For a long time I've thought that DeviantArt, the online community site for art sharing, is one of the biggest but most under-appreciated sites for user-generated content online. (I mean, in the last few years, how often did you read major news stories about Second Life, versus DeviantArt? I don't recall even reading one.) Some numbers from a presentation by DeviantArt's CEO makes me think my sense isn't far off:
DeviantArt is one of the largest social networks in the US with with 250+ million artwork submissions a month... Online reputation spreads quickly in [DeviantArt] communities – [users] PearlEden gets 30-40 million hits and RainCookie 100 million hits, and they are under 21. They have a hard time adjusting to this.
Amazing when you think about it. The work of this artist here, PearlEden, is seen by more people than works by some of the world's top illustrators. And she's not even an adult. And few probably know her real name. Definitely needs deeper looking into. NWN readers, who among you are DeviantArt users? Would love some of your insights in Comments.
Image credit: pearleden.deviantart.com. Hat tip: Andrew Chen.
I have to DA Accounts. One for my avatar where I have my game related artwork for the games I build in SL. The other is for my serious comic book work that I do on the side. http://seymore-steamweaver.deviantart.com/
Posted by: Seymore Steamweaver | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 02:12 PM
Don't mind the grammar on that last post. Sorry folks.
Posted by: Seymore Steamweaver | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 02:15 PM
I have an account since 2006, but I only to comment and favorite. Not an artistic bone in my body. :P
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 02:44 PM
And don't worry Seymore, I just realized my grammar was horrible too. :D
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 02:45 PM
I'm a dA user. There's a lot of amazing artwork on there. Two that I've been following more recently are Tofu93, who makes AMAZING works in a really small timeframe, and Sibsy, who is a professional cartoonist. There IS a lot of talking down of dA when the subject comes up, as a lot of people think of unprofessional kids when they think of the site. Many art universities such as the Art Institute say to stay away from it (or so I've heard).
I'm honestly not entirely sure about the community. I'm almost always in a small clique that doesn't get many outsiders, but there's always drama in any community so there's that to look out for.
The site also has features like a chat, critique for art, comments (like most sites), and an in-browser drawing program that has a lot of features.
Mmm.. I don't know what else to say.
Posted by: Jay Kaufmat | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 02:46 PM
Amazing how this social creative thing doesn't require bleeding edge technology and possibly insane bold visionary founders. Then again, DA mostly breaks even so how is it serious?
No money, no gate keepers to fluff the their arbitrarily picked cool kids, so not serious.
Posted by: Emperor Norton | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 11:14 AM
"DA mostly breaks even"
Do you have a cite for this, Mr. Norton? The blog post I linked to doesn't mention revenue, so I'm definitely curious how they're doing that way.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Friend of mine made a Tumblr post just now that puts comments related to the quality of deviantArt posts in their place and gives a much better perspective. (I hope that sentence made sense; I'm a bit tired right now.)
http://conundrumkaiser.tumblr.com/post/9442239593/let-us-thoroughly-analyze-this-one-shall-we-as-a
Posted by: Jay Kaufmat | Friday, August 26, 2011 at 09:00 PM