Asking Advice: Online Gallery Social Networking sites (DA,FA etc)

[furry1337otaku.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place for this, and I'm cross posting (spamming) to a few communities to see what the general consensus is, especially for those lucky few whom are considered successful.

Now, I'm sure we're all familiar with and many of us do business using at least a couple of these websites. Deviantart, Furaffinity, Inkbunny, Sheezyart, Concept Art, and Nabyn to name a few examples. The latter is why I decided to ask advice as I already have an account on most of the others. While some make sense as many of them specialize to certain interests or offer different types of feedback, I'm beginning to realize that it is becoming overwhelming for me to keep up with them all (for awhile now I've been in a constant state of reorganizing watchees deciding what notifications I want to keep, and who I need to ditch, which is rough when you have a good friend but they aren't what you're looking for in artistic inspiration or a fabulous artist who won't stop babbling about memes). Obviously, I should probably cut down to just a few, or so I think.

So this is my real question, is it better to specialize in one or two of these sites, or is it advisable to join near all of them for further promotion to a wider audience? Also, curious what sites people have used and how they find them compared with other sites.

Here's my experience with them.

Deviantart. I've been with Deviant Art the longest. It is not necessarily my favorite, although I enjoy many of their features (it has been very pleasing watching various premium features become standard over time). Some report serious issues with this site, including but not limited to malicious ads and plagerism (art theft for the layman). I feel like this site is most popular with those whom have an Anime type style or very strong photorealism. It is probably the largest of all the sites and offers the most opportunities, especially if you don't mind paying for a premium account. However, it is also hard to make a real following or get very big on your art alone, like most of these sites, it requires a lot of hard work, networking, self promoting and pandering to popular media. As is often bemused, a five minute fanart will get several times more views than the masterpiece you bled your soul out producing. The Job Offers and other forums are pretty diverse and the competition is terse. There are real job offers, but mostly is a matter of one party or another looking for an artist and mostly artists looking for work.

FurAffinity. My current favorite despite the overall poor site integration, lack of features and questionable content. Not surprisingly, this art website is mostly home to furries; artists and fans of all sorts. While the furry fandom is many things and often undeserving of the less than favorable reputation it has earned, there is no denying the expansive collection of erotica and outright explicit fetishes that are present on FA. That being said, there is a very open and friendly community, for all that there is a bit of drama to be found. Its smaller size means it is easier to stand out, but even still it is fairly crowded and networking is important. Toony and expressive styles seem to be more popular here, although there is a strong body of psuedorealistic styles. The forums are fairly reliable for work, and especially for basic feedback and critique. It can be a little rough though if you are sensitive to critique.

Concept Art. Generally regarded as the place you go when you need real critique and seek to vastly improve your art. This is a place where professionals work on self-improvement and occassionally help out freelancers looking to transition to full time jobs. This is not a place for those who are dependent upon their personalized style and require positive feedback. This is a place where all or at least most have been professionally schooled and survived the harsh critiques of professors. If you have ever been hurt or offended by an honest critique I would not suggest this place. And this is considering that you are even noted. A lot of people join Concept Art thinking they can just pop in for a quick critique, but Networking is even more important than in larger communities. Until you have gained a name for yourself, most people will not bother to look. The site itself consists only of a forum and it is generally considered that you should start a single thread to update your work as you produce it.

Inkbunny is very similar to a hybrid between the ease of use and clean site design of Deviantart paired with the material of Fur Affinity. If your sensibilities are offended by the likes of FA, IB is worse. While the filters and tag systems offer more browsing freedom, I feel that the sheer volume and proportion of pornography deters from the otherwise pleasant browsing experience. I have not used it very long, and I'm not certain I will use it for more than updating information or using its broadcast on twitter feature for streaming and announcing new art. I have not used its forums, if it has them. There seems to be a stronger preference towards cartoony styles.

Comments

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

I suggest getting an account on every site, even if you don't plan on using it.

This is so no impostors show up trying to make a quick buck by exploiting your name or tricking people into thinking they're you.

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

(Edit: I meant this as an addendum to your post.)

[serious-mccoy.livejournal.com]

I don't do commissions anymore, but when I did, I got the most with FA. People make the mistake of thinking it's just for furry art, but it's not. It's also fairly easy to avoid the soul-shattering porn, which is good, since I can be sensitive to that. More than that, though, people are just so damn nice there most of the time- I regularly got people giving me extra money for the commissions I did for them, which was mindblowing to me. I never had a rude or overly difficult customer (though I didn't do it for long, and I wasn't taking porn commissions- my friends who do porn seem to have more issues with the customers). Hell, several clients ended up becoming good friends of mine. It does require you to be social, though. If you just post art but don't comment around or make friends, it's not going to work (but I think that's true for art networking in general). In general, I'm continuously surprised by how willing the people on that site are to throw their money at artists. I know the all-furries-are-broke joke, and while you're not going to get paid well individually (usually), I think the volume could make up for it.

