deviantART » Director of Artist Relations
$Moonbeam13

Hello!

The purpose of Artist Relations is to strengthen the community spirit as well as network with fellow artists so that we may bring outside opportunities to you, and help you to hone your skills. The Gallery Directors are the first people you should go to regarding your galleries. They are the people you need to make gallery suggestions to, and ask questions about your specific genre, or seek knowledge from. They also act as your lifeline to the administration. They are here to support and listen, and I can tell you we've got incredibly talented, devoted and passionate people on this team, so get to know them!

We've had several team changes so I'm pleased to announce the following additions:

^dholms - Traditional Art
^alchemism - Traditional Art
^lady-atropos - Fetish Photography
^delya - Comics and Cartoons
^adrift - Prose
^kuschelirmel - Photomanipulation
^PoeticWar - Poetry


As many have already noticed, @blackice is now a member of the MN@ team, and `silentkitty and `gatekeeper501 have been given senior status. I wish to thank them for the time they devoted to the community and wish them the best in everything they do.

I've received several pleas from writers wanting to be able to submit in PDF. Well, I'm happy to tell you that you can, but you will be required to post a preview. Please note the preview must be a jpg,gif or png format. Enjoy. Sorry guys apparantly there was a miscommunication I'll keep working on this.

The Current Events gallery is a mess and poorly designed. I will be taking well thought out suggestions about how it should be laid out and then I will go about fixing it. I look forward to hearing from you guys

New categories still have an issue with browsing We are aware, and it is being looked into. There is nothing wrong with the categories themselves and they do right themselves after a few days but it does cause some confusion in the beginning. Bear with us, and don't panic, everything is working it just doesn't look perfect yet.

The resources category will be undergoing some plastic surgery soon, so please no panic there either. After that, Street Art categories will be added to Traditional Art.

I see several people getting very upset, almost abusive, when this newsletter comes out and their gallery director hasn’t posted anything. We need to address this. Firstly, your gallery directors are volunteers and despite that seem to tirelessly put effort into maintaining the galleries. Secondly, there isn’t always something for them to report on. Everyone may not update every single time, but relax with the attitude please. For those that do, or those that have something that came up once and log in to see themselves being berated for not posting.. it’s simply uncalled for and not something I’m willing to let you do to a fabulous group of volunteer staff.

Please do NOT send me daily deviation suggestions. I don’t post DD’s except for a rare occasion and that’s almost never a suggested piece. Please send them to the gallery directors. If you are still confused, please consult :faq 18: Who Selects the Daily Deviation and How is it Chosen?

New contests are popping up all over the place and I know it’s hard to find them. To solve this, I have added a module to my journal to ease your pain and frustration. Please note this is only for Artist Relations sponsored contests and not “every” contest posted on deviantART

Miss an edition of the newsletter or want to find someone in Artist Relations? Check out My journal where I store all of this information for your viewing pleasure.

The Unknown Artists Project

What is the Unknown Artists Project? The idea of the Unknown Artists Project is to feature unknown artists and their artworks. The quintessential goal to be achieved from this is to gain more attention and exposure for talented, yet underrated artists on deviantART.

Every day people recommend artists to the 'Unknown Artists Project'. These selfless deviants, that are making the suggestions, generally have as much or less publicity than those they refer. That's the spirit of dA. People who help and support will receive help and support in return.

Often, most deviants need a starting point to make them feel like a part of the community, yet the efforts attempted to gain susceptibility and notoriety is primarily ineffectual. It's discouraging to every artist who spends a lot of time on his or her artwork to receive little or no attention. Art needs an audience; artists need an audience. Without it, the idea of continuing to enhance one's talent dwindles and submitting the ignored work seems frivolous.

Here, we intend to help diminish that "ignored" feeling and give fellow deviants a reason to share their gifts of artwork and creativity while acquiring deserved repute..

Now you're probably asking yourself, "how can I get involved?" or "Who can I suggest to?", ask and ye shall receive:


If you have a suggestion for the project, please send it directly to the following Deviants in note form:

* Suggest Photography to: +Ghouldaddy

* Suggest Digital Art to %WallOfTruth or =camelhijackation

* Suggest Fractal Art to ~muetze

* Suggest 3D/Fantasy Digital Art to `alyn

* Suggest Traditional Art to or ^De-Profundis

* Suggest Poetry to: =zebrazebrazebra

* Suggest Prose to: ^imperfect


What is considered an Unknown Artist?

