this is gonna be rambly, sorry
a difficult thing i've been thinking about all day is, like, ... the future. not my future but the future of what i do. i spent the first couple hours of the day dooming about where to go/move but the reality of it is: i will be fine. i am very lucky. i started doing what i did at the perfect time and lucked into some very fortunate connections that propelled myself and my art into a space visible enough that I've secured a foundational base for years to come still. i worked very very hard to do what i do and being at the "right place" is because i put that work in. but i also got very lucky. since then ive built connections and lasting relationships that, no matter what, will keep my well-being safe and probably let me do what i do until i die. i'm very fortunate in that respect.
but all of this has made me really upset for what the future is like for people like me. who want to do what i do.
I started posting art on deviantART, a site that fostered discovery and community for artists. Trends, blogs, and questionnaires helped people build connections and create a space that encouraged people to create and share. Now, acquired by an Israeli tech company, the site is home to grifters and AI sludge, with little emphasis on community or interaction.
I developed design skills in graphic design forums, where we taught ourselves PS tricks and challenged each other in weekly sig contests. I'd later post a ton on the Giant Bomb forums, where I'd post my art and design skills, eventually catching the attention of the site's staff. The friendships and opportunities that gave me helped me with my first break when I quit my job and launched my Patreon. Now, forums are all but gone, relegated to closed Discords that function more like open chatrooms, disincentivizing anything that isn't chat-like discussion.
I built a community of friends and industry acquaintances on Twitter in its earlier days, which were certainly still bad, but I was younger and the site's growing base and present microcommunities meant my art quickly reached a lot of people that I'd otherwise have no access to. The hate machine was not yet fully active, people still had a meaningful desire to share things they thought were cool. Now, well, you know. I don't need to tell you that one.
All the foundational things to whatever my version of success and opportunity is are gone. they're replaced with nothing or something far worse. i'm less concerned about you "break" in this day and age, and i'm more worried about the first step. i don't know of any good spaces for people to just... create and explore and connect with like-minded people. it's not gonna be on tiktok, it's not gonna be on instagram, it's certainly not gonna be on sites like bluesky or mastodon. maybe it'll be on a discord? if they luck into the right one? if the vibes are right? if it's not too big? i had so many places to fuck around and find out and discover the kind of person i wanted to be online. i don't know what places people have now for that and it makes me want to cry, because cohost really did feel like that.
