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Introducing Madefire Motion Books to deviantART

Tue Apr 2, 2013, 11:38 AM

Apr 2, 2013by +spyed
Visit #Madefire on deviantART

I am very excited to announce a strategic partnership between deviantART and Madefire, the leading Motion Book application in Apple’s App Store. (iPhone & iPad)

Together with Madefire, we are releasing the Madefire Web Reader on deviantART in a new category on our front-page called "Motion Books.” You will immediately find a dozen Madefire Motion Books there, with more books released each Wednesday.

Browse Motion Books^TM

Try it out!

deviantART & Madefire are undertaking an epic journey

In the coming months, you will see many more Madefire Motion Books on deviantART as deviants gain access to Madefire's Motion Book Tool. When Madefire integration on deviantART is fully complete, deviants will be able to make, read, sell, and buy books and comics, and transfer them to mobile devices -- all within the deviantART experience.

We have every imaginable comic and book format on deviantART and the most advanced community of comic book artists, writers and storytellers. One of the Madefire founders, =LiamSharp, has been a deviant for six years and represents both an artist in need of this solution and one of the driving forces behind its creation.

Madefire's Motion Book Tool

The Story So Far...

For years we have been searching for the right way for deviantART to enable deviants to tell their stories. We have such incredible stories here on deviantART, and few true story telling tools to aid our Literature community and our Graphical community to come together in unity and develop stories together. We've been asked with great passion by our members to bring such a capability to deviantART for a long time.

Many solutions we reviewed are backward focused on print strategy, where formats for publishing stories mirror the needs of paper printing. One of our challenges is that deviantART is a global, digital community that thirsts for great tools that enable digital story telling first. Digital-first means that a book is created for the purposes of being distributed digitally. Yet all digital-first tools didn't seem to take full advantage of new platforms.

We were immediately enamored with Madefire and its digital-first approach. It just looks so fantastic, exploding cells off the ‘page’ with the pop vibrancy that the comics style had always suggested, but never achieved until now.

Madefire's Motion Book Tool is Web-based, which inherently provides collaboration capability. DeviantART is obviously Web-based, and our new Sta.sh cloud storage solution already features Sta.sh Muro and Sta.sh Writer which will now be joined by Madefire's Motion Book Tool. Using Sta.sh, all of your files are easily accessible to you and (soon) your collaborators as you build Motion Books. You can easily use the deviantART Premium Content Platform to sell the books, and the stories you will create can be truly brilliant, limited only by your imagination!

Let Me ExplainHow It Will All Roll Out

The Motion Books category is live now on the front-page of deviantART.

The Madefire Web Reader is available now, with the Premium Content Platform integrated.

Various books available inside of the Madefire iPhone & iPad App are released on deviantART now, with more books each Wednesday.

The Madefire iOS apps including iPad and iPhone are available for download.

Very limited access is available for the Madefire's Motion Book Tool which is just not ready for full release to an audience as expansive as deviantART. We will allow more and more creators in as the creation software becomes ready for the big time!

In two (2) months time an initial larger group of members (hundreds) will be given access to the tool for testing. These members will be selected randomly.

Based on feedback we will roll out the tool to thousands and then millions of deviantART members.

To gain access to the Motion Book Tool, simply +watch the #MotionBookTool group and hang tight! Work on your comics and books as you have been, we will be reaching out especially to deviants who are posting their stories on deviantART already!

Ultimately, Madefire software will be available to all members for FREE and will permit you to convert existing static comics or books into Motion Books or create fresh new books using the tools! All books can be formatted for Web (deviantART), iPad and iPhone with support for other devices coming in the future. Unfortunately, Android is not currently supported. We decided to do "Web" first!

You will be able to make your Motion Books available for FREE or you will be able to use the Premium Content Platform to set a price and make money though the deviantART My Earnings interface. With the same free software, you will be able to simply convert your static books to the Madefire Reader. And soon, following the roll out plan the full Madefire's Motion Book Tool will be available to members, again for free, through Sta.sh so you will be able to build Motion Books from scratch.

You will then have the option of publishing Motion Books both on the web through deviantART and on mobile for the iPad and iPhone through Madefire.

I am really proud that deviantART is once again at the lead edge in giving artists the tools they need for extending their creative and financial career possibilities in the arts, while liberating their artistic independence through the ultimate collaboration with other artists.

The walls of traditional commerce that limited the practical distribution of your work and imagination are burning down. Now you can join with other artists and writers to build fantastically illustrated worlds, populated with the coolest characters engaged in the most exciting story narratives, coming to life with incredible sound and fury, and make your storytelling career a reality – without the benefit of massive personal financing or winding your way through the maze of the traditional publishing world.

After you’ve had a chance to sample Madefire Motion Books come back here and let us know what you would do with this medium or share with everyone who you would most like to see tell a story with a Motion Book. I have a few favorites of my own that I’ll drop into the discussion once its gets started. For now, enjoy a great read.

Browse Motion Books^TM

1,388 Comments

New Commissions Portal Coming Soon

by +spyed, Mar 14, 2013, 2:14:05 PM
Journals / deviantART, Inc. / Tech & Features

Our team has been testing an early version of our brand NEW Commissions portal. On the Commissions Portal you can find ALL of the (currently) 26,000 available Commission offers from artists, neatly categorized by Style, Type, Price, Popularity, etc. It's awesome!

