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The dA commUNIty and YouThe dA commUNIty and You
When first stumbling upon deviantArt, whether 5 months or 5 years ago, we decided to join because we wanted to share our art. We wanted our work to be seen, to be appreciated, to be understood. However, it can be a long and difficult journey from obscurity into the spotlight. Many newcomers and even long-time deviants are sometimes overwhelmed and discouraged by a seeming lack of interest and/or exposure for their work. After all, that's what dA is for, right? Not necessarily - the answer to that question is a bit more involved than a simple "yes" or "no".
Society in general has become used to instant gratification. Want the new album by your favorite artist? With the click of a mouse, you've got it! Need to get in touch with your cousin who's moved to Italy? It's easy -- just Skype! The college you want to attend is across the country? No problem, they offer online courses!
You may be wondering how this is relevant to dA. Well,

Groups Directory Update Group Love
deviantART is an artist dream come true and caters to artist from all artistic mediums. I know of no other
online community that is in constant contact with their members and
allows members to run their own groups with specific rules and
guidelines that you have decided for your group.
If you are not interested in becoming a founder or administrator of a group, deviantART has hundreds if not thousands
of groups for you to search and find one or more that is to your
comfort level and liking. Groups are a fantastic way to find other
artist to discuss techniques, share idea's, collaborate and make new
friends.
Question for the Reader; How often do you
search for a new group to join or to find a group that is centered
around your interest Discuss in the comments area of this journal

Below is a sample collection of groups you will find within deviantART. I hope you enjoy i

Community Week December 10th - December 16thHello everyone
Welcome to Community Week, December 10th - 16th!

`JamminJo and `lintu47 are happy to bring you the Surprise Community Week 10th - 16th December

For those of you that may not know yet, a Community Week is a chance for everyone in the community to bring to light their favourite subject, art, project or any other topic that you consider important but may get overlooked otherways. If you're interested in participating in the next Community Weeks, please note both `JamminJo and `lintu47 with your idea(s).
December 11th
Morning: 9 ways to overcome (artistic) frustration by =jane-beata
Afternoon: Information on #projecteducate and Community Week by `miontre
December 12th
Morning: How to make a large emoticon<

PE: Digital Art VS other categoriesThe category system within deviantArt has the purpose to organize the thousands of artworks submitted every day and group them together in accordance to style, media, genre and/or theme, etc. Imagine deviantArt without categories, it would be a chaos! Imagine yourself wanting to browse for photography only; without the system organizing every deviation by media, you would find yourself unable to filter artworks that aren't photography in your search results.
Thus the importance of categorizing your artwork correctly. By submitting your work to the appropiate category combined with a correct use of keywords, you're a step ahead of being discovered by people wanting to search for art like yours.
All this sounds so nice and all, but what happens when a particular piece could fit in several categories? The category system as it is now is very specialized and has literally thousands of different subcategories buried down tons of more subcategories, which is both a blessing and a curse. Havi

When to Google, When to ForumOne of the coolest things about dA is it's not just for sharing art, it's for sharing ideas about art. If you're stuck on a piece, or you'd like to learn to how to do something that just hasn't been clicking in tutorials or class, the art-related forums are a great place to look!
But the best part about the forums is also the riskiest part: anyone can answer! Which means you'll get opinions which contradict each other, 'industry facts' from people who heard it elsewhere on the internet, people who don't quite understand your original question...it's a mess!
So how can you back up all that different advice, or alternately open with a question that won't be confusing?
GOOGLE
Ignoring for a moment that I basically worship Google (hey, you try growing up with a 1000-page reference book as your only source of random facts), it's is an awesome, flexible tool.
Just drop your question into Google and see wh

PE: Interview with =Arichy:iconarichy:
An inspiring, friendly deviant that provides loving help 'till hell freezes over!

Stasya is such a wonderful friend, and a talented artist and community leader!
Thank you for participating!

Tell us a bit about yourself!
First, thank you so much for interview!
Hello! I'm Stasya, 19 years old, living in Russia, in great city Saint-Petersburg.
I love making photos, pixel art, drawing in muro, cooking, eating
And dedicated to deviantART community forever.
How did you find deviantART?
Well...I can't remember ALL things! Maybe I was looking for a wallpaper or some
inspirations for myself or something else I was inactive for 3 months after
joining dA, but then...I became a bit more active, more and more, and now I don't know
what would i do without deviantART.

