumbnails Review

Thu Apr 26, 2012, 7:57 PM

Earlier today, #devBUG released the new deviantART thumbnails to Beta Testers. Here's my review of it, with things I loved, things I didn't like and ways it could be improved.

What I loved

The new thumbs themselves. They look great!

What I like most with the new thumbs, is what they've done with the larger deviations. It's safe to say that I won't miss those skinny, hard-to-click thumbnails (which are usually in the Tutorials gallery or deviantART Suggestions).

Left-alignment. Unlike most of the community, I actually like the left-alignment. I guess it's just a preference. It just looks better to me.

Literature Thumbs. These are probably my most favourite thing about the new thumbnails. They look more professional and I'm digging the lighter look! Now I know almost nothing about literature, but I'm sure the literature community will love these new thumbnails.

What I didn't like

Whitespace. It seems to be the new thing with social networks lately, with Google+ recently updating and having A LOT of whitespace. deviantART's whitespace isn't that bad. But with some of the space, it could easily be filled in with another deviation. Exhibit A:

Now if this space was filled in, it would be perfect. It just looks like something's missing, and if someone visited deviantART for the first time, I think they would think the same thing. Some order needs to take place!

The gallery/comments subtitles. I love them, but something seems a little off. I feel like there shouldn't be that much of a space in between the title and subtitles.

Conclusion

I'm mostly happy about the new thumbnails, it's taking deviantART in the right direction. There is a few things that need to be improved on. If anything, the whitespace is the thing I'd like to see worked on the most.

Thank you to the deviantART Staff for running a site that all of us enjoy.

42 Comments

Beta Testing: New Thumbnails Reviewby ^ladygagz

Journals / Culture / Editorials

My view on the new deviantART thumbnails.

$namenotrequired May 6, 2012 Student Interface Designer

Featured this in my Community Relations Update too!

^ladygagz May 6, 2012

Thank you! (multiplied by 4)

$namenotrequired May 6, 2012 Student Interface Designer

Welcome!

=ThunderClawShocktrix Apr 27, 2012 Digital Artist

There is just one big problem with it , here's what it was doing on my iPhone [link]

=pixiepot Apr 27, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

I'm not that keen on the fact that they are so big, if you look at my gallery, it doesn't look great. Particularly this folder.

As much as I don't mind the background on the thumbs, I don't see the point of them.

I also really like the large deviation thumbnails!

Great review, btw.

=Phlum Apr 27, 2012

It looks very good for large deviations (like most thumbnails would be) but what about emoticons?

^ladygagz Apr 27, 2012

To be honest, I don't really mind the backgrounds for the emote thumbs. [link] It doesn't look as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

=Phlum Apr 27, 2012

Oohhhh...
When you said "thumbs" I thought you meant embedded thumbnails like in journals and stuff

No, they don't look so bad at all.

^ladygagz Apr 27, 2012

I would definitely not like the thumbs if they were the ones in journals.

`GillianIvy Apr 27, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

=somrat has found the code to remove the whitish bg from images, which resolves the whole emote issue. But only in personal galleries and in favorites. It could be done via Stylish, I suppose. It's in the comments of his recent gallery thumb box model.

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