Forums » Art & Creativity » Artstation?

Hello! So some context:

I used to have a deviantArt account and while I don’t have the heart to delete my account there, it is incredibly old (and thus incredibly painful for me to revisit what with all my bad art and RP in the comment sections ). At some point I moved to tumblr, only to discover that art doesn’t really get much traction there unless it’s fanart (I still post all my art and doodles there though). On Instagram there was more success, but it turns out people without an account can only see the first few posts before being asked to log in. I do also have a personal portfolio but it lacks the connectivity with and feedback from other artists.

So I was wondering about joining Artstation? It seems to be pretty good and linkable, but on the surface it seems like there’s a certain level of proficiency needed to be there and I’m fairly intimidated. Does anyone have any experience using it, and if so, is there anything I should keep in mind?

P. S. I know there are other alternatives as well; where I live, behance is the more popular option; however, it’s mostly used for motion graphics and graphic design and I’m looking more for places to post illustration and concept art, maybe some frame-by-frame animation. If you have any alternatives to Artstation I’d appreciate it as well!

Howdy Fisky, I've not personally posted any art to Artstation because I'm not really a good artist, but I have looked at a lot of art on the site. I don't think there is a lot to worry about when it comes to negativity because Artstation has a very positive community

Artstation is very difficult to break into unless you are a professional artist. It is primarily used by people who do commercial or professional freelance work - you aren't going to see a whole lot of hobbyists or beginner artists there that are popular, because that's just not what it's really for. It's less about finding other people's art just because you like it, and more about finding connections in the industry or locating someone for a job/commission. Deviantart is still your best bet, or FurAffinity if you do furry/anthro art.

Firstly, I will follow you wherever.

Start up a new deviantART! Maybe put all your old things in storage (I do that every so often) and tidy it up for a new round of art. It’s still a solid site and unlike Tumblr or Twitter, it’s still explicitly a social gallery site and art doesn’t have a shelf life of one day.

I have an Artstation! But it’s a rough one that caters to a very specific type of game dev art and it’s incredibly hard gaining traction on it. Social features are all but nonexistent as well unless you throw yourself headfirst into the site-wide competitions. It won’t hurt to get one, it’s a nice clean site and will throw together a portfolio for you automatically, but don’t expect a lot of typical social media engagement.

@dabomb217op

I’m glad to hear that at least; dA was really good for exposure but had a lot of problems with art theft and drama! I know any site will have either, but it was pretty bad back in the day. It might be better now though; last I used it was maybe 2013. I might consider either revamping my old dA or making a new one though.

@Sacrilege

Oof, noted yes. So basically, not for posting doodles, but for posting finished and professional work. While I do freelance and am trying to find professional work, I’m unfortunately largely self-taught and I doubt I’m at the level I need to be to join yet.

I want to clarify while yes, I’m looking for more traction, I also want a place where I can receive feedback/constructive criticism. I know there used to be a site where you could post your art specifically to get feedback, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was called.

Thank you both so much, that was very informative!

I would also like to add that plenty of people post doodles and drawing ideas they have had on Artstation, you just don't see it often because it's not as popular

@Rigby

Thamk ;u;

I think I might either make a new dA account and keep the old one open then, or just cleanup my old dA eventually yeah. Especially if artstation doesn’t really have a feedback aspect to it (I remember dA had a thing where you could request constructive criticism, not sure if that’s still a thing though).

I know what you mean by the specific game dev art yeah; I think that’s what people use it for here as well, if not 3D modelling and rigs.

@dabomb217op

Noted yes! I imagine they’re probably anatomy/gesture studies or concept sketches!

I know that there is a comment system on Artstation which can actually be an amazing source of feedback for the artists on the site from what I've seen
Not sure if this link will help you at all but it helped me when it comes to feedback

https://www.artstation.com/mandrin/blog/q2My/feedbacks-how-to-ask-for-them-give-them-and-receive-them-part-1

Consider looking at some of the feedback-for-feedback groups on Deviantart. I'm not sure if they're still active, but they give thorough constructive criticism in exchange for you doing the same for other people. Improvement-Club comes to mind.

Edit: Actually, making a new deviantart account is a good idea. They have a section that recommends and puts up new artists' works for people to view on the front page. This would give you a good boost in views and watchers. Unfortunately since Eclipse, you're much less likely to get views and favorites without existing watchers because it involves a good bit of clicks just to get to 'new deviations' now.