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When people talk about influential social media websites, they will usually mention Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok. However, DeviantArt is one that is often overlooked. The online artist community, which launched in 2000, is a place where many influential comic book artists have honed their craft and made lifelong connections. For Tradd Moore, the artist behind Silver Surfer: Black and The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, he can’t imagine how the industry would look today without DeviantArt.

“I don’t know the age bracket of everyone in here, but there used to be this website called DeviantArt,” Tradd Moore says during a panel at San Diego Comic Con. “For this age bracket, I was born in 1987, if you were an art kid, you were on DeviantArt. And that is where you were meeting your art friends, and a lot of my friends went on to become successful fantastic creators.”

“Andrew MacLean who does Head Lopper, James Harren, who is the best, we all met on DeviantArt, and shared work with each other.  And clever writers were like, oh, this is where all the artists are hanging out, so I’m going to get on DeviantArt and do a little searching. So, I think a lot of writers and editors who had some cleverness, they would jump on there and meet people.”

The online artist community is still active today, and there’s plenty of hidden talents on there. If you’re a writer, editor, or publisher, you might find the perfect artist for your next project on DeviantArt.

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