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Bi-Weekly Critique EventsJoin us Wednesday at 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST Your Local Time) for a Fan Art Critique in :#communityrelations: on the deviantART Chat Network!
Updated April 20: May 2nd Critique time changed to 6 PM EST
The Community Volunteer team is happy to announce a new program that we hope you will all enjoy!
Every other Wednesday we will have a Critique Event in :#communityrelations: on dAmn. Each event will have a specific theme and be co-run by myself and a Community Volunteer from the particular gallery.
Next Event - May 2 - Fan Art
Join us at 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST (Your Local Time) for a fan-art critique event in :#communityrelations:.
Hope to see you there!
Upcoming Events
May 16th: Vector/Vexel

Tales Of The Devious #1

CR Newsletter - November + December 2011
Table of Contents
1. Reflections
2. Volunteer Openings
3. Share Your Opinions
4. Community Projects
5. Official Contests
6 Project Educate 2011/2012
7. News from the Chats and Forums
8. News from the Galleries
1. Reflections
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a year can fly by. I've made it a practice over the years to sit back and reflect on the year, what went well, what didn't and where I'd like to see the new year go. A year can bring a lot of lessons and without reflection it's hard to ensure that you've taken away everything important from it. I apply this personally and to deviantART and it's that time again

A couple of fun highlights:

I got to sit next to Felicia Day and help conduct our interview with her at SXSW. I'm a pretty big fan so this was very cool. Our presence at SXSW was also a v

Community Relations News - January + February 2012>
Table of Contents
1. Daily Deviations
2. Bi-weekly Critique Nights
3. Volunteer Openings
4. Share Your Opinions
5. Community Projects
6. Official Contests
7 Project Educate 2011/2012
8. Art History
9. News from the Galleries
1. Daily Deviations
Recently, I announced changes to Daily Deviations in this journal and I'm happy to say that the response has been favorable. To review, we have made the following changes:
a> The "3-month rule" is now the "6-month rule" meaning an artist cannot receive another DD if they have had one in the last 6 months.
b> Daily Deviation selectors are limited to a maximum of one selection per day. This has been put in place to focus on quality vs quantity.
The hard-coding of these new guidelines is now in place (special thanks to $ZombieCoder for that

).
These changes are part of an ongoing initiative to better our Dai

Chat Events CalendarUpcoming Events
Standby for more events coming soon!

January 2012 - Daily Deviation RoundupsOnce again we have compiled our Daily Deviation Roundups into one handy
blog so that you can navigate the summaries easily. Enjoy and keep suggesting
those Daily Deviations!
dA Related
Anthro
General Photography From Kaz-D
General Photography From ScENeYmE
Conceptual Photography
Text and Typography
Street Photo

Did You Know? - an overviewFor quite some time now, the Community Relations team has been writing articles called Did You Know?. The articles focus on lesser-known facets of the deviantART website, and aim to educate the community on those specific parts of the website.
To help you find the information you are looking for, we have composed an overview that lists all previous Did You Know? articles and their topics. With every new article we release, we will update the overview, to ensure it remains up-to-date.
As we write this article series for you, the community, we would like to know: What aspects of the website do you want to learn more about? Or what can you teach other deviants about? If we decide to use your suggestion we will be sure to credit you.

Let us know your ideas through our

Feedback form<

Art History Project - Art NouveauAs part of deviantART’s Art History Project, I have the pleasure to talk about Art Nouveau, a movement that started during the end of the 19th century in Europe.

What is Art Nouveau?

An artistic movement originated in Europe in the late 19th century, Art Nouveau (French for “new art”) tried to unify art with everyday life. Thus, the style was not only found in paintings, but also in the architecture, crafts, advertising, jewelry and other applied arts of that time.
Despite having different representations in each country, Art Nouveau can be identified by its elegant decorative style, curvy lines, nature elements like flowers and birds, and intricate patterns.

History

Art Nouveau took some of the ideas the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded in 1861 by William Morris and other artists. They wanted art to be accessible to everyone, promoting hand-made objects of beauty and use.

