EvenDeathLies

Here: heidi.deviantart.com/journal/C… dA asks us to write our own personal dA story and experience and I am more than happy & honored to share mine. 

I was fourteen years old I believe, when I first discovered dA. I remember finding it through a google search. I think I had just gotten a new desktop and was looking for wallpapers. dA was far different at that time yet very much the same. Not quite such a clean and crisp interface but yet very much advanced in my eyes and full of artwork. I remember being in awe and finding so much amazing artwork as I had never seen before. I spent much time downloading several different wallpapers. I added dA to my bookmarks and was rather hooked, returning every so often to see what other great stuff I could find. After countless times returning to visit dA, there was one night where I stayed up hours enthralled searching dA's database because I had just discovered photomanipulation. One reason I was so obsessed was because I too manipulated without even knowing it. For me it was just messing around on photoshop, mostly with family photos or at the time (before I knew about legalities and what stock images were) Harry Potter and Evanescence photos off google. My stuff was nothing like what I had found, mine were petty experiments in comparison, changing eye colors, hair colors, sticking my little brothers on beaches, adding effects to photos, and other kind of ridiculous things. They were just for fun and had no real art to them. I knew though that the manipulations I had found were something incredibly special. I was hooked. One of the artists that kept me   pretty much everything in her gallery, was Void-W4lker . Her art took my breath away. I read through all her descriptions, comments others had left about her pieces, her replies, her journal entries, and eventually I bookmarked her profile just so I could come back and see anything else she posted. Within that time period, I discovered larafairie , judith , ladymorgana . SchwarzeSeele , anaRasha , dahlig , cosmosue , and NatalieShau . I underwent a revelation and at that point, I knew that I wanted to be an artist. It was all so clear to me. I finally made my account on dA and began my first true, artistically based photomanipulation. Though I think I discovered LuneBleu very shortly after I joined dA, she is such a kind hearted individual and such a talented wonderful artist, I had to mention her. In my early dA years, I entered a contest hosted by Iryiu to create a photomanip in tribute to the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorite poems of all time, and one 8th place. I was so proud as it was the first dA contest I had ever entered. I even won a promotional stamp!

In 2010, I had the incredible honor of going to the dA 10th Birthday Bash in the House of Blues Hollywood. Right when I entered, I ran into Angelo Sotira spyed and got to take a few pictures with him. I met Danielle Ward moonbeam13 , John Paul Thornton johnpaulthornton , Neil Voutt neo-the-foxycoon , and Zhang Jingna zemotion . I even got to find my dA birthday postcard that I had sent in on the postcard wall!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are the first 3 deviations I ever fell in love with from that first ever wallpaper visit to dA way back when: 


Here are some of my notable inspirations from the very beginning of my dA experience:


Here was my very first ever photomanipulation for the sake of art, not just photoshop experimentation: 


My 8th place "winning" piece for Iryiu 's Annabel Lee contest: 

and the stamp I received:   


Some memorable pictures from dA's 10th B-Day bash:       





----------------------------------------------------------------------------


I could go on and on recounting all of my wonderful dA experiences and sharing truly wonderful and exquisite, inspiring pieces with you but it would really be never ending. dA has given me so much. It has been the platform for which I have discovered my career that has shaped my life and for which I discovered a passion and a talent. dA was a second home to me for so long and while I life may have made me so busy and so preoccupied, I will never forget the home, future, and experiences that dA has given me. dA will ALWAYS be close to my .  


Love always,

Iman
EvenDeathLies