Not to offend anyone, (and Sarah, this was only partially inspired by your recent FB picture XD)

I'm sick of people crying over the whole "Oh DA is all anime fanart and original artists get no attention".

I mean, I agree with that above statement... it's 100% true, and it's a shame how many artists end up with no attention. But what I'm tired of is the fact that this still bothers people despite that this is how it's been for years. It's like watching someone set up a fruit stand next to a supermarket and getting angry at the supermarket for making more money. Sure, the food from the fruit stand might be of a higher quality, and the supermarket might be the "evil bad guy"... but it will still ultimately attract more customers. How do you think Walmart got to where it is right now?

People like fanart, and there isn't anything wrong with that. They like seeing their favorite characters rendered by other people. There are also a lot of *ahem* young people on this website. Since this is DA's demographic, the content on DA is going to gear more towards the interests of young people (ie Anime). Deviantart is open to everyone who wishes to share their stuff with the world... not just artists in particular. I know a bunch of people from my high school who have nothing to do with art yet still have DA accounts. And like I said, there is nothing wrong with that. But a lot of people are here specifically for artistic social networking, and to look at good fanart, not fine art. Simply put, Deviantart is a casual art site... unfortunately a lot of serious people don't realize this, and they become frustrated at what they get from it.

There is a lot of different art here, and a lot of cool stuff... but there is also a lot of terrible stuff, and you need a lot of paitence to sift through it all. If you're not into the fanart scene then DA is probably just not for you. You should probably consider a more serious site, Concept Art and Art Limited are two good ones.

If your artwork is a little unconventional, Deviantart will never be a good place to promote yourself or sell prints. But you shouldn't let that discourage you-- Even though the supermarket might not be a good spot to set up your fruit stand, it can still thrive in a farmer's market. There are many other outlets for art besides Deviantart, and the key to being a sucessful artist is simply about finding the outlet that is right for you.

As for myself, I love deviantart because it is a great place for me to keep up with artwork done by my friends and colleagues who I have met at Art institutions. I used to be uptight about page views and stuff in high school, but now I just kind of post whatever I want. I have a portfolio site to display my best of the best. For everything else, there is DA. I love the freedom of being able to post whatever whenever without criticism.


So shut the fuck up and quit being so serious business on the internet.

(Also holy shit, why did you post my journal five times, DA? Sorry for the spam if anyone got it)