Welcome to DA!

If you're reading this then it's highly likely that I have visited your page and sent you this link because I feel that sometimes DA can be a daunting place when you're new to it all.
We'll start with something simple:


The Front Page:

The front page is amazing for this. No matter where you are on the site, click on the large "deviantART" banner across the top of the page and it will take you to the front page.
From here, you can Browse Today's Deviations or Browse Today's Prints and even Browse Today's Favourite

You will see tabs on the main page - Today, Features and Blog. These are amazing places to browse and discover new deviations and new deviants with some brilliant galleries.

You should also check out the news articles on the main page - scroll further down for these - even if it's only once a month. The news articles keep you up dated as to progress on DA and tell you of contests, interviews with deviants and other interesting events to be held on DA. DA also tries to get artists exposure and the news articles are often concerned with their BanchMerch section and the Unknown Prints and Unknown Artists accounts.

You can also find a poll and a shoutbox on the main page. You can vote and leave comments on the polls in order to express your view on the topic of the poll. The shoutbox is a brilliant place to talk to other deviants and get to know others so that you feel welcomed here on DA.

Remember
When browsing, you might want to leave well thought out comments on their deviations.
_{Thanks to `leodadominico for this link}

Concentrating on Your Page

You'll want to give the DA community some information on yourself I expect, if not, then don't worry too much about this paragraphy, you can just skip it. But if you do, then you'll need to take notice of the "Journal | Profile | Settings" buttons at the top right hand side of your screen. If you click on Journal, you can add, edit and delete journals for display on your main page. Profile allows you to add an Avatar, Comment Signature and Literature Author Tag. The tabs at the top of this screen will take you to pages where you can edit or add or delete your personal information and lastly, to manage your deviations. Your Settings page, allows you to edit your information, location information, your browsing settings and allow you to find out more about Pasties and Beta Testing (if you are a subscriber)
_{If you're new and don't know anyone who makes Avatars, the check out ~GLXYGURL's gallery for available Avatars, or you can request a specially made one from her She does great designs and her Avatars are well worth a look, but please make sure the one you use is available to use, and you'll need to note her, telling her that you are using that specific one.}

You'll notice that you can submit things to DA, well you can find out how to do so here FAQ #79: How do I submit Artwork? where you will learn about scraps and your deviation gallery. And when you have done so, you can check out How to Get the Most Out of Your Keywords which is very helpful

I hope you have noticed that you can add deviations to your favourites. If not, then you'll need to click on a deviation eg and look just under the image, for a button titled "Add to Favourites" and click it to add to your favourites. If you now go back to your main page, you'll see that image has been added to your favourites
If you like an image, favourite it because it gives artists feed back on how good their stuff is, it makes them feel good about their works and it means you have something pretty to decorate your page. BUT don't just go on a favouriting spree because they are pointless. Don't be stingy with your favourites, but don't be over generous either, only favourite stuff you like, not just because the piece is popular or you think the model is hot - try to look for something in the pieces that moves YOU.

You'll also find that you have comments on your main page, these will NOT be sent to your message centres, so check your front page regularly to see if anyone new has stopped by and said hello to you Maybe go and say hello to them too? It's an easy way to make friends and get yourself known to a few people on DA.
You can also join clubs such as ~Club-of-Randomness to make new friends. You'll have to search for clubs you like and want to join, you can do this by visiting people's pages, seeing what's out there and what interests you.

Other People's Pages

When you visit other people's pages, you can leave a comment on their main page by scrolling to the bottom of their page and leaving a message, you can favourite their pieces. Or you can watch them if their works are interesting and you enjoy what they do, by clicking the devwatch button or you can send the deviant a note that only they can read and is not available to the public to see. You just need to press the note button on their main page, just below their main information.
Once you have devwatched someone, you can click "new messages" to take you to your message center on the top tool bar where it also says "logout" and has your deviant name. From there, click on the "community messages" tab and scroll down. On the right hand side, you'll see a column, there is lists a few options for DA, you can click on the "Manage My Friends" to edit and delete etc the people you devwatch.

Note
DeviantART doesn't like spamming on other people's pages. Visit FAQ #263: What are the policies concerning unsolicited spam? to see what exactly is meant by that.