When we launched Commission widgets on Profile pages a few months ago, I personally didn't find them to be very helpful by themselves. Without a directory of available artists for commissions, and what commission options there are from across the whole community -- I couldn't be sure that I was buying the right thing.

The new portal (which will be accessible right from deviantART.com's home page) has added an incredible value to my life since I've been playing with it: The ability to easily commission artists!

Because the commissioning process exists in-line on the Commission area, I was able to facilitate 5 commissions in an initial 2 minutes and 30 seconds for a total of ~2,000 Points ($25) which I want to discuss in a second. But, yes, you read that correctly. Two minutes and thirty seconds to commission 5 artists to make custom stuff for me. I did have to have a Note conversation later on with each artist, bringing the total time spent on these commissions to about 10 minutes of discussion. One of the commissions failed to complete due to misunderstanding that I think can be avoided. But about a week later I have the four final results to share.

I gave artists very simple instructions like, "This is awesome! I want one! Just make it Ninja-styled like my Avatar!!" or, "OMG it would be amazing if you could draw an english setter [link] that had just gone through a stinky garbage bag!" -- (Because Bentley, my English Setter, did this a few weekends ago when I left a garbage bag on my porch for a minute before taking it to the trash. GRR! hehe) or, "This is great!! Could you draw me like that?"

Simple, easy instructions to get us started. Which is what you should expect from 100-500 Point ($1.25-$6.25) commissions. This way, artists who are either learning or interested in perfecting a style of work can just facilitate an easy commission that motivates them and inspires them, plus adds a couple bucks in to their pockets.

Here are bigger versions of the results:

by *Tobsen85 and *yochan91 respectively.

A ninja avatar made in a style =seimemi is working with.

And a Spyed Chibi by ~MiniWoopWoop which is interestingly very similar to the avatar made by =seimemi if you look closely!

I'm extremely happy with my purchases!!! I not only feel happy to share these with you but also with my friends and family. I feel as though I got a great value for $25. And I also feel as though I supported artists by giving them fun tasks to work with in exchange for the fees they requested.

I do want to say that I believe this portal is going to assist greatly in raising prices that are charged, as artists see what other artists are able to charge and what they offer at those price points.

If I had one message for deviants using the Commissions system it would be: RAISE YOUR PRICES! Your time is valuable, your work is valuable. If you're a young artist and learning, incorporate price points in to your learning. Sure, offer 100 Point Commissions for fun, but please don't form any beliefs that your work and time should be worth $1.25.

Minimum wage is ~$9 an hour in the United States. That's 720 Points an Hour. Your work is skilled work, so especially as you develop as an artist you can charge much more than minimum wage. Please consider the time you are taking. It is fine if you want to discount your time because you feel you are taking longer than a Pro would, but if you spend multiple hours please value your time. Professional illustrations and the like should range from $250-$5000 a piece depending on your skill level. Professional Logo Designs can range from $250 to $50,000 a piece but tend to average about $1,000. Know this!

We are very excited about Commissions on deviantART as we believe we will be able to assist a growing community of artists and clients to find each other. We are equally excited to nurture professional artists who grow up on deviantART so that they can be invited to join our new professional commissioning platform known as DreamUp.com -- Rates on DreamUp start at $200 per Commission, whereas on deviantART you can find any price point even as low as 10 Points from developing artists. Additionally all artists and designers are welcomed to our Commissioning Platform on deviantART!

If you are an artist who accepts commissions on deviantART, set up your Commission modules on your profile today so that you can get commissioned by our Staff and an increasing number of clients who we are giving access to over the following weeks and months! (Full public launch is yet undetermined, but within 3 months.)

Visit EDIT PAGE on your Profile:

And add the Commissions Module from the Misc category!

Then, follow the instructions on the Commissions Module. You will automatically be indexed and promoted inside of the Commissions Portal!

Some Questions:

Why are deviants setting prices at 10 Points or 100 Points for Commissions like the ones above?
What is the right price point for these types of Commissions in your view?
What types of art or design would you like to Commission from artists or designers on deviantART?

263 Comments

Peace, Box.

by +spyed, Mar 7, 2013, 9:56:27 PM
Journals / Personal

After nearly 13 years of service, The Shoutbox, a key piece of original deviantART history was removed from the Chat page today. For 7 years it served our members on our homepage at www.deviantART.com. Its moment of permanent sunset brought us sadness, and joy, a reflection of life and death. Before life there is peace, and after, peace again. The Shoutbox lived a life of furious service connecting many generations of deviants from all corners of the globe to befriend, and to flame, and to befriend.

(Pssst... Look closely at the right hand bar where it used to be, below "Latest Quotes"! Thanks $starvingartist!)

Gone forever, to rest in the shadows.

With all our love,

56 Comments

The Shoutbox

by +spyed, Mar 6, 2013, 3:40:14 PM
Personal Journal

Dear Citizens of the Shoutbox,

I did make a promise to keep the shoutbox open. And I wish I were in a position to keep that promise.

