Daily Deviations. Just a portion of what we do as volunteers, but probably one of the most visible.
There are a few things to be said about them, but instead of writing a big ass entry you won't read anyway, I decided to write a mini series of journals regarding some of these points, giving you some tips, some opinions and hopefully igniting some healthy discussion. Sounds like fun?
So, the first item on the agenda: my stance on them.
Everybody has their own perception of what a Daily Deviation is. I know
FAQ 61 tells us the official definition of what a daily deviation is; "
A feature chosen by a group of volunteers or staff members." A FEATURE, that's it! That's what a daily deviation is right? Yes. But I also understand that they're not just your everyday features. This little detail of being chosen by staff and put in a dedicated place very visible to all the community makes them special. (main reason why sometimes people complain about them). Even when being "
just a feature", it's also true that they have a personal connotative meaning, people see them in a different way: some consider them a huge honor. Others think of them as some sort of "trophies", or that they're given to you if you are "
good enough". Some think they're just another part of this big
popularity contest. Many others don't give a crap.
Something similar applies to the people who select them; some consider them a way to give exposure to the lesser known, an opportunity to introduce amazing artists, show amazing art or bring awareness about a theme or an art genre. And of course every volunteer has their own criteria when selecting them.
This is how I see Daily Deviations:
For me, Daily Deviations are the representatives of the site's galleries.
Think for a moment if you were about to introduce deviantart.com to someone who has never heard of the site before, and you can only show them a portion of it. What would you choose to show them?
Well, personally I would choose the
Daily Deviations page.
This is an art site, so the obvious would be to show them the art, and while I could choose to show them the frontpage, which is also a good option, I would go with Daily Deviations. Why? In a single page with around 30 to 40 features a day, you can see most of the galleries represented there. Usually you can find at least one for each of the following: Traditional and Digital Art, Literature, Design & Interfaces, a great variety of Photographic works, Emoticons, Wallpapers, Anime & Manga, Artisan Crafts, etc.
Most of the galleries are represented each day in the Daily Deviations, which makes them something like the galleries ambassadors if you will.
I'm the volunteer for Digital Art, so what I try to do through my selections is to represent the gallery as a whole. Digital Art is one of the most popular galleries within the site, there is a great variety of works from a lot of genres and themes, from an equally varied group of artists of different skill levels and experience, professional, semi-professional and amateur. I try to represent all that with my selections, so I might choose deviations from different themes, techniques and even skill levels. (I do have a very high standard when it comes to technical presentation of course, but sometimes a strong concept or a very striking theme can be a decisive factor even if the technical level isn't precisely the top of the top. )
Also, Daily Deviations should show you something you don't see everyday.
The purpose of the frontpage (set to "Popular") is to show art that is popular be by the theme, the technique or the author. You'll always find some amazing art there, but it's also quite probable you'll see the same artists, the same subjects and the same categories there, quite often. It's driven by popularity after all.
But unlike the frontpage, which is generated automatically, I think DDs should aim to show you art you don't see everyday. Daily Deviations set a spotlight on a particular piece for 24 hours and when your art is exposed to millions of users, 24 hours can make a huge difference. So why setting this spotlight to something similar to what you already see everyday? I think DDs should aim to show you an artist, an artwork and/or an art form that probably you woudn't notice otherwise.
I mentioned a couple of journals ago, that I receive a great number of suggestions from Painting & Airbrushing > Fantasy. I understand Fantasy is a very popular theme, but there are many, many sub categories within Digital Art; Conceptual, Political, Surreal, Pop Art, Abstract, Horror & Macabre, and a large etcetera. Also remember I also take suggestions for Drawings and Mixed Media. What about those? If I aim to represent the gallery as a whole, I want all those genres and mediums to be present also, if not everyday at least on a more constant basis. Don't take this, however, as I'm going to get mad or I won't select your suggestions if they come from Fantasy. Not at all! But you're always encouraged to go and look for a more wide variety of themes when looking for works to suggest!
So, as mentioned, a DD is a feature, but as opposed to everyday features you and I can make in our journals, choosing works simply because we like them, for me it takes way more than just my own personal taste, if I like a deviation or not, to determine if I'm going to feature it or not.
The next theme I want to touch is precisely my selection process and the most common reasons why I don't select some suggestions. See you on the next journal!
`ChewedKandi has certainly gone out of her way to keep the vector community on the right path. Always making sure that her talents are infinitely scalable, Sharon has put her bezier curves to excellent use, and firmly anchored herself as an inspirational leader. We're absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for June 2013 to `ChewedKandi. Congratulations, Sharon! Read More
Sta.sh
Basically, as CVs, when we are giving a DD, we are doing so because we think the image is interesting and well-done and deserves your attention. It may be technically exquisite. It may be technically quite good but exceptionally thought-provoking. It may be exceedingly creative. It may be all of these things! Above all else, it should stand out in some way from others in that medium or gallery.
Holiday Card Project 2012 Wrap Up
- although let's not acknowledge that I'm getting older mkay? 
I do believe I see black and white 'artistic' nudes everyday in the DD section. I understand the artistic importance of them, having done life drawings myself before, and how important they are to the study of human anatomy. But I hardly think it constitutes such importance that it overshadows EVERYTHING else.
Every single day I see one of them. Yes, some are pretty. But many of them are different models doing the same burlesque poses, perhaps semi nude today instead of the fully nude yesterday, or wearing stockings and panties without garterbelts. I appreciate those pictures, I really do. But isn't photography also about the environment? About nature, or buildings, or every other bloody thing in the world? Yes, nudes to hold the same (if not more, since we are human) level of importance, but why should there be so much emphasis on it? It's as if whoever selects them has the contrived idea that they aren't already accepted in bloody society, and thinks that shoving them in other people's faces would change that.
Otherwise. Thanks for the journal post
But anyway, following the same line of sharing my opinion, here is what I think.
First off, you'll frequently see Nude photography on the DDs simply because there's a volunteer dedicated to the category, so just as you'll see a Digital feature from me, and a Traditional feature from ^SylwiaTelari, you'll see a Nude feature from ^Nyx-Valentine once in a while. Aditionally, Nudes are not exclusive of the Artistic Nudes category, you'll find them also in Fetish, Pin-Up, Horror & Macabre, even stock, etc.
Now, there are also other volunteers dedicated to more subcategories within Photography, other than nudes. In fact, if you see the complete Community Relations Team you'll see there are no less than 11 volunteers for Photography (and notice only 1 of them is for Artistic Nudes). Granted, not all volunteers feature a DD everyday, but even so I believe Photography as a whole is well represented in the DD section everyday, you'll see Plants and Nature, Architecture, many kinds of Portraits, Photojournalism, etc, if not everyday at least frequently.
Giving you some numbers: ^Nyx-Valentine, the CV for Artistic Nudes has only selected 2 DDs from this category during december, in the past 20 days there are: a nude stock photo featured today, a Pin-Up showing a nipple on the 18th, and only suggestive glamour, fashion or fetish portraits the 17, 10, 9, 7, 6 and 4. I hardly consider that as putting too much emphasis on it or shoving them in other's people faces, specially considering around 700 deviations in total have been selected these past 20 days and only around 10 - 15 show nudes. But once again, that's what I think
I never knew there were subcategories for photography though
btw. love your blog about DDs and the .gifs you use, good work, keep it up.
Representative of a site's galleries. When artistic nude, body art, fanart, stamps, dA Related works are featured, oh wait, even Abstract photography or Street photography...
What's featured are things I usually see mostly in other ways and things that could be featured so I wouldn't put it on what someone sees everday as it will be different from person to person. But sure!
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