Artist has been on deviantART for one year or less:
-Less than or equal to 15-22 favorites on the deviation
-Less than 250 watchers

Artist that has been on deviantART for two years:
-Less than or equal to 15-22 favorites on the deviation
-Less than 350 watchers

Artist that has been on deviantART for three years or longer:
-Less than or equal to 15-22 favorites on the deviation
-Less than 400 watchers


In the past, we've frowned upon suggesting yourself, the basis of UA has always been to assist others. That said, we've decided to allow self suggestion, ONLY if you suggest 3 other deviants as well in your note. So keep those suggestions coming and let's bring the backbone of deviantART back to the forefront.

The Key System

As you can see at the very bottom there is now a Key System. The way this will work is simple. If you have a specific inquiry or suggestion for a specific department, begin your comment with the appropriate Key Code, that way we can search the page and compile them and address them. Neat, huh?

deviantART » Photography
^superkev

I'd like to issue another challenge to the photography community. Again, this is not a contest, but just a way for you to stretch your skills and creativity, and maybe learn a few things along the way. My challenge is this: take and submit a photograph using an unusual light source. By unusual, I mean something other than the sun, a flash, or a lightbulb. There are lots of unorthodox ways of creating light. For example, glow sticks, sparklers, campfires, candles, LEDs, etc. I don't want to give them all away. Use your imagination and surprise us.

Gallery Highlights:
Bubblehunter
forbidden place...
Inside looking out.
blackmilk

deviantART » Digital Art » Photomanipulation
^kuschelirmel

Thank you for all the great DD suggestions that have reached me so far.

Keep them coming!

But please keep my few guidelines in mind when doing so:

only deviations from the photomanipulation gallery will be accepted

please send your suggestion(s) to me in a note titled "DD suggestion"

don't suggest yourself

artists shouldn't have had a DD in the last 6 months

As it is impossible for me to tell if the artist has used his own stock or "snatched" whatever he used from google or somewhere similar (which is not allowed!) it is preferred that all resources are listed in the author's comment, even though it might've been your own stock! If I have any doubts about the legitimacy of the material used, the deviation will not be featured.


_{For suggestions from other galleries, please look here FAQ #18: Who selects the Daily Deviation and how is it chosen?}

I will be continuing with ^nighty’s news article, featuring the best photomanipulations made in the previous week.

Please take a look at Photomanips Weekly #18



Also, something big is coming... but I’m not telling you what it is yet

deviantART » Designs & Interfaces
^depthskins

Firstly, I'd like to take time to thank all those who've stopped by to give me a warm welcome to the post of being GD of Designs & Interface(DI) gallery. Special thanks to ^bornghost for showing me the ropes. It's sad to see him go but know he'll still be around so show him your love for taking Designs & Interface this far.

With that said, it's now up to me to take it to the next level. The first challenge being to bring as much admiration to DI as the other galleries. The second challenge is to clean up the gallery as much as possible and keep it clean and some would have noticed the process has started already. And the last but not least, the task to to highlight talented designers from every corner of deviantART.

A very respected deviant pointed out to me that deviants are smarting the system by submitting anime to DI which allows them on the front page of dA with as little as 200 favorites or less. Well, if you're anime, compete among anime artworks which means I'll be policing this issue as much as possible.

My other request is for deviants to present their work properly. By this I mean, if your deviation is 't-shirt' design, take the time to apply that artwork to a 't-shirt'. Why? Because you saying an anime artwork is for a t-shirt doesn't justify it's cause. Please remember design is applied art so apply it.

Another thing I'd like to ask is take time out to check DI's main page for posted articles and news. I intend on posting articles that concern designers on a regular basis so please, at least check it out once a week.

That's all I have to say for now or at least all I can remember. Please enjoy the daily deviations and keep the suggestions coming. Oh and guys, my job is to interact with members of dA so please, I'm an all around friendly, mild mannered guy so don't be afraid to come to be with ideas, suggestions or questions.

deviantART » Digital Art » Vector Art
^Einion

On a positive note Vector Art continues to see an influx of new artists, some of whom have become very popular in only a short time, helping to improve the profile of vectors in Digital Art and more widely.

