Joe Tower, a digital artist who has been a member of DeviantART since May of 2004, saw the online community as a unique opportunity to share his work and get some critical feedback and support from fellow artists. When asked to describe the impact DeviantART has had on his development as an artist, Tower offered the following:
All of the feedback I have received has made me appreciate my work in a different light. I am already very critical of my work. The positive feedback has made me evolve and know that people understand what I am doing. To have people relate and identify to my work lets me know I am conveying the intent of the pieces. The messages are coming across. The negative feedback has forced me to overcome creative barriers and hone my skill. I take every negative criticism and try to think from their perspective. The negative helps as much as the positive. I feel I have been able to develop a "style" through my participation in the DeviantART community. Every user I have come across has added a little bit to my creative thought process.
Although Tower is not currently selling his work through DeviantART, he plans to do so in the near future and heartily recommends the site to any aspiring artist.
The sheer amount of work shown here is mind-boggling – there are thousands of works to view in every category. A visitor to the site could while away hours just browsing through the many galleries. While the quality of the work varies greatly, as is befitting a site which welcomes everyone with open arms, much of it is quite good, some of it is stunning, and nearly all of it is interesting in some aspect.
In its earliest incarnation, the site was primarily a static image gallery devoted to digital art. It now includes, in addition to the digital art galleries, sections devoted to crafts, traditional art (drawing, painting, mixed media, etc.), photography, poetry and prose, flash exhibits, design work and downloadable art such as wallpaper, application skins and cell phone art. As might be expected of a site that attracts a sizeable number of young artists, there is an abundance of digital art. In addition to the art galleries, there is a section called Resources in which members post a variety of things that other artists might find useful, from application add-ins like fonts and textures to how-tos and tutorials.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Sounds great - perhaps the future 'great masters' will be all 'deviants'
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Lisa, super job!
3 - Lisa McKay
Thanks, Eric! The site reminded me a bit of Blogcritics in its inclusiveness, which is, in my opinion, a very good thing!
4 - Viince (attila)
This is a pretty good review of deviantART. As a member of the site since 08/2000 under the alias, Attila, I can say that I haven't come across a better review of the function of the site/community until now. Hopefully aspiring artists and established artists alike will find this informative enough to become members themselves.
5 - LM
Fantastic review of the site, and all it has to offer the deviants.
Thumbsup!
6 - Eric Olsen
you are too kind Lisa, thanks! They're a couple of years ahead of s, but we'll get there
7 - Jeff
Interesting Article.
It's really a shame their site is so piifully laid out.. a little more simple navigation would help take it past 'great site' to 'the site to use' specifically.
..but thats merely my opinion, and I have an account there..
8 - Anonymous Artist
Have you seen this?
It appears that this is just one of MANY responses by the community since the Firing of one of the co-founders by usurper/ dot-com wunderkind, Angelo Sotira (aka $Spyed )What is most troublesome is that the underhandedness of which Sotira is accused seems well documented. Many deviants in the community are now banding together insisting that Jark be returned to his post, or there may soon be a community exodus to a more community oriented art site.
9 - Bennett
Please make your links clickable.
Thanks!
10 - Dave Nalle
DeviantArt has some fascinating participants, but the structure of the interface is torturous and ill-suited to any kind of effective communication. It's quite reminiscent of some of the blog software designed for kids like RealSpace or Xenga, which sort of pre-does all the work for you, but you end up sacrificing control and originality.
Dave