Common complaints about Daily Deviations

There are many recurring complaints and concerns within the community regarding Daily Deviations. This is absolutely normal, as Daily Deviations are a site-wide feature and attract a lot of positive and negative attention. This article aims to address some of the most common complaints we receive as Community Volunteers, and hopefully help answer some questions and concerns you may have.

A common complaint centres on already popular art receiving Daily Deviations which means that ‘unknown’ artworks are not featured. Although this issue has been thoroughly addressed in Daily Deviations: It's always popular art!, it’s important to quickly address this issue once more. Every Community Volunteer has their own preference when it comes to featuring popular versus unknown art; however, as a whole, we are all attentive to the art in itself rather than how many comments, favorites or views it has. Just as we should not discriminate against ‘unknown’ art, we should not exclude ‘popular’ art from being featured. If the art is amazing and worthy of being seen by the entire community, then that’s the only thing that truly matters.

Many believe that if you are new to DeviantArt, you shouldn’t receive a Daily Deviation, that older deviants should have priority. As stated previously, the main purpose of Daily Deviations is to feature amazing art, so the date a member has joined the website should not have anything to do with whether they can receive a Daily Deviation or not. If you submit incredible work, why should you be set aside just because you haven’t been on the site for ‘long’ enough? Not to mention, artists who are new may not necessarily be new to DeviantArt in itself - they may be older deviants who have rejoined under a new account. The key thing to remember is to let the art speak for itself; don’t judge or assume things about the artist.

Similar to the complaint about popular art being featured, many complaints focus on how popular artists are featured too often. Many artists have received multiple Daily Deviations, which often gives members the notion that they cannot suggest that artist’s work for yet another Daily Deviation, or that popular artists should stop being featured by Community Volunteers. Community Volunteers do have their respective opinions on this matter, but, once again, we cannot discriminate on the basis of popularity. If the Daily Deviation is about showcasing amazing works of art, why exclude such an amazing piece just because the artist has been featured many times before? Generally, you will find that Community Volunteers are very careful to have a healthy amount of both popular and ‘undiscovered’ artists that receive Daily Deviations. One should not outweigh the other, and we all work hard to make sure that is the case.

Please also bear in mind that some galleries, like Photomanipulation, are small in comparison to bigger galleries like Digital Art or Traditional Art; therefore, it may seem that some deviants are preferred over others, but usually that is because the community of artists is smaller and thus there aren’t as many artists to choose from when giving a Daily Deviation.

While quality is a recurring complaint for Daily Deviations, more often than not it involves a lack of knowledge with regards to the media being featured. For example, many complain about photography being too ‘easy’, that anyone can just ‘click’ and make a photo, so it’s not real ‘art’ and not worthy of being featured. If stock photography is not your forte, it can be easy to assume the wrong things about what stock photography involves. The only advice we can give in this case is to think before commenting, and to do some research before complaining about quality. If you think you can do the same thing, or better than what is actually featured, by all means you are welcome to do it and to self-suggest your results. Otherwise, trust in us that if it is featured, it is a quality piece of work in one way or another. If that isn’t enough, you are always welcome to note the Community Volunteer who featured the artwork and ask why they did so.

Many members who suggest Daily Deviations have expressed that they would like to receive responses to their suggestions; for members who constantly suggest with no response, it can be frustrating. It is understandable why suggesters would like a response, because then you would know if the deviation will be featured and/or when it will be featured. Other members simply want to be thanked for their suggestion(s), to know that their efforts are appreciated. However, Community Volunteers receive numerous suggestions every day, and, in a lot of cases, trying to reply to each and every one would take up significant amounts of time. On behalf of all Community Volunteers, we would like to say that every suggestion is appreciated and encouraged. Even if you don’t receive a response, it is not because we are ungrateful or we don’t want your suggestions. To help yourself in this particular matter, make sure to read each Community Volunteer’s Suggestion Guidelines as they often address whether or not they will reply to Daily Deviation suggestions.

A common complaint for Anthro is that ‘there are too many furrys being featured’, which stems from a misconception to what a ‘furry’ is vs. ‘anthro’ art. Many mistake furry as not being anthro, or perhaps ‘furry’ art isn’t ‘art’ and thus should not be featured. It is encouraged that people realise Anthropomorphic art is ‘art’ and deserves just as much recognition as any other kind of art, especially because it has its own gallery on DeviantArt.

Art Nude

Artistic Nude photography is commonly referred to as pornographic and undeserving of receiving a Daily Deviation. The best advice we can give to those of you who are offended by nudity or mature content, is to turn on your mature content filter: FAQ #93: How does the Mature Content option work?. If you choose not to, then we would encourage you to simply ignore artistic nude photography if it disgusts or offends you. The human body is an incredible inspiration to art, this has been the case since the Renaissance and even farther back in time. Would you call Michelangelo's David pornography? No. Nudity, does not necessarily imply sexual themes, and even when it does, that does not make it pornography. It would be best to educate yourself with regards to pornography before you make such claims on other peoples' art, and to remind yourself that pornography is not allowed on DeviantArt and thus would never be featured as a Daily Deviation.

Similar to Anthro Art, Body Art receives a lot of complaints that it is not ‘art’. While you are welcome to have your own opinion on what is art and what isn’t art, we ask that you respect DeviantArt’s decision that Body Art is art with its own respective gallery on the site. Thus, it is just as entitled to being featured as any deviation on DeviantArt. Although you may believe it is not art, many people do see it as art, so we encourage tolerance of other people’s beliefs. You don’t need to agree with everyone! We are not forcing you to look or appreciate or comment on the art. If Body Art isn’t to your taste, we encourage you to move on to something that is.

Digital Dolls/Pixel Art

Many believe that as dolls use bases, as a resource, the artist has cheated because they have had help. However, we would like to remind you that the majority of artists use resources such as references, tutorials and more in aid of their artwork. Photomanipulation, for example, uses stock created by other artists. Nevertheless, if you do believe that a kind of artwork does not deserve a Daily Deviation, please address this to the Community Volunteer who featured the Daily Deviation or to moonbeam13.

Stock & Resources

While stock photography may look ‘easy’ to capture, and thus contain no real effort or thought that merit a Daily Deviation, many don’t realise the function of stock. Stock provides a foundation for finished art - it is not finished art in itself. Therefore, stock is judged on its utility, on how useful it is and how beneficial it is technically. For example, good stock should be clear, shot from a useful angle, etc. If you think you can do a better job, then show that to us!