Forums

The button can be found at the top of the DA page.

To get yourself started here on DA, go and see the forums. They are great places to interact with others, make your views seen and they are generally good for taking up time. Your first stop in the forums should be to the Welcome Center where you can say hello, introduce yourself and say hello to other new deviants.
On the forums, you need to know a few things first:

1. Be polite
Some people have been on the forums an awful long time and they hate people being rude. Wit and charm are fine, a good comeback is always appriciated and the vetrans like to know that there is still spark in the forums after all this time. But if you're rude, you will be flamed, they will be rude back and you will not enjoy the forums experience at all.

2. Know what you're talking about
There is nothing worse than finding someone has replied to a forum thread with some stupid ass information that doesn't actually exist. If you're going to say something controversal, try to have some back up. Perhaps a link to a news article about it, or research it further until you know all about it and can argue any point should someone challange your statement.

3. Don't be a Kiss Ass
It's not flattering and people don't respect others for it. Say what you really want to say, not just repeat what a popular deviant on the forums has said. If you want to agree, fine, but put YOUR point across, not other people's points.

4. READ the topic of the thread
It gets so irritating when you set up a thread and people reply without actually reading the body of your thread, but just read the topic. People may have used irony, sarcasim and metaphors in their thread titles, so to fully understand the thread, read it all the way through. It stops you from looking like an ass.

5. Get your categories right
If you're setting up your own thread, make sure it's in the right forum eg. Welcome Center, Deviants or Art Scene. Firstly, it will help you to get more replies suited to your topic and your subject; it will stop those annoying people that post fifty million times about how you have chosen the wrong forum and it will stop you from feeling embarrassed about it.

6. Just enjoy it
There are some people that take it too seriously, that take offence to every fucking comment and just annoy others to be honest.
Take everything said in the forums with a pinch of salt, don't let people wind you up to much and don't get nasty about it all. Sure, get passionate about a topic, but don't over do it, you'll end up looking a bit of a fool.

Chat
Can be found on the DA main page.

Here, it's like a chatroom, you'll need to choose the room you want to enter. You can chat to other deviants about all sorts of topics, just make sure you check out that room's rules which can generally be found just below the name of the room when you enter. You can also see all the shortcuts and coding for the rooms in those rooms.
You can also post thumbnails of images in these rooms. To do this, find the deviation you want to display, you'll need the URL (the numbers at the end of the URL. This can be found in the address bar at the top of your screen, you'll just need the numbers here, remember) and then type : thumbURL : (with no spaces in between. eg. : thumb23501101 : will come out as
You can post thumbs in other places on DA such as in the Thumbshare Forum, however, not in your journal as this is a subscriber only feature. Instead, you can post a deviant's name and icon in your journal by typing : devdeviantname : (with no spaces) or : icondeviantname : (with no spaces) eg. =love4art and

Codes

You may have noticed that some words here are underlined, in bold and some italics are used. To do this, you will need to know the code for certain funtions. You can find them here FAQ #104: What HTML formatting can we use on deviantART? And what is the format for these codes?

Stock Use and Tutorials

Here on DA, you can find stock at places like ~EndlessFantasy-stock where you have to read the rules and stick to them should you want to use the stock available on the page. There are many other stock providers here on DA, you can find them when you click on other people's manipulations where they are forced to list where they got the stock from.
Or, if you're looking for tutorials, you can look at ~larafairie-stock who has many tutorials such as tutorials on Duotone and Desaturating Skin as well as a long list of brushes that can be used.

Help

Well I think that's all you need, if I think of anything else, I will add to this journal.
If you need any further help, either note me, leave a comment on this journal or you can go to the help FAQ at the bottom of every DA page where you can find the offical DA FAQ or go to the Help Forum but check the FAQ first.
If you have a problem and you cannot find the answer anywhere, then you can submit a Help Desk ticket by going tothe FAQ, clicking on "Contact the Help Desk" and submitting a ticket to them. This is a last resort, check everywhere else first

_{Thanks to %godofodd *Black-Red-Escape *DoodleBe =love4art ~larafairie-stock ~EndlessFantasy-stock `leodadominico
for links and images used through this article}

A Quick Guide to DA in Deviation Form