Hi folks, just hopping on to say thanks.

I won't be posting my artwork online anymore. I have reached that point in my creative life where I can't cope with having my artwork stolen and manipulated. It's important to me to protect the rights to my work - I can't allow it to become public domain. The stress of trying to police ongoing art and avatar theft is wreaking havoc on my schoolwork and my relationships with my friends. I have given up the struggle to prevent the continuous theft of my avatar, which I guess has become some sort of meme, and released it under a creative commons liscence. I still get very frustrated when I see it in use by other people, and generally avoid DA because of it.

I logged on recently and found many loving comments on my tutorials, which I am forever thankful for. I've gotten over my fear of trolls and flaming a little, so I hope to continue to check back and reply to your comments. Today I found 71 of them, and 635 favorites! I'm so glad that my tutorials are continuing to contribute to the community and very thankful for your responses. I re-read them when I'm having bad days or in the middle of an art block ^^.

I'm beginning work on another little tutorial - Sheeply's Guide to Art Theft, which I hope to post by Samhain. As always, feel free to email me with your suggestions and know that I am still a part of DeviantArt even if I can't show you what I'm up to ^^.