Sidebar? How to I get rid of it?
I barely use deviantART now as the interface is just so unattractive and clunky. I can hardly work out how to do anything any more and just about everything is unintuitive and downright painful.
But this new sidebar really takes the biscuit. It came uninvited to my screen right now and has set up home, proudly telling me how wonderful it is. Does anyone know it to make it GO THE FUCK AWAY? Please? I just want menus on the top of the screen, not this crap. Please help.
You can find me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MoreTorqual3D by the way. Thanks.
Eclipse
Hello watchers...
Like almost everyone I was not excited about Eclipse nor looking forward to the shutdown of the old site. I speak as someone who is still using 15-year-old 3d software and art packages because I am suspicious of new things. I only moved to Windows 10 in January this year and only because Microsoft forced me to by killing off Windows 7 (which I was pretty happy with).
So I totally get the negative feeling expressed around here that this is all too much change at once and has been imposed on the user base against our wishes.
This said (and without wanting to re-open the debate) I really hope that those fellow deviants threatening to 'leave deviantART' in protest do not go through on these threats. Thing is, if you deactivate your account, you're not primarily punishing Wix (the new owner, who won't notice) but instead you're impacting all the people who follow you and like your work. Believe me, I understand the sentiment - as you know, I had my own falling out with Patreon but I continue to use that site.
This Eclipse is a relaunch of deviantART and in terms of functionality and usability it is a step backwards. This said, I don't expect this to be the final version and I hope to see some of the things we miss or want added in future updates. A lot of this process is about getting used to the new interface and feeling comfortable with it. Now it has been forced on me, I am plannning to just try and use it, even if I find it cumbersome and unenjoyable to start. One thing is DO appreciate however is the Dark Mode. I appreciate that a hell of a lot. So that's a good start.
DeviantART is not an interface, it is a community. I hope that everyone will stay around for now and give this time, not turn their back on friends and contacts in what is really just a futile gesture.
Onwards!
T3D
I do not have a StarNow account
I am not a film director, I am not doing any casting calls, I am not seeking actors or crew for any production or photo shoot.
If you are approached, or have been approached, by anyone claiming to be me, it is not me. Thanks.
Patreon deleted art
As some of you may know, my Patreon page was reviewed and I had to remove most of the artwork there. I don't really want to go into it now or make any comments about Patreon or that process. Just to say that my account is up and running again and I will be posting 3D pinups and fashion pictures much in line with what I posted here.
What I deleted from Patreon was a significant body of work - around 400 images - and I am currently considering what to do with it. I do feel bad for the patrons that supported me while I did that work. If you're one of those patrons, or maybe you weren't but are interested in purchasing some or all of it, please can you send me a note here on deviantART.
That's all for now.
Torqual3D
It's now 8 years since I posted the first pictures of Amanda Jones (back on 1/1/2011).
Through a mixture of love, stubbornness and laziness I am still using mostly the same models and software - Daz Studio 3 and Photoshop CS2. This is why my pictures kinda look the same and I am way behind all the advanced looking 3D art that's out nowadays. I can't hope to compete with it and so I don't. All I want is to have interesting, appealing characters, stylish clothes and the best posing out there while serving the needs of the 'pantyhose fetish' and 'sleepy fetish' communities.
Now it might be easy to think that, for the last two years at least, I had given up or disappeared. This is far from true. Actually, I have been posting pictures almost on a daily basis. The only thing is, I have been posting them over on my Patreon. www.patreon.com/MoreTorqual3D
When I started out on the Patreon, I had kinda hoped that more than 150 of you might have followed me over there (actually I was hoping that, with a really low $2.95 monthly pledge, I might attract 10% of my 5700 watchers here). So really the Patreon has only been kind of 1/4 of the success I was hoping... this said, it has been a success, when I see that dozens of *good* deviantARTists have tried to make the transition only to stall on 0-10 members. At least I HAVE a membership... it's just sobering when after all the praise and likes you actually get to find out who is prepared to pay to see your pics.
The aim of Patreon was to enable me to do 3D art all day to the point where I didn't need a job. But ultimately, I don't mind it taking 1/4 of the time I originally imagined... So all is well.
What I have learned is that, no matter how much people may love your work, there is nothing like a paywall so SCARE THE SHIT out of them. And I fully appreciate that. Despite being a creator myself and having funds sloshing around, it was fully six months before I pledged to any of the other creators on the platform. When you pledge, even though it's with Paypal, you have to provide a credit card to back it up. Not that it will EVER use the credit card if you have funds already in your paypal balance (as most people do). But this credit card thing is scary for no reason... I get it! I am putting off renewing my Core Membership for that very reason. I don't want to enter into a 'regular billing agreement' with deviantART for $50 a year or $15 a quarter.... sorry, no thanks.
About this - what can I do? Not very much.
All I can say is, I would like to get more Patrons and if I did, I could and would devote more time to doing more and better 3D art and photography. I understand/realise/expect that apart from the 150 that pledged regularly, there are probably another 150 that are 'thinking about it' and would love to see that work if it wasn't for that scary, horrible paywall. So what can I do entice you and to alleviate your fears? Well.... two things....
The first one is to re-iterate some basic facts:
- There's around 400 images over on Patreon, the same volume that I have here on dA.
- A lot of it is continuations or expansions of stories I posted here and people said "please continue this"
- If you pledge $2.95 today, you can see all the 3D art immediately
- If you pledge $3.65 today, you can see everything, immediately
- All that's going to be charged to you is that one payment, equivalent to a coffee in Starbucks
- If you stay around, on 1st of each month the pledge will be taken from your Paypal balance
- If you have sufficient funds in your Paypal balance, your credit card will not be charged, ever
- The only reason you have to provide credit card details is in case you don't have funds in your Paypal balance
- You can cancel at any moment
- I repeat, YOU CAN CANCEL AT ANY MOMENT. This is not Amazon fucking Prime. It's not a trap. You're safe!
- I am updating the feed most days, some times several times in a day. Occasionally I have a few days off, but not much.
The second one is (and this was suggested by patrons) that I start to re-post some of the older work from Patreon over on here. This is a good idea. It means that I can remind the 5774 of you that I still exist, showcase SOME of what I did on Patreon, enough to make a few of you hopefully come over to devour the rest. I thought that was nice of my patrons to suggest that, and rather generous, as they have been funding it (in your absence!)
So, here's the deal - I hope to improve on the number of 6 images that I posted to dA in 2018. I will be looking at doing an upload around 3-4 times per month. I will be taking work from Patreon, something appropriate that has been up on there for at least two years, and re-posting here. I won't be posting anything less than two years old, and what I do post will be no more than a fraction of what is actually there. Also, I will not be able to post any x-rated, NSFW, nude or explicit work here due to dA terms of use. If you want to see that you will have to (you guessed it) pledge on Patreon. However what I do upload should at least get this page going again...
Don't get me wrong - I LOVE deviantART. It's a much better art site than Patreon. Patreon is annoying. You don't have gallery folders and everything is a feed. But it does work, after a fashion. The problem is, guys, if I post something on Patreon, I get some financial compensation but only 150 people see it. If I post it on deviantART, thousands of people see it but it doesn't provide any income.
Hopefully this new idea will allow me a cake which I can have and eat. Let's see!
Thanks for all your support over 8 years. I am still here and, if anyone wanted to gift me Core membership, I would be mightily grateful!
Cheers
Torqual3D