divided by blue

Three weeks for Dreamwidth: What was the first website/blog/... you had on the internet?

I think the first website (or page I had on a website) was on Elfwood, way back in the early 2000's. As far as I remember, you could post your fantasy art there (on the wiki it said it also featured scifi art but I don't remember that very clearly), fanart and also stories you've written. It had a page dedicated to tutorials, and it had a community part too, in the form of Elftown, where you could have a profile with your interests and send messages to other users. Strangely enough, while Elfwood ceased to exist years ago, Elftown still exists on the web. I have no idea if it still has active users however.

On Elfwood I had a page that was mostly filled with my early attempts at digital art in Photoshop and Corel Painter. I also had a few fanart drawings on it.

While I appreciate Elfwood for offering me a place for my fantasy art, I remember it was also notorious for it strict modding system. Every time you wanted to post an image, you had to send in a ticket with your drawing. Mods then decided if it was good enough to post (if it wasn't fantasy/scifi enough for their liking, for instance, you weren't allowed to post it). I remember that I had fanart rejected because I used a photo reference to draw it, and they saw that. The latter made me quit the site, as I found it an absurd reason to reject fan art.

Something about the new Fallout tv-show instantly clicked with me, even inspired me to draw again and got me out of art block. I'm usually not into narratives that present us with doomsday scenario's, nor am I a fan of gore in media. But there is something very special about the series, and the franchise it is based on. It offeres crude real life survival problems and a bleak future, but has humor in it too, doens't take itself too seriously and has a few genuinely intriguing characters. And I'm a sucker for tv-series that can combine humor and fun with heartfelt and real, dramatic if necessary, moments. And Fallout does just that.

Years ago I played Fallout 3 on my Xbox 360. I had just finished Skyrim and Oblivion and was looking for another open world where I could really immerse myself in it. Since Fallout 3 was produced by the same company that brought those two games I really enjoyed, I decided to give Fallout 3 a try, even with the theme not being something that usually attracts me. I got beaten up pretty badly in my first playthrough. I soon realized that my character's stats weren't much to look at, and I created a better character, one that was worthy of conquering the wasteland. Since it's been so long that I played the game, my knowledge of the story is very, very dusty. In fact, I don't remember much of it. What I do remember is falling in love with the atmosphere of the game, the sense of adventure that awaits in the wasteland. This immersion is something I look for in all things, be it video games, books or even board games. I look for a world to get lost in. It is that same sense of wonder that I find in the tv-show too, together with a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Inspiration comes from various things in life that we feel a connection with. In more traditional art education, things such as fanart and geek culture are often looked down upon. There is this feeling that inspiration should only come from genuine real-life things, or from art itself, and not from mere 'forms of escapism’, as it’s sometimes called. This idea of inspiration is limited, and reflects the teacher's own subjective mind more than anything else. It is very precious to find things with which you really connect, things that bring you joy and offer a safe place in which you can navigate or even hide for a while when needed. Whatever that thing may be, whatever you find that intrigues you (and is not something harmful of course) and holds your interest is worth keeping. And if that inspires you to create in whatever form, that too is precious and should be cherished.