(Forgive me if this is posted on the wrong forum, wasn't sure where else this would go!)

Has anyone here ever drawn/been active on an Oekaki? For those who don't know, "oekaki" is a Japanese word used to describe drawing a picture. It is also an online art forum where users can draw on an online paint program (similar to MS Paint/Photoshop) and submit them to a forum to be reviewed/critiqued/commented on by others.

There was one oekaki that I used to be pretty active on, but eventually lost interest in and time for it during high school. I learned how to create digital art through it and became introduced to the online art world through it. It was called Sutaro and it was a sister oekaki to two other ones, one beginner and one advanced (I think). I visit the oekaki once in awhile to see if the same users are still drawing, but over the past two years, the oekaki has completely died and hardly anyone submits drawings/comments on pictures anymore. There was such a vibrant/relatively close-knit community around when I was on it. But now it's deserted. It makes me so sad, because if I never found it then I may never have gotten into digital art or found Deviantart or found any of the wonderful artists that I still follow.

What is everyone else's experience with oekakis? Have you noticed a decline in the popularity of oekakis in general, or is this just a trend that occurs with every oekaki at some point? I'm really curious because I feel like oekakis are a sort of "hole in the wall" in the internet world haha

Oekaki was the best thing on the internet when there were boards popping up like mushrooms. My first digital drawing experiences were actually from Subeta's own oekaki (may you rest in peace), I loved the tight-knit feeling of the oekaki communities. I was really active on Sutaro at one point as well! Both the doodle board and the 'regular' one, I don't think I ever actually applied for the highest advance level? At least I don't recall doing that. I actually got to know my best friend on that board, when we realized that we were both also avid petsite addicts.

After Sutaro started to shrivel down in its popularity, I actually created a board of my own (it was just one of those ready template oekaki sites though, I was a member on at least five other ones. We had fun while it lasted, but it was already around the time when oekaki started to be a bit of a dying art form.

I was also really active on a Finnish oekaki site, Kupoli. We even held several oe-meetings, where everyone would draw all night together and binge on sugar, those were brilliant. (we also had other types of meetings that were simply called 'kupoli meets', when we'd arrange to go to events together. Now every time I go and check the site, it seems awfully dead, same as SRO. ): No one draws or comments anymore, I miss the times when the boards moved so fast you couldn't keep your pics on the first page for more than an hour, and everyone had vibrant, long conversations.

The only thing I don't miss is how often Shipaint would crash if you drew anything that took relatively more time than a quick doodle. |: I am notoriously slow when it comes to drawing, hah.

I forgot about Subeta's oekaki! When was that around? I think I joined my first oekaki in 2007. It was called TD oekaki, and it was owned by this graphics site that I used all the time lol. A few users on there, and definitely on Sutaro, were also petsite users. There was an advanced board but that one is pretty inactive now :c

I think that one reason why the popularity of the oekaki waned was due to the fact that many users were having trouble with the applets (like your issues with Shipaint). Now, they're probably not updated at all and incompatible with java and not working properly. Kind of takes the fun out of drawing when you're worried that the drawing applet might crash at any second. I'm just wondering why oekakis like Sutaro die out when they can have an easy source of new members from its main graphics website. Perhaps its due to old members who grew up together and now have busy lives and don't have time to oekaki anymore?? And does "chicken smoothie" ring a bell? I remember that site from awhile ago, and it still seems to be pretty active. but it's also a sort of petsite, so that's probably where its new members come from.

I'm horrible at remembering years, but I think it was one of the early site functions? It was around the time when oekakis seemed to be a bit all over the place. I don't think I've ever heard of TD oekaki, but it sounds nice ;u;

Having to constantly worry about losing all your progress was definitely one of the reasons why I switched to using SAI and PS exclusively, and just overall the fact that the oe programs had very limited tools, especially if you preferred anything with a more painted look to it. I really enjoyed doing pixels on oekaki though, solids were super fun. What I found really attractive about oekaki was that you'd usually get almost instant comments on your work though, and all communication was very interactive since you couldn't just 'like' button stuff or reblog without commentary. That's probably one of the reasons why even previously active oe boards like SSO/SRO die out, it's become so easy to just post art and 'scrappy doodles' elsewhere (i'm looking at you tumblr dot com), and they don't have to rely on constantly crashing applets. That, and busy lives.