Daily Deviations DescriptionsGreetings!
My name is Danielle or $Moonbeam13, and I'm the Director of Community Relations here at deviantART. During the course of my day part of what I do involves shaking things up and testing new ideas to keep things fresh in the community.  Most of these ideas stem from community feedback - things the community has related back to my team of volunteers or to me directly.
Such is the case with Daily Deviation descriptions.  First, let's clarify what was tested and what the end result is because there is some confusion.
Originally, I had requested that the volunteers not reuse descriptions sent to them by suggesters.  I know it seems nutty but there was a period of time where I was receiving an unrelenting amount of complaints about us just 'pasting what the suggester said' and so I decided that for a short period I'd let the community see what it looks like when we don't do that. As suspected the amount of complaints about 'no descriptions' was alm

Pimps and Whoas - January 28, 2012Pimps
Official dA News

Odyssey Into 2012 - In Retrospect

Introducing the deviantART Collection on Fotolia

Size Does Matter - Artisan Crafts News

For My Own Safety

Site Updates Week 2 of 2012

Popular Results for Browse

The Resource Roundup 4
:bulle

I : heart : Contest - The OutcomeFor you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard

Happy Sunday, creative influencers and talented watchers of #projecteducate!

Today I bring to you a recap of the Project Educate Community Week - the Valentine Meme Contest that started on Monday, February 13th.

First of all, I want to give an extended thanks to ^Kaz-D and $Moonbeam13 for making this opportunity happen for me and the rest of the community that contributed to #projecteducate - and that every view of a journal, the front page, and every joined member that has made a wider audience of this official resource by deviantART, have nothing short of our gratitude as well.

tl;dr Thank You All!!!!!!
:icontransparentplz:
So, how was the outcome of the "I : heart : Contest"?

Absolutely lovely!!! Check out all of our wonder contributor's arts in this

Female Fan Artists on dA - Part IToday’s International Women’s Day, but what does it mean?
“Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.” – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/.
To celebrate this day, I’m featuring female fan artists from all over deviantART. Many thanks to those who responded to my request for suggestions, you’re great and without your input this community wouldn’t be so amazing.

However, since I received so many suggestions, I’ll be splitting the feature in 4 different articles

Literature CR Update - March 2012Hello all! As you've probably guessed by the title of the journal and the Community Relations journal skin, this is the monthly update from the literature community volunteers.
Farewell!
As with previous months, March saw some changes to the team, and so if you've not already done so, please send some love and thanks to `Krissi001, `Mollinda, and `peskaa for their work as volunteers!
Lit Central
With spring picking up speed and everything else, the world is starting to get busy, and the lit community on dA is no exception. Here's some stuff that's gone on in the past month, or is currently ongoing:
General lit news

oet and essayist Adrienne Rich passed away on the 27th.Script Frenzy & NaPoWriMo

November Daily Deviation Roundups Community Relations Daily Deviations Roundups
Sometimes it's impossible to keep up with all the Daily Deviation roundups at the end of each month. Hopefully this blog will give you a chance to browse the roundups a bit more freely and not miss anything out!

Manga/Anime DD Roundup

Artisan Craft Daily Deviations

Game Development Daily Deviations

Icons and Handhelds Summary

Emoticon Daily Deviation Roundup

The Stars of dAr - `Mirz123The Stars of dAr is a series where I interview one member of the deviantART Related (dAr) community each time, about personal and dA related matters. For today we have `Mirz123! She creates fantasic stamps, sometimes fun and silly, but also often with an important and profound message, and always in her recognisable style. She's also an enthusiastic community member in many aspects, and can be found in many corners of the community. But enough about her from me - I'll hand the floor to Mirz herself

Hi `Mirz123, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed
- Please tell us something about yourself!
By day I'm a mom who works as a secretary. By night, I don a cape and create emoticons, stamps, and write Lit. Though, looking at my gallery stats, I'm most-known for my stamps.

- Some people may be reading this article

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Fan Artist of the Month - April 2012

Mon Apr 2, 2012, 12:00 AM

Following the tradition set by the lovely ^rydi1689 and carried on by the amazing `WildCharmander; `CreativeJenn and myself have the pleasure to present our Fan Artist of the Month for April 2012! Cue drumroll, please!

~nakira is a freelance illustrator who is always willing to help fellow artists and friends and is very passionate about her fandoms. One peek at her gallery and you'll be amazed by the colorful and beautiful art she creates. `CreativeJenn had the pleasure to interview Naki. Let's see what she has to say:

For how long have you contributed to the Fan Art Gallery?

