DeviantArt used to be a behemoth of the online art world. Most artists who were on the internet in the early 2000s used DeviantArt in some shape or form.
Whether it was just for browsing or taking an active part in the community, DeviantArt was the place for artists to share art, talk about their work and inspire each other.
Sadly since then, the site has changed a lot—and not really for the better.
Many artists no longer consider DeviantArt a relevant site, some even scoff when it is mentioned, but despite this it’s still around.
But can you still expect to build an audience on DeviantArt in this day and age? Let’s take a look.
Is DeviantArt dead?
DeviantArt isn't "dead", more like dying. People still use DeviantArt, but it isn't as popular as it used to be - the issues it has struggled with for years are still unsolved. Many artists have turned to other options like ArtStation and Instagram.
Frankly, it’s hard to find active professional artists on DeviantArt nowadays. I update mine every year or two, and that’s probably more frequent than most professionals who still have accounts there.
Despite DeviantArt's recent attempts to modernise its site and fix its various issues, it still hasn't been enough to draw users back in.
(2023 update: The platform is now also flooded with AI content. Regardless of your stance on AI art, I think this only makes the platform worse for traditional and digital artists, now forced to compete against AI for attention too.)
Let's look into what caused people to start leaving DeviantArt in the first place.
What happened to DeviantArt?
DeviantArt was launched in 2000. It was one of the very first websites made specifically for artists to share their work, and provided a place for the online art community to thrive.
DeviantArt was a space for creatives to make connections, to find like-minded people, and to talk about their hobbies and interests.
The world was slowly transitioning into the digital age, and because of DeviantArt, sharing art with others was easier than ever.
DeviantArt was never really focused on the professional side of artistry, but on community and sharing - it was especially valuable to young adults, just discovering their love and passion for art and creativity.
Because it was the only site of its kind, it grew exponentially—and with it's massive growth, began to develop some problems.
More and more explicit art appeared on the front pages of DeviantArt, and showed up in most searches on the site. The staff was unable to combat it properly.
The mature content filters didn't work properly. Some uploaders were even purposely trying to circumvent the filters, to get their explicit content seen by more people.
Despite the community reporting explicit content that wasn't filtered, the staff were unable to solve the issue. It remained a problem for years, causing a lot of friction between the community and DeviantArt's staff.
Recently, masses of AI art has been uploaded to Deviantart, increasing the competition for the site’s remaining and original userbase, traditional and digital artists.
What has DeviantArt done to fix its problems?
In 2017 DeviantArt was purchased by Wix.
To combat the mature content problem, they created the ability for users to mute tags that they don't want to see, so explicit content will be hidden - while this has its own issues, it works well for the most part.
Wix also implemented the Eclipse update - a visual redesign of the website to try to modernise its design.
There was a lot of initial backlash towards the redesign from what remained of the community, claiming that it removed too much of the site's identity.
This time DeviantArt staff was quick to react, and implemented a green theme for Eclipse that was much closer to the old design, and other changes based on the community's feedback.
As far as AI art, you can also filter it out with a dedicated button
But have these steps been enough?
Is DeviantArt worth using anymore?
A site like Artstation offers a similar but much more professional alternative to DeviantArt, and Instagram offers a wider reach, and greater social awareness. Somewhere like X/Twitter will grant you more social interaction.
So is it worth using DeviantArt, when these other options exist?
Some still seem to think so. Despite it's issues, DeviantArt still has activity, but it’s mostly older accounts that benefit.
Comparing with ArtStation, some prominent artists still use Deviantart more, such as Sandara and Patrick Brown.
Both artists have been on DeviantArt for a long time, and have built large followings there - so much so that despite DeviantArt's user base shrinking, they still get more engagement on DeviantArt than on ArtStation.
For example, if you compare the engagement Sandara got when she posted a piece on DeviantArt and posted the same piece on ArtStation on the same day, you can see she's got about 10 times as many views and likes on DeviantArt, and almost no comments on ArtStation at all.
However, she has more than 200k watchers on DeviantArt; more than 30 times as many as she has on ArtStation.
If we do the maths, this means despite Sandara's huge 200k DeviantArt audience, her art only has around a 1% engagement ratio on DeviantArt, but a 5% engagement ratio on Artstation.
And this is for one of the biggest, strongest DeviantArt accounts in fantasy digital art.
This result is undoubtedly due to a majority of DeviantArt's users leaving the website. Many of her followers are absent.
This is going to be the story of many digital artists using DeviantArt - it may still be worth posting there if they already have a huge audience on the platform, but the community simply isn't as engaged as it used to be, and other newer platforms like Artstation and Instagram present a better opportunity for new artists.
My personal opinion on using DeviantArt
Unlike Sandara and Patrick Brown, I don't have a large following on DeviantArt - here's my DeviantArt gallery.
I've used DeviantArt on and off, but haven't touched it much at all in the last few years.
The artwork I have posted on DeviantArt still gets regular views, likes and follows - and I think that since the Eclipse redesign, engagement has actually increased.
But honestly, the amount of activity on DeviantArt isn't enough to draw me back in to using it again just yet.
A large part of the art community feels there's a lot left to be done before DeviantArt is worth using again, and I agree - I'll keep an eye on where the site goes and it's engagement levels, and consider whether I should jump back in.
For now, I'm happy to prioritise ArtStation with its more engaged and growing userbase, and use Discord/Twitter for community interaction with other artists.
That's exactly what I'd recommend to any other digital artist who doesn't already have a substantial DeviantArt following.
DeviantArt isn't completely dead and still has users, but if you're a digital artist and are trying to build a fresh following, ArtStation is currently a healthier and more engaged platform.
Here's an article we've written about the best alternatives to DeviantArt.
If you want to meet other artists and find a community, I recommend checking out our article about artist discord communities.
I hope that DeviantArt does rise again, but I’m not holding my breath. Sometimes we just have to let go and move on.
Hey, I’m Christopher
I started making digital art in 2009, became a full-time freelance artist in 2016, and now I’m able to work on my own schedule from anywhere in the world.
I created this blog to help other artists make the same journey.