I don't personally maintain the shoutbox or have the knowledge of how to do so, I also don't maintain the system resources it uses, or the complications it introduces when network wide updates are made to different systems that effect the shoutbox. There are teams at deviantART like devious Technologies and Product that do this. And they area easily the most strained resources that deviantART has.

These teams made a strong case to me this week in saying that usage of the shoutbox has decreased substantially from the hundreds of people who would flow in and out of it in years past, to now exactly 60.

I will tell you that the number 60 is a very particular number to me and to deviantART. The number 60 was used and discussed in great detail during the design and build of the Groups system. When I heard the number, I knew the tides had turned and it was time for change.

I wish the number were 70, or 90, or any number above 60.

I read a case study that said men participating on a regular basis in a social group of 60 other men live 10 years longer on average. (I realize the shoutbox is men and women almost equally) -- But the case study reveals value to both genders of participation in larger social groups of some diversity as well.

Malcolm Gladwell writes in the Tipping Point about social connections, and that 60 people is the number of people that the average person can maintain relationships with after family, old friends and necessary-to-know co-workers are removed from the total number of people a person can keep personal track of.

At the start of my digital life on the Netherworld BBS in Northern Virginia when I was just 12 years old, we had built the network up to 42 phone lines which was the total number of people who could be on to "chat" and play games at any point. This was the single most important group of people to me in my life if I had to summarize. They shaped me and helped me through the most difficult things even if they didn't necessarily know it.

Moving to upstate New York made dialing in to The Netherworld a long-distance phone call that my parents had to pay for. Many $700 phone bills later, they put an end to it. And my heart was broken in a way I will never forget.

The pain made me seek community again, and led to the creation of DMusic.com, which led to the creation of deviantART and the creation of the Groups system quite directly for example. I want nothing more than a harmony of 60 person eco-systems all around deviantART, so that deviantART can "feel" small and serve millions in just this way.

I believe we all have a thirst for this feeling. It is as human as the wires of the web can be in their current state. (I mean who's to know what Google Glass or something adds to the equation right?)

So I understand what is on the line here and the passion with which you guys will fight this. My heart really goes out to you here and as I told my team earlier today, sometimes my role really effing sucks.

It is clear that the 60 of you have found a harmony together. I love this! And I feel awful that I have to be the bad parent that can't keep their promise. In every way I can count I've literally convinced myself about 3 times in the writing of this note to keep the shoutbox going.

What hardens this reality is that the number is 60. deviantART must maintain a position where it builds and maintains software for the building of communities. When we service a single 60 person unit of community we are utilizing resources in a way that doesn't benefit the greater good of deviantART.com.

I encourage you guys to stick together and to fight through this change. There are alternatives to the Shoutbox right on deviantART: A GROUP, a CHAT ROOM, even a Profile page that already has a shoutbox on it. All of these things are substitutes on deviantART, not to mention available alternatives in private web hosting. None of them would be the same. I get it.

It is precisely the purpose of a community like deviantART to bring together groups of sixty people for life long companionship in a best case scenario. This is a very difficult thing for a group of people to achieve and I really believe it is something you guys should work on quickly to relocate so that you don't lose your touch with each other.

My heart goes out to you, and I'm sorry.

-- Angelo

145 Comments

So I says to the guy...

by +spyed, Feb 24, 2013, 7:44:11 PM
Journals / Art News / Cartoons & Comics

I hope ya'll are having a fun weekend!

-- A

50 Comments

Need Input for Message Center Revamp

by +spyed, Feb 11, 2013, 6:17:41 PM
Journals / deviantART, Inc. / Tech & Features

In the deviantWATCH, we would like to switch to Feeds vs. Messages you have to "X" away one by one.

Now, I could use a wide net of input for message center revamp, but really I'd like to start with a narrow view of just deviantWATCH.

The deviantWATCH lives within Messages, which contains within it Feedback, Notices, etc. as well. deviantWATCH messages come in like crazy in your message center once you are watching 20+ people. And of the folks reading my Journal, I know you guys tend to have over 100+ people that you +WATCH.

Help me understand something. Because if we go off and make changes, we're going to have a riot on our hands. And no one needs that kind of sadness in their lives:

Why can't we switch to feeds?

Feeds would effectively index YOUR deviantWATCH in to deviantART's search engine, so your deviantWATCH Deviations would have all of the filters and capabilities of the home page. Categories, Newest, Most Popular 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, etc. BUT all of this would be narrowed just to your deviantWATCH. You could search, you could have all of the viewing benefits of Browse like SitBack and RSS feeds.

The down side? Or is it the upside? No "X" -- deviantWATCH would simply show you your Watch as a search result feed, it would even tell you how many new items are in your feed, but once you viewed your deviantWATCH the counter would reset to zero. You could always browse your entire Watch history, but you wouldn't be able to push "away" all the deviations you're "done" with. Instead, you'd have to +Favorite them or Sta.sh them or something

Ok, go ahead, get the torches out.. and let's chat in the comments

-- A

544 Comments

Art Elves

by +spyed, Jan 7, 2013, 4:52:01 PM
Journals / Culture / Art Blogs & Mags

I mentioned I was in Mammoth over the holidays, which, besides an annoying sickness for the first few days, was so much fun I don't even know where to start. But I'll get into that in another Journal.

