deviant art, forums, etc.

[aimeekitty]

so,... for a while I was posting regularly on deviantart... but I was getting so much copyright violation there when I did. I know it's silly, but it's like more DA people would rip me off if I posted on DA.

so I deleted most of my art there and have only very very rarely been posting there.
But now, I'm thinking about getting back into it and other things.

I feel kinda weird about basically "mass-spamming" my artwork all these places. I used to post on elfwood and all these other places too, but I felt like I was loosing control of my work and that in the long run it wasn't worth it.
Now, I wonder how many people actually look at my website ITSELF? Do most people just +watch my LJ since the art goes there first? *SIIIIGH!*

I'm wondering what forums and art sites are worth the time posting to?
What do you do, those of you who are artists?

Should I upload some more art to deviant art (and other sites) and just deal with the copyright issues?

If so, what should I add? (if you have favorite drawings of mine, please let me know so I can know what's more worth adding? Should I only really finished stuff? cute fanart? what?
should I post my costumes on DA too?
(my artwork is here
my current deviantart page with NOTHING ON IT

I don't really do teh-awesome-computer-color anymore, and I don't have the time or desire to do so. Haha, I feel so out of date. I spent most of the morning looking through pretty art galleries. I wish I had more time to do developed art!

I have no idea how to make my deviant art page look neat *_*

suggestions and concrete advice welcome. :)

Comments

[kemica.livejournal.com]

I like seeing all of your art really, it's interesting because it's so varied as well. It's nice to see so many different types from you.

I've been trying Sheezyart because I was tired of Deviantart, but I haven't been there long enough to form an opinion yet.
My tiny little profile is here. I have barely anything there and I'm not that great anyways. XD

[actionflakes.livejournal.com]

I do not recommend dA at all. I recently pulled my account because when I asked why a photo of a costume of mine had been moved, the Gallery Director accused me of not creating any of my own costumes.

It's great being in a community, but not if that's the cost. :\ So unfortunately, I don't have any sites to recommend. ;____;

[cosplaymemories.livejournal.com]

http://www.storm-artists.net/

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

Rather than going to dA maybe you could set up an RSS feed on your website gallery to alert people to new stuff?

dA art theft is pretty rampant. I have two people on my flist who are currently dealing with their stuff being stolen and sold on IMVU. And apparently overseas novelty companies have started viewing dA as a free art source. :P Basically, if you're a popular artist you've got to put big fat 'watermarks' on everything. :/

OTOH, if you're stuff is on dA and gets stolen the community is great about discovering the thefts and letting the original artists know...whereas if your work is on a private site people aren't familiar enough with it to realize when it's been stolen.

[tania.livejournal.com]

I'm the Fan Art Gallery Director at dA, we know there's a lot of art thieves on there and we do have a system in place for reporting it - it's just that it sometimes takes a week or two for reports to work their way through the system to completion. Think of it this way: we're basically the only online gallery that HAS a proper policy and proceedure in place for art theft. You're more exposed at dA but in a funny way, you're also more protected. :)

[bri-chan.livejournal.com]

I really don't like the dA community anymore so I only use it as a fanart gallery, but sadly I have been unable to find another site I like well enough to post on. Someday I'd still like to get my own site, but I still gotta learn just how to do it. X3

[zorichan.livejournal.com]

I do use DA but there is a new feature where they can watermark your images in the large view making it hard to just reupload somewhere else. I have one account for photos and one for artwork.

I know what you mean about having too many places to post artwork. I used to have like 5 galleries. Now I just stick to DA and Blogspot. I do have a storm artists but don't really use it.

[catwoman25.livejournal.com]

I use deviantart.
There are so many amazing artists on the page that it's fun just to surf around and check out other artists' pages and favorites. Subscribers to deviantart have more options to edit their page and add graphics to their profiles.
If you are worried about keeping polished work separate, use the scraps gallery to add random doodles and your deviant gallery work of which you are particularly proud.
Sincere criticism is hard to come by on deviantart. If you want a nice forum with other professional artists, try http://www.drawingboard.org/index.php

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

Oh man I spam on every site I have time too. I think more people find me on DA and ebay and lj than my site.

[april-art.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I agree with uminomamori, the varius gallery sites are only really good if you use them to drawn attention to your own site.

Maybe put a few nice pieces up--keeping them current, perhaps--and try to heavily watermark them if that's allowable. I know that some sites, like Epilogue aren't friendly to watermarks. It's probably wise to do that on your own site as well... Sadly, images are easily stolen from all over the interent.

Which sites are good to post on depends somewhat on who you're trying to reach... If it's just people interested in art, in general, then try all sorts of places (although DA, Epilogue, Elfwood, etc. all are places of massive image-theft--that's just the way it goes!).

I try to find specialty sites for my own art, which is table-top-game-related... so I'm on game related sites, too. I should probably try and diversify more--putting stuff up on general illustration sites rather than just fantasy and game art sites... but I haven't been paying much attention to that kind of thing lately, since the payoffs haven't been that important in the past! But I probably should try and look about again, for more opportunities...

Elfwood and DA are sometimes a bit too general and Elfwood is definitely too amateur-oriented for me. (There was a time I couldn't get on there since I was a professional.) Even Epilogue is too big and messy to really make having a presence there matter much... Trading links and focusing on advertising your own site is probably the best way to go...

[kevinsketch.livejournal.com]

I ask myself the same question all the time.

Do I post everywhere? Is that crappy to post to Livejournal, Myspace, Blogger and to a few forums?

Some of the artists I like best usually have a web site and maybe one blogger site for smaller updates, of course if and when they update.

I think that's the most pure method, but I never said I was pure.

Spam the world!

[laurean.livejournal.com]

Well, I think my favourite artwork has always been your heavy inks, line work, and pencils. It just seems to have so much more deapth than your computer coloured work. (Not that that isn't brilliant too.. I just have always loved your pencils and markers for colour).

I still do go to your website on occasion, and usually I go to your films and your original artwork. :D (occasionally fanart too XD). I really love how you draw the 14th century dresses (like rose of versaiies (sp)) and LOVE the cinderella designs you're doing right now! My favourite drawings are always your character conceptual designs for films and school, and those with gads of detail.

The cute work is great too, and I can't wait to buy your book. :>

Gahh I hope that helps..It's early so I'm probably rambling on.. :>

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi Aimee,

I like seeing everything as well myself ^^;. I love seeing art of all kinds!

[ashbet]

I have a dA page, but it hasn't been updated in ages (mostly because I've been too ill to paint much the past couple of years -- I've only posted one painting this year.) They went through a site-style change a while ago that still confuses the hell out of me -- for some reason, I'm having trouble seeing ALL of people's gallery pictures, and I'm not sure why. Possibly because I let my paid account lapse :/

Honestly, I always look at your LJ for art updates -- I do think that some kind of RSS feed or link to LJ from your site might be a good way for people to know when there's news :)

-- A <3