Comments on: A YouTube for artists

DeviantArt, which hosts a wide range of user-generated artwork, may well be the most popular site you've never heard of.

[terminalblue]

popularity contest?

DA has been that for years...its full of fanart, tracers, and amateur pornographers. it does have its moments, but those are mostly for the lulz.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Deviantart

[Wookiee-1138]

What do you mean "never heard of"?

I know almost nothing of art, and I've known about deviant art for years. Of course, I have quite a few Otaku friends who swear by the site.

[celticbrewer]

seriously

No kidding. I've heard about it 6+ years ago... which is about the last time I visited the site.

[mrbonaparte]

cannot join.

I've tried to join but it says I'm banned. I've never been there before.

[shell4art]

deviantART

The greatest place to be!

shell4art!

[nemisis11]

Of course!

While not always happy because my photography has been stolen before (an removed quickly when I found out about it) it is a site that allows feedback from critiques, and from some critiques it's best to ignore their opinions as well (check their gallery, if you don't like what they produce, don't listen to the critique so you don't end up with a dull gallery ;])

Also, the employees and Gallery Directors are friendly as well - so communication is good, if you know where to look. ^^

[spriter59]

similar

another great site, at least for photography is
http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/
unlike deviantart it is moderated, which keeps most of the low-
quality content out, but also means that users don't have full power
over their portfolios. sort of a different site but very cool

[vgfisher]

Banned by IP address range

Same thing happened to me. Looks like they ban whole ranges of IP addresses when someone in that IP address range repeatedly posts harassing material. They can't just ban a specific IP since a lot of people have dynamically allocated IP addresses... try registering from home instead of work, or vice versa...

[LindaLisa]

DA is the best site for artists

As a member of DeviantArt, it has become a wonderful place for me and others share the same feelings that we all help each other learn and explore more about art and each other. There is no better place for real artists to grow. Just as Danny said, we all hope that DA never turns into a site where it is not about the art and become about what is more popular or "who" is. We don't want this to become another Myspace site.

[tosandrew]

ask someone

DA has been having some probs like that so ask somebody to ask the admins about it or go to the help desk and the FAQ's

[www.hdgreetings.com]

great place to find artists

I've hired artists from DA multiple times - some really talented people there.

Didn't think I'd ever see the site on news.com but hey, good for them.

[Helen Baq]

Let's not give DeviantArt a bad name, plz!

YouTube for artists? Could you have made deviantArt sound any cheaper? I suppose you could have called it a 'myspace for artists'... deviantArt is a gallery site for artists who wish to show and sell their work, not some cheesy teenybop place to throng copyright violations! >:(

And what's this about "In some cases, artists have posted their digital leftovers in a "stock" pile that other artists can use as the genesis for their own work."??? I happen to have a stock account on dA. Neither I nor any of my friends who have stock accounts post our 'digital leftovers'. We go to a great deal of work, and often, expense to provide quality photographs taken specifically for artists to use for reference and photomanipulations. They are not left overs nor are they scraps. I take a great deal of pride in my stock work and I don't post anything I wouldn't use for art myself. Stock art is an art form within itself and a necessary art supply like paints and charcoal, it is not a crutch for some n00blet who is incapable of doing something on their own.

I really resent a lot of what was said in this article and how it was put. deviantArt goes to a great deal of pains to try to keep the myspace crowd away, so to compare it to YouTube is like sending an open invitation for all the internet kiddies to post their myspace shots everywhere.

Oh, and about the 'collections'... I wouldn't call it something for non-artists. It's for the dA members to be able to sort their favorite pieces from around the site into categories for convenience. Even us artist have favorite works by others and favorite artists. :|

[lindowyn]

Absolutely.

You know I absolutely agree with you. As a fellow stock artist, I cannot tell these people HOW much effort goes into dAstock. For the most part, unlike the youtube-esque users that exist in the dA-verse, stock is as much an artform as anything else on the site. Just about any staff member can tell you that.

