deep – The Art of David Stankowicz

Art Update July 2023: Can’t Quite Hack It

Another Unexpected Turn of Events

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while but I’m back with a new update. I had a few neat things I was working on that I was excited to reveal and talk about. Unfortunately, the world had other plans and decided to throw yet another major curveball at me. I hinted at this in the title, but all puns aside, this isn’t really a joking matter. Simply put…

…My instagram account was hacked and hijacked from me.

Yes, I fell victim to the ever growing epidemic of scammers and hackers. Now normally I’m very good at weeding out a potential scammer/hacker, but this particular person hit me where I’m most empathetic. They posed as a fellow artist struggling to be seen and acknowledged. My red flags didn’t go up at first because this person communicated in such a way that felt like a real person with a genuine issue looking for fellow support in the community. As an artist currently in that place, I understand the pain and struggle to get out there and be truly appreciated.

So after a bit of back and forth chatting, they send me a link to an art contest asking if I can help them out and vote for their work. Right there the alarm bells should have been going off, but again, I was blinded by the empathy I felt having personally dealt with similar things. So I clicked on the link. As soon as I did though, I noticed the site was fishy. I used no names for anything, only referring to the artist by number and generic descriptions. Also, certain links and buttons that would work on legitimate sites were not here. So I left without entering any sort of information that would give them access to my account. But I guess these hackers are more cunning than I thought, because they must have had a way to get it regardless. Simply clicking the link was enough. I thought little of it at the time. However I woke up the next day to a notice that my email was changed and I couldn’t log in anymore. Followed by a series of “support” emails stating that if the account couldn’t be recovered then I’d need to pay $600 to get it back. At that point things were too far gone and I couldn’t get it back.

I lost all the progress and connections to fellow artists I made on that site. Gone in an instant. What stings more is that it should’ve been preventable, but the empathy clouded my judgement. So I had to live with the consequences here.

I had to start all over again. From the beginning with zero followers. Completely demoralized. Needless to say, I was feeling really down and unsure if I’d be able to recover. I say that because I started that account almost ten years ago and I had only connected with 360 people. So of course I’m thinking to myself that this will be difficult to come back from. I struggled immensely just to get to where I was at, and even then that’s not really a whole lot. Some people get that many followers in mere hours. That’s not how it has been for me. I’ve had to really work hard to connect with the 360 people I had. Now they’re gone and I have to try and work my way back. But I don’t have another ten years to get there. I can’t do that again. I had to try a different approach.

So I reached out to as many of my fellow artists as I could and explained my situation to them. What caught me by surprise was the overwhelming support they all gave me. Many of them were almost complete strangers to me, yet they helped me out and spread the word. I am incredibly grateful and humbled by that.
Since this event happened, I’m only a fraction closer to where I was, but I’ve made way more meaningful connections with artists now than I had before. So even though I’m still setback a lot, it feels like I have more. Perhaps by starting over, I’ve weeded out the “bots” and “ghosts” and instead found myself becoming closer with actual people with likeminded interests.

Maybe being hacked wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it’s exactly what I needed. A fresh start.

So that’s where things stand now on that front. I’ve been focusing more on getting back the small audience I had over there. Some good news that hasn’t changed is I want to announce that I will have an artist table one again at Comicopolis at the White Oak Library in Lockport, IL on July 29th. I wanted to participate in many more conventions, but with being in the first year of a new full time job, I wasn’t able to stay on top of that for this year. I’m happy I was able to at least book this one and then after it I will keep an eye out for others to join for next year. I really enjoyed the convention scene and I want to get back into that soon.

Well if you made it this far, thank you for reading and hearing my troubles lately. My entire art career has been littered with struggles. Those close to me can attest to that. However, I’m learning quickly that no matter what happens you cannot give up when things like this happening. Not when it’s something that is important and you’re passionate about.

The comeback will be far greater than the setback!

Keep Moving Forward

July 8, 2023January 9, 2026 by DStankowicz Categories: Deep Thoughts, UpdatesTags: art, DavidDraws, deep, drawing, illustration, Instagram, keep moving forward, social media, Thoughts

A Time to be Thankful

As I sit here I find that many things have changed in the world. While those around me are improving, growing, and moving on with their lives, I see myself in the same place. A state of limbo I feel somewhat stuck in perpetually. However, despite that, I choose to be positive and grateful for what I have. It is incredibly easy to be cynical and bitter about the things we don’t have (I admittedly have done this), but it takes a stronger will to appreciate all that is right in front of you.

