Hey, deviants, both young and old!

I've noticed a fair number of successes(and sometimes failures.) of the newer generations of artists here on dA, and I felt that it would be a fair contribution to the community to give my two cents and a small bit of suggestion for the 'young' starting artist. Feel free to use this information, or refer anyone you please to it, as well—I want to help the new generations of artists coming in to dA, rather than giving up and leaving later.

This will detail the basics of beginning and how to gauge your artistic ability/experience, and more importantly, how to create your ideal beginning community, in which yourself and others may develop.

INDEX
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i1. What's your Artist Age?
i2. Am I a Young Artist?
i3. Where Should I Begin as a Young Artist?
I4. How Can I interact with “My Community?”

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i1. What's your Artist Age?

I bet you're thinking, “LOL WUT.” But this can be an important factor, especially later if you choose to compare your progressing works side-by-side.

It's simple, your Artist age is how long you have been sharing your art available for a wide audience(In this case, on the internet in it's own gallery.) not including any hiatuses. You don't have to have proof or evidence, but it is not a bad idea to keep these handy.

For example:

I began sharing my artwork in the later part of 2001 on a Sonic fansite, called NetRaptor.org before the fan characters were removed and the fanart section was locked down to official characters only.

After that, I had moved to my first deviantArt account, so I could continue my personal career as a Sonic artist. That was short-lived, though, over the next year or so, I began drawing full proportions and moved into the main part of the Anthro/Furry community, always cringing when I looked back on my older Sonic works.

Three years later, I retire that account, and with designs for my new fursona(Anthro persona.), I moved here, to my new and permanent account, I have been on this account since.

TL;DR:

My Artist Age is 8 years. I have had no hiatuses because of school or life, so my career has been consistent.

Why is this important, really?

This mainly reflects how much time you have had to grow and develop as an artist, and how much experience you have with maintaining, entertaining, and expanding your audience(This I may write a guide for, as well, but would be my personal method.).

Now that you have your Artist Age, let's see where you typically scale on a predetermined chart I have set in the next section.

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i2. Am I a 'Young Artist?'

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I'm going to make this as short and sweet as possible. And these are predetermined by myself, there may be plenty of views on this. x3

The CHART

First Day to 6 Months: You are learning how critique and feedback are coming to your works(If any is coming.). Your art style is probably either going to remain consistent for the first six months with advancements in small areas. Persistence and Passion are both incredibly important in this stage. Keep all of your work, do not give away the originals, and make sure you remember where they are.
7 Months to 1 Year: You have attained an entry position in your community by now, whether it is between one person or twenty people is up to your actions and their feelings. If you haven't, make it a priority to network with other artists, because this is going to be an important part of your growth as an artist. If you lack confidence in your own works, your passion and activity as an artist is going to be faint.
Over 1 Year to 3 Years: By now, you have began to build your own name for yourself, and you have your artwork to stand with that name. Now, get your portfolio and look through it. See how far you've come? It'll only stop if you choose to stop. Also, at this point you should have placed yourself voluntarily into your community of choice and at least began to see whom your most desired target audience is. Keep it up!
Over 3 Years to 5 Years: Face it. By now, you should have a tight grip on where you'd like your art to go and what it will become. You have learned to look and capture desired things from references, you have met idols, equals, and people you may believe inferior(But NEVER make fun of your 'inferior artists.' You were young once, too. Encourage them!) and you have your grip on your artistic future. Don't let go! From here on out, you go where your artistic intuition guides you. But there is never not enough room for improvement.
5+ Years: At this point, your improvements have smaller and smaller gaps in them and you have really gotten a grip on how to direct your audiences through experience. At this point, I feel you're no longer considered a 'young artist.' Just an '<Community> Artist.'

Next, for the young artists, I am going to cover effective places to start, again, this is from my experience.

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i3. Where Should I Begin as a Young Artist?

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The best place to begin, is somewhere that has a variety of artists—Young like yourself, but also with those who definitely have experience underneath their belts. And, depending on how you go about deviantArt, dA is or is not a good place to begin, but feel free to share the work you produce on your dA page, as well!

Like I said before, I began in a closed-in community of Sonic fanartists. The users were consistent and communication was fantastic, this is a great way to learn how to place yourself in a community effectively, because this is a skill that not just artists need, but people in general.

Ask yourself what you like most, and what you draw most. Answer truthfully. Because this is the way you're going to find/make your community. OR if you draw with your close friends IRL, this is perfect, since you get along and give comments/critique(However, unless you are posting what you work on your dA page at the same time, you will not be accumulating toward your age.).

But since this is on dA, here's a basic way to develop your own place in your chosen community:

Make sure you have at least two or three pieces you take extreme pride in and have a featured deviation set.
Go to that Search box above and type in your answer to the question earlier. Now I want you to set the time filter to '3 days.'
Pick the deviations you like, make sure you fave and comment on them, and if you like them enough, go to the artists' profile, comment that you'd like to be friends and watch them. Keep this up till you have no more results to choose from(You do not have to look at the ones you don't want to.) Keep an eye of art that is on the same calibur as yours(And be honest with yourself.), I think these artists are the kind that will gladly befriend you and stay close, so you can develop together.
Stay an active artist and make sure you give your input on works coming to your inbox. A lot of the time, unless you're an extremely gifted artist(Or you draw mostly fanservice.) you are going to have to give a comment/fave/watch to get a comment/fave/watch. Remember this rule, it will never stop in your whole career.

Repeat this process every three days when the new list is updated. Or if you prefer to do it as weeks/months instead and do it for multiple topics, be my guest. Working to find your audience and become part of theirs is the best way to build a community and name for yourself.

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i4. How can I interact with “my community”?

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There are a lot of ways! And dA is a good place to do these.

As an artist here, you can(Without subscription.):

NOTE: A * denotes this is within dA's module. The others you have to do manually via comment/note/journal/search.

- Comment*
- Favorite*
- Use Journals for Art Status*
- Post in the Forum*
- Join Clubs
- Collaborate
- Art Trade
- Commission(Only when you have widened your audience and have experience.)

It isn't much, but it is more rewarding and fun than it appears at first. >:3 Trust me.

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Well! This is just the BASIC guide for Young Artists.

I sure hope this can help someone somewhere, if I have any other ideas for News, I will definitely submit.

Byebye! Hope to meet ya'll! :3