deviantART Staff Interview: $realitysquared

Welcome to the very first issue of the
deviantART STAFF INTERVIEW/FEATURE
This month we speak with realitysquared
_{Copyright & Etiquette Administration head, Deviousness Awarded twice, and subscribed till hell freezes over!}



As many of you already know, I'm not a professional journalist, neither I pretend my interviews or friendly talks become The Oprah Winfrey Show. I've already interviewed some Anthro Artist in the past weeks, because I thought it was useful, interesting, and also many people gave me pretty good feedback about it, because they liked a lot to read them, to learn from other artists' experiences, and receive their wise advices and opinions. After all, deviantART is made for artists, by artists, so why not to place some of them in the spotlight?

However, I also realized the few things we know about DA staff and administrators Some of us think about them as almighty Gods and are afraid of even sending them a note trying to contact them. Some of us think they are only nicknames on a screen and don't even try to get to know more, as long as the place works smoothly. Some of us think they're not really people but quantic alien computers with human shape, plotting an evil plan to rule the World...

So, in a (lame) try to clear things a bit, I asked some staff members to answer a few questions, in order to let us get to know them a bit better. You may think that, being a Gallery Director (volunteer staff), I would have no shame into contacting them, but I'm shy by nature, so nyah. xD;;

And the very first one giving me some time for a pretty friendly interview, was realitysquared, the visible head of the Copyright & Etiquette Administration. I know this task can get both love and hate because it's never easy to please everybody, but let's see if your opinion about him changes for good after reading this




Personal Information:


Well, thanks again because I'm really happy to have the chance to interview you. I can only imagine how much pending work you have, and how little free time you have to spare, so extra kudos to you for the opportunity. Firstly, please tell us a bit about yourself. What's your full name and how old are you?
My name is Daniel and I am 38 years old and I've been with deviantART pretty much since the very beginning.


OK then, Daniel. Do you possess any formal artistic training? (College, through work, through work, etc. if applicable.)
I have no formal artistic training beyond the run of the mill courses that you get in grade school or junior high school. Pretty much everything I do has been self-taught and that process didn't really begin in earnest until I was around twenty when I started experimenting with using negative space and ways to suggest detail through shading and contrast.


Tell us, Daniel... A lot of people are curious about the meaning of your nick. Why did you choose "reality squared"?
Well, I've been known as "realitysquared" pretty much since the day I went online. I can't really say why I settled on this particular moniker except that I did go through several possibilities before making up my mind. I made the final choice because the name "realitysquared" presented a concept of taking everything you know and moving beyond it and I really liked being associated with that.




Your Inspiration as an artist:


To get to know you better, let's explore your artistic side: when did you first become interested in art?
I have been drawing or painting or somehow involved in one form of artwork or another for as long as I can remember. I can actually remember painstakingly shading and blending with crayons while in kindergarten so get just the right shade.


Where do you get your inspiration for your macabre (and other) work?
My macabre work is heavily influenced by H.R. Giger; I just find myself naturally gravitating towards his organic looking bio-mechanical style. In general though I just try to watch really good artists and when something strikes me I'll file it way for later reference; a lot of my works started out as a way to emulate a work which had previously really impressed me.


Hehehe, well, I guess this means I should check Giger's work myself to get educated about this a bit more, too! Then, what artist do you look up to?
I wouldn't say that I really "look up to" anyone in particular although I have to admit that my two biggest influences outside of deviantART are H.R. Giger and M.C.Escher. Other than that, if I'm devwatching you then I'm mostly really impressed by your work.


For some reason, I bet I don't need to check my watchers list to find out if you're there or not. Changing subjects, what do you do when you come across an 'art block?'
I don't think I really suffer from any sort of 'creative block' all that often, but then again my artwork is more of a hobby which I do for myself. Personally when I do find myself unable to do anything when I actually want to it's usually either a sign that I've invested too much energy in the creative process, either artwork or writing or whatever, and need to recharge for awhile by doing something fairly mindless, like playing video games for awhile.


