Why have you joined deviantART? For many of us, we can list the reasons why we’re here, and for some, we can barely reel out one. However, the thing that connects us all is art.

As an artist we’ve developed our own styles, used others as inspiration, expressed ourselves in visual or literary form and so much more.

But are we an artist if we travel along the same line, only one journey completed?

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination." ~ Don Williams, Jr.

Through my time here, I’ve seen artists lounging languidly in their small zones. These artists are plodding through life and not looking at their journey, but their destination.

There are artists who have developed their style and stuck to it. Some have even gone far enough to only stick to one type of subject matter.

Even worse is the fact that these artists continue to receive praise when the style, the subject matter and everything in between appears different, but is actually the same.

"Success is not a place at which one arrives but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey." ~ Alex Noble

What does "Artist" mean to you? What does "Art" do to you?

I see artists behaving like the monotonous routine that we go through in life. For the majority of us, we can’t change that. We can’t change this if it’s not within our power to do so. Or can we?

Can we deviate from what we’re comfortable with and reach into the unknown?

“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” ~ Anthony Robbins

There’s a world out there full of possibilities and yet the majority of us are locking ourselves in because it’s "safe". We don’t want to try something new because it requires more effort on our part. We don’t want to do something because we’re uncomfortable. We don’t want to do something because we’ve never done it before.

All of these are just excuses.

So try something new, wild, and totally not you. If you’re crazy, be serious. If you produce dark art, produce light art. If you write emotional literature, write random literature. Delve into a new style or a type of art. Produce something with a subject matter that you would never consider doing.

Go wild...




...and explore the paths; embrace the unknown...




Unless you want to be locked in?




Don’t think about it. Just do it.