This also puts a lot of responsibility on us to really listen to what they want and to that extent, the community itself has shaped the direction of dA probably more so than any other community has guided any other site.ĭeviantArt users have the option to CC-license their works. For many people, the internet begins and ends with and they are very loyal to the site. Not just love it but live it and breathe it and in some cases go nowhere else on the web. The one common ground they all have though is that they all love dA.
And then add to that the fact that these are all artists who are generally known for having a large volume of passion and creative thinking about any subject, and, well, let’s just say it is never dull. Mix any topic you can think of with a few million people from every walk of life and all corners of the globe together and you get some really fascinating takes on any subject you can dream of. In addition to talk of an artistic nature, there is some fascinating discussions on everything from politics to religion to social phenomenon. There is just something unique about seeing someone whose passion is for traditional oil painting debating the merits of artistic integrity with someone whose specialty is digital photography. Our community is extremely diverse in artistic preference, so I would have to say some of the most unique interactions we see take place are some of the discussions and debates between people who come from wildly different backgrounds. You can comment and reply to virtually everything on the site, from art work to deviant’s blogs to the forums to our live chat network and so on. If you have a good 50 or 60 hours we can get into that one! In truth, we have more avenues of interaction than just about anyone out there. Can you talk about its user base and what type of interactions take place on deviantArt that don’t take place elsewhere?
Back when it first began it was a small staff of people, less than ten, and now we currently have over 50 employees world wide as well as around 100 volunteers.ĭeviantArt’s vibrant community is one of its most compelling traits. At this point we now have over 1700 different categories for every conceivable genre, sub genre and unique niche you could imagine, all at the request of our community. Soon after it became pretty obvious the community wanted more space to flex their creativity and more categories opened up for digital and traditional art all across the board. Read on to learn more about the incredibly rich deviantArt community, how CC licences play a roll in user submissions, and future plans that include nothing short of global domination ( seriously).Ĭan you give us some background on deviantArt? When and why did it start up? Who’s involved?ĭeviantART began on August 7th of 2000, primarily as a site to provide a space to allow deviants to upload various application skins for programs like Sonique, WInamp, WindowBlinds and so on. Hopefully we can make up for lost blogging through an interview with Richard Hartley, Director of Community Development at deviantArt (and sometimes clown in disguise). Shockingly, we have yet to post anything on uber-online artist community deviantArt, who not only act as a creative outlet for over 7 million users but do so with CC licensing built into their UI.