Where are you planning on going in the future with your art?
I'm always trying different things, even if a lot of it never shows up in my gallery here on deviantART, and my gallery contains a pretty eclectic mix. I hope that in the future I'll continue to gravitate towards larger more complex and detail rich scenes because that's an area where I think I'm currently lacking.




About Media:


When you feel creative and produce your art pieces, what media do you most enjoy?
Currently I work entirely with digital media. My current tool set includes Photoshop, Bryce, ImageReady and DAZ Studio. For traditional media I typically use pencils, both graphite and colored along with inks.


Then, which media do you like the least?
I dislike paints; too messy and the cleanup doesn't fit well with my work habits.


Now, Daniel, please share with us your favorite piece from your gallery, and explain why you favor it.
Picking one is so difficult. My most popular piece must be my White Tiger which ranks pretty high on my personal listing as well.



I think it demonstrates how much detail you can show by not showing much of anything; the work itself is mostly white and shades of shadow and black without a solid line really anywhere. The opposite of that is probably Gigera Draconus which is absolutely packed with details drawn in with a single pixel brush.



I like that one because it really did grow and develop on its own without very much pre-planning at all.


Evil as I am, I challenge you to try something new. If you have the time, what might you try?
Many of the artists who I watch here on deviantART do some absolutely stunning character work and sweeping dramatic scenes. If I had the time I'd probably have to refine my skills enough to tackle that sort of work.




Concerning your work heading the Copyright & Etiquette Administration:


Being an experienced staff member right now, do you like how deviantART has evolved in the past years? What did you like the most, and what do you think we could have done better?
I remember deviantART when it was just a little "hobbiest" website which wasn't all that different from any other skinning site out there. I think what has set us apart is right away we didn't just cater to wallpaper and skins artists, we opened galleries for all types of artists and we've also managed to survive and even thrive while most of the other sites who reach our size collapse under their own weight. I think deviantART has managed to keep it's core principles intact surprisingly well over the years, I find it funny that for the last five or six years I can occasionally read opinions that deviantART is "going downhill" and "can't last much longer" because the truth of the matter is that the things people think have changed really haven't changed all that much at all; if anything we've become a better platform for delivering artwork.

If we were to do it all over again and I had the chance to give advice I'd have to say that communication between deviantART and the community should be better. Right now we've got a ton of people who are still fairly clueless about the history of deviantART, the rules, who'd in charge, etc. I do have to grant that the reason most of these people don't know these things is that they didn't bother to read what was put in front of them, but I think if we did it all again I'd like to see better efforts at both keeping people informed and providing the incentive for people to inform themselves.


How do you use your strong sense of justice in dealing with important issues that affect the deviantArt Community?
I tend to adhere to the philosophy of helping people to help themselves rather than just bailing them out of situations. I don't like to see anyone get trampled, whether it's thieves or bullies or what have you, but I realize that any authority needs to approach and review the situation objectively and try to find the cause and effect of the situation. For some situations that means that we'll get directly involved and for others it means we educate or advise.


When we mention the CEA, many people get to think about bans or rules... In a few lines, to let our members understand it better, what does the CEA care for in deviantART?
In a nutshell CEA exists as a contact point for artists whom have had their work stolen or used without permission and we also review claims that someone has submitted content that we do not allow, such as pornography. We also function in general as a place to report abuse or rule breaking by members of the community and as a place to ask general questions about what is allowed or not allowed.

We are also responsible for developing the policies and rules which govern deviantART and making certain that those rules and restrictions remain reasonable, valid, and up to date as time passes.


We know the CEA can't please everybody, so how do you deal with being the target of so many people not agreeing with your decisions or with the policy rules?
Well the first step in that is having a thick skin and being confident that your decisions are correct and justified; I've endured more insults and claims of corruption than anyone else on staff over the years and none of it bothers me.

