This is something I’ve thought of for a couple of times, and I want to bring this up before I pack up and leave for the hills for Holy Week.

Would you direct prospective employers to your deviantART site?

That is, if you’re doing any art-related work and would like to showcase these to employers, would you direct them here? This has happened to me on a number of occasions.

The first time I was asked by a company that outsourced art for advertisement, cartooning and such companies overseas. In the middle of my penciling exam they asked me if I had a deviantART site. I suppose it was because they were all artists in there, that it wasn’t unusual for them to have a deviantART site to put up their own art. It might have even been a plus to them for me to have a DA site, since it would show I’m an artist who’s really in the zeitgeist of online sharing.

A second, more recent time was during an interview at a magazine. I was applying as an artist or writer, and the editor-in-chief asked if I had any site online where they could see my art. I admitted I did not have my own web portfolio, but that I did have deviantART.

To which she querulously shrugged, “Why not?” This seemed to indicate that she didn’t matter whether how casual it is, as long as there’s someplace to see my art, she’ll check it out.

Now off the top of my head here are the immediate pros to a “DA-folio”.

First, putting up a DA site is easy. It’s fast, free, and as long as it’s all in good taste and you go through the right regulations, you can upload whatever you want. Second, any one can access it at any time. Unless you’ve blocked them or they put in their actual age in their registration, they won’t be able to see your account.

But I keep thinking of the cons, and they outnumber the pros. First, would any self-respecting professional employer want their first impression of the portfolio to be one under the name “lambfireperushaspoutkinsXXX12”? Second, with DA’s casual and customizable nature, would you want them to see whatever crazy photo is on your Webcam feed? Assuming, of course, you’re a cartoonist or artist who does comedy and satire, hence you Webcam will only reinforce that image further. Third, do you want them reading all those casual shout-outs on your page? All those chirps of “ur so K00L!!!” or “0mg your art rockzxs pls don’t stop drawing yur my idal” may come off as flattering, but it probably says a lot more about the people who admire your art on the website. And one more: honestly, DA’s color scheme is awful. Would you want to direct your employer to a vegetable/snot green website with a less-than-user-friendly interface, and plenty of buttons to go nowhere? And, lastly: those darn journals. They’re good for catharsis, release, and talking to DA friends, but do you want to give employers the chance to see the emotional, issue-strewn rants that sometimes bedeck the journals? The last job I took had me undergo a psychological evaluation to see if I’m fit for work. I’m pretty sure employers would forego that after seeing a few journal entries.

I’ve seen plenty of deviants though whose accounts are good examples of pseudo-portfolios. This is because they’re subscribers, and have been able to spiffy up their sites with fancy CSS. They even have working rates up there for jobs that are more than the odd commission piece. These are probably good examples of DA account-turned-portfolios, and I’m actually kind of impressed with these.

I’d like to hear what you think of this. Is having just a deviantART site not enough, or would you direct prospective employers to your deviantART site?

I’ll be back in a few days to check replies. Take care all! Be safe, and love life.