In this ongoing series of articles, we probe the minds of some dAmn's channel founders to find out what makes them tick, how they've made their room a success and what tips they can provide to budding channel owners.

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This month we have `uae4u and #SkyAndNatureClub

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1) First off `uae4u, can you tell us a little bit about yourself!

My name is Omran and I am from the UAE. I study computer engineering. I am interested in photography and especially nature photography. I photograph since 2005, and I now own a Nikon D80 and a few lenses and filters. I also like football (soccer) and video games.

on dA, I am a member of this community for 6 years. I own a nature group, #SkyAndNatureClub, and I also help in many other groups. I am working on improving my photography skills, and I aim to become a prominent figure on dA


2) When did you first discover dAmn, and can you remember the first room you ever chatted in?

I think that was in 2006, and it was this chatroom #emirates. I dont chat there much these days, but I remember it was a fun chatroom. Mainly a social chatroom



3) What prompted you to create #skyandnatureclub ? Did you feel dAmn was missing a room on a specific topic? Did you think other rooms weren't catering to a user's needs? Tell us all!

I created #skyandnatureclub at the beginning because I was aiming to strengthen the relationships between staff and members. I wanted to establish a communication between us and the members so that each one of us would know the other more, and so that we improve as a group.

Later, we started using the chatroom for activities and events. We've held a number of events in our chatroom and we've given lots of prizes


4) When you created #skyandnatureclub , did you promote it, and if so how?

We promoted #skyandnatureclub in the group's journals when we first created it. A link is also available on the group's front page. We would promote the chatroom every time there is an event to be held there.


5) Have you ever held any contests or events in  #skyandnatureclubin order to generate more exposure and more traffic? If no, why not? If yes, what sort of events / contests?

Yes, as I said earlier, we've held a number of events in our chatroom.

Every year, in November, which is the month of our anniversary, we would hold many events. During our previous anniversaries, we've held events that included scavenger hunts, journal hunts, and questions related to dA and #SkyAndNatureClub, with lots of as prizes.

We once held a Feedback event in the chatroom in an attempt to get the members' feedback about the group. We discussed several points, such as the submissions process and the quality standards. The discussion was very helpful ! It certainly needs to be done every now and then.

We also held events during dA's birthdays. Last August, we had some fun activities to celebrate with dA, including mini-contests. One of the mini-contests was a stamp contest, and stamps had to have the number "10" in them, and they had to be done in a short period of time. We got some nice results !

There are the critique events that we've held, where the members would share their photographs and get critiques on them. Its very useful for the ones who are willing to improve their photography skills



6) Do you have any advice for new room owners? Should they collaborate with existing rooms? Should they pester their friends to help promote?

I would say first by join other chatrooms and participate in events, and then start with your new room. This gives you an idea of what you would do in your chatroom and it would help you avoid mistakes. Of course, that doesnt mean that you're allowed to steal others' ideas. You're not !

If you'd like to hold an event in your chatroom, make sure you understand and know what you're going to present in the chatroom. Don't just go there without knowing what you want to say. Be prepared!

It also helps to have prizes for your events or mini-contests, so try to collect a certain amount of points for examples as prizes. Its not important of course.

Another thing is that if you're having a guest in your chatroom, you need to tell them what they're going to do in the chatroom. Let them be prepared. For example, if you're discussing a new feature on a website, and you invited this guest, then tell them to be prepared to talk about this in the chatroom. Its really not a nice experience to go to the chatroom not knowing why you were even invited !



7) Has the Groups platform aided you in managing your chatroom; if so, how?

Well, we've had the chatroom since before the introduction of the groups platform, but I can say that the groups platform made it easier to promote the events. Belonging to groups became easier, and now there are more members to know about the chatroom events.

8) Anything else to add?

I'd like to thank #SkyAndNatureClub's staff for helping in the group and in the chatroom. Also thanks to all who participated or attended our chatroom events ! Thanks for the support We are willing to held more events in the future

and thanks to `shuttermonkey for the interview


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Thank you `uae4u and everyone be sure to check out #SkyAndNatureClub on dAmn!

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If you are the founder of a chatroom and would like to be interviewed for the "I Came, I dAmned, I Founded" articles please contact the MN@ at #MN-Volunteers.

This is a continuation of the Putting the ART in #devart project that the MN@ work on monthly. The purpose of this article is to bring to light the artistic community within the dA's Official Featured Chat room #devart. With the great reception our last installment had we will continue with featuring new and unknown members of #devart bimonthly.