Every policy that I propose is the result of watching a situation for weeks or months, getting familiar with the worst example of a behavior and the least example, weighing how a decision would affect things outside of the main concern, and whether or not it's the correct thing to do and whether it makes the community a healthier and more comfortable place to be. By the time I actually write something up I've listened to all sorts of opinions, read all sorts of discussions, been involved in discussions about it and I'm fully prepared to deal with unhappy disagreeing people.


What do you do in an average day? We're curious about your schedule and how do you do your work (at home, at an office....)
I work from a home office, mostly due to the fact that I live a few thousand miles from deviantART headquarters. My typical day will last a minimum of eight hours but it's not unusual for me to invest twelve or sometimes fifteen depending on what's going on at the time.

In the morning I respond to comments and notes directed at me and replies to various cases which are open and still unresolved, this usually amounts to twenty or thirty people. Once that is done I proceed into the helpdesk and pick up the cases which require CEA attention. An average day in the helpdesk will mean that I handle about 150 different cases.

After lunch I begin reviewing the cases in the moderation system. In an afternoon I'll usually review anywhere between 750 and 1500 deviations which have been reported.

After this I'll address any personal 'special projects' which I've assigned myself; some examples of this are researching the Orphan Works Act of 2008, researching laws involving hate propaganda, compiling a database of hate groups and symbols, and researching issues related to child nudity or online predators. This sort of research can keep me occupied well into the evening.

Even after I 'quit' for the day I often log back in during the night to do odds and ends.


With all of the work that managing the CEA team must involve, do you find it hard balancing your time between your official dA work and simply browsing or creating artwork?
Well due to the huge chunk of time I invest every day my ability to browse is severely curtailed. I still manage to find an awesome artist to watch every now and again but when I do browse it's mostly limited to Fav-Bombing a big chunk of the deviations already waiting in my message center.

As far as my art goes I've never had consistent work habits there which is why it's still mainly a hobby for me but I definitely produce fewer works now than I did a couple of years ago, but that's probably a combination of work and a natural slow down as my art has become more detail oriented.




DeviantART as a Community:


You have already told us you've been with deviantART pretty much since the very beginning. I'd like to go a bit deeper about that: When did you first become aware of deviantArt?
I first became aware of deviantART through a link which I found on the old DeskMod.com website where I was a member at the time. Since I was a member of several graphics communities at the time I followed it here and became a member. Not too long after that I pretty much stopped going anywhere else.


How has DeviantART aided you in developing your artistic talent?
I think deviantART has been pivotal in what I'm doing now. When i first found deviantART I was simply creating rather ugly and uninspired wallpapers because at the time that's all any of the other sites were really set up to accept. deviantART however was set up to accept all kinds of resolutions so eventually I broke away from that and started submitting my pencil works and traditional art.

It was also through deviantART, back in 2001 or so, that I was approached by someone about printing some of my works and being involved at a staff level with a printing company; that resulted in my doing a lot of research into copyright and because of that when deviantART installed it's first reporting system for art theft I started using it heavily and when they first launched their prints program I was heavily involved in in giving advice to other deviants even though I wasn't on staff here at the time.

The combination of being involved in printing and knowledgeable on copyright pushed me in a direction of creating original works at high resolution, often 24x36 inch posters at 300dpi. being involved in print work also pushed me to hold higher quality standards, which in turn led to more detail and that in turn helped me develop my own personal style and methods of creation.

And that doesn't even begin to touch on all the influences I've had from other artists who's work I was able to view and speak with.


That's true, Daniel, we could need a whole second interview for that... and we may do it someday! What do you enjoy most about being a member here?
I think deviantART is probably the biggest source for inspiration I've ever come across on the web. I've encountered so many awesome works which have influenced my style and which have provided little seeds for projects of my own. Almost every single thing in my gallery right now was created because I saw something in the deviantART galleries which I wanted to emulate in some way.