Trying to corral deviantART in with the many user-generated, mindless upload tendencies of other sites is an insult to serious artists. This article was clearly written from the perspective of someone who has very little firsthand experience with the site and how it is run, and likely wrote it as an assignment.

With the new addition of CSS and gallery folders, each gallery takes on it's very own character and has a professional presentation style for those who desire serious work. And it isn't as though those people are few and far between--just about everyone I know on that site networks with other people within their community and beyond. It really is upsetting to hear YouTube for artists...

[nemisis11]

Stock != Scrap

I think that the news writer got confused when trying to quickly put a story together regarding dA. I think that 'stock' was mistakenly put instead of 'scrap' as they appear to have no knowledge that there are stock accounts for the purpose of creating photomanip's, and I don't think the writer understood the concept of people's scraps.

dA is meant to be a place for artists and I know a few that also use dA as a place for their portfolio's, in which case the 'scrap' section is better used to upload something not particularly part of the portfolio, but more the non-professional side.

Also, I agree with the opinions of cheapening dA by comparing it to YouTube as many artists on the site are quite serious about their work and don't post for the sake of posting. Hell, there are even dA movements saying that dA is NOT MySpace as some people have come to try and equivalent it to by the quality of (or lack of) what they post.

I suppose now we are going to see a lot more of those postings just by the title of this article, depending on how many read it. Sad day, cheapening the hard work of those serious about it.

[this1!]

DA is a joke, CA is where its at

real artists and real artwork

www.conceptart.org

[lindowyn]

Wow.

Way to insult over a million people. Good work.

[jharrisofkansas]

DA A Joke ?

I checked your site.....it sucks and not nearly the free open artist environment that is Deviant

[CherishedOnlyOne]

Yes, lets all support a multi million dollar site that allows us to post our art work but yet has no phone number listed for them as a Corporation. I don't know I guess I must be odd to think that as a former broker and one that has a master's degree why would I want my telephone out there? DA uses its artists by making them gallery directors and does not pay them, calling them volunteer workers. Nice way to save money and put more in the CEO's pocket. So just go right on submitting, and maybe, they will make money off of your work with the third party agreement they have. I know I am out of there.

[chikakohatanaka]

Deviant Art is Great - We Show Our Art there

IVe been a member of Deviant art for some time, and my art group shows are 3d models there (http://www.meshbox.com). Im just surprised that c|net is just discovering it.

Probably though a bigger community is on Renderosity at http://www.renderosity.com.

[archannair]

deviantART is AMAZING!

whatever I am today is because of deviantART. its a site which has made many people discover their raw talents!

http://archanN.deviantart.com

[jonathanmorse]

DeviantART: a caution

Following CNet's story, I opened a DeviantART account -- and found myself sharing my art with a bunch of teenagers with manga on the brain. Too late, I went to DeviantART's FAQ and learned this: "Please note that your account cannot be deleted. Also note that your comments and past interaction cannot be removed."

It's the Facebook problem all over again. Beware.

[CherishedOnlyOne]

I agree. This supposed multi million corporation that has an address does not have a public listed phone number for the corporation. I think that is odd, especially since they make Meeeeeeeilllllions. I have been on DA for four years and now even though I am not banned I cannot get to my gallery or any of my work to take it off. I have read not only this article but other articles as well, and as a person with a Master's in Finance I find it odd there is no telephone number listed. Oh sure, there is a 323 number but just try calling it. I was beginning to get a strange feeling about DA and that is why I wanted to take my art down. Now I guess I will have to have my attorney write them demanding that my copyrighted work to me be released back to me. You are right. Beware.

[prince_mypc]

Meeeeelllllliiiiooooonnnnnnnns!... I should start clicking on more ads.. :) to make more money

[CherishedOnlyOne]

Don't you find it odd that a company that makes that amount of money has no phone number listed in either the Hollywood CA area or under 323 anywhere? Guess it is my master's in finance that raises the red flag.