I wanted to share with you a note I found on my desk at #hq when I returned. Yanira works here at the office once or twice a week and she had her nephews in with her during the break.

We have a ton of these deviantART coasters laying around HQ so they must have found them. We originally made them for #originaldrinkanddraw and I'm so glad they found them! I'm going to have to get more just in case the elves come again!

Look what they left for me!

How cool are these?! Um, please ignore the devious slogan on there... Hopefully the artistic elves knew we were talking about delicious, healthy milk!

Happy New Year! Cheers to the creation and celebration of art in 2013!!

-- A

51 Comments

Commission Modules, Sta.sh on Forums and Life

by +spyed, Dec 26, 2012, 9:56:14 PM
Journals / Culture / Happenings

Commission Modules

As you can see on my profile, you may now commission me in order to answer either a simple, or complicated question for a fee. This isn't the intent of this system, but I wasn't about to offer my drawing skills for commission. I just don't think I've built up enough of a reputation with my drawings in this way. Meanwhile, I need to test the Commissions Widgets, we're considering releasing them on Friday for more folks to use them! What do you think of this?

Sta.sh on Forums

Enhanced conversations were released to Senior Members for use in the deviantART Forums. In short, they permit you to use your Sta.sh Cloud Storage along side the deviantART Media language. So you can easily add photos, emotes from the community, your favorites, anything in your gallery, even things in your friends galleries in to the conversation threads to increase the bandwidth of your online conversations. We've stumbled in to a few truly fun use cases while playing around with it, and we're talking about how everyone feels about these new capabilities.

I also posted this journal a couple of days ago:

I've since reached out to all of the folks whose art was used in this way. I've heard back so far from 3 of the original authors and generally speaking they either like it or don't mind it. And like the general tonality for how we are planning to launch it. (Allowing you to choose not to permit comments on your work. Effectively, just as we do now with existing comments.)

Life

I hope you guys are having an excellent Holiday season. Bentley, Royce, Viktoria and I are jumping in the car first thing in the morning to drive up to Mammoth Mountain to get our Holiday Ski on! On the way up, there's this fantastic frozen lake where I stopped last year and took these great photos with Bentley and Vik ($o-KOUKLA-o) that I posted in January:

We will most certainly miss $chris and $pachunka this year who flew home to be with their families in Canada and Ireland respectively. But we WILL be joined this year by a new member of the family ... Royce!

Bentley is constantly getting pounced by his little sister who is full of puppy energy.

But he's getting squeezed plenty to make up for it.

Happy Holidays folks!

30 Comments

With Sta.sh, it took a few mins to do .. This!

by +spyed, Dec 21, 2012, 7:53:03 PM
Journals / Culture / Editorials

On the seniors forum (to start) we've introduced the new sta.sh media bar (limited release only to senior members for now) allowing them to use sta.sh, muro, and deviantART in your comments. For fun, I made this in a few minutes using the new system. It allows you to use dA Muro, and its new annotation tool in order to point things out inside of art. but, I used it to have some fun.

-- Angelo

aka Spyed

aka "this guy" -

94 Comments

Boosted Boards Best Thing Since Hover Boards

by +spyed, Dec 7, 2012, 7:34:46 PM
Journals / Fun / Technology

So it's the year 2013 just about, and we don't have hover-boards yet. I'm just as bummed as you. But there's great news, because at least we have Boosted Boards!! This kick-ass project got kick-started with $450,000+ and my buddy Garry Tan over at Y Combinator got me an intro after I rode his beta-model. I'm such a fan...

Here's me riding the new model, Garry will be so jealous I got to ride it first! These long boards have the goods to hit 20+ mph up hill!!! If the limiters were off they could hit 60mph, but I felt really safe on this thing. It's so smooth and easy to drive... I haven't skateboarded in over a decade and look how easy I make it look!

Meeting Sanjay (CEO) and his co-founders Matthew and John plus other members of the team solidified this project for me. These guys are super bright, 110% dedicated and working their fingers to the bone on this project. It's the ultimate gig; innovation, engineering, tangible design, incredibly fun! When $SGonzalez and I left we were buzzing for the rest of the week.

That night, I dreamed of the feeling of being on that board... something that only happens to me when I ski, or snorkel. It's exhilarating!

I've set up the boosted boards team with beta DreamUp.com accounts... if any of you make it in to the private beta version of the platform, look for commission work from these guys and you'll be a part of a really great project!

Also, while there... we met the DOUBLE ROBOTICS team who are building The Double. The Double is a "telepresence robot" allowing you to remotely move around a space anywhere in the world with a gyroscoped bot you can drive around! As shown below, people can see your face and talk to you! Something like an RC Skype-Bot! They're still $2g's but... the company is young so hopefully the price will come down!

Have a great weekend

-- A

54 Comments

Is this a Deviation?

by +spyed, Nov 7, 2012, 1:21:47 PM
Journals / deviantART, Inc. / Tech & Features

I was in Greece visiting my family recently... and after everyone went to sleep, I couldn't. I knew there was a beauty outside that I rarely have a chance to see. And a deep, primal hunger drove my need to be outside to breathe in.

It was pitch dark. I couldn't see anything but the stars and maybe the driveway lights. But my camera can see so much more.

