Swordfish in showbusiness

Well, look at that – I got a second Daily Deviation! Can't complain about the free publicity, hm? It just so happens that I was already thinking of writing an art-related blog post, so I figured that now would be as good an opportunity as ever.

I was talking to Sir-Iggs some time ago about MOCers' personalities, and how it affects their popularity. I know that we should view artwork and artists' personalities as two entirely independent things, but I've experienced MOCers with (for lack of a better word) repulsive dispositions receiving less positive feedback than their creations would otherwise suggest.

Perhaps it's a question of context. After all, if you know the considerations and effort that went into the construction of a MOC, surely you can then appreciate it more as a work of art?

In fact, RattrapsTail described me as being one of the most personal MOCers that he knows: "Because one can get to know a fair bit about your train of thought by merely reading your journals". It was a strange realisation, but I certainly see where he's coming from, given how openly I write most of these blogs and how enthusiastically I participate in the deviantArt MOCing community. Most importantly, I feel like many of you know and understand me as a person.

On the other side of the spectrum is retinence, who, I think it's fair to say, is rather more reserved. He's a perfectly respectable builder, of course, and one whom I admire. Come to think of it, he and I are the only two MOCers with two Daily Deviations apiece. And yet, I wonder how many people on deviantArt can claim to know him. Perhaps it's intentional; only after dissociating oneself from the artwork can the artwork be judged solely on its own merits.

This makes me think of a documentary I watched about technologies that have been introduced over the years, and their inventors. One argument they made was that the success was not necessarily held by the one who discovered the phenomenon, or even the one with the more effective product; it was the person who sold the idea, the one with social skills, who received the fame. As with anything that's in the public eye, it's all about showbusiness.

I feel like I'm struggling to make my point (partly because I don't really have one). My question for you, humble reader, is this: let's say that I never wrote any journals. Let's say that my Artist's Comments were minimal, and that I presented each MOC individually in silence. Or, heaven forbid, let's say that Hero Faffory did not exist, nor any other non-MOC deviation for that matter. How would your opinion of me change, if at all?

Ah, it feels good to write a short blog post once in a while. Thanks for reading.

Skin by Nesmaty