I haven't made one of these for a while, not since the art review request announcement, I'm gonna chalk that up largely to a failure. Some people requested reviews and I am happy to have helped them, but for the most part not a ton of people have made requested, which is understandable. What isn't understandable though is how the "please link me one finished piece to review" was so hard to grasp apparently, but whatever.
Anyway, as for an update on the status of myself: all has been going largely well; drawing has been steady; commissions have been moving through from time to time; personal life has been personal; and yet here, on Newgrounds, I really just don't know. I'll be going to Pico day this year as I did last year and am very much looking forward to that, but the art forum and the art section, the places I've called my home on Newgrounds for the passed six years or so, have just been annoying. I don't know if I'm just cynical to the changing tides of how artist try to make a living (chances are your patreon can go fuck itself) or if I've just hit a tipping point with fan art, or if it's just that all or most of the people I consider friends have stopped posting so much over the past few years, or if it's just all of the above forming up into a mass of disappointment, but the place just doesn't feel like a community so much as a disjointed mess of a bunch of people throwing out follow me links to their social networking sites full of cartoon tits n asses asking for cash. Not to forget the heartbreaking lack of any support for any community activity that doesn't involve monetary gain, I mean, the "your character my style thread" has been dormant for months and every time I, or somebody else try to bump it, it quickly falls back away after a post or two, not to mention the other activity threads that don't even catch on for a second post and trying to start a new activity thread is about as encouraging as something that isn't very encouraging at all. .
All that I know is that the art forum probably isn't in a much worse off state than it has been for the past year or so, but that's just the thing. I think I'm just finally out of juice for this place, I try to keep posting and giving advice where I can because I have learned so much from this place, and I do believe I have some valuable knowledge to impart, but I have been feeling less and less like my efforts to engage are worth it.
So that's where I am right now, hope you're doing alright.
Template88
Work with the regulars to make it a better place. Recruit cool people you know and try to get them to join the community. Or give up and accept that maybe this place isn't growing as a place for artists to develop. I like the regulars personally, and I just ignore the one post wonders unless they're doing something amusingly terrible. The art portal is absolute garbage, and I think it should be fixed but the admins don't seem to really care about whole portions of the website. It is what it is, seeing a rational person like you posting on the boards is what keeps me posting.
SourCherryJack
Yo Template, I'm flattered that you read this, even more so that my posting is something that keeps you around. I've come to treasure your presence in the forum not just for your awesome art, but you also give good advice/critique/info that is in many cases entertaining to read as well.
I think the biggest source of the frustration is that the art forum can be (and has been) a strong, albeit smaller art community. Back when activity threads thrived and popped up all the time and collars were actually a thing a few times a year people have tried to get them up and running again but it's usually a weak turn out. I don't know what more we can do, I wouldn't know how successful an attempt at recruiting people would go, or what that would even look like short of saying to my friends hey you should use Newgrounds, you know, the site with all the games and flash movies, it's just really an uphill battle that one.
I think community projects and collaborations would be the way to go, but those are hard to organize and even when organized hard to complete.
The portal has a lot of great in it, unfortunately a lot more garbage, but sometimes it's worth it to trudge through, I do agree it could be tighter in its moderating.
Anyway, I'm kind of droning at this point, thanks for posting, always glad to see you pop in when you do.