PE: Self Suggesting Daily DeviationsSelf Suggesting
Members are more than welcome to self suggest their own art work for a Daily Deviation, in fact many CVs highly encourage self suggestions. While self suggesting may have been something people frowned upon in the past, this is thankfully no longer the case as we all recognize the need for self promotion in the competitive world of art.
But suggesting my own work is embarassing
There is no shame in trying to get yourself and your work seen. By self suggesting you are merely looking to gain more exposure from a broader audience. Look at it this way, if you're not willing to advertise your own work and get more clients and exposure, who will?
When we CVs receive self suggestions we treat them the same as we would any other suggestion so you can easily treat a self suggestion the same as you would a submission of your art to a group so more users can see the piece. While we do not guarantee that we

Starting with dA CSSBack when CSS was allowed for journals for the first time there had been only a few deviants like `ClaireJones, `Lilyas or =kuschelirmel-stock who provided free skins for everyone. Through the time more and more people enjoyed working on CSS skins and we also got the chance to skin our galleries.
These days, and thanks to the great resources about journal and gallery CSS that have been created, it is possible for nearly everyone to code their own skins and/or to share them with others. Still there are many people who struggle with some basic things, which is why we want to focus on some of them here.

General

Where can you use CSS/HTML
On deviantART you can only use HTML and CSS on your journals, group blogs, your custom gallery folders, as well as your groups' galleries.
When you customize your profile widgets you can't add CSS or HTML like you can for journals/galleries. All you can do is using existing dA code that can be re-us

PE Daily Deviations- Presentation of your workHello all!

Well we’ve had a fascinating week so far; a week which hopefully has provided some insight not only to the process of DD selection but helped you understand what we look for in DDs as CVs. As we draw to the end of this week, I bring you an article which will whet your Saturday with thoughts that don’t just apply to the DD feature, but something which should be a consideration to everything you submit to dA. I am talking about deviation presentation.
Why is Presentation important?
Art isn’t always about just being “creative”. There are techniques and skills which develop over time which contribute to the quality of the work you produce and alongside this comes a developed understanding of good presentation.
Good presentation could be anything from cropping a photograph, to spell checking your literature. These are common sense things that in the rush of wanting to show off your creativity can sometimes be

PE: The Importance of Community SupportFrom the Desk of =Requiemachina
The Importance of Community Support: What is a Community?
When one thinks of a community, some words might come into play...maybe these: caring, supportive, familiarity, safe, helpful, united to promote a common interest or idea....that stuff. But, a community does not fit into a nice neat package. We use the word a lot, but it is important to ask more seriously what the term "community" is. A community is a sort of "construct"; We can't see a community, nor touch it, or directly experience it. Just like a snowflake, no two communities are exactly alike. They may share the same ideals, but the personal experiences will always be different. A community is not only the people in it-- but what was already established long ago, and which would continue to grow through the ages. Take DeviantART for example. This site I believe when it first started up, wasn't as big as it is now. But due to

PE: Getting Noticed in dAGetting noticed within dA
Everyday, millions of users from all over the world use deviantART, and it is really hard for new users to get themselves noticed. Oh yes, it is HARD. It can actually be a really disappointing experience for some of us. But, if you show some patience and work for it, you may just be able to crack through that wall standing between you and exposure to the community. Remember, all it take is patience. Lots and lots of patience. Oh, and you also need to trust yourself. Just because you couldn't get a huge fan base in several weeks or months doesn't mean that you will never get them. But, there are some really important stuff you need to follow first before getting there.
dA is also a community, just like any other community in the world. The only difference is dA is and online community and the others, well they are totally offline

. So, this means there will be some standards to be held in there, or else it

How you can help to #projecteducate

ProjectEducate
Project Educate, originally launched in 2008 by the Community Relations team, is a project to promote and support artistic growth and knowledge throughout the community. The project includes informative articles, contests, interviews, and various other events for artistic and community involvement.

Hello, dA community! Welcome to #projecteducate!
You know, we are doing a lot of things for you, for your life become a bit easier and happy! We're making Community Weeks, Weeks hosting by Community Volunteers (digital art hosted by ^Thiefoworld, for example, or Vexel Art presented by ^TheLastHuzzah, etc.)
A lot of work!