That's the milky way coming just about almost out of that chimney of the little house where I was staying.

Shooting star!

Is this a deviation?

319 Comments

I don't know how to break this to you.

by +spyed, Nov 7, 2012, 11:47:16 AM
Journals / deviantART, Inc. / Tech & Features

I'm really tired of only being able to submit one jpg in to a deviation. My art is often an adventure and the art is in the adventure.

deviantART doesn't allow me to publish that.

That's an easy thing to fix, technically. It just has big implications. But I think we should just do it and see what happens.

How?

It would mean that you could publish things made in Stash Writer as deviations. Which breaks the promise that when you click a deviation, all that results is a deviation. It could be an entire publication, like $techgnotic's articles.

We're pussy footing around this change within the company, and today while attempting to publish my art work for the fifth time lately I've just effing had it. I haven't posted to deviantART since the summer because of this.

And my current gallery? It's a sham compared to the work I've been doing the past few years with my art. I just have a hard time publishing it here. It's time for change.

Sta.sh and Sta.sh Writer are close to being clean, strong, independent products. Sta.sh is huge already, set to be a top 500 web property by itself by early next year. If you get wind of what's being released on it next week or the following you'll begin to see it's over-9000 ultra mega power. I already have access to the magic and it's changed the way I look at my creative and publishing process.

So, strap yourself in for a troll rampage until we get this squared away but I'm ready for galleries to contain truly rich media deviations.

-- A

80 Comments

Deep Dive on deviantART - 12 Years

Journal Entry: Mon Oct 29, 2012, 1:42 PM

Hey guys,

I did a deep dive interview last week with Jason Calacanis from "This Week in Startups", it's posted to youtube so I figure I'd share it with you all:

Should give you an insight in to some of the things we're up to.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers,

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

86 Comments

Charity: Water Starts the Process for the Well!

Journal Entry: Sat Aug 4, 2012, 10:44 AM

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in the charity: water project I wrote about in February of this year. Whether you were able to actively donate to, read up on, or help spread the word about this honorable cause, I genuinely felt touched by the actions of every person who took the time to participate.

I got so many inspiring and heart-warming Notes from deviants far and wide -- from those who had just donated to those who had no means to donate monetarily but who happily spread the word to others. Many even selflessly pledged their own birthdays, asking for donations to this great cause in lieu of gifts. In a world where a lot of the news headlines are depressing and bleak, my faith in the power of good and caring was restored by the deviantART community.

Some say that one should participate in charity for charity's sake, and I fully believe this. I donated because it was a great cause whose results were so tangible and so needed by those who would receive it. Hardly a day has gone by in the past 5 months that I haven't imagined what steps in the well-building process the charity was currently undergoing. But I know the charity is busy spreading the word to others, tackling paperwork, and funneling all the generous donations to make this well and many(!) others a reality.

So I wasn't really expecting to hear back from charity: water, especially so early in the process. I figured maybe I would log in to my page on their website a while down the line, find out where the well was built, and daydream about maybe visiting it someday. When I got an email today spelling out how the money would be implemented, the timeline, the part of the world, and the promise of detailed metrics as soon as the well is finished, I was reminded of why I wanted to donate in the first place.

Screen Shot 2012-07-26 at 5.08.31 PM by $LaurenKitsune

Today, charity: water reached out to me to let us know where our well would be built, how long it would take, and some other really interesting statistics about how the future deviantART well is going to help out a small town.

Screen Shot 2012-07-26 at 4.23.43 PM by $LaurenKitsune

These sorts of statistics are so shocking, I'm doing everything I can to raise awareness of something so many of us take for granted. If you're reading this Journal on a computer, it means you have access to an Internet connection, and more than likely can access water at the turn of a knob. We bathe in it every day, we freeze it to make drinks cold and heat it to cook our food and keep our homes warm. The thought of someone experiencing thirst and not being able to safely satisfy that feeling elicits such a strong emotion when I sit down to think about it. How often in our daily lives do we take for granted having such amenities often just a room away?

Screen Shot 2012-07-26 at 4.23.25 PM by $LaurenKitsune

This email -- perhaps one of a few more -- pinpointed where this upcoming well was on its path to being completed. As I'm sure you can appreciate, the paperwork, training, architecture, and everything in between is time consuming, and it really brings to light the unsung heroes behind charity doors who do all the heavy-lifting to bring something like fresh water to a community in need.

At the bottom of the email was a linked example of the sorts of statistics we could read about in the future as soon as the well finished completion, and you can read all about how this real well in Ethopia helped a small town here!

Giving to any reputable charity brings a feeling that's not really matched by anything else in the world. It's hard to describe, but it's a feeling of almost secret bliss. These people will probably never know any of the deviants who gave a small part of themselves to bring such a needed commodity to their lives. But I can picture a village, and the people living in it, and the difference this is going to make very soon.

I wanted to thank you all for making this possible, we did something really good here and I'm very happy. I also want to thank Charity: Water, you guys are fantastic!

I'll link to charity: water one last time, in case you want to feel the same rush of giving you've felt before when donating. And it's true what they say -- every dollar counts, every penny counts, and spreading your awareness to others truly does leave a positive impact on the world we live in.

