The Gang of Five
The forum will have some maintenance done in the next couple of months. We have also made a decision concerning AI art in the art section.


Please see this post for more details.

Any decent alternatives to Deviantart?

F-14 Ace

  • Member+
  • Cera
  • *
    • Posts: 3670
    • View Profile
So DA rolled out their new layout and it's every bit as crappy as I feared it would be.  I had to hunt for 30 minutes just to figure out where to post a status update.  I'm thinking about dumping the platform altogether and I've already cancelled my paid membership there.  Anybody know any decent alternatives? 


Mumbling

  • Administrator
  • Littlefoot
  • *
    • Posts: 8942
    • View Profile
I tried out the update months ago to get used to it and I am almost used to it now. The only thing that I really have to dig for is accepting group submissions. It's like they forgot that groups existed all together ;) The first thing I'd recommend changing is the skin - change it from black to classic DeviantArt green. It will feel a lot more like home.

Then again that is not what you asked for. I think it depends on what you are looking for. A place to showcase your art? Build a portfolio? Follow other people?

I think Reddit might be a good place. It's not specifically for images, but there are lots of artists who post their art there, either to the r/pics subreddit or specific subreddits related to their drawing subject. You can follow redditors or subreddits to view art posted there.


F-14 Ace

  • Member+
  • Cera
  • *
    • Posts: 3670
    • View Profile
Yeah no.  Deviantart can go die in a hole.  They shut down petitions against Eclipse and banned people who complained about Eclipse from using the forums.  Also, since they've almost completely did away with account customization, there is literally no reason to pay for a membership anymore.   


RainbowFaceProtege

  • Member+
  • Ducky
  • *
    • Posts: 1411
  • “Keep asking questions, it sharpens the mind…”
    • View Profile
About a year ago, DeviantArt was the first place I tried sharing my art online, but after I found it wasn't my cup of tea, I looked around elsewhere. I ended up moving on to Instagram, and I've had nothing to complain about there. I know your first thought about IG might be "selfies" (that was my first thought :p), but there's a surprisingly large amount of art that goes around there, too, and a fair share of art challenges (Inktober, MerMay, etc.). Additionally, I found it much easier to reach others who shared my fandom interests on IG than on DA--I've been able to pretty much build my IG following out of fanart for a Disney movie that's about as obscure as they come!
« Last Edit: May 25, 2020, 10:53:40 PM by RainbowFaceProtege »




"I don't see anything!"--Cera

"Maybe your eyes are getting in the way."--Rainbow Face


Almaron

  • Spike
  • *
    • Posts: 322
    • View Profile
Yeah, I know how you feel; I've been struggling ever since the change. At the moment, I'm keeping an eye on "Artri.se", which is being set up as a fan replacement. It's not ready yet, but there IS a group on DA for now...


WeirdRaptor

  • Cera
  • *
    • Posts: 4766
    • View Profile
    • Knowhere: A Geek Culture Fan Forum
Unfortunately, deviartart is kind of the YouTube of art sites. The new design is faulty as heck, but there isn't much in the way of alternatives. At least not anymore. There used to be more big art sites like it, but they all seem to have vanished.
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf


Ducky123

  • *feels like Pterano*
  • Member+
  • Littlefoot
  • *
    • Posts: 7485
    • View Profile
I can only speak for anime fanart here since that's what I'm mainly collecting. DA is actually poor in that category lol.

Pixiv: A great site however it's primarily used by asian artists and you'll find a lot of japanese being written there. But Art quality there is top-notch and most art is digital. Also pretty much all NSFW you can think of is allowed there afaik

IG: Pretty much what RFP said. Especially traditional art is popular there

Artstation: I'm not very familiar with it but whenever it came to my attention it was usually associated with high quality artwork. I think it's leaning a bit more towards "professional" art but I could be wrong.

Twitter: Yeah, lots of people use twitter for art. Some NSFW content might stick around.

tumblr: Is this still a thing? I know it used to be big a few years ago but I haven't really seen or heard much about it in a longer while.

redd.it: Yeah, it could be a pretty cool idea. Problem is you can only share, not build a gallery or anything so it might be better as a promotion for whatever site you end up sticking with.

about DA: Haven't been using it in a longer while. I never liked Eclipse when it was introduced. Used way more resources than classic which made simple browsing slow and demanding (especially with my multi-tabbing habit) and everything was just generally... awkward. Hearing that they converted for real now is... sad. Just sad. They're probably digging their graves with this step but oh well. Ever since Wix took over the site went to shit imho *shrug*
Inactive, probably forever.


Mr. Clubtail

  • Chomper
  • *
    • Posts: 150
  • LITTLE THINGS ARE AWFUL I HATE EM!
    • View Profile
Even though I have nothing majorly wrong with the new DeviantArt (I guess Eclipse hasn't completely arrived yet.), a decent alternative is FurAffinity.

If you want to check out my account, copy and paste this URL:https://www.furaffinity.net/user/ihateloofah1234/
« Last Edit: October 09, 2020, 04:42:06 PM by Mr. Clubtail »




Mr. Clubtail

  • Chomper
  • *
    • Posts: 150
  • LITTLE THINGS ARE AWFUL I HATE EM!
    • View Profile
Poor Loofah.
:PCera
Also, if you're wondering, I chose that name rather than MrClubtail1234 because I was worried that Nano was going to block me if I post any fat/inflation pictures on DeviantArt.