Of the services provided to artists, the most valuable is probably the prints service, in which artists pay a fee of $24.95 for a lifetime prints account. They are then able to submit artwork which is printed and sold through the site. The artist sets the selling price and receives 50 percent of the profit above the base price of the print. According to the site, there are over 1,000 artists currently using the printing program, and over 10,000 works of art for sale. While more experienced or established artists would likely prefer to have more control over the final product, this is an excellent source of exposure and income for young or newly emerging artists, and enables one to enter the waters of self-promotion and commerce without taking on the financial costs and time commitment associated with setting up one’s own web site.
On June 17, deviantART will turn its virtual community into a real one for two days at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, at the first annual deviantART Summit. In addition to galleries featuring the wide variety of art found on the web site, there will be seminars, panels and instructional sessions on topics ranging from business tips to artistic applications. This unprecedented collision of the virtual and the physical is designed to introduce the artists to the business world and vice versa. CEO and co-founder Sotira has said of the summit, “Our vision is to allow every artist in the world the opportunity to reach people’s living rooms, whether it’s a poster on the wall, a computer screen or a cell phone.” Further details can be found here.
deviantART would appear to be a wonderful resource for any artist who is looking for some feedback from fellow artists, a sense of community, and an inexpensive way to sell prints. A major value of the internet certainly lies in making such communities available to a far-flung group of people who might otherwise be toiling away in isolation, uncertain of whether or not they would ever have the opportunity to share their work with a wider audience.
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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