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

52 Comments

Help support our application to manage .ART

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 3:15 PM by +spyed

View in Spanish

DeviantART announced a month ago that through a new organization, Dadotart we applied to manage a new Top Level Domain (TLD) called “.ART.” We are committed to having the .ART TLD — the Internet addresses that could end in .ART — organized and distributed with the full participation of the global art community.

We need your help!

We need your help to show public support for the Dadotart application. The application process to manage a TLD is long, arduous, and intricate. Help us gather as a true art-centric community. And please spread the word to everyone who loves the arts or is part of the arts because we aim to have .ART be home to everyone in every one of the arts.

Every voice counts!

There are a number of ways for you to support the Dadotart campaign.

1. Write a Comment

Write a comment about your support of Dadotart’s application in this journal and we will pass your comment on to ICANN. Tell them how a .ART TLD might serve you as an artist or art lover.

2. Spread the Word

Tell others! Help us spread the word by posting a Journal, updating your Facebook status, tweeting, or using any other means of social media to get others to join in. People who are not members of deviantART can e-mail messages of support to: art@dadotart.com.

3. Go Above and Beyond

We also urge you to post a message of support to ICANN’s “Submit an Application Comment” page. This process isn’t for the faint of heart and takes a few minutes longer as it requires you to create an account and verify an e-mail address. Still, if you do this, you are assuring ICANN that you are an impassioned and vocal supporter of the arts community and of Dadotart’s application.

Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to post a message to ICANN.

Well-formulated, respectful, and intelligent comments will be the best approach to showing ICANN and the world why Dadotart, Inc. will be the best manager of the .ART TLD.

Thank You!

A landslide starts with a single pebble. This is a worldwide effort at every level — from a single artist to a small group of craftspeople to an international association of museum directors. The support of one is the support of all. But hurry! This is a time-sensitive effort. All comments must be submitted by August 13th, 2012 to be eligible. Help us gather as a true art-centric community. And please spread the word to everyone who loves the arts or is part of the arts because
we aim to have .ART be home to everyone in every one of the arts.

Please note this doesn't mean that deviantART.com would change to deviantART.art (or deviant.art). The .ART TLD would service all of the arts, including art forms that deviantART doesn't handle -- like the theater, music, dance, and so on -- and would allow people to have individual identities associated with the arts without going through a community like deviantART or YouTube.

For the reader:

How would you use a .art address?

If all the arts had a special address like .art, how would it improve your use of the Web?

Do you think it's important for the voices of a community to come up with the guidelines for the use of a .art address?

Let ICANN know in your comments and support Dadotart!

13,001 Comments

Submit a Comment to ICANN

Tue Jul 24, 2012, 3:14 PM by +spyed

To leave a comment on the ICANN website, please follow these steps:

Visit gtldcomment.icann.org and click “Create a User Account.”

Complete the listed information, making sure your password is at least 8 characters long and uses at least one capital letter and one number.

Verify your e-mail address by clicking the link in the e-mail sent to you by ICANN. Be sure to do so within 5 hours, or your e-mail will be deleted from ICANN’s system.

Using the e-mail address and password you just created, log into the website by clicking “Login to Submit an Application Comment.”

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to add your comment. Select the following information in the various drop-downs:

Applicant: Dadoart, Inc.

String: 1-1097-20833 ART

Panel/Objection Ground: Under the header “Evaluation Panel,” select “Community”

Subject: Express your endorsement of Dadotart’s effort — such as: “Support for Dadotart” (There is a 40-character limit!)

Type your comment in the “Comment and Rationale” box, which has a 3,500-character limit. The system will not alert you when you’ve reached the limit, so please proceed with caution. Be sure to keep a copy of your comment as a precaution in the event of a submission error!

Submit your comment when ready. You should receive a confirmation screen that your comment has been submitted successfully.

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4 Comments

BOSS Week.

Journal Entry: Mon Jul 9, 2012, 5:30 PM

I love weeks like this. The team is incredibly hard at work launching deviantART's Premium Content Platform, and simultaneously managing our huge sponsorship of Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego.

^That's me in the middle there, writing this Journal.

^ Check out the intensity of $endosage, $danlev, `hellokirti, $Heidi,and $Ayame-Kenoshi. Diligent, even intense. That's because they're hours away from a massive release that will reach millions of deviants worldwide. They are right to be this tense. You would be, too.

In everything we do, we aim to change the world for the better. And we aim high. This Premium Content Platform you can read about here has no limits as to what it could achieve for the arts, from my perspective.

I haven't heard of another place where an artist makes 80% of the profit on the sale of digital content. Even in places where it might be possible, you start at between 30-50% and you have to earn your way to 70% at best. Even if there is a place that matches this move we've made here, it certainly won't be within the confines of the most highly trafficked arts platform on the web

(Yar, that's us!)

^ $Heidi running the show as we work to release.

I recently read a comment on deviantART by a member who had been around for 2 years or so that read something like, "Yeah, I hate to say it but this Points thing is a borderline scam. You can't do anything with them but buy deviantART products. It doesn't help me as a professional artist."

