love that you’re upfront about the dsmp stuff. so many people hate it so much that it becomes easy to feel ashamed and weird about it but you’re unafraid to just. say that you liked something. your art from that era means a lot to me and I’m so glad you don’t just sweep it under the rug or act like it was a “cringe” phase. you’re incredibly talented and I love seeing what you create, and it only heightens my respect for you to see you be so genuine and authentic about your journey and the things you love or have loved. thank you for continuing to create amazing things and inspiring me and others so much.
Man. I got this ask in my inbox earlier today and I've been thinking about this all day. Thank you very much for taking the time to send me this.
You know, when I first heard about dsmp I also was very weirded out by it. I think it was like, back in early 2021? During a time where a lot of "controversies" and "cancellations" were happening at the time. I thought it was kinda wack... Like why would I invest my time into something that sounds like kinda cringey people? It would have been so easy to bounce out.
Then we stumbled upon the dsmp animatics.
My god. Upon looking into it, it was like finding earthshattering revelation after revelation. We were so blown away by the artwork created, that clearly enraptured a large audience, and within that art how it captures the dynamics the content creators had with each other. Like, just unbelievably all of it was so magnetic. And seeing the rapport between the audience and content creators, it was undeniable to me how incredible that community was. And okay seriously -- it was a testament how often these content creators were held under millions of peoples' scrutiny; for genuine things that should be criticized but also a thousand random opinions interspersed between it. Our derision towards their actions and public statements only fueled even more discussion on how that reflected back on our own actions. Also this entire story that was messily cobbled together between all of that. With people that were extremely funny and charismatic and building friendships that were literally happening in real time. With us, as artists and writers and creators ourselves giving our input, our personal experiences, pouring it back into the story we wanted to see. I literally ended up being really involved with dsmp in spite of myself.
There was just something about how we had these people in our lives, every single day, talking with other people, really LIVING in that digital space. It's genuinely unfathomable how much this phenomenon has affected our social media landscape, even today. So much creativity, anxieties, speculation, and discourse were poured into artwork, discussion, even the meta of the community itself. I keep saying it, but literally. You just had to be there.
And with all of this, I just can't stop thinking about how much it's grown past its original creators. It became its own phenomenon in of itself. Every person had a different experience being there because it was unquantifiable how many events and microcosms were happening at the same time. How can you quantify that as just "cringe"? How can you say it was all just a waste of time, with quite literally how much people cared?
I can see how this community still incorporates what they've learned from dsmp to every branching path they've moved onto since that time. There's just so much to hold onto and learn from that experience. During dsmp, I also questioned if it was worth my time, worth supporting these people, worth associating my identity with it. I'm very fortunate to have good friends with me that retained that kindness and sentimentality towards moments that we experienced and shared together. So I continue to celebrate that on my platforms because for the people that understand and resonate, it means the world to me.
Thank you so much for your respect and observations for my work. We all miss what made dsmp so incredible in the first place. We experienced that together! That much is clear ❤️
stormborns
izzy806
ellievsbear
annaxmalina
jbbartram-illu
dededos
tangentwithtanner