I’ve been submitting fanart to deviantArt’s gallery since I joined in 2003.

How much time do you dedicate to your work on a daily basis?

I draw for almost all of an average day – on average 8-10 hours a day. Life being what it is, however, means that sometimes I can’t dedicate as much time as I would like toward my art. I tend to feel unfulfilled if I can’t at least get some drawing everyday. At the very least I fill a sketchbook page.

Does anything inspire you while you create?

Of course! I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful group of friends that always have interesting ideas to bounce off of me, and often times their brilliant suggestions change how I might approach a piece of artwork. I also listen to a ton of music. Depending on my mood at the time it could be anything from trance to Enya. Sometimes you can even find me watching (read: listening to) a sci-fi series like Star Trek or Stargate.

In regards to making art, what tools that you use are your favorite?

I’m pretty fond of mixing digital and traditional art. At the moment, that is taking form in digital coloring over ballpoint pen drawings. I enjoy creating work traditionally, specifically using watercolors and acrylics, but lately I need my work to be more portable. I can get involved and detailed in a pen drawing, and later enjoy the simplicity and ease of adding color (primarily using Photoshop). On rare occasion I will create drawings strictly using Photoshop.

Also in regards to making art, which tools do you believe are the most difficult to use?

I fight a lot with gouache. I attempted a fanart painting with it once, and wow was it an experience. So far gouache has been the most difficult thing for me to use, although I suppose I would really just need more practice.

When it comes to inspiration, which deviantART fanartists come to mind for you, and why?

Wow, quite a number, actually. *purplekecleon and ~shirotsuki are probably my two biggest inspirations, and I’m lucky enough to call both of them my friends. When we all get to draw together in person it’s like a flurry of fantastic inspiration all happening at once. We’ll all be going to some conventions together this year, definitely come say hi!

I’m also inspired by the work of ~e1n– the way characters interact in his work is so fun. His use of color is really dynamic and wonderful. Everything about his artwork is really fantastic. It’s always a treat to the eyes!

Some other inspirations to my work (from a very long list) include deviantArt users: `bri-chan, *JHALLpokemon, *rufftoon, *crayon-chewer, ~AnnouncerGuy, and ^alicexz

What professional/down-to-earth tips can you offer artists today that draw both fan art AND original art?

I think it’s important to follow the things you are passionate about. Your passion and affection will show in your work no matter what the subject matter. However, I do think it is important, if you’re a fanartist, to draw original art as well. It exercises considerably different creative muscles, and requires a bit of mental flip-flopping that you may face in professional projects.

Try to practice drawing more then just character art – draw the backgrounds of your favourite series, or draw some of the inanimate objects characters may interact with. Settings and scenery are just ‘characters’ in which a story takes place! This will help you for world-building in your original stories and artwork.

Likewise I think it’s important to have original work in your portfolio. It’s okay to have fanart too, but a lot of potential clients want to see the worlds that you create. If fanart is what you’re passionate about, take the things you learn from making fanart and apply it to some original creations - you may surprise yourself!

Are there any creative resources here for the community that you recommend?

One of my favourite tutorials is *purplekecleon’s color tutorial - [link] It’s one of the first I recommend to people, since it is very easy to understand and very comprehensive to an artist who may be new at color theory.

I’m also tremendously fond of deviantArt user *ShadowUmbre’s tutorials (which you can find throughout her gallery). They are also very comprehensive and something I find myself looking back on when I’m not entirely sure how to achieve an effect I want.
Outside of deviantArt there are two color palette resources I highly recommend – Kuler ([link]) and Color Scheme Designer ([link]) . Both will help artists explore color within their work!

Finally, what projects can we expect from you in the near future?

I’m a very fluid person and for my personal projects I follow my passions (a glance into my gallery will very easily tell you what that might currently be). I have a lot of different interests so there are a lot of things I want to do with my time. I don’t have anything planned right now, however my biggest dream is to work on production art – either developing ideas for a company that does surface design or creating concept art for a storytelling medium (such as film or comics). I enjoy working alongside other people to create grand projects because you get a lot of different perspectives working toward the same goal. To me that whole experience is fun and fascinating. Process and being part of a process is very important to the work I produce. Someday soon I hope to find myself a part of a studio!