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deviantART, LLC.

200px
URL	deviantART.com
Slogan	deviantART: where art meets application!
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Art display/Social networking service
Registration	Optional
Available language(s)	English
Owner	deviantArt, LLC.
Created by	Angelo Sotira, Scott Jarkoff, and Matt Stephens
Launched	August 7, 2000
Alexa rank	131 (June 2012[update])[1]
Current status	Active

deviantArt^[2] (official typeset as deviantART;^[2] commonly abbreviated as dA) is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc. is headquartered in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States.^[3]

deviantArt aims to provide a platform for any artist to exhibit and discuss works. Works are organized in a comprehensive category structure, including photography, digital art, traditional art, literature, Flash, filmmaking, skins for applications, operating system customization utilities and others, along with extensive downloadable resources such as tutorials and stock photography. Additional utilities include journals, polls, groups and portfolios.

"Fella," a small robotic cat character, is the official deviantArt mascot.^[4]

As of August 2010^[update] the site consists of over 14.5 million members, and over 100 million submissions, and receives around 140,000 submissions per day. In addition, deviantArt users submit over 1.4 million "favorites" and 1.5 million comments daily.^[5] The domain deviantart.com attracted at least 36 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.^[6] As of July 2011, it is the 13th largest social network with 3.8 million weekly visits.^[7]

Origins[link]

deviantArt was originally launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matt Stephens and Angelo Sotira, as part of a larger network of music-related websites called the Dmusic Network. The site flourished largely because of its unique offering and the contributions of its core member base and a team of volunteers after its launch,^[8] but was officially incorporated in 2001 about eight months after launch.^[9]

deviantArt was loosely inspired by projects like Winamp facelift, customize.org, deskmod.com, screenphuck.com, and skinz.org, all application skin-based websites. Sotira entrusted all public aspects of the project to Scott Jarkoff as an engineer and visionary to launch the early program. All three co-founders shared backgrounds in the application skinning community, but it was Matt Stephens whose major contribution to deviantArt was the suggestion to take the concept further than skinning and more toward an "art community". Many of the individuals involved with the initial development and promotion of deviantArt still hold positions with the project, from administrators to volunteers serving as gallery directors and Message Network Administration. Angelo Sotira currently serves as the chief executive officer of deviantArt, Inc.^[9][10][11]

Growth[link]

On November 14, 2006, deviantArt gave its users the option to submit their works under Creative Commons licenses giving the artists the right to choose how their works can be used.^[12]

On September 30, 2007, a film category was added to deviantArt, allowing artists to upload videos. An artist and other viewers can add annotations to sections of the film, giving comments or critiques to the artist about a particular moment in the film.^[13]

Versions[link]

deviantArt has been revising the site in versions, releasing multiple features at once. After version 2, versions were released on the date of site's birthday, August 7, excluding Versions 6 and 7.

Special events[link]

The Hollywood Palladium while hosting the first deviantArt Summit

deviantArt Summit[link]

On June 17 and June 18, 2005, deviantArt held their first convention, the deviantArt Summit, at the Palladium in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The summit consisted of several exhibitions by numerous artists, including artscene groups old and new at about 200 different booths. Giant projection screens displayed artwork as it was being submitted live to deviantArt, which receives 50,000 new images daily.

Leaders of deviantArt had hoped to hold a new summit each year; however, no plans were ever made for a 2006 Summit.

deviantArt World Tour[link]

Starting May 13, 2009, deviantArt embarked on a world tour, visiting cities around the world, including Sydney, Singapore, Warsaw, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, London, New York City, Toronto and Los Angeles. During the world tour, the new "Portfolio" feature of deviantArt was previewed to attendees.^[19][20]

Criticism[link]

Copyright and licensing issues[link]

There is no review of potential copyright and Creative Commons licensing violations when a work is submitted to deviantArt, so such violations can remain unnoticed until reported to administrators by site users. A mechanism for notifying administrators of potential copyright and licensing violations is available.^[21] Some members of the community have also been the victims of copyright infringement from vendors using artwork illegally on products and prints.^[22]

Removal of Scott Jarkoff[link]

On July 29, 2005, co-founder Scott Jarkoff was removed from the deviantArt staff, angering members of the community.^[23][24] deviantArt staff have portrayed his termination as necessary, but this assertion was disputed.^{[clarification needed][23]} With Matthew Stephens' resignation in 2003, supporters of Scott Jarkoff assert that now neither of the founders remain in deviantArt's administration. In contrast, Sotira insists he was a founder, and also the first full time working staff member of the deviantArt administration. The deviantArt administration has been generally tight-lipped throughout the incident, due to legal restraints.^[23]

Various campaigns have sprung up in support of Scott Jarkoff, including the "Bring Back the Community" campaign, "Save the Alien," and "Yellow Day" (because Jarkoff was known as the "yellow alien," Jarkoff's mascot), which was carried out by many of Scott Jarkoff's supporters.^[25]

On July 31, 2005, Sotira posted an official response to explain the situation.^{[clarification needed][23]} The response to this entry was mixed.^{[clarification needed]} Jarkoff also posted an explanation on his personal website.^{[clarification needed][24]}

On October 7, 2007, Jarkoff wrote a journal in which he complained about his video getting deleted due to a copyright violation.^[26] On October 13, 2007, Sotira responded,^[27] claiming that Jarkoff lied about his role in deviantArt's development, that Jarkoff did nothing on the site in the beginning, and that he was the one who fired Matthew Stephens in 2003. He accuses Jarkoff of hypocrisy by saying that Jarkoff still owns shares of deviantArt stock.^{[citation needed]} Jarkoff claimed he needed money to sue Sotira for wrongful termination, and even went so far as to set up a fund for it, but Sotira claims that in reality, he had more than enough money to cover any legal costs for any lawsuits.^{[citation needed]} Sotira implies that Jarkoff defrauded even though Sotira was going to use deviantArt's money to fight any legal battle against Jarkoff.^{[clarification needed][28]}

See also[link]

	Companies portal
	Internet portal

• Elfwood
• Pixiv

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

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Angelo Sotira (born February 14, 1981) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded online community deviantArt on August 7, 2000 with Matthew Stephens and Scott Jarkoff.^[1]

Career[link]

Angelo founded deviantART at nineteen,^[2] but it wasn't his first company. Four years earlier, he started a music file-sharing site called Dimension Music, which he sold a few years later to Michael Ovitz, coming off of his stints at Disney and the Creative Artists Agency. Angelo worked the next two years at Ovitz's Artist Management Group & Lynx Technology Group (Ovtiz's Internet investment arm) where he advised on how those companies could best strategically integrate the opportunities from emerging commercial applications of the Internet.^[3][4]

Personal[link]

Sotira was born in Greece on February 14, 1981.^[3][5] Currently, he is living in Hollywood, California.^[6]

References[link]

• "Teen Internet Moguls". http://www.gnextinc.com/capitalist/articles/internetmoguls.html. 
• Cyan Banister (2010-08-22). "“Stop being weak. An Interview with Angelo Sotira, CEO of deviantART.com (TCTV)". TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/22/stop-being-weak-an-interview-with-angelo-sotira-ceo-of-deviantart-com-tctv/. 

External links[link]

• Angelo Sotira on deviantArt
• Angelo Sotira on Twitter
• Angelo Sotira on CrunchBase