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First up we have ~EmoPizza

~EmoPizza is a paper and pencil type of artist trying to branch out on to digital art. Here is some of their artwork:



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Next we have ~1000maddy

~1000maddy is a writer of poetry and a photographer, partially inspired by Suzanne Collins. Here is some of their easy ready.

A Stranger's LoveShe was tired of being broken-hearted.
She found a stranger who loved her.
She met him on the world wide web.
She was lifted from Earth with his "love."
She hooked up with him for 2 days.
She got broken hearted again, brought back down to Earth.
She thought he meant every "i love you."
She found out he says that to every girl.
She was just another victim of love.
She never thought it would happen to her. A Tiea tie inbetween two.
one who hurts, the other who knew.
such a hard choice,
i want to rejoice.

the one who hurts,
seems so wrong,
to be hurt again,
but he I long.

the one who knew
shows affection now,
right before a 60 day break,
he don't know.

a tie in between two.
one who hurts, the other who knew.
such a hard choice,
i want to rejoice. Sometimes....sometimes....
I gotta scream.
I must go crazy.
I try to dance.
I have to sing.

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Now we have ~D-Dage

~D-Dage makes clay sculptures and got started doing so through a simple gift from their mom in hopes of giving them a hobby. Take a look at their handy work.



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Then we have ~EllaMacLeod

~EllaMacLeod is a student studying Art, English and History. Their artistic interest is photography and pencil drawings. Here is a bit of their work for you to check out.



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Finally we have *Transformergirl

*Transformergirl is a sort of jack of all trades. They make digital art, paper crafts, writing and cakes. Check out their gallery!



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Thanks for taking a look.

Don't forget to stop by #devart for a chat with these and many more awesome users and you just might see yourself featured here.

This is a continuation of the Putting the ART in #devart project that the MN@ work on monthly. The purpose of this article is to bring to light the artistic community within the dA's Official Featured Chat room #devart. With the great reception our last installment had we will continue with featuring new and unknown members of #devart bimonthly.

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First up we have ~Wenchman

~Wenchman is a traditional fan artist who loves to belly dance even though its difficult. They mainly post their cosplay photos as they like to keep their art private. Here is some of their work.



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Next up we have ~Devoted-D

~Devoted-D is a traditional artist who loves to draw small lave related comics and doodles. Here is a bit of their work for you to check out.



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Now we have *i-eat-paper

*i-eat-paper is a traditional artist who on occasion works in the digital media as well. They learned that they could draw as a little kid. But what really got them going was a colored pencil set they got in high school which sparked their passion for physical media. Check out some of their work below



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Next up is !Vlahdimir

!Vlahdimir is the creator of "sexy photomanipulations" according to another chatter. Be a judge for yourself.

:thumb141219340::thumb153743781::thumb169084854:

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Finally we have ~Kristowis

~Kristowis joined dA this week and stumbled their way into the chats. They are a self taught pencil artist who draws what they feel is cool at the moment. Check out what they have going on below.



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Thanks for taking a look.

Don't forget to stop by #devart for a chat with these and many more awesome users and you just might see yourself featured here.

In this ongoing series of articles, we probe the minds of some dAmn's channel founders to find out what makes them tick, how they've made their room a success and what tips they can provide to budding channel owners.

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This month we have`cooley and #IamAnthro

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1) First off `cooley, can you tell us a little bit about yourself!

Well, my full name is Ginger Cooley. I’ve been a member of deviantART (dA) for seven years. Early on, I noted a lot of the art on dA was created digitally, so in 2005, I purchased my one-and-only Wacom Intuos 3 digitizing tablet. (:devkhrainos: even fixed if for me a couple of years ago, so I could keep using it!). °matteo supported my early works, and as I became more active on dA, I found the support/resources I needed to hone my developing digital art skills. In 2006, I got my first Daily Deviation (thanks to `oedalis), which gave me a lot of confidence in both my art and the community on deviantART. I wanted to get more involved, and in 2007/2008, I became the Gallery Director/Moderator (along with `skifi, and after `briteddy resigned) for the new [at the time] anthro gallery. This is also around the time I established the #IamAnthro chat room, to create a hub anthro community members interesting in networking with each other.

Outside of dA… I work full time as an administrative assistant/technical editor. As a part time student, I am earning a master’s degree in Cultural Resource Management (archaeology). Prior to my current studies, I was a student of photography, which gave way to my bachelor’s degree in Photojournalism and Public Communication. I spent my first college years at Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington studying 3D animation for video game design. (I developed a profound appreciation for animation, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.)