I remember hearing about Chicken Smoothie and checked the place out a couple of times, but it never quite seemed like my thing. I didn't know they had an oekaki though, that might have gotten me more intrigued back then. :o I was more into a bunch of various other petsites where I used to RP, but I mostly kept to Sutaro oekaki-wise, despite trying out a few others.

Ah oekaki..I actually almost forgot they existed despite the fact that I had spent a majority of my earlier years on the internet at one and at one point I administered and owned another. I started on Creeping Oekaki because a friend of mine at school had started there. She gave me her account, and then I made my own. Shortly after I went to Smeargle's oekaki and spent a good portion of 3+ years there when it was extremely popular. Now it's a ghost town pretty much. Subeta came into the picture somewhere down the line and I tried getting into the oekaki here and it never really stuck mostly because it was pretty inactive then.

I remember all the drama that risen from Smeargle's oekaki. It got to the point that we had to try to get in contact with the owner, and it was then that me and a few others became admins. Those were the times lol. I look back and realize just how immature I was.

so true about the instant feedback/open communication! i miss that as well. now that you mention it, it feels like current social media doesn't really encourage active discussion. (I mean, commenting is still a thing, but people are mostly after the 'likes' and 'reblogs'- like on tumblr, twitter, etc as you mentioned) speaking of pixels, your forum signature is adorable and the crashing applets- totally remember that. i personally never had issues that often but i remember other artists complaining about it happening to them too often

I haven't heard of those oekakis! I never got involved in any drama or got to know any artists that well. Just checked out Smeargle's canvas. It's even less active than sutaro :o

As far as I know it was one of the more popular ones back in the day lol. Smeargle's playground was what I was focused on. Was on Sutaro advanced at one point as well but the people there were very very very rude and I never went back. c: I asked for help with canines back then and they told me to reference, refusing to help. I just wanted critiques then!

Back in the day I was prone to drama and often sided with the wrong people. There was one person that was so badly bullied that when I look at it now, I pity them.

I used to frequent neondragon's oekaki boards... gosh, that was so long ago! I have no idea if they're still around. xD

i used to draw on sso/sron/sroa a TON but that was back when i was like... 13. though i met one of my best friends through there; we've known eachother for ten years now and actually got to meet irl finally two years ago

when i was about 12-13, i used to go on an oe called iscribble but lost interest fairly quickly tbh. they were never really my thing haha but i've always heard about them! iirc, iscribble is still alive and active, but i may be wrong lol.

Oekaki was honestly the first thing that got me into drawing, I'm so glad I discovered it. I used to draw on SRO (and tried out for SROA lol) and was an admin on ChipZ's oekaki for a while. I drew daily, I seriously have never been that productive again. And I drew...embarrassing sparkledogs like any self-respecting teenage oekaki artist :s

Most of us from CO still keep in touch via facebook, it's the funniest thing. I hope to meet up with some of them in person one day, they're a cool bunch.

They are, but they're... pretty dead. Lots of the old users (ie, the ones who could draw) have left.

Subeta used to have an oekaki in 2005-2006 when I used to play more frequently! Really neat place to meet and scribble with other artists. Oekakis really had their hay day in the late 90s and 2000s! I started out at one called Sako's Oekaki and I met some of the coolest people through that oekaki. OekakiCentral was also very popular in my online art community when I was in high school. I believe it is still up today.

pChat was another interactive art program where multiple users would log-in to an art room, and draw in-real time using the chat's drawing feature (Similar to OMGpop's Draw my Thing, except there is no time limit, and everyone can collaborate together).

Lovesongs, do you have any of your old/recent oekaki art still displaying?

Ahhhh sutaro!!!!!!! Miss that place. That was the place that got me into digital art, too...