Do you have it?
<this is a rant, btw...>
Think about it, would you rather get a bunch of comments from a bunch of people saying the same thing (ex. a bunch of GREAT JOB!'s in your inbox) or a handful of mixed opinions?
Frankly, I'd take the second one, both the good and the bad. I'm a bad sport when it comes to critiques, but I'm willing to listen to them more now that I was in the past.
What about deviations?
How many times can you say "omg I love your cat with armwarmers" before it gets old?
I know I'll get bombarded with "WELL PEOPLE CAN DRAW WHATEVER THEY WANT!" but think about it...how many people actually want to draw animals covered in accessories? I know I would stab my own eye out with a dull pencil if I have to draw all 10 billion accessories on one OC in every picture I draw of them.
The topic of originality can easily be debated, and there are many opinions on the matter. My own is that if someone already drew it, either draw it someway completely unexpected, or draw something else. Saying this, I mean like...if someone drew a tangerine, and this somehow inspires you, don't just draw a tangerine. Draw a tangerine on a unicycle. Draw a tangerine with a squirrel popping out of it. Idk. Drawing a tangerine alone will spark an 'art/style/color/subject/image/whatever theft' argument and will only bring your reputation down.
Myself? It may just be the people I watch on dA, but I'm about to pack my bags and leave for several reasons.
1. I have to dig to find originality
2. I draw original art, it gets little feedback. I want to improve so much! I want to be able to draw well enough that I can actually consider selling art and being commissioned.
3. I run into so many arguments and flame wars about nonsense about design theft/color theft/idea theft that I wonder if this is an art site or a riot.
4. Everything seems to repeat itself! I know some wonderful artists who draw the same subject over and over again yet still make the art amazing because they know how to make each picture individual and unique.

I'm not going to touch the topic of fanart because there are some amazingly original pieces of fanart out there. Yet, there are some that are duplicates of others...

Am I writing this to get attention? No. I'm actually perfectly fine with the amount of people who comment on my work. The amount of people who critique on the other hand...I would love to find more critics, of course. Then why, you may ask, why don't you just clear out your watch list if you don't think the people you watch are original? Well, I'm going to be doing that either tonight or tomorrow, whenever I have the time. If I don't feel that is satisfactory, then I might as well leave. It's just not worth my time anymore.

I just feel under appreciated just because I'm not doing what everyone else is doing. Of course, I know people who deserve much more attention than I do, because they have some amazing AMAZING art and not many watchers, pageviews, comments, etc. while at the same time, I know a handful of people who get a bunch of comments etc. because they go with the flow...

Thanks everyone for your support. I hope you can understand. Feedback is appreciated, feel free to post your own opinion.