Best sites for displaying your artistic talent on the internet
So, you are an aspiring artist. And you have decided that it is time to show the world what kind of talents you have. You’re ready for some (hopefully) constructive criticism to help build up your talent. These are much of the same reasons I started searching for ways to display my artwork online. I have tried a handful of sites; most are pretty serious online communities where people are very active and for the most part very friendly, helpful, and supportive. I even went as far as to create my own website and post a virtual gallery there as well. One thing to remember, exposure is a great thing. You just have to know how to utilize what exposure you have and make it work for you. As an artist you may be tempted to go out and join up with a paid membership site to help you get your work seen. However, you don’t necessarily have to pay for that type of advertising.
The internet is a great source of free advertising. Yes, some things are still free online. You can drop by sites like http://www.deviantart.com and join up for free. With the free membership to Deviant Art you get more than a handful of features like your own virtual art collection which is a glorified favorites list (with thumbnails) that drops down from the top of the webpage so you can add a piece of art to your favorites on the fly. You also get access to a ‘Journal’ which acts as your blog. They feature in-house messaging so you can ask questions or even hook up with other artists or collectors. And with such a huge community, if you decide to upload your own work, don’t be surprise if within just a little while you find that hundreds of people have found your work and maybe even left comments. If you decide to brave out and try to sell your work, DeviantArt even had a great ‘Prints’ section that helps you sell your work (of course DA gets a cut of the sales). Of course, if you hop on DA and want extra features, you can subscribe to a Premium membership with them. But for everything you get for free. You should definitely make sure you need the extra stuff before paying.
