Do you think you would still draw as much as you do now, without getting the attention that you usually get by uploading it to a site like Deviantart.com?

I know Deviantart and the internet in general is a huge motivational boost for me and my drawing...

I recently passed the 45000 mark in page views and thought this would be a great opporturnity to at least update my journal.
So I'll do a meme about my presence at dA - a meme which I stole from someone I follow, but I cannot remember who it was. In case you're reading this and suspect it might be you - thank you, whoever you are

1. How did you join dA?
I hadn't even heard about this great web community until introduced it to me in 2006.

2. What does your username have to do with you?
Shortened for my first name (Espen) and the first letter of my last name (B). Today I'm using EspnB on instagram, Xbox live, Twitter, different forums and so on, and if I remember correctly, it all started here at Deviantart.
When first registering here, I wanted EspenB, Espen B or Espen_B - but they were not available, so I had to improvise.

3. What is your current avatar of?
At the moment, it's a half assed self portrait done with Microsoft Paint - that was when I had longer hair. The red stuff is Liverpool FC's 2012/2013 home jersey.
...it might be a good time to change that avatar again, come to think of it.

4. How many watchers do you have, and how many do you watch?
Apparently, I have 147 watchers - and I'm watching 217 deviants.

5. Do you have more than one account?
No, I don't.

6. Name three of your favorite artists on dA.
Will Appledorn  - a true inspiration for many years now, but not very active on deviantart. He's mostly promoting himself through his own blog and other websites and channels.
Maria Picasso - Takes the genre of caricature portraits to an almost abstract level. Incredible stuff!
Russ Cook - Another brilliant caricaturist with easily recognisable portraits. Great style.

I chose these three from the top of my head right now, so I'm sorry if I had to disappoint someone out there...  

7. What deviant(s) do you admire because of their personality?
I haven't been active on dA in years - when I first joined this community, I was all about getting to know people and "hang around" on dA, communicating by personal messages for hours and knowing people. That's all far gone by now, so I feel I can't really answer that question.

8. How many deviants do you actually know in reality? Post their avatars.
Oh, wow. I had to spend quite some time looking them up, because most of them aren't active at all.
 
...and I'm sure there's a few more of my real life friends here somewhere.

9. Do you comment, fave, or both?
I always used to include a comment whenever I gave a favourite, but I've been a bit lazy on that one the past couple of years. I give comments only when I feel it's necessary, like giving some sort of feedback.

10. What do you typically post on deviantART?
Portraits. Creative and caricature-ish portraits.

11. Do you participate in clubs or contests here on dA?
I've been a member of a few clubs here, and I have participated in two or three contests, but that's almost six or seven years ago now.

12. What is your most popular deviation? As in most viewed or most favorited?
Most commented:          Most favourited:          Most viewed: 

13. What's your favorite submission in your gallery?
That's a really hard question. I will probably have a different opinion next week, but here and now, it's this one:


14. What are things you wish you could draw better?
Hands.

15. Do you have a premium membership?
Yep! My third or fourth year, if I remember correctly...

16. How many hours a day do you spend on dA?
Far from much. I don't even think I'm visiting dA on a daily basis anymore, actually. But I made a million visits a day in the good ol' days!

17. Are you a fast, slow, or medium typer?
I consider myself as a fast typer, but prefer to do in medium speed in order to avoid too many spelling errors.

18. What is the most annoying thing people ask you?
"Can you draw me?" must be the question I despise the most. I don't get that here on dA, but from people I know.

19. What is the most annoying/offending comment you've ever received?
I cannot remember if I've ever recieved offending comments on the internet. Thankfully.

20. What/Who inspires you?
Creative portraits. How artists manage to make the audience recognise a face with the fewest, strangest, untraditional elements. And the three guys in question 6, together with Daniel Nyari (www.iamdany.com) and Steffen Kverneland inspires me the most nowadays, along with some good ol' traditional artists like Theodor Kittelsen, Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh, just to mention a few.

21. Do you use guidelines when you draw?
Barely. The closest thing to making guidelines must be my careful sketching of the bodies and heads in my cartoons before finishing them up with details. Other than that, I cannot remember the last time I used a guideline for perspective, for instance.

22. Do you associate people on deviantART with their icons?
Yeah, mostly. No wonder, when all you see in the comments section are their words along with their nickname and icon.

23. Have you ever suggested a Daily Deviation?
No, I haven't. I thought only priveleged people had that opportunity...?

24. Everyone has considered leaving dA once or twice. Have you? Why?
I can't remember if that thought has ever occured to me, no.



AND PEOPLE - THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE 45000 PAGEVIEWS! I'M THRILLED AND SURPRISED THAT I'VE MADE IT SO FAR.

THANK YOU  

Finally, after being on Instagram since 2010, I decided to change my profile settings from "private" to "public", and post more drawings.

My nickname is just the same as here: EspnB. A heads up: not everything I put out is either interesting, nor understandable for those who don't speak norwegian, if you even consider following me.


...oh, and the Olympics have started! Even though its host nation's controversy makes me a bit mad (and I actually hope for them to fail in some parts), I'm excited. It's the Olympics, after all.
Go Norway and Canada!

Three great artists which inspires me the most nowadays. Be sure to check them out:

Daniel Nyari: danielnyariillustrations.tumbl…

Maria Picasso: www.mariapicasso.com/ and mariapicasso.deviantart.com/

Chris Moore: artofmoore.deviantart.com/

Sorry for the rant in last journal, but deviantart was my choice for the place to vent my frustration where barely any of my friends could see it. I normally don't rant on the internet, but I really felt like it there and then.

Since then, I have had better days, but my surroundings is experiencing tough times. A good friend of mine back in Kongsberg spoke about comitting suicide, which was prevented by calling his friends and family. But a couple of days ago, we learnt that his ex-fiancé and mother of his child is in a relationship with our best friend. We were both very shocked. Her rejection was a major cause to his depressive thoughts in the first place - thoughts that now, yet again, have taken a strong place into his head.

As if that wasn't enough, my joy for football got a big scare when a player on my team, born with a weak heart thus using a pacemaker, joined us for a match. His pacemaker started to react in the middle of the match - panic ensued, and an ambulance was called for. He was concious the whole time, but breathed heavily and feared the worst, as did the rest of both teams when we all decided to stop the match and get home. Luckily he's doing just fine after a night at the hospital.

On the good side, we won 5-2 in the next game against the league leaders, a game that easily could have been lost hadn't it been for me making crucial saves as a goalkeeper in the second half. I'm not saying that my team was bad, and sorry if I'm bragging, but that day was one of the best in a long time. I danced the whole way home with a big smile on my face that evening.

It seems that if I'm not the one suffering directly, my surroundings and closest friends is experiencing a hard time, which then affects me in either experience or by being involved in it somehow.

The only comfort, no matter how mean this sounds, is to know that these surroundings do have worse days than me.
I'll just have to help them getting along with their lives to help my own.