Deviantart.com review

Audience: Teens to adults, those with artistic background



The purpose is to inform and encourage other artists about a particular showcasing website



For artists out there who are interested in sharing, viewing and collaborating their works with other artist, deviantart.com would be the best showcasing website to visit. Deviantart is an online community that aims to provide a place for artist to exhibit a wide variety of works such as photography, flash animation, traditional art, digital art, literary art, and filmmaking. It's also a great place for artists to gain recognition so they can sell their art.


First off, in order to become apart of the deviantart community, you have to create your own account. Users, or deviants get their own profile page which consistst of their status, gallery updates, blog/journal and comment page. Deviants can comment and rate each others artwork as well as place works to their favourites gallery. They can also add other deviants to their watch list. There are many ways for users to communicate with each other. Deviantart provides chat rooms and forums for users to talk amongst themselves, or they can send private messages and type comments on profile pages.

Deviantart is organized in a way for users to browse, post and search works with ease. The main purpose of the site is for users to upload and post their creations. They can categorize their works in different mediums such as sculpture, graphic art, painting, etc. and add search key words to it. The most popular works get posted daily on the site's homepage. Deviants can also purchase a prints account for an annual fee of $24.95 where they can sell their work printed onto a variety of media such as shirts, mugs, puzzles, calenders, postcards, and magnets.

The biggest downfall of the site is it's copyright protection. Although there is an option to place a devianart water mark with your username on your piece before you post it, it does not ensure that your work will be completely safe from plagiarists. Since there is no review of potential copyright and Creative Commons licensing violations when a work is submitted, violations of plagiarism can remain unnoticed until reported. Also, deviants' artwork are public and can be viewed by others without a Deviant account.

For artist out there who want to improve their skills, deviantart is a great site to share their work with others and gain hints, critiques and suggestions.