A YouTube for artists
Source: CNET
Written by Ina Fried
DeviantArt gets 1.5 billion page views a month, making it one of the most popular Web sites that many people have never even heard of.
Despite the name, only a fraction of the art on the site is what might be labeled deviant. In reality, the site boasts millions of user-uploaded works of art, everything from photography to 3D digital conceptual art to old-fashioned canvas-and-paint portraits.
Think of it as a YouTube for artists trying to show their own work. Pieces can be viewed, commented on, even added to a user’s own gallery of favorites. The range of work defies characterization, but there is a heavy dose of cartooning and fantasy art as well as some adult content, which is blocked for unregistered users.
In some cases, artists have posted their digital leftovers in a “stock” pile that other artists can use as the genesis for their own work.
The site’s goal, in a nutshell, is to democratize and inspire art.