Jun 30th 2012, 15:18:08
One of the really nice things about deviant art is the sheer numbers of people that regularly (daily) visit the site that love art. Many doodle, and don't really "do" art but are there to check out what other people make.
The problem with such a big site is that when you upload a new image (called a deviation), once you click on "newest deviations" there have already been like 10-15 posted since yours. From my experience, I never post one image at a time, but bursts of 10, greatly increasing the chance that people will see.
It's tough to get "seen," but once you do, the network for being seen more is awesome! Kind of exponential growth. I've never tried selling prints there though.
In addition, I really believe in what they stand for as a company, and they have tons of really cool employees, not to mention the CEO and founder is a really nice and down-to-earth guy whose goal isn't to make tons of money, but to help artists be seen!
I personally don't like etsy. I have a problem with the price range that people set for themselves and seems to be rampant around the site. I'm sorry, but if you put 10 hours of work into something, you can't sell it for $50. Etsy items have always been underpriced to me