Comic-Con 2009: Meeting Up with deviantART in the Artist's Alley

Liz Ohanesian

deviantART user Meghan McMahon at Comic-Con

​In some ways, deviantART is the driving force driving Artist Alley's at comic book and anime conventions across the nation. The online artist community doesn't typically sponsor booths or have any other sort of official presence at the cons. However, the illustrators, digital artists and craftspeople inside the booths are quite frequently deviantART users, or Deviants as they are called. You can see their personalized user addresses on business cards and contact sheets. Maybe you'll pick up a card, go home, look up the user and then end up in an hours-long time suck, scrolling through pages of fan art, photography, character designs and whatever else piques your interest. It's an easy addiction.

Liz Ohanesian

deviantART user Leah Mangue at Comic-Con

​Last week at Comic-Con, the Hollywood-based web firm/art appreciators headed over to the Artist's Alley to meet their fellow Deviants. When we spoke with CEO/co-founder Angelo Sotira, he estimated coming into contact with at least 100 artist's in the tiny corner of the Exhibit Hall.

Over the past nine years, deviantART has changed the way artists work as much as it's changed the way we view art with its part -online portfolio, part -DIY shop and part-social networking format. Like the BBS's that influenced Sotira as a teenager, deviantART thrives on interaction.