But we have a great team!
Team leader: $Moonbeam13
Team leads: ^Kaz-D, ^Aeirmid and `sine-out
Community Week leaders: `JamminJo and `lintu47
Community Week superstars: `miontre, `Arichy, ^ValaSedai and

The 365 Photography Challenge - How to Stick at itBefore I start with this article, a little disclaimer. I just finished the 365 photography challenge - known as a 'photo a day' but I blogged and took more than one photo on most days, so it was that little bit more challenging. So I'm feeling pretty smug right now, that I achieved it. But I am by no means toting myself as an expert. This is just my humble advice on how to keep going when it does nothing but rain, or when you feel like giving up.
Before 2012, some weeks would pass when I wouldn't even pick up the camera, let alone think about shots, or how to compose one. Photography still excited me, but I was lacking inspiration. So on the 2nd of January last year I decided to throw everything up in the air, and let go. That is to say, I stopped being precious about the camera (because you can't when you have to take a photo a day) and I forced myself to take rubbish shots, as well as half decent ones.

Start as you mean to go. Don't over-set yoursel

Community Week Wrap UpHello everyone!

The Community Week scheduled for December 17th to December 23rd is now over! We would like to help everyone involved for their effort and dedication they put into these sensational articles

Here is the recap of this Community Week:
Interview with *Madspeitersen by `lintu47

History of Typefaces by *MartinSilvertant
Interview with Community Week Superstars by `Arichy

Community Week December 17th - 23rdHello everyone
Welcome to Community Week, December 17th - 23rd!
It's `JamminJo's, ^ValaSedai's and `lintu47's pleasure to introduce you the 17th - 23rd December Community Week

December 17th
Morning: Introduction blog by `lintu47
Afternoon: Interview with *Madspeitersen by `lintu47
December 18th
Morning: History of Typefaces by *MartinSilvertant
Afternoon: Interview with Community Week Superstars by `Arichy
December 19th
Morning: Starting with dA CSS by `ginkgografix
Afternoon: How to Lead a Community Week Collab by `JamminJo & ^ValaSedai
Decem

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Submitted: December 11, 2012
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What is #projecteducate and Community Week?

Tue Dec 11, 2012, 7:46 PM

Community Week

What is #projecteducate and Community Week?

An introduction to #projecteducate and Community Week, and information on how you can get involved with the project.

What is #projecteducate?

#projecteducate is an education project here on deviantART, conceived back in mid-late 2007 by `MistressWit. She made the first plans towards the beginning of the group. However, life got very busy for her - so she couldn't visit deviantART very often. Six months later, `shell4art followed her plans and officially launched #projecteducate! ^[1] Today, #projecteducate is one of deviantART's official projects. It is currently being overseen by the wonderful ^Kaz-D.

#projecteducate works by assigning a week to a particular gallery - such as Photography, Anthro, Vector, and so forth. Some or all of the Community Volunteers responsible for that gallery will put together a weeks worth of articles. Each article aims to educate the community on it's respective gallery. Usually, two articles are posted per day. Some Community Volunteers even ask members of the community to join them in writing articles! Traditionally, a "week" only lasts for a week, but some have lasted longer. For example, earlier this year there was a Photomanipulation Month, and next year the deviantART Related "week" will actually last for a fortnight.

So, what sorts of things happen during a week? A wide variety of articles are written - like descriptions, tutorials, explanations, interviews, features, opinions, tips and tricks, and so on. Sometimes, small events are even run; like contests, critiques, and chats.

What is Community Week?

Aside from the weeks dedicated to a particular gallery, #projecteducate also has "special" weeks which are a bit different. These are usually a rare occurrence, such as the Feedback Week held back in July in collaboration with #FeedbackFrenzy. However, Community Weeks are a bit different. They happen quite often, and are an opportunity for the community to write articles instead of the Community Volunteers!

The Community Week leads, at the time of writing, are `JamminJo and `lintu47. These two are responsible for organising the week and communicating with the people contributing!

The sorts of things happening during a Community Week are the same as the sorts which happen during normal weeks, however, they can be on any topic!

How can I get involved with #projecteducate?

There are two ways which you can get involved with the project!

The easiest way to get involved is to participate in a Community Week. These are open to anyone, so long as they have something to share which fits the goals of the group. If you want to get involved with the next Community Week, send a note to the Community Week Leaders. Announcements are made in #projecteducate when the next Community Week is being planned, so that you know when to send your note. Be quick though, as places are limited and under demand!

If places run out before you get in, you'll be placed on a waiting list.

In the past, community members have also contributed to the other weeks, run by Community Volunteers. If you want to get involved with these, it's best to keep an eye on their journal and see if they want help. If they don't make a request for help in their journal, they're probably happy working on their own or might already have sorted out helpers.

I hope this article has helped you learn some more about #projecteducate and Community Week!

Thanks for reading.