Starting my archive

[altocello]

I've decided (after many months of hemming and hawing) to start posting my art on AO3, despite the fact that they do not (and will not, for the foreseeable future) have any image hosting there yet. I'm just going to embed the images from their storage place on deviantArt, which isn't a perfect solution by any means, but it's the best I can come up with. Though come to think of it, I don't know dA's upper limit on the size of the files they'll let me store for free. Hmm. Part of my deal with myself is that fandom must be free, so I am limited in my image storage options... most places charge after a point, and art can take up a lot of space! I will have to ponder that one.

Anyway.

My primary reason for wanting to do this is to make my art more searchable/findable in a fanwork specific database, with the hope of eventually making it available in perpetuity for others to enjoy. Which sounds really arrogant now that I type it out, but there you have it. I don't want it to disappear. I want to leave my mark on fandom, even if I don't think I'm BNF material. And I want to do it in a place that supports my effort to express my love and admiration for my sources of inspiration.

So, if you have an AO3 account (and even if you don't), I'm altocello over there too. You can see all my random bookmarks and, eventually, all of my art.

(And now this means I will have 4 accounts to update whenever I post something, lol.)

Comments

[disco-mouse.livejournal.com]

I get dizzy with all the accounts I have to post in. Sometimes I think I'm spread too thin, like should I just do one place WELL and the rest with follow? But I'm finding A03 a good place for *new* fandoms more than Merlin.

Do artists rise to BNF status? Perhaps since most of my fandom efforts have been in Merlin I didn't know that was possible, certainly never for me and not something I'm sure someone should want anyway (way to shy and secretive).

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I dunno about the BNF question too. Though that doesn't mean you can make a lot of noise. Just be obnoxious and I'm sure some sort of popularity will happen ;)

[disco-mouse.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm obnoxious, but privately. :)

[altocello.livejournal.com]

I have similar thoughts about all the accounts, but they all have a purpose. LJ is for interacting with fandom friends. Dreamwidth is my backup for that, even though I know not everyone is on it. DeviantArt is for hosting my images because I can't figure out how to get Box to do it without it being ugly, and to let me in on the art resources like stock images and tutorials. And my hope is that AO3 will become my legacy, such as it is, and a better way for me to keep track of the fic I enjoy. I cannot, in all good conscience, get a twitter or tumblr. What I already have eats up enough of my time as it is!

What exactly defines a BNF anyhow? Why would an artist never achieve it? I happen to agree with your statement about it being a dubious distinction. Not wanting to de-anon shouldn't be an impediment though; in the online world of fandom a handle is as good a name as a given one, and physical location is largely irrelevant. I can say with surety that I have not achieved BN-Anything status, I have nowhere near enough comments/kudos/faves to have done so. And that's OK!