DA is so flooded that if you haven't already been established there for a few years, it's just... dead. Maybe I only feel that way because I don't draw Naruto fanart or anime tits or something, though. It's a great place to go to watch oh-my-god-AMAZINGly good artists, since so many big names in professional illustration are there, but it's not where I'd go seeking business unless I was an anime artist or fanartist. Basically, it's eye candy for me.

I've never used CA for anything but lurking, because I am a coward and I'm scared of associating with so many art idols of mine. It's a really good place to learn, though- I picked up a lot by lurking and seeing what was said to other people.

And I will not touch IB with a ten-foot pole. My delicate sensibilities would be shattered in an instant, I'm sure.

In my opinion, you should specialize where the audience is biggest for your kind of art. No point in wasting time with a site where you'll never get traffic, when you could have been focusing more attention on to one where your type's popular. But I never was big about doing commission art- was never a business for me and I never intended on it being that- so more experienced people may think differently.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, you should specialize where the audience is biggest for your kind of art. No point in wasting time with a site where you'll never get traffic, when you could have been focusing more attention on to one where your type's popular.

This is pretty much my stance on it. If you really want to get your name out everywhere, then sure, go ahead and get yourself set up on every site. It's a lot of work to maintain multiple galleries though and some of them always end up lost in the shuffle.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

With Deviantart, after I quit the site, I left up a single piece of artwork with a link to my active furaffinity gallery. This is an option as well, registering with various sites, putting possibly a collage or what have you and linking to your active gallery/galleries. I have gotten some business/watchers that way.

[ocelotish]

My thought is that it's really what you're looking for the most that determines which site is going to be your best bet. I haven't frequented IB or FA personally, but that's in large part because I don't want to be associated with porn.

With FA it strikes me that it's easier to start with commissions and whatnot. It's a little hard to get noticed, but it's a lot easier than on a site like deviantart just because it's a lot smaller. It's also focused on original characters a lot more because there really aren't official characters.

DA strikes me as a little more respectable, but it's a lot harder to be noticed. Fanart definitely helps, but it seems a lot like an anime fanart site in terms of what will get you commissioned. If you find a good group you have a chance of getting good critique though!

CA is my personal favorite, but that's because it's very focused on a professional environment. Ultimately I don't want to be taking small time commissions for art - I want to do it as a career. The only thing that bothers me is that it's sometimes a bit too big. It's hard to get noticed there too, but it seems like finding a smaller group can help loads. I've had decent luck getting to know the ladies on CA, and I recommend other women there ask for access to the girls' forum. It just helps so much to be able to talk to the smaller group. There's just a bit more sense of belonging there. They also seem to be most interested in actually helping someone improve whereas the other sites it's more about the viewers' enjoyment.


If anyone here is interested in smaller improvement communities I do have a few recommendations/plugs. art_skill_trade is a community here that's reasonably active and is all about finding really good artistic resources. Then definitely a plug, but if anyone here is on dreamwidth I started a community there called feedback_studios that's going to focus on improvement and critique. It's a little dead right now, but it's just starting out and I've been hesitant to make three of three total posts there. These aren't exactly good for networking with non-artists or advertising, but may be able to fill the niche of "fandom okay, small group, and about improvement."

Edit: I almost forgot a huge point/pet peeve of mine! Link your gallery(ies) to your lj account! I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone in this very community whose art I want to look at, and there's no way to find their gallery! You're doing networking right now! Show your art!

[mariechan.livejournal.com]

I thought IB was cool at first but my time there was VERY lonely. I don't draw any porn and I only posted one nude, and I think if you do that unless you make everything cutesy or cub-like it's not going to get any attention.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

See, to me, I would automatically think someone's account-hopping and I doubt I'd follow a link like that, especially seeing how account-hopping is such a common fallback for artists with poor business practices.

Man, this place has me so jaded now XD.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Link your gallery(ies) to your lj account!

I second this! It drives me nuts when people on LJ are obviously doing art and obviously have an active gallery somewhere but never say where to find it! Argh!

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Not something I'd thought of, but also not something I could really help if someone wanted to assume that. I left DA because of their staff, nothing to do with drama with myself.

[serious-mccoy.livejournal.com]

I've never even been on the site. I heard "It's like FA, but with underage porn," so I was like YEP, NEVERMIIIND... so I have no idea what to say the place is like, haha. And since I hate saccharine cutesy-ness, will likely never draw explicit porn, and can be sent in to a panic attack over several popular fetishes, I ... think I'll just continue to steer clear. It's one of the few places where the reputation seems pretty accurate, from what I've heard from people.