2) When did you first discover dAmn, and can you remember the first room you ever chatted in?

#devart was the first chat room I visited, but only briefly b/c it was a little overwhelming. I can’t remember being active in  many other chats early on. However, `Marker-Guru, `misskittyoooo and I formed a now-defunct chat room called #modsquad. This was where I learned how to manage a chat room, which served as my foundation for running #IamAnthro. I also spent time in #botdom, b/c I liked the people there and they helped me with a bot I used in #IamAnthro.

3) What prompted you to create #IamAnthro? Did you feel dAmn was missing a room on a specific topic? Did you think other rooms weren't catering to a user's needs? Tell us all!

As I already mentioned, the anthro gallery was fairly new at the time I created #IamAnthro. Thus, we had few events or places to chat, despite a thriving group of artists who submitted to the gallery on a regular basis. As the anthro community grew, so did the chat rooms. However, many of the chats focused on only one of the many facets of the anthro community. I wanted to create a place where anyone in the anthro community could pop in and chat about their mutual interest in anthro-themed artwork, without subscribing to a particular sub-genre or in some cases, ideology.

Around the same time, I created the Anthro Challenge recurring contest  - which thanks to the diligence of numerous volunteers and contestants – is still running today. We struggled to find a way to spread news about the contest, as well as answer all the questions regarding the event whilst in its nascent form. Therefore, #IamAnthro served a secondary purpose as the place where contestants could quickly find the answers they needed, so that they could still complete their entries before the contest deadline.

4) When you created #IamAnthro, did you promote it, and if so how?

I promoted #IamAnthro in every way I could think of. Being a gallery director definitely had its perks, b/c I could post the latest information about #IamAnthro and the Anthro Challenge in all my news articles and monthly newsletters. The chat even had a brief stint as one of dA’s featured chats, which I greatly appreciated. We hosted numerous chat events, such as “Role-play Day” which became so popular, we later formed a separate chat room, #OfficialAnthroRP for those who didn’t want to wait until Saturday to role-play with their anthro characters. =Kirona currently runs the role-play event and has created a group, #Anthro-RP to manage it. (I urge anyone interested in role-play to check the room/group out.)

5) Have you ever held any contests or events in #IamAnthro in order to generate more exposure and more traffic? If no, why not? If yes, what sort of events / contests?

Looks like I got ahead of myself when answering the earlier questions. To summarize, here are some of the events we have hosted in the past, and some of which still carry on today:
Random Quiz: At designated times, moderators ask random anthro-themed questions, and the first user to respond will win prizes such as points, subscriptions, and devwear. We still host this event. Ask `lost-angle when the next one will be.
Role-Play Day: Every Saturday, we hosted a role-play scenario, where people could participate with their anthro characters. This event has been moved to a 24-7 RP room called #OfficialAnthroRP. =Kirona is now in charge of it, and the related group, #Anthro-RP.
Featured Guest: On occasion, we feature a well-known anthro artist as a special guest and welcome our members to ask them questions.  We still do this on occasion, though no special guest has been scheduled in the near future.
Anthro Educate: This is part of the dA-wide Education series. No Anthro Educate events are scheduled at this time.

Discussion: Discussion is when one of our moderators introduces a [sometimes] controversial anthro-related topic and opens the floor for discussion. No discussions are scheduled at this time.
Suggestions: We are always open to suggestions for improving #IamAnthro, the Anthro Challenge, and the :devanthrcommunity: group, which the chat is intimately tied to.

6) Do you have any advice for new room owners? Should they collaborate with existing rooms? Should they pester their friends to help promote?

My advice is to talk with people who have experience moderating other chats. They are generally level-headed enough to offer solutions to common chat problems such as trolling, profanity, etc.

Chatroom managers should be intimately familiar with dA chat rules, and whatever additional rules one has set for the chat – enforce them well and keep the drama to a minimum. Also, chatroom managers should make themselves available chatters outside of the chat.  If the manager run into trouble with another chat visitor/member, most of the time he/she can find a solution (via the exchange of notes) without having to bring out the ban stick of doom.
I definitely think new chat owners should collaborate with existing rooms. Finding chats that have similar topics can help garner new chat members and facilitate the exchange of ideas. (Though don’t go stealing people from other chats!) I love to goof off in #IamAnthro, but I also try to be professional when it comes to managing the room. I will remind everyone that I learned most of this the hard way, and it was not fun.

7) Has the Groups platform aided you in managing your chatroom? If so, how?