It's true -- and for a CEO, sometimes the truth really hurts. By design, the Points system was launched in order to make the Premium Content Platform possible -- something that most certainly helps professional artists and was the core intent behind Points! At the time, we codenamed it "Marketplace." The idea was to strap points to download buttons and let artists sell digital files. As clever as this sounded, and as successful as this would have been for deviantART, our team refused to do this without the ability to allow artists to earn real money from transactions like this. We could have, but it wasn't aligned with our mission to Entertain, inspire, and empower the artist in all of us.

So we worked for 6 months to revamp our backend accounting systems from the ground up. For example, our Prints Earnings program paid artists quarterly, and for a real Premium Content Platform offering, payments had to be much quicker than this. We got it down to 2 weeks -- a requirement of our fraud detection systems more than anything.

We also realized our actual accounting department couldn't handle processing payments quickly. So we hired new positions and grew the Operations team. At the same time, we worked on fraud protection systems and upgraded security all around deviantART to brace for this big change.

By March 27th of 2012 we released a new method to receive print profits. This revamp was partly triggered by the need of a much more powerful Earnings systems for deviants, necessary for the release of the Premium Content Platform.

And today or tomorrow we are releasing the Premium Content Platform.

^ Here's a photo taken about 2 seconds before people thought the photo was being taken. lol

It seems very simple. All it does is add an option to the Submission Process of deviantART (only via your Sta.sh, for now) that permits you to set a price for download of a file. It works out so that your royalty as a seller returns $0.01 (USD) for every 1 Point. (80 Points = 100 cents, you earn 80%, so a 100 Point transaction returns 100 cents ($1.00) to you, while the buyer is spending $1.25, which is equal to 100 Points.)

In reality this was a massive effort over the past year that we believe is an incredibly important step for the online arts.

What does this mean? What will this do to deviantART? What happens now?

We're in this together, folks. It's what we make of it. It's what we do with it. We're putting our best foot forward, and we hope our vision for Premium Content collides with your ambitions. I'm sure you have many questions, and the team is ready to answer them on #hq with each Site Update.

We will move immediately to v2 upgrades for Premium Content, making it easier to facilitate common work flows that we predict Premium Content Sellers will want to follow. And we'll be adding viewing technologies and upgrades for buyers, too, so that the Premium Content buying experience is improved.

There's a massive community signed on to deviantART. This is terrific for posting your work and getting feedback, participating in community activities, meeting people, enhancing your network as an artist, etc. Consider something that I think about often: There's an even bigger signed-out community browsing deviantART. How do you as artists take advantage of this greater mass of people to build a career right here on dA?

We believe that the Premium Content Platform is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle.

Time will tell. One thing is for certain, our team at deviantART and I know in our hearts that this is a right step for us all. And it pleases me to no end to be here, serving you for 12 years now, to ensure that this type of innovative progress is occurring in the arts.

It's our hope that anyone in the world, armed with either the talent or vision within any artistic medium or creative endeavor, along with tools like this one that we are releasing soon, can achieve the most modest or grandest of goals.

Angelo Sotira

Co-Founder & CEO

deviantART

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

148 Comments

Infatuated With Royce

Journal Entry: Sat Jul 7, 2012, 6:29 PM

I took some photos of Royce this afternoon. At 11 weeks old she's really pulling all the heart strings... must be about 15 pounds by now. When she is a full grown English Setter like her big brother Bentley she'll be about 45-55 pounds. Bentley is almost 70 lbs:

I grew up with English Setters. We had 3 when I was a baby and then two of them had a litter of 8 puppies that we gave to friends in Greece where my family lived at the time.

It's Saturday, perfect day for a nice big yawnnnn...

Have a great weekend! From, Royce:

p.s. Premium Content Platform begins launching Monday for all to consume content, and rolls out to a large number of deviants over the next week or two. Eventually to all. Keep an eye out on #hq for updates!

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

55 Comments

Trends.

Journal Entry: Wed Apr 11, 2012, 5:51 PM

There are a number of trends I'm amused by at deviantART.

Search for draw this again and you see a meme where deviants are showing their progress through the years. Examples:

Draw this again: 2005 vs 2012 by ~akreon

Then there's a trend on YouTube where deviants are posting video blogs about their deviantART experiences. I recently caught this one by *DomieNeek that I was charmed by. She makes great points, too!

In November we published a Journal on #dt's Blog, very discreetly announcing that we've launched a set of API's (Application Programming Interfaces) so that developers out there could make Apps for deviantART.

Even though this was whispered, we're seeing these Apps get some traction. Perhaps it's time to be less discreet.

Speaking of dAmn, I noticed that `Artgerm has a new chatroom that he hangs out in on there called #Artgermination - I've been hanging out in there a bit lately.

Shout out to the folks hanging out in #seniors right now; `capncraka, ^DaPineapple, ^anmari, ^Astralseed, ^Steph1254, =CRWithers, =Rimson-Fuchs, *litecrush, `Milotic1406, !prosaix, *Topicality, =ZaquiaStorm and even *Thumbbot

Also, check out *CassandraPoulson and *ARTofANT who are hangin' out with us at deviantART HQ working on top secret unannounced projects! Their art is amazing!

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

135 Comments

Mood: Love
Playing: Catan
Eating: Sushi
Drinking: Beer

Quiet.