I know that while my family may get on my nerves quite often (and honestly, whose doesn’t?), they are always there for me and have my back no matter what. And my close circle of friends has been amazing. I am who I am because of all of them and I wouldn’t have that any other way.

There has been an unexpected surprise this year though. I’ve started building great rapport with a community of likeminded artists on Instagram. That is extremely unexpected considering my disdain for all social media. It’s a great feeling to be a part of a small group of artists who support each other. Their kindness and support has helped me keep up a positive mindset about the future. I am very thankful for them.

I’m not a writer, so many of these blog posts come as a struggle to me. But I felt the need show my appreciation for all the people and things in my life. I am grateful for all of them, no matter how small. So I hope you all enjoyed this Thanksgiving holiday weekend and ate boatloads of turkey and stuffing.

Thank you for all your support. Even if its just stopping by to give a look at some of the art and share it to someone else, it helps so much for an artist like me trying to get his feet off the ground.

In case you didn’t have enough, here is some left over turkey as a thank you.

Keep Moving Forward

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021 by DStankowicz Categories: Deep Thoughts, IllustrationTags: art, deep, drawing, dstankowiczart, grateful, holiday, keep moving forward, thankful, Thanksgiving, Thoughts, turkey

Regaining Focus and Remembering “Why?”

I’m going pretty deep as I remind myself why I began my art journey in the first place.

I’ll start by saying my journey has not been an easy one. I have faced an incredible amount of adversity, especially these last few years. Rejection after disappointed put my desire and faith to the test. Last year specifically was the ultimate tipping point. The pandemic hit and affected every one of us in different ways. Like many people out there, I lost someone incredibly special. I was not prepared for how hard it would hit me. It took my already fragile mindset over the years and completely shattered it. I could feel myself scrambling to find a course of action to return to the path I began on. Everything I created felt like a futile attempt at a far off impossible achievement. What little focus I had was gone.

At this point I felt like giving up was an inevitability. When I did find the motivation to create something, it fell on blind eyes. I began focusing too much on becoming successful by any means that the art I made felt forced and lifeless. I’m not sure if I was actually depressed, but I felt like I was pretty close. I foresaw no end to all of this. An ongoing spiral of failure and letdowns that made me question my goals. Was my dream of being a successful artist nothing but a dream? Was I destined to fail?

What little focus I had was gone.

2021 began and I was about to break. Shortly after a talk with a good friend about all my troubles, I had an epiphany. I started thinking of my friend who had passed away and how he never gave up on himself. He faced adversity and never caved. And he would certainly never give up on me. He would slap me across my face and tell me I’m crazy for even contemplating giving up. I then went even further back and remembered my college graduation. It was the last major event my “Papou” saw. I remember seeing the pride in his eyes as I walked up to the stage to receive my degree. He believed in me too. By giving up, I would be letting them down just as much as myself. To do so would be desecrating their memory. I couldn’t do that, so I needed to take a deep look within myself and regain my true focus.

To become re-focused, I needed to remember my “Why?” Why did I start this journey? Why did I want to become an artist? I had to go back to when I was a kid watching all sorts of animated films and shows. The characters and stories they told inspired me and introduced worlds I could never imagine. I felt the joy and happiness they brought me and could see it in others. Video games entered my life and took that to the next level. I wanted to bring that feeling of joy to others as well. I wanted them to see my work and become inspired themselves. I needed to make sure all those who believed in me and had my back were proud of what I created.

I needed to take a deep look within myself and regain my true focus.

So what is defined as success? I became so fixated on financial success that I neglected to see that success comes in many forms. I started to focus on creating art for financial gain instead of for the pure joy of doing it. Success should be creating artwork that I am immensely proud of no matter what and makes people happy. Whether others choose to follow along or not doesn’t change this. That is why I became an artist. Keeping this in mind has helped me realign my focus on continuing to create great artwork for all to enjoy. It’s why I can’t give up. I can’t ever throw in the towel. The only thing I guarantee by doing that is ensuring failure completely, and that is not an option. I can’t do that to myself, to anyone who believed in me, or to anyone that my art has touched in some way. So I will keep drawing and creating to reach the peak of the mountain. It may take my whole life and I may never even make it, but I can never stop trying. That in itself is success.

Cowards never start. Weak never finish. Strong never quit.