candyexorcist

If you never expected to hear from me again here, you probably weren't far off. I more or less abandoned dA after I found that A) most of the artists in my life were gravitating toward other platforms, usually with greater cross-functionality and B) the new website layout really, really honestly sucked for me.

I logged on today in a fit of nostalgia prompted by my roommate, and promptly went down a rabbit hole of browsing through my fairly lengthy gallery -- especially the characters of OrderlyChaosRP , who were the bread and butter of my art for a long time.

I miss those characters a lot. I miss the atmosphere of unfettered creativity and imagination and absolutely bonkers plots and character relations that they were born from and I miss the days when I was absolutely addicted to creating, especially co-creating with friends. It's been a long time since I felt that way about almost anything, for many reasons, but it's been ... refreshing, I guess you could say, to see all this and remember that once upon a time, not all that long ago, it was possible.

I've mainly become much more insular in my internet dealings the past few years due to many life changes (and changes in internet culture in general), but eventually I'd like to think I'll change that as I start creating things I'm actually proud of again -- and if I can find the same sense of community on new platforms that make me feel like participating in the same way I used to.

Either way, now that I've remembered this place exists, anyone who's still following me and checking in every now and then may see me upload material (mostly fanart) as a way of keeping my cross-platform libraries consistent. I'm mostly active on <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanless/pseuds/Fanless">AO3</a> these days, but slowly I'd like to copy over everything from there (and anything remaining from FFN that isn't already uploaded) here, because for all its... uh... youthful flaws and drawbacks, dA here is still probably my most comprehensive compilation of creative projects and I think it'll be really cool to have it all in one place. I don't know if anyone who was around for those Glory Days still looks here anymore, but even if they don't, it's kind of a vanity project to bring me comfort anyway.

Oh, btw, I just turned 30 and am poly-married and I'm still a fandom son of a bitch. For everything that's changed, some things... really just have not and probably never will. *Note to my past self.

I don't think I've posted anything here for literal years or maybe done anything besides the occasional few-minute notification check and leave, but I may start actually using dA again at least for collections -- I'm starting work on a visual novel script! And although it's not as lively or as popular as it used to be, for sure, dA seems like it's still a relatively decent place to find reference pictures and royalty-free assets, and I'd rather use the work of and give credit to other individual makers, especially for my first project, than to go to random free use sites or pay major aggregators like (gag) Sh*tterst*ck or G*tty when I can.

So *blows dust off account* say hi if you're still here and still following me, I guess?