Hey everyone, name's Lightning-Powered, and this is my first news post, well, more of a blog or rant, so here I go, and for the purpose of illustration I've decided to throw in some pretend dialog with you deviants & bloggers out there.
NOTE TO THE ADMINS, MODS, OR OTHER MEMBERS OF DA POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DELETE THIS POST: I wasn't sure if this was news or not so I checked in the FAQ about it and I think this calls for "news", but if doesn't, please don't ban me. And I'm sorry about making the error, and I wont do it again. I'll just put this somewhere else.

I'd like to speak about an issue that's been concerning me (and to my surprise, a friend of mine as well with his friend) for the past several months about the condition of this great gathering of artists from around the world called DeviantART. Hopefully it's not just us 3 who've been sharing this same thought, and it's an issue that many artists will consider and take seriously... or not so seriously. Your choice. It started like so, he was thinking exactly what I was thinking and he wrote about it in his journal, but I'll make it a little friendlier, and by some standards, just a bit frank because he used some language that could be considered as offensive to some: He said basically, that there are a lot of poor anime artists here, and really really cheap anime art. More than there should be. Please stay with me because at some point this might get very heated.

I don't see anybody interested yet. Maybe I'll have to reiterate this further, cause here's where the ranting comes in...

Many of times when you see some new person come to the website and you check out their gallery you'll find a lot of pictures of poorly drawn, uncoordinated, truly tasteless, 5-second jobs, and disgustingly unoriginal art - with plenty of followers and admirers who, at the site of one of these pictures will almost on queue they'll sing out this out ,which I'm sure we're all used to by now:
"Dude, that's awesome!"
"That's awesome!"
"That's the best thing ever!"
"You're the most awesome artist ever!"
And the list goes on and on...
And sometimes, it comes from people who don't even know a thing about art ! Can you imagine? I can't to this day, but it's a sad fact in this world from the lips of the ancient founders of art as they were being mocked, and their art shunned. "People here in [insert name of city, state or providence] just don't know what true art is." Sad truth, but that's how things work on DeviantART, and quite frankly it's pissin' me and a whole lot of other deviants off! At least the serious artists, and it just a bit obvious now that most of the "anime" artists here aren't of the serious ones.

"Well, you're just some guy that doesn't like anime. Why should I care about what you think?"

Don't get me wrong, I love anime since the day I've seen it and I actually do favor it over much American media like a lot of other people, and I've gotten a few people that tell me that my works look like anime or are "anime-styled", and it inspires my style heavily.

But I guess about 95% of my experiences, I see a guy or girl that likes Sailor Moon or some other anime they like (not to name names...) and get a paper and start drawing everything girl they see with really long legged, big-headed, pencil thin waisted, and horribly misshapen girl and put it on DA for everyone to see - and what's the response? Thunderous applause. Meanwhile other folks, truly gifted, are struggling to get noticed and struggling to be appreciated - and on the world's #1 artist site that serves the art and skin community? SAY IT AIN'T SO!!

"That's room for concern, but it couldn't possibly be that bad..."

Forgive me if I'm being irrational or unreasonable by writing these somewhat derogatory statements but maybe it's about time that an artist come up with enough guts (trying very hard to maintain calm) to speak out about this; where's the outrage? And why hasn't anyone brought it up earlier? But just in case my point isn't strong enough or clear enough, let me break it down some more! It's gotten so bad that among that majority of "artists" you'll be bombarded with while passing through the Recent Deviations & Popular sections of DA's front page, some of them aren't even trying to be anime artists and instead with the little knowledge (if any) they have about drawing they'll put a picture up and hey, if the eyes are 2 different shapes or sizes, squiggly lines when they should be straight than each other or if there's anything else unseemly about the picture let's just say "It's anime styled" and why not? Heck, for a select few, all other errors they make in their art is strictly due to the fact that they're anime "artists" and some make it their goal to highlight these minor or major (depending on whom you ask) anatomical errors in all their work. And to those selected few, I guess less than 1%, they have the.... boldness, for lack of a better word, to look down upon and intensely scrutinize some very talented (and some of which, my friends) artist's work with contempt and haughtiness! Some, who's heads have gotten so full of hot air, that as if they wrote the manual on how draw anime!
Their insults continue to drone on and on... and in the words of that nice stamp that you can hang up on your Stampboard, I'd like to say: SHUT UP! You're not Japanese!

"I guess I know what you mean, a lot of these guys here are joking when it comes to real art. But that's their art style, and what's the big deal? Anime isn't about realistic looking stuff anyway man!"

I know what you mean too, and I should get over it, but I like anime too much to stop here, so call me an anime freak, but for the next group of newcomers who aspire to becoming anime artists, I feel like at DeviantART of all places I should be able to offer some kind of advice to get them started, because I made, and I guess I still make, the same mistakes that they do and by no means am I saying that I'm the best artist in the whole world or even a good artist period, but the reason I joined DA in the first place was to become a better artist - something that I think even you "artists" can agree with me on. Sometimes I forget, so I should try to refresh my own memory with a self-note. I think it'll help you to consider them as well: Generally, a big part of any art style is created when after learning basic steps and acquiring the basic skills of drawing, the artist can begin to add in his or her own techniques to the steps based on the artist's personal preference (for me, using similar methods for anime drawings while being American and maintaining a Western art style). In the end result, an art style can become an artist's fingerprint if you will, that defines one's own art from another's art. Since everybody has different preferences, they would stick to it and make it a rule, so that this definition can become absolute.

But remember the the most important aspect: Learning the basic steps. I wouldn't advise any new artist who wants to specialize in any alternative style, such as anime, super-deformed, chibi, etc., to do so without learning the basics. It's like the foundations of a house; and building only the walls without that foundation would cause it to collapse under even the slightest pressure.
Back to anime: For crying out loud, anime isn't all about bulgy eyes, pointy chins or noses sharp enough to cut buttah! It has basic rules like any other art style, sticking to the basics but with a lot of manipulation, can become a different way of drawing all together. Could it possibly be as simple as one sticking to the steps that anime requires to be an anime artist? Possibly...

If you do these steps, like I did to help my drawing, you'll find things anime or not, will be very comfortable to draw, and even realistic.

"Alright already. I get the point. You're saying that in order to be a good anime artist, you need to use the anime rules, but how do you make it 'the right way'?"

To be a good artist of anything it takes that "P" word that nobody likes to use to others: Practice. And there is no "Right way" to draw anything cause everyone has their own way of doing it. There's drawing basics though, but if you need help or tips on how to improve your style anyway you should: Buy books, take classes, read tutorials, study real life and all that jazz. Will it be worth it? For sure! If you really care about your art. It takes practice, and it wont be fun, but after a while you'll see progress.

I can tell you that it'll be much easier though if you are honest with yourself.

But if you don't want to follow rules, don't want to improve your art, or don't care about art as a whole, please. Don't call yourself an artist, or encourage others to become slack with their art. DeviantART needs more real artists!