I have been noticing recently that a lot of artists are either deleting their galleries or moving to a new account in order to start over with a fresh new gallery. Part of me loves the idea of doing a mass deletion. It's almost euphoric having an empty gallery that is waiting to be filled. For those of us that seriously strive to improve each time we draw it's a great chance to start the new year with a clean slate.

I also know that people tend to move accounts, begin anew with a new face and name. Those that still follow their works will move over to the new account and see new and some old favorites. It's a sort of cross between the two, you lose your dead watchers, find out who your faithful are, and gain new ones. Perhaps it was a name that the artist was looking for, perhaps there is some animosity with that account... whatever the reason it can be a refreshing experience. A chance to become a new artist.

I like both and dislike both. While moving to a new account tends to be a compromise as the artist puts up old work that people are familiar with... I have an attachment to this particular name. The rule of thumb is that if you see a Ro-Chan/RoChan it's probably me. It's a name that I have had a hard time leaving.

Mass deletion is good but detrimental as well. deviantART doesn't really 'delete' work. It is always there and if someone favorites the drawing it can lead people astray. I have had the particular frustration of finding an artwork in a collection or favorite gallery and when I go to see more of the artist's work I find an empty gallery (sometimes the artist will be thoughtful enough to leave a small journal explanation). Not only that I like to be able to look back at my progression and see how far I've come.

In the past I have done a filtering method, where works I no longer like go into scraps and works that have been in scraps get deleted. It helps a little but the manner in which I filter is not exactly the most beneficial to me. I consider what is popular in my gallery along with what I generally like. I think it's important to have a balance on the two simply because you want to be able to draw people in and get them to look around. Granted even if the work is popular if it is really bad, it gets deleted/moved out regardless.

So currently I am debating on my choices.

I know I am not going to move or change accounts. This name is really synonymous with me and I have no reason to change it.

I am really leaning in favor of a mass deletion, after all I do have the files on my computer(s) and backed up on my external drive(s) as well as disk(s). (Leave me alone I have this fear of total wipe out ok?) I can personally look at them at any point in time.

I could strengthen my filter decisions and really be strict on things... it could potentially become a mass deletion though.

I'm going to be mulling it over for a while so don't be surprised if you suddenly come in and find an empty gallery. :]