If you're new to the artform and you have questions don't be afraid to use the Forums. You'll see these on any of the gallery header pages under 'Vector Art Discussions'. In case you didn't spot it at the bottom is the link to start a new topic, by clicking on Create a Thread.

Miscategorised artwork and moved deviations
We're having continuing problems with mixed-media pieces being submitted to Vector Art. Some of the confusion is understandable - if you have a vector and you think it would look good with rasterised or photographic inclusions, and well, it's only the background so I guess it's okay... yeah? Nah. Nope. Negatory.

If the rasterised/photographic parts are noticeable the piece goes against the spirit of the gallery, much less the letter of the gallery's submission rules, which have always been pretty clear. Vector Art is for vector art, simple as that. deviantART has many other galleries and categories in Digital Art - including the most obvious, Miscellaneous - with numerous subcategories to pick from; use one of those. There's no shame in having something in another gallery! But if you do want your pieces in Vector Art then just make 'em vectors

Now, with the advent of new software and some of the new features for established programs like Illustrator and Flash, it can be very difficult to tell for sure whether something is actually entirely vector (or in extreme cases whether it's a vector at all!) I'll usually give someone the benefit of the doubt but if I move one of your pieces and it is entirely vector then it should be no problem to post some proof in the form of a wireframe screenshot and/or some enlarged details; I'll require those in some cases.

Mixed Bags
If you're a fan of vectors (or even if you're like, "What is this 'vector art' of which you speak?") don't miss the Mixed Bags, where every month I select a range of interesting pieces as a means of highlighting some of the many creative, technically-proficient or just plain fun vectors we have in the gallery. July's is the first to feature a single theme: vehicles. August's and September's will each have one theme also - animals and people respectively - before we return to a representative cross-section of what the gallery has to offer.

February
March
April
May
June
July

I'd like to thank the many deviants who have helped bring some of these artists and their work to my attention, you've been a great help

deviantART » Wallpaper
^zilla774

Hello Wallpaper Land! After a much needed holiday I have returned and I'm cracking on with several projects in the Wallpaper Gallery.

Freespire Contest

The lovely people at Linspire are running a great competition for their new Freespire project and are giving away an incredible first place prize of a Mini KooBox from worth $399!

Submissions are coming in for this thick and fast so make sure you get yours in as soon as possible!

The good news is that there has been an extension to the competition and the closing date is now 4th August 2006. The even better news is that we will be adding some dA goodies including subscriptions, print accounts and gift vouchers to the mix.

PC Magazine
The Greek edition of PC Magazine will be running an article on 50 of the best wallpapers on DeviantART! Great exposure for all concerned I'm sure you can agree. As soon as the article is released I will be posting more details. This just goes to show why it is so cool to be part of the wallpaper community and how proud I am that I can support you all!

Movie Wallpapers
Recently there has been a rise in submissions of movie related wallpapers, specifically in this case the movie is 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'.

Let me again remind people that you cannot use images in your submissions from copyrighted sources such as films, TV shows, Magazines, Books, or any other sources from which you do not have express permission to use. Any
images of this nature will be removed immediately.

For futher clarification please see the following FAQ entry:

FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submission

deviantART » Traditional Art
^De-Profundis

Please join me in welcoming ^dholms to the Traditional Art team. Once we get him settled in, we'll have some great new features for you guys! Please also join me in welcoming back ^alchemism

While you're waiting, don't forget to check out the Gallery Directors in Disguise article- Issue 1 and Issue 2

deviantART » Poetry and Prose
^coshdaddy

Quite a few things have happened in the last little while, which is why we've released the third edition of the Literature Gallery Update. This feature highlights a few of the more important issues, contests and newsworthy things to have happened in lit, including updates from our last feature.

As well, our newest Prose GD ^adrift and local legend `Bringa have started a contest. The Story of Creation Competition will challenge writers to create a story in various stages over seven days. Keep an eye on that article, and the Literature Forums where they will be posting threads outlining the days' activities.