Be Popular, but Safe on deviantArt
DeviantArt, also known as dA, is a popular website were you can post art, digital art, fan-art, landscape...whatever you would like to post that is art! It is a fun and rewarding website where fans of various things can meet up!
Contents
Steps
Getting started
- Create an account. Go on the website and make your account. You can find the link by looking at the top. Click on the "Don't have an account? Sign up" link, to be exact!
- Activate it by responding to the email. Now, we get started! Find a good 50x50 icon by searching dA or an image hosting service. If you have the means, which you should if you don't have a monstrously old computer without paint, you can make your own. You can crop an image, original or not, and save it as a .gif preferably (especially if it's animated), or as a .png if it contains a lot of transparencies.
- Customize your page. When you log in, go to your settings which can be found in the tool bar. While there, you can also change your "signature", which will show up whenever you make a comment on someone else's work. Look around at popular pieces of art and look at the sayings under people's comments to get some ideas, though you should just do something original. Signatures can get old and show that you would just rather sway with the crowd than be creative. Begin a journal also. If you have something interesting to say, say it. Many people like to know "the-day-in-the-life-of" and it certainly helps gain views when you have some fans.
Adding artwork
- Upload your art, whether its photography, digital art, painting, or whatever you would like to make. But, here comes the safety part! Do not steal someone else's work under any circumstances. It may seem tempting but you can get banned from certain areas (i.e. forums or the chat rooms) or possibly the entire website, unable to reclaim the screen name of your banned account. Art theft is also a felony and you can have charges pressed upon you.
- Pick your topic wisely. This is important, especially if you are trying to appeal to specific types of art critics. Creating digital art of Naruto, or Bleach, and of popular books like Harry Potter are good ways to gain page views though can be looked down upon by more talented members if your artistic ability doesn't show promise for original art work. Artistic topics can be overdone and the previous subjects have been overdone. If you have a camera, take lots of photos, but make sure the photography can be considered artistic and are within the guidelines of the site. This is not Myspace and do not "cam whore" for anything other than personal profile use.
- If you draw fanart for something that's very popular, like Harry Potter, be aware that you will have a much harder time getting fans.
- Practice. Your first works will pale in comparison to works produced after practice, and they will also gain a slight following which will continue to grow as your skill improves. Practice makes perfect.
Getting noticed
- Publicize. When you feel ready, go out in the forums or chat rooms to help people get to know you and your art. Please do not be rude in the process. Simply talking nicely, or even just entering a chat room is enough to have people view your page. "Advertising" yourself can get you banned or ignored.
- Try to post a good amount per week/day. Doing this will help your popularity on deviantART showing your art to those who have there deviantART homepage on "newest". This may add a new "fan" of your work or better said, a new friend. However, make sure it is of good quality and you did your best on it because if ever it may not be that good it won't bring in much attention.
- Widen your capacity. See what art is most popular by looking at the most popular in 24 hours, if you have enough time try doing their themes, see if you can also do it. If ever there is a certain new trend in fan art see if you'd like it too maybe you'd like this and decide to make fan arts too!
- Start your own trend. If you're the drawing type of artist, why not start your own comics or if you're a writer at heart why not post some of your stories? There are a lot of bored artists on deviantART, if it's that good you'd probably even get fan art
- Do requests, commissions, Kiribans, and art trades. There are many different kinds of artists on deviantART and probably a lot who share many similarities as you. Asking for requests is one way to get your own art publicized by showing your own drawings of your characters and asking others to draw them will shine some light on your characters. Paying for commissions is one way to also show your work to artists who are not open for requests, but make sure you got some money, if not look for point commissions hopefully you can save up your points through the point-llama badge trade! Try to catch a kiri ban! Kiri bans are when you try to catch a certain amount of page views, usually it's a promotion for many artists, well recommended for those who can't pay for commissions in any way. Last of all, art trades, it's a benefit for both sides yet depending on the artist you choose to trade with, you might get rejected.
Tips
- Do not be shy to talk to artists you look up to, they might share a journal for you if you're nice.
- Don't report someone just because you don't like them.
- Read and follow the rules and terms of service of deviantART.
- Join groups or start your own. You can show off your artwork and find other users who share the same interest as you.
- Always respond to favourites with a thank you, and always post only nice comments.
- Getting a subscription can also show that you are serious about being a member and can gain more page views. Less ads are also a bonus.
- Art of My Little Pony characters will always get you more attention. Don't overdo it though; the amount of blatant attention-getting should not be more than 10% of your gallery.
- Try starting a blog on your user page. It can get you some more attention. Just talk about your life... cool events, anything you like.
- Try putting a link in your signature for more page views.
- dAmn, which is the deviantART Message Network, has a number of chat rooms in which you can share artwork such as #thumbsshare and gain instant exposure and comments.
- Don't over look a bunch of art that comes into your deviant watch. One way to become better friends or new friends with people you have watched is commenting on their art! Faving just doesn't cut it!
- Try and ignore mean comments, just don't try to push them too hard and when the going gets tough, just report him/her to the administrator.
Warnings
- You will get kicked off for stealing someone's work, leaving nasty comments, cyber bullying and breaking other rules.
- If someone starts a fight, end it as soon as possible. You can get Avoid Being Banned on a Forum for intense fighting. You can avoid fights by not leaving mean messages, and don't post anything offensive. For example, if you post something showing hate to Canada, you will have your virtual butt kicked! People will be screaming and reporting it! So, only post kind things!
Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Time
- Artwork
- Camera (optional)
- Photoshop or image editing program (optional)
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