Welcome to the thirty-seventh edition of the still awesomely named Stock and Awe a series of newsletters as suggested by you!

Stock users!

Fancy being interviewed for this very newsletter? Then drop me a line with "user interview" and I will get back to you!

Critique!

*devCRIT is a new group on dA dedicated to giving critique for all galleries. So if you think you can offer some stock and resource critique get in touch, I am sure they'd love to hear from you.

Challenge

Dare you take a challenge?

New stock

From the Stock Gallery in the last 24 hours.

Stock to Art

An interview with...*gild-a-stock

_{1: First off - what inspired you to start a stock account?}
I started off with an art account *Gild-a-Lily and I was using a fair bit of dA stock images in my manipulations. I thought it might be fun and interesting to start my own stock account, partly to give something back to the community, and also to see how people would use my stock. I'm always amazed at the diversity of images my stock is used in

_{2: How did you choose your username?}
I based it on my art account user name, thinking that people would recognise me, but that isn't always the case

_{3: What is it about the stock community that keeps you active?}
There's a lot of support from other stockers who often feature some of my images in their journals or news articles - it's always encouraging

_{4: How would you like your stock to be used more? (traditional, horror etc)}
I always enjoy seeing how my stock is used, and I always like it when traditional artists incorporate my textures. I don't mind what genre it's used for, as long as it's not too gory, sexual or hate-related

_{5: Do you have any tips for people starting a stock account?}
Always make sure your rules are very clear, preferably adding your rules to each image description

_{6: Why choose to stock at DA and not morguefile/sxc/photlia/etc...}
I didn't know about any of those sites at first, but I like dA's way of sharing resources because it's free and easy

_{7: How far would you go to take a stock picture?}
Not very far, actually, since I really like spotting things around my home to either photograph or scan but if I know I'm going on a trip to somewhere scenic, etc, I'll always take my camera

_{8: Are there any things that you wish people would stop doing with your stock?}
No - I appreciate each and every piece that's created using my stock - but one thing I'd prefer is if they'd actually give me a link to which image they used when noting me - it's not always easy to see what's been used - especially if it's a texture

_{9: Thumb three of your favourite stock uses?}
I love the use of the texture on the dress
just superb use of my leaves
using my cobweb fabric for the stockings

_{10: Is there anyone at dA whose stock you particularly admire, or have any other stock artists influenced your own
work?}
My favourite stocker for textures is ~SolStock I use her textures more than anyone's and I'd love to be able to emulate her style

_{11: What advice would you give to stock users out there regarding stock and its uses?}
Make sure you read the rules, and in any case always credit each stocker and send them a link to your work. It's VERY helpful to add a link to the actual image used in your artist's description - as I said earlier, it's not always easy to tell - especially if it's a texture

_{12: If you could start your stock life again, would you do anything different?}
When I first opened my account I was a little ignorant of copyright, and uploaded some images I'd scanned from Dover Publications - it caused a bit of a hoohah and dA removed the images - I learned the hard way

_{13: Doesn't ^LawrenceDeDark look nice in a tutu?}
Maybe ... if he shaved his legs

( I've heard he waxes!) Thank you *gild-a-stock!