Your Opinion on deviantArt

I'm curious. A lot of people seem to think very highly of deviantArt. Because it IS a free art community with free hosting, it's easy for me to understand why people flocked to it. But does it not ring as disgusting and degrading to anyone else?

People use it for exposure, because they're too lazy to make websites on their own. But there are fantastic artists that have webpages that are coded in basic HTML and they get a lot more effort points than the people that click the upload button on dA. If these people really want exposure and to succeed, you'd think they'd try to put even a drop of effort into it. You don't get anything out if you don't put your all in.

I'm not saying that all of deviantArt's artists are crap (although a lot of them are pretty bad and don't even have a brain to boot), because there are a lot of very talented people on deviantArt. Perhaps what I'm trying to say, in a nutshell, is that these are the people that should put that extra effort in because they deserve more than what they're giving themselves.

I'm interested on other people's opinions.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well, the thing is, for the most part, Deviant Art is "connected" to a larger population of communities, while our own website might not be listed anywhere. I have my own art site, and 98% of traffic for that comes from me linking images to here or other forums, and I did spent a lot of time coding it in HTML. Although I would speculate it'd never really got anyone's attention.

Now I am not saying that I have a high opinion of Deviant Art, although it is somewhat mutual at the moment. I don't particularly feel that it is degrading to be there. After all, it is just one of the many outlets.

Now if you are talking about some specfic community aspect or stuff that have something to do with Deviant Arts drama, then that's a whole other ballpark. Although I wouldn't know anything about that.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well the whole thing is really networking in a way. I know you have your site, and I have my site. Now we may have links to each other but thats not helping us. But if one of us were to exchange links with someone that already has something established for themselves, then you may find that you get more hits, because more people are looking through their links.

Maybe it has to do with fear. Because there are people on deviantArt that don't have websites that are better than some people that I've seen with websites.

One of the main things that brings down the whole community is indeed the social aspect of it. Because of the fact that there are so many idiots, it's really easy to generalize, and its difficult to get past it.

There are other social outlets like this, like CGtalk. But the difference is that there are actually intelligent people at CGtalk. Ironically, the quality of art as a whole is also drastically better. I have no problem with CGtalk, I even registered the other day. I would never register for deviantArt, no matter how desperate I am for exposure and criticism.

Hey, maybe I'm just crazy and this is a pet peeve of mine.

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O HAY.

Believe it or not, I actually like devART because of the number of good artists there. Yes, there are boatloads of terrible people who call themselves artists or whatever but it helps if you know how to browse the site. Certain categories are more prone to idiots posting there MSPaint crap than others. Also, the "Top Favorites" sort filter is an absolute godsend. I really wouldn't recommend browsing without it.

As for the actual community itself, I don't actually talk to anyone there or leave feedback on works. If you look at the comments for any popular piece, you'll see that 90% of them are "OMG SO NICE XXXDDDDD~~11" and are by kids who don't actually know what art is.

I, personally, have a devART account, but I don't really expect people to come flocking to my stuff telling me how good or bad it is. I would rather have constructive critisms vs. faux anime kawaiiiii kids with nothing to say. But I digress.

My favorite categories to browse are: Web Interfaces (I'm a web designer, so duh!), Paintings -> Anime (I just love this style), and Art Photography (I love photography as well.) And every once in a while I don't mind checkin' out the hot emo girls that post their pics. ಠ_ಠ

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Originally Posted by rendr

O HAY.

Believe it or not, I actually like devART because of the number of good artists there. Yes, there are boatloads of terrible people who call themselves artists or whatever but it helps if you know how to browse the site. Certain categories are more prone to idiots posting there MSPaint crap than others. Also, the "Top Favorites" sort filter is an absolute godsend. I really wouldn't recommend browsing without it.

As for the actual community itself, I don't actually talk to anyone there or leave feedback on works. If you look at the comments for any popular piece, you'll see that 90% of them are "OMG SO NICE XXXDDDDD~~11" and are by kids who don't actually know what art is.

I, personally, have a devART account, but I don't really expect people to come flocking to my stuff telling me how good or bad it is. I would rather have constructive critisms vs. faux anime kawaiiiii kids with nothing to say. But I digress.

My favorite categories to browse are: Web Interfaces (I'm a web designer, so duh!), Paintings -> Anime (I just love this style), and Art Photography (I love photography as well.) And every once in a while I don't mind checkin' out the hot emo girls that post their pics. ಠ_ಠ

Well like I said, I'm not doubting the quantity of quality there, I'm sure there are gems if you look. The society is just shit. In my eyes it brings everything down. Also those rare gems can do a lot better for themselves.

I know a lot of those "faux anime kawaii kids" since I'm still in high school, and go to a school for the arts at that, so they're everywhere. [Some of them] are smart but they're just too immature. They're also talented, (rainchild18, mayuiki, other people I know, etc etc.) but they could do so much more with their talent if they got out of the negative vibe of that community and applied themselves. All some of the people I know do is gift art for other people, of their "characters", or whatever, instead of furthering their own ideas and techniques on their own personal webpage.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I've only browsed the pages of people I actually know, but sometimes I've encountered some very good artists. I don't often visit deviantART though. It seems like a friendly community in the sense that members tend to only give positive comments for each piece submitted. I've only seen one or two who gave constructive criticism.

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I've seen a couple of good artsists as well
but I've never ever ever ever seen constructive critism on any of the artworks.
It's always been "omg us so good! Kawaii!!!!!!" etc etc etc and all that bullshit.

You know, pretty much that same crap that got me to stop posting in (TCC) here and leave.

I feel it's more of a showoff community, really, and I'm not into those kind of bullshit things. I want to learn how to get better and evolve, just like a pokémon.

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There are some extremely talented people on dA, professionals in their fields and such (like the comic book illustrators and game designers). It's not total crap, and it's actually a good way for them to get to know a broad base of consumers. Hell, I've found a couple comics by watching an artist on dA for a couple years, as has my roommate.

I'm of the camp that believes that if people are on there *mainly* to comment&critique etc., then there should be a "Comment only" account. Because I know many people who have nothing but a few "deviations" (ie: drawn crappily in pencil on notebook paper >_>...) and do nothing but comment on other people's stuff. Waste of an account, if you ask me. And dA's disk space.

The whole drama thing is another issue entirely, that I don't exactly care to get into.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?