[serious-mccoy.livejournal.com]

Is that violating any rules or anything? I would have figured it would be for some reason, I dunno. (since maybe it could count as advertising competitors or something?)

[imlikat.livejournal.com]

I am all over the internet, but somehow I never thought to link to my other sites from LJ. That is a very good idea, and I think I'll do it now.

Also, I'm joining those comms :) Networking!

[serious-mccoy.livejournal.com]

YES to the edit. I get so curious about people I see on LJ art comms.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

DA in my experience does have a lot of professional artists on the site, and you can get noticed, but you have to be very lucky and/or put in a lot of effort to get your name out there. As someone who uses dA just to hang out, post some art, and get the occasional commission, I'm rather satisfied with the site (just wish they'd take things like tracing a bit more seriously).
Lots of fanart there--seems that if you do some fanart, you do better on the site. However, I do watch plenty of artists who only do original work.

FA and IB I won't touch with a ten-foot pole. I'm not into porn, and those just have way too much of that for me to be comfortable having a presence on either.

I visited CA many years ago and found it extremely intimidating (and I wasn't even looking to post art!). Haven't been back since.

I was on Elfwood eons ago, but frankly having to jump through hoops to post art was counter-productive for me. There were some fantastic artists on the site though, and as it was a smaller site (at the time), it was very easy to search out what you were interested in. I don't remember it being very community-oriented (all the EW community stuff I was in was on LiveJournal rather than the gallery site itself), but that may have changed if the site's been revamped since I last visited. If all you wanted was a place to post art, this was it.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't think so.. I've never seen anyone get in trouble for that, and I've never seen a rule to that affect.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know most people probably wouldn't think of it as account-hopping, and there's plenty of legitimate reasons to leave a site and link forward to your new place (like what I"m doing on LJ now, heh). But yeah, my immediate thought would be that there's some sort of drama involved and it'd definitely take me a while before I'd work up the courage to follow the link :p.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Stay away. The tag blocking system is nice if people actually use it. Underage porn is probably the only type of art that very much upsets me. I set it to be blocked on IB and to my horror, a number of people didn't tag their underage porn at all, so it was still visible to me.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

This is why I've kind of been avoiding IB. I like the features, how quick they respond to feedback, and love being able to block tags.. but I have lots of things blocked and still SEE these things anytime I go to the site.

It's a shame.

[growly.livejournal.com]

DA: Getting business on there is rarer than an eclipse. 90% of the comments I get are from teenage kids who can't buy anything online and don't have money. It is a good place to go if you have a lot of fanart in your gallery, but theft is rampant.

FA: The best place to get commissions if you draw furry art or make fursuits. Period. Even if you don't agree with the site's policies, you can't deny most of the furry traffic is there.

InkBunny: I joined, but stopped posting because they don't allow photographs (so no sculpture, plush, or suits) and they don't allow human art. I also stopped visiting because of its unpleasant nickname, "Pedobunny"- if that's what everybody associates the site with, well, I don't want to stick around.

Nabyn: Too new to say, looks promising if the "right" kinds of people join. Sort of like how YNA was, with a real emphasis on improvement and crits.

I would say have one or two galleries like FA or DA, where it's not very "serious" level, but there's a lot of traffic, then one "nice" gallery like Nabyn where you can have a portfolio with your best work in it.

[growly.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice idea, I'll have to steal it. ;)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Apparently IB changed the rule to where you can have humans now, they just have to be accompanied by an anthro or whatever.

[growly.livejournal.com]

Really? Weird, the reasoning behind it I got was that they had to prove that none of the art was breaking any laws, so they didn't want even the chance someone would post underage human art.
But meh, still not going back. xD

[squirrelly-kaku.livejournal.com]

This. I love the features, but I hate how lots of people don't bother tagging things properly. They'll throw up a thumbnail warning it (most of the time), but I still don't want to see it popping up on the front page! DX

IB staff really needs to enforce their tagging. :c I'd like it a lot more if they did.

[serious-mccoy.livejournal.com]

". It is a good place to go if you have a lot of fanart in your gallery, but theft is rampant."

UGHH tell me about it. Posting fanart there is basically saying "Steal me!" I STILL see some old crappy pokemon fanart I drew and posted there four-ish years ago making rounds on forums and the like... (Alarming when you google refs for something, and then see some of your old art come up on the first page, and not from its original source. Gah!)

Also, I am so excited about Nabyn. *u* It looks like it's going to be great.