Well, at least technically. Let me explain.

Basically, sometime in the past few days, my deviantArt account turned 15 years old. I don't remember when exactly I made it, just somewhere in between Dec 11-13 2009.

But I'm 22 years old. That means I was 7 years old when I made it. And I've said this before, but it's interesting to reflect on things.

I don't exactly remember how it went, I think it was me who wanted to post my art online at that time. My mom looked up an art site for me to post on, and deviantArt was the first thing to pop up.

My art sucked. A lot. My first fandom was HTF, and I encountered a few people who weren't very kind. Very early on in my artistic journey I did get bullied a bit for being shit. Eventually I got kicked off of deviantArt for being underage, but I kept making accounts, posing as my parents and other fake people. I tried to develop new art styles to dupe people into thinking I was someone else. Some people caught on, saying my style was reminiscent of my previous accounts, but I was able to avoid bans again. I hid my age for a long time, up until I did turn 13.

I'd do HTF stuff for a couple years, and then I switched gears to being a part of the animation meme community on YouTube. I made some other deviantArt accounts, but I mostly was making very rudimentary animations on YouTube. This community was different, it was very accepting and welcoming to newcomers. You basically got praised for creating, it felt like. Which was nice, but I eventually felt like it was holding me back from improving. When I did turn 13, I had already been posting online for something like 5 to 6 years, and I felt I didn't improve much during that time frame. I left that community and the friends I made in it to pursue my own path of betterment. Years later, I regret leaving the way I did, although I don't fully remember how.

A little before I turned 13, I made new accounts on deviantArt and YouTube, where I wanted my primary thing to be pixel art/oekaki type stuff. I made a couple animations on my YouTube, and posted a bit on deviantArt, but I never really got anywhere with that account. I later made another during the summer of 2015, only on tumblr. This is actually where I learned layer effects existed, and my life was never the same. I later deactivated that account, it was only really up for 3 months or so.

Which brings us to actually becoming elikapika. I realized I didn't want to be a fake person anymore, I wanted to own up to who I was. I sent proof of my birth certificate to deviantArt (which is funny in it of itself) and got access to my oldest deviantArt account, the very first I made. I changed my username, deleted all my old pictures left behind on there, and started anew. I guess that kind of defeated the purpose of owning up to myself, but I didn't want to showcase all my old shitty art next to my newer, better stuff.

So, technically I've only been elika for 8 years or so. But, it's all still me. No matter what name I had in the past, this is who I am now, and who I will be in the future. I don't plan on changing my username or anything anytime soon, I've found what fits me best, and so too did I find my artistic identity. But, there's always room to grow and change, my voice can always be stronger.

It's been a rough journey being online. Ever since I was little, I put a lot of worth onto social media numbers, but it really doesn't matter. I love creating the stuff I want to, even if it's not very popular, or doesn't get the most attention. People see my voice, my passion, and I love all the thoughtful comments and feedback I get. That's more fulfilling then if I was playing into algorithms. And I hope younger artists understand this too, those numbers don't mean shit.

I've been more vulnerable than ever, sharing more of my experiences and stories. Some of these are more subtle, others are not. I've actually been taking animation more seriously. I hope to keep improving on these skills. I made my first comedy cartoon. I made my first music video. This year has been great, these past few years in general have been awesome. Being here, having my friend groups, I'm glad for everything I have, and this site gets credit for it. Mainly for the one game hosted here. You know the one.

But regardless, I will keep moving forward in my artistic journey. I'm going to school, and improving more so than ever before. In the future, I hope to make more long form stories to share, mostly in the form of comics. I want to make more animations, join more collabs here. I love being a part of things that are larger than myself, it's very rewarding seeing everything come together.

I'll keep improving at everything, my paintings, my animations, my storytelling. I hope you all will continue following me on my artistic journey.

If you're curious about my past years, I have an art summary gallery here, starting in 2016. I just uploaded this year's.

Thank you all for your support and love! Here's to many more years of elikapika!