Hello everyone,
This is my first time creating a website! I have been drawing my entire life but I am just now taking my art seriously. There was a long journey to get to this point and I would like to share it with you all. My hope is you can get to know my intentions and that this gives courage to another artist to take that leap.
First off, I don't think my art is the best in the world. It doesn't need to be. What it needs to be is the best that I can produce. What matters most is the message you are trying to convey. With my art it was a way to cope with my Complex PTSD. I was drawing before I was diagnosed, but even then it felt therapeutic. So for the longest time my art was for me. After some point it was the best way to use my energy. I wasn't ever a strong writer but art came easy in that it just required my focus.
My family and teachers were the first to tell me I had "talent". At that point I thought I was the best of those around me. I would look online and see all these artists that were better than me, and think there was no way I could post any of my stuff. This kept me under the radar and to myself. My brothers would come to my room and look through my sketchbooks for my artwork to take and frame. In high school, I took my first art class. Having other people, who were not even my friends saying they liked it. I went online and would post my artwork up using a pen name and see if anyone wanted it. I did get very low responses because, if I had to guess, I was not posting my work where people would see it. But then something awesome happened. One day I found someone reposted my art where people would see it and credited me. I didn't care how many liked it, it was the fact that there was someone I had never seen, met, or likely not meet willing to post my art claiming it was good. That gave me confidence to do more posting.
The most important part of art is the content. What is trying to be said through the work. My art felt random to me. It felt like I was just drawing what came to mind, but that wasn't entirely true. My art was a reflection of things I desired, a means to ease my mind, to do things that I thought the world was missing. With this in mind, sharing it became easier. So I started a Deviantart page, then a Facebook, then an Instagram account. These were all steps I took to quietly show my art. As I explored more art, I saw that some of the most praised were not because of the look but the content. In some cases even simple stick figures were very successful because of the story it was conveying. That pushed me to take my art again a step further. That step forward was creating a webcomic based off a short story I wrote in college. I was nervous, anxious, and yet excited.
After seeing how it was received that is what pushed me to create this site. It will house all of my works to share with the world. I measure it success not in just likes and clicks alone, but more as my addition to the world for someone else to see. Art that shows diversity, speaks to voices that are trying to be silenced and occupy a space in my mind and the minds of others.