YES. #IamAnthro is directly tied to #AnthroCommunity. We didn’t have groups when I was gallery director, so things like the chat, the Anthro Challenge, and the role-play event didn’t have an easy-to-access “hub” that connected them all together. Having the community-relations sponsored anthro chat room, #IamAnthro, tied to the community-relations sponsored anthro group, #AnthroCommunity, has been one of the best things to happen to the anthro community. We have a growing audience at #AnthroCommunity that can easily find anthro news, chat events, dA-wide activities, etc. by visiting #AnthroCommunity. We should all be thanking ^Katmomma and =shikokumaji for their work creating the #AnthroCommunity, b/c we wouldn’t be able to tie everything together like we can now.

8) Anything else to add?

`lost-angle founded the group, #IaAMod to aid in managing #IamAnthro. It has been a wonderful tool for keeping track of visitors, members, seniors, and kicked/banned users. It has also served our volunteer staff well, allowing them to easily find information they need to moderate the chat as fairly as possible. If you are an #IamAnthro chatter, I suggest watching the #IaAMod group b/c we post all chat rules and chat-specific policies there.

I’d like to thank all the volunteers who helped create and currently maintain #IamAnthro, #OfficialAnthroRP, Anthro Challenge, and #AnthroCommunity.

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Thank you `cooley and everyone be sure to check out #IamAnthro on dAmn!

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If you are the founder of a chatroom and would like to be interviewed for the "I Came, I dAmned, I Founded" articles please contact the MN@ at #MN-Volunteers.

This is a continuation of the Putting the ART in #devart project that the MN@ work on monthly. The purpose of this article is to bring to light the artistic community within the dA's Official Featured Chat room #devart. With the great reception our last installment had we will continue with featuring new and unknown members of #devart bimonthly.

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First up we have !beauvoirian

!beauvoirian is a writer who like to scribble down everything from short stories to long rambling essays who secretly longs to delve into photographer.

:thumb209481547::thumb208683451::thumb208461005:

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Next we have ~BridgetGirl

~BridgetGirl loves to paint her favorite dA artist is *Wulff-Arts.



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Now we have ~DarkMio

~DarkMio makes typography as digital art. I like the style and the work behind this and it helps sine he can't draw a straight line with a borken hand.



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Next we have ~Jaxx4Life

~Jaxx4Life is a graffiti artist who like to make personalized artworks inspired by their art teacher to become better and describes their art as unique.

:thumb208821292::thumb208916541:

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Finally we have ~Skylight72

~Skylight72 is a photographer looking for critiques on his work. ~Skylight72 uses a regular digital that has the macro setting on it and is looking forward to getting a really expensive camera for their birthday.



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Thanks for taking a look.

Don't forget to stop by #devart for a chat with these and many more awesome users and you just might see yourself featured here.

In this ongoing series of articles, we probe the minds of some dAmn's channel founders to find out what makes them tick, how they've made their room a success and what tips they can provide to budding channel owners.

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This month we have =Jio-Derako and #ArtistTree

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1) First off =Jio-Derako, can you tell us a little bit about yourself!

Well, I'm your fairly standard 22-year-old male, hah. I've been doing art in various mediums since an early age, and nowadays my focus is on digital art in various mediums (3D and 2D alike). I've been homeschooled my entire life, so that's given me a good deal more free time than most to work on art, writing, and of course internet.

2) When did you first discover dAmn, and can you remember the first room you ever chatted in?

I didn't actually start using dAmn until three years after I joined dA. Once I did, I jumped rooms for a very short while until I stumbled upon #DAcademy, and I pretty much stuck there once I found it.

3) What prompted you to create #ArtistTree? Did you feel dAmn was missing a room on a specific topic? Did you think other rooms weren't catering to a user's needs? Tell us all!

#ArtistTree was actually a joint endeavor; created in the wake of changes to #DAcademy's chatroom (most notably, the chatroom was closed-off almost entirely at the time). The reasoning behind the "closing" was sound, but there were of course a number of regulars who disagreed with it, so a temporary room was made. One thing led to another, and #ArtistTree was born a short while later, with the aim of being both a room to share and receive artistic advice, and simply be a lax place for artists to hang out when they weren't necessarily working on art.
The chatroom wouldn't have come about without the efforts of a number of deviants, but I'd especially like to single out *CrypticManifestation for his hard work getting things rolling (and ~Goombah11, for his contribution of the chatroom's name, hah).

4) When you created #ArtistTree, did you promote it, and if so how?

