You went to communitys and all you got was praise? That's probably the first mistake you could make when taking off in design. You can't post your work expecting 100% praise, it doesnt work like that man. If the world ran on praise, then everyone would be skipping down the road humming. You seem to forget that this forum is a forum for game, not a design forum. 90% of the people who post on the media board are trying their hand at design and graphics, many are starting out and wont see the bad in a piece. This is because they don't know, but may learn to. You are right, people on this forum do copy each other, and closed trends on the forum do begin, but that's because those people havent been or seen other sites that have been doing the same art for decades. You also seem to think that this is everyones first forum. In some cases you are correct because they find tip.it through runescape help. They will stumble upon the media board, and think "hey, I can try that", and that's why you see some failed attempts here and there. Others havent though. I myself have only ever posted at design based boards, and believe me, I've been at allot of them, seen trends come and go, and seen people quit design because they expected praise every single time. It's not the way to go, and to get anywhere you are going to have to accept that fact that other peoples opinions count, even if you don't like them. And finally, stop thinking this is grunge. It is simply some jagged font on a badly composed, messy background. You seem to be misled by what grunge is, but not only you, a few others too *cough*. I really wish that sites like Enfest were still around, then you could see what grunge in design form was. Might give you an idea. http://www.dubtastic.com/ http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/ http://www.b-man.dk/gallery.asp http://www.damnengine.com http://www.damnengine.net/indexmain.html - proVIOLENCE's Maniplation and grunge cannot be matched.