Journal Entry: Thu Apr 5, 2012, 7:29 PM

I'm drawing every day.

And taking photos every day.

And designing every day.

The drawing usually leads to the designing. Or vice versa.

The photos are just something I can't help. If I miss a shot, but see the photograph that could have been, I get kinda depressed about it. So I just take photos to avoid that feeling. I miss a lot of photos anyway. But I try to remind myself that those were photos just for me. And that's a nice feeling when you can see photos that someone else will never see. Really incredible things happen all around, all the time, so long as you're looking for it. Challenging yourself to see the art out there even if it hasn't been pointed out by anyone but you, for you.

The designing is all deviantART. Plus designing apartments for new friends in town, or helping friends with their apps or startups. Like [link] or something. But usually it's for internal deviantART projects.

Stuff we've been working on forever that hasn't seen the light of day quiet yet. It's coming. I would say "soon," except I don't know what soon means anymore.

It's all gotten so complex to be honest that I find myself writing Journals about it that I never post wondering what people might think. So I post stuff I'm supposed to instead.

This next chapter of deviantART is deep. Really deep. A lot of deep reflections from the world tour to now. A lot of thinking from the ground up, or from the sky down. However you want to look at it.

Nothing we're doing is particularly small. So it takes time.

That's good news though, because the problems in the arts are big. So we're solving the big problems. So the rewards require patience.

This is the deepest moment right at this moment. It's a turning point... Research is done, development is developing and much of it is testing and iterating to a release cycle.

I've been going down to Drink & Draw in Downtown LA on Thursdays to drink and hang out with this really great group of artists. ( [link] ) Last week $pachunka and I brought our sketchbooks and drew interfaces. Really inspiring place for output. I love it there.

I'm thinking of building a deviantART Studio Bus, out of one of those old Blue Bird School Busses. So I can pull up in the thing at devmeets and park it in front of cool comic book shops like Meltdown on Sunset Blvd in LA. [link]

Inside I'd replace all the seats with tables. And on the sides I'd deck it out with art supplies so deviants could come in and draw. Like drink and draw... but on a bus... anywhere.

Would be awesome to bring it to comic-con, too. The thing should be on the road all year hanging out with deviants, at least that's what I'd like. Honestly I'd like to be on it all year meeting artists like on the world tour. But my time is probably best spent back at HQ right now.

Keep watching #hq for those Product updates. We're putting a ton of effort in to those. And definitely read the "Network Articles" that $techgnotic works on for release every Wednesday. They're really setting the tone around here... that most recent one about the Alien Ninja Turtles and how Michael Bay is (imho) screwing up with that crackpot origin story is really enlightening. ( [link] ) We definitely think story tellers on deviantART really have much better ideas about what the future are about.

Working on the 2012 State of the Union. Excited to share a lot of much desired information about where we're headed. It's long over-due..

+spyed sense:

i really need to change my signature.
it's been simmering in lame for way too long.

Ninja image created by *AndyFairhurst

218 Comments

Journal History

Apr 2, 2013 Introducing Madefire Motion Books to deviantART
Mar 14, 2013 New Commissions Portal Coming Soon
Mar 7, 2013 Peace, Box.
Mar 6, 2013 The Shoutbox
Feb 24, 2013 So I says to the guy...
Feb 11, 2013 Need Input for Message Center Revamp
Jan 7, 2013 Art Elves
Dec 26, 2012 Commission Modules, Sta.sh on Forums and Life
Dec 21, 2012 With Sta.sh, it took a few mins to do .. This!
Dec 7, 2012 Boosted Boards Best Thing Since Hover Boards
Nov 7, 2012 Is this a Deviation?
Nov 7, 2012 I don't know how to break this to you.
Oct 29, 2012 Deep Dive on deviantART - 12 Years
Aug 4, 2012 Charity: Water Starts the Process for the Well!
Jul 24, 2012 Help support our application to manage .ART
Jul 24, 2012 Submit a Comment to ICANN
Jul 9, 2012 BOSS Week.
Jul 7, 2012 Infatuated With Royce
Apr 11, 2012 Trends.
Apr 5, 2012 Quiet.

So about this + symbol.... ?

40%

552 deviants said No one cares at all.

24%

331 deviants said I would like all admins to keep their $ symbols

12%

173 deviants said I would like you to keep your + symbol

12%

171 deviants said I would like all admins to be +'s

12%

165 deviants said I would like you to change your symbol back to a $

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+spyed

deviantART & Madefire are undertaking an epic journey

The Story So Far...

Let Me ExplainHow It Will All Roll Out

Some Questions:

Why are deviants setting prices at 10 Points or 100 Points for Commissions like the ones above? What is the right price point for these types of Commissions in your view?What types of art or design would you like to Commission from artists or designers on deviantART?

Commission Modules

Sta.sh on Forums

Life

We need your help!

Every voice counts!

1. Write a Comment

2. Spread the Word

3. Go Above and Beyond

Thank You!

For the reader:

Journal History

So about this + symbol.... ?

Add Media

Style

Why are deviants setting prices at 10 Points or 100 Points for Commissions like the ones above?
What is the right price point for these types of Commissions in your view?
What types of art or design would you like to Commission from artists or designers on deviantART?