And about being a staff member?
I really enjoy the fact that what I do on a daily basis has an effect on people; I assist, educate and protect people everyday. The job is also one where you need to be mentally engaged all the time; there is nothing about it that you can just 'coast' through so it constantly presents new challenges and opportunities for learning.


As you know, I'm the Anthro Gallery Director, so I can't help to ask you a bit about it, and what do you think about our little corner of deviantART. So, what do you know about the Anthro Gallery or Anthro Art? Do we give you too many headaches ?
Well, generally speaking when somebody asks me that sort of question the initial answer is influenced by what I do here so if I go with the first thing that pops into my head the answer would be that a fair amount of the pornography and unacceptable fetish stuff which gets deleted comes out of that portion of the community and many of the members are prone to crazed "OMG CHARACTER THEFT" dramas. But really, other than handling my responsibilities here I steer clear of the whole genre because it's not really my thing. Very little Anthropomorphic artwork ever makes it into my Favorites listing.


Could you give us your thoughts on how the anthro community is progressing? Its always interesting to get an outside opinion.
Honestly since I spend little time in that particular community so I'm the wrong person to ask for an outside opinion on the subject of how things are progressing; especially since when I "visit" any community officially it never leaves me with a good impression because of the things I have to deal with and I simply don't browse around there in my free time at all.


What would you like to see changed in order to improve the Anthropomorphic Art Community?
Well that's a bit tricky. For one I do realize that a lot of people who classify themselves as "Anthro Artists" strongly identify with the character they draw so I bear this in mind when I make my statements for this one.

My advice would be to try to improve the general quality of the submissions, and I say pretty much the same thing about the average submission on the site, not just the ones in the Anthro Gallery.

I think that those people who identify too closely with the character they draw run the risk of closing themselves off from valid critique. The genre itself is fairly narrow so it's difficult to truly be original because just about any species that someone thinks is cool or attractive enough to draw has already been done a couple of hundred thousand times and it's pretty much the same situation with different character traits like scars, markings, swords, etc; the genre might actually be pretty stagnant when you think about it. Over the years I've dealt with a lot of complaints about and from the Anthro Community and I'm left with the general impression that there's a lot of extremely similar looking stuff being produced and if there's anything which bothers me it's the idea of the bulk of an entire genre which just isn't doing anything new or innovative any more.

I spent some time looking over about a thousand of the newest submissions to the Anthro gallery and I have the general impression that most people are just here to show off their character and they aren't very concerned about presentation at all. My advice would be for those who are serious about their art but still starting out to take a good look at some well developed character portraits; some really good examples can be found by browsing the all time Popular fantasy drawings or even individual galleries of really talented artists such as GENZOMAN who have a large number of really good character portraits and scenes and try to move in that direction.




Last Thoughts:


Have you any advice for our members to enjoy the deviantART experience even more?
In my experience the people who have problems are the ones who are resistant to critique and advice, who get overly focused on their statistics and the statistics of other people and the ones who get wrapped up in petty personal drama and other isolated situations when they spend their time here.

deviantART is an artist community where you can share your work and become a better artist. If you keep that in mind and avoid getting wrapped up in stats and drama and the other stuff you're almost certain to get more enjoyment out of the site.


You know this interview will get a lot of exposure: What other wisdom would you like to impart to our readers?
For the sake of keeping this interview short I'll just recommend that people give my journal a once over and if they like what they see they can read it on a regular basis; I try to write a journal at least once a week about something in depth whether it be something about deviantART, my opinions, or something else entirely.


Well, I think we already failed to keep this talk short, lol. So, before we end this nice interview I have enjoyed a lot, do you have any other comments you would like to share?
Only that I am available and if people want me to hear my opinion about something in depth they can always engage me by a note, just don't expect an immediate response and bear in mind that official stuff needs to go through the helpdesk and not to me personally.


~

Share the ,
an article you like!