I suppose we were pretty lucky when it came to promotion on the new room; with a number of us having already been regulars in the previous chatroom, once things moved along into #ArtistTree we already had a good number of deviants in there. Of course, there were plenty of journal updates from the members, but we were on dAmn's main page almost right off the bat, and had new members stumbling in within the week.

5) Have you ever held any contests or events in  #ArtistTree in order to generate more exposure and more traffic? If no, why not? If yes, what sort of events / contests?

Oh, definitely, we started off with events pretty much as soon as I'd created the group to go with the chatroom (which happened pretty close to the start of the chatroom; I was especially excited to start new projects back then). If I remember correctly, we had a few weekend speed-theme challenges within the chatroom (artists were given a theme, then allowed two hours to create their entry), in addition to a couple of bigger contests spanning a couple of weeks; probably our biggest ones were the "ConceptJam" events, where artists would be given a concept (first one was "Protagonist"), and then asked to make a deviation every day over the course of two weeks on that concept.
Things have been quieter lately as far as events (what with summer rolling around for those of us in the northern hemisphere), but we have monthly and bi-monthly themes for the group as a whole, too.

6) Do you have any advice for new room owners? Should they collaborate with existing rooms? Should they pester their friends to help promote?

Well, I'm probably the wrong one to ask in terms of advice, but I would definitely encourage deviants starting out with a new chat (or group) to get their friends involved; nothing works better at attracting activity than more activity, in my opinion.
Collaborating with existing chatrooms and groups is also definitely a way to go, though you definitely need to approach it right; understand that if you're asking another chatroom or group to help promote you, they're doing you a favor.
I'd also add to the "attract activity with activity" note; start right off the bat with activities! Events, contests... even if you don't have prizes to offer, challenge artists, give them something to drive at. (and of course, promote it like crazy.) Artists will join for the event, and if you're doing it right, they'll stick around afterwards because they enjoyed the experience.

7) Has the Groups platform aided you in managing your chatroom? If so, how?

The focus of #ArtistTree has - and always will be - the chatroom, but having the group account definitely helped out. In terms of administration, having a space to post announcements and discuss topics like rules and ideas is a huge boon. In terms of community, just having a space that's bigger than the chatroom's topic bar for making event announcements and the like is invaluable, and the gallery system makes it worlds easier to sort contest entries. It's certainly not a necessity - you can just as easily link to your own journal for contest rules and the like - but it just makes everything that much easier to keep sorted.

8) Anything else to add?

Well, just a huge thanks to everyone who's helped (and continues to help) make #ArtistTree such a great place to hang out; my fellow Moderators, our helpful team of Mentors, and of course all the artists who hang out on a regular basis and put the "chat" in "chatroom". I have no illusions of grandeur, if I had started this project on my own, I can almost certainly say that it would never have been the success it is now.
And of course, a big thanks to `shuttermonkey for this interview in the first place, my ego has nearly tripled in size. (it was already quite large.)

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Thank you =Jio-Derako and everyone be sure to check out  #ArtistTree on dAmn!

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If you are the founder of a chatroom and would like to be interviewed for the "I Came, I dAmned, I Founded" articles please contact the MN@ at #MN-Volunteers.

This is a continuation of the Putting the ART in #devart project that the MN@ work on monthly. The purpose of this article is to bring to light the artistic community within the dA's Official Featured Chat room #devart. With the great reception our last installment had we will continue with featuring new and unknown members of #devart monthly.

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First off we have ~artyscot

~artyscot is a traditional artist with some very impressive pencil skills. Check out a bit of their art below.



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Next we have ~Songbirdxx123

~Songbirdxx123 is a poet songwriter passing through #devart looking for a way to escape boredom. Be sure to check out their poem below

The love is goneThe Hole in my Heart was caused by you
That was shot at me just like a dart
I always wonder if it might be true
You lie to me straight in the eye
I sometimes wonder about the things you do
I feel ur gaze and see your lies
My eyes are so lost inside of you
My heart has gone so very cold
My love for him is sadly gone
You think u have me in ur own
You are sadly on ur own

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Now we have ~Davven7

~Davven7 is an artist who works mostly in the digital media but at times uses pencil and ink to create art. Their favorite subject matter is Fantasy/Realism as you can see from the following thumbs from their gallery.



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Finally we have ~LoveIsMyWeaponx

~LoveIsMyWeaponx is a photographer but also an appreciator of all art be sure to check out her art below and in her gallery



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Thanks for taking a look.

Don't forget to stop by #devart for a chat with these and many more awesome users and you just might see yourself featured here.