DeviantArt And Portfolios: Not Impressed

I am a beta tester at DeviantArt. I thought since I have been there almost 5 years (username – pixvex), that it was time I jumped in and tried to give back. Although some of the policies that DeviantArt I do not agree with, I do like that people can share their artwork. Recently, DeviantArt posted a message in my inbox about Portfolios. Of course, right now they are in the beta stage, but I tried it out.

The portfolios allow you to load images outside your DeviantArt account or add from your account. You can also insert your resume and any information for potential clients to know like live links to previous work. One thing I found and I actually posted about it, was that you can only load certain sizes. This means you will have to enlarge your logos, if you are a person that creates logos.

Other things you get to do is register your own domain and point your domain to the servers that DeviantArt lists. Otherwise, you can use a custom subdomain URL. Mine is http://blondishnet.daportfolio.com/. As you can see it is very plain as you can only choose black or white. Also, the images in the screenshots area do not appear, and of course, I could not load my logos.

Needs a lot of work, and I think that since people pay already, they should get to customize their portfolio further with css. I really am not impressed. I am just going to continue on my plan to revamp my own portfolio. However, it did not hurt to at least check it out. At least I can give some credit for DeviantArt for trying, but I think something better can be done. I believe DeviantArt forgot what a portfolio was in the first place. A portfolio is a way to allow a person to put their work up for display with their best effort. These will not suffice as they are as plain as paper (sorry for the cliché.)

Would you like to be a beta for this project? If you would like to be a beta, you have to have a premium membership with DeviantArt. If you are already a beta there, have you tried portfolios out?