BUTTER:

A new socialist movement/mass colab project I started, to trigger artistic change and evolution in Da artists (mainly my watchers), to make them more active and dedicated on DA. Now 170 people strong and growing... you might already notice their red avatars with white numbers on them, here and there. If you didn't- you will, eventually.

It has been already labeled a "dangerous cult", a "new religion", "artistic version of fight club", "communist movement", "the evil empire", etc.

But, what is really the butter legion?
It is a new group. A group about making new art, pushing boundaries, love and support- no matter how many pageviews you have, no matter how rough your art is, no matter if you're known or unknown.
It is a revolution. A new way of thinking. A mass collaboration project, led by that inspires, motivates, kicks the world up a notch and entertains the masses!
It is a family of brothers and sisters, who support each other through absolute favs, critiques, comments and same outlook on life, having undergone through the same trials.
What trials do I speak of exactly?

...Well, lets take a look at the basic rules for new recruits that wish to join the legion:

To join the legion you will first be called “BUTTER”.
Why butter? Because I will melt your identity down, and reshape it anew.

1)Delete/hide/put in storage your entire gallery. Yes, thats right. Remove every single image.
Why? To show your commitment to the legion. The old you must be purged, bridges must be burned so that you know that there is NO way back and that you WILL become a new, better, dedicated deviant. Scary isn't it?
But, just like everything in life- you got to give something to gain something. It's a gamble, allright. A gamble in which you might loose favs from people who might see your old work accidentally, but in return gain a new family that will help you improve and arrive on DA's frontpage faster.

2)After this is done (and your page is sparkly clean with the exception for favs and comments tabs)- note (our Buttery Sergeant)
He will provide you with a NEW avatar with your new identity number on it.
Report in the latest journal of Alexiuss with a few comments, so that you are noticed and added to the constantly growing list of the legion.

3)From here onward you will be under complete guidance of your new instructor/leader: Alexiuss... and thusly follow tasks/artistic projects he gives out.
Failure to follow the specific instructions for each project, boots the new recruit from the legion. Also, if you don't like how things are going, you're free to quit anytime and restore your gallery, but then you loose your legion avatar, legion number and support of the legion.

4)After 5 tasks are accomplished by a BUTTER apprentice, and he/she has proven their worth to the legion and its leader, their gallery can be restored to its former glory, however they will keep uploading mass collab projects per my task specifications.
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Now at this point some people will undoubtedly demand to know the need for uniform numbered avatars.
The reasoning behind it is very simple: everyone in the butter legion is featured by everyone in the butter legion in everyone's journals. This gives everyone in the legion amazing exposure results. Don't believe it? Just watch pageviews of people instantly jump up after they join the legion!
When avatars are uniform, and avatar sizes are kept below .2kb -we can feature 1000 avatars, without considerable lag to journals AND give out specific number related tasks AND just amuse ourselves by calling ourselves by a number, imagining that we live in a sci-fi dystopia world of "George Orwell's 1984" or being a real "artistic army", or a member of fight club- a revolutionary uprising with an urge to change the world

Others have and still will label it a "socialist uprising" and to entertain their and our imaginations, task 4 for example deals exactly with this- design of socialist-style propaganda.

Others will yell out- this is pure tyranny! I will never remove old art or listen to you or do stuff for you!
You really don't have to. This is total free will. You are free to join, you are free to leave.
Some people simply like being given out neat and fun tasks, competing with others in doing the same theme- it's just like doing a contest! Longterm, continual contest with prises and awards and constant features not just by the contest organizer but also by EVERY contestant!


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Just to give you a more solid example, here's a list of tasks, so far created by me and attempted by new butter recruits:
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TASK 1: BUTTERY DeviantID
For your first image, go photograph or draw yourself a devID- it shall be your new glorious identity. Your devID can be anything- be as creative with it as you possibly can.
Image must be NEW, original, and created by you! (not taken off some site).
The theme is - BUTTER!
Push your skills to the max! Be superb, humorous, artistic, delicious!

cool stuff done:



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TASK 2: SOMETHING NEW

To grow as artists we must try on new crazy things.

Remember, you now have the undying support of the legion, so no art hater can tell you that you failed or that you shouldn't try new things without facing the awesome wrath of the entire brotherhood of butter!

Your second task therefore(after you've created a buttery new identity) is to try out something COMPLETELY new.

Use an art tool you've never used before.
Submit into a random category you've never, ever submitted into before.
For example- if you've been doing photography, pick up a pencil.
If you've been drawing and never photographing- pick up a camera.
If you've tried both before- compose a poem, try making an animation, write a story, or create a layout.
Spread out across as many types of art as possible- if you see too many buttery solders trying out photography- try typography, anime, sewing, sculpture!
I want to see a WIDE variety of deviations from the legion!

cool stuff done:

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TASK 3: SUPERBLY REFINED

Use your greatest, most developed art skill and medium to create a new deviation- whatever it may be.
If you are good at photoshop- use that. If you're good at traditional medium- use that. If good at photography- post a photo. Any category, any style. Do what you really love!


cool stuff done:



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So this is about all.
Now, you can be entertained by watching this mass collab experiment from the sidelines or join in and become "butter" or even oppose it and form your own silly art group.
Either way, lets have fun with it!

More info, more rules and more new tasks can be found in my journal:
[link]
or in our chatroom :[link]


FAV this article if you think "social-art-experimental-movements" on DA like this one are a good idea.
Reject it if you think it's stupid and pointless.
Write in comments, tell me what you think! Suggest new tasks, give crits or suggest how we can improve our system!