PE: Daily Deviations and Descriptions!

Mar 2, 201315 min read

Deviation Actions

rydi1689

Published: Mar 2, 2013

4K Views

Manga & Anime

Hello and welcome everyone!

In recent years the question regarding Daily Deviations and Descriptions has been brought up many times. Should DDs include a little description about why they were chosen? Should they be blank so as to let people find out their own reasons for enjoying the featured pieces...? Today we will take a look at the different perspectives on this subject! From community members to community volunteers, let's hear what they have to say!

Daily Deviations: To include or not to include descriptions

Descriptions or write-ups often include the reasons why said Daily Deviation was chosen, highlighting details that might go unnoticed or expressing the suggester and/or the CVs feelings towards the piece in question. Including a descripion or not is up to each individual CV. Ones prefer writing something for it, others don't. In the end it's just a matter of preference!

I made a poll asking the community what they thought about descriptions in Daily Deviations! Here are the results we obtained:

The vast majority of the people who took the poll stated they liked Daily Deviations with descriptions, followed by a smaller percentage who didn't have a strong preference for any side and 5% of deviants said they didn't want DDs to have descriptions.

But what do these deviants really think? I've asked them and these are some of their thoughts!

Gasara - Digital Artist

"Personally I prefer DDs to come with a description. I think it's useful to have a reason why it's been chosen so even if it's not your cup of tea you can still appreciate why someone else has deemed it worthy of a feature. Also, from a recipient's point of view, it's nice to know why your artwork has been featured. I think it's a question that most people will ask of such a feature so it makes sense to cover that 'why' in the description."

annazhuo - Traditional Artist

"When I received my DD, I felt ecstatic but there was not a description so that kind of held me back. I don't know why the artists liked it, what they liked about it, what of it made them want to suggest it, and etc. I look at the DD for the day and I get quite jealous of ones with descriptions. It certainly does make certain artists feel better about themselves. Then there is the other side. I see DDs of the day without a description. I sit here and wonder why it received a DD because I don't understand what is being appreciated. Like I said, everyone appreciates and looks at art differently. By providing a description, it might lead the viewer a general idea of what is being appreciated .. and it may be something they never thought of.. they might start appreciating it as well. It benefits those who are emerging artists, viewers, etc."

Narurinya - Digital Artist

"I do have two DDs, the first one with description and the other one without description. Even though I will always feeling grateful and honored to be granted with Daily Deviations no matter what, but still, I can't say the existence of DD description holds no meaning on me. For me, the one with description feels a little more special because I always like to see opinion about my work, and why it is chosen while there's much more better, professional works than mine. It makes me somewhat happier to read the description, to say so But that doesn't mean without description it makes a DD less special, though. It's just a personal opinion, really."

megounette - Digital Artist

"First of all I was very happy to receive a description with my DD because it was a self-suggestion so I didn't think that the featurer will take the time to write something. Having a description with the DD is interesting because you know what the featurer/other people think about your work, you see how they interpret your art, and I think I'd prefer having a DD with a description for that reason. Moreover, a description added is something valuable I think; not for the other, not to show off, but for yourself... it becomes something personal.

yuki-k - Digital Artist

I think it's great to receive a DD with description even if it'll be not so detailed. It's interesting to know what the fellow deviant think about it and why he decided to request it as a DD. Sometimes I see DD without description and wondering what was in thoughts of those who suggested it (i mean it in a good way). It is interesting to read. But sometimes the thoughts may be different from what artist wanted to put in drawing. Every DD needs a short description! But even without it won't be less meaningful.

Nyki90 - Art Student

"Receiving a DD would make me happy of course. I guess it is because it shows that my art is being appreciated and there are people who want to share my art with others. DD with description is also helpful, so that I could go back to give my thanks to the people who have been supporting me."

Now that we have heard the community's point of view... I've asked CVs who write descriptions for their DDs and CVs who don't. This is what they told me

So...What do our lovely CVs think?

Astralseed - Traditional Art CV

"When I first started setting DDs I very rarely wrote descriptions for them, not because I didn't want to, but because it's something I struggle with in general. After seeing the community speak out about wanting descriptions though I thought I should make more of an effort in that regard. It still doesn't come easy to me and I still do not write them for each piece I select to be a DD, sometimes a piece simply speaks for itself and doesn't need me to say why it's great, but otherwise if I am able to come up with a description that's not just "I like this" I will include it."

rydi1689 - Manga & Anime CV

"Writing descriptions is one of the parts that I love the most about featuring Daily deviations. I love taking the time to observe the piece and turn into words all the feelings and thoughts it conveys to me. I pour my time and love into creating descriptions for other people's DDs, so receiving a DD without a description would probably make me feel that I didn't get someone's time and love invested in my piece's description. If it comes without description it'd feel more like a feature, but if it has a description it goes beyond just a feature, it feels more special knowing why it was chosen and what they think about your work. I know some CVs don't include descriptions because they might end up sounding repetitive or they prefer to let the piece featured speak for itself, but even though I know it's not the case, that thought still lingers in my mind, so in order to make people feel special -- like I do -- I do my best to write descriptions for all my DDs.

Lyricanna - Fan Art CV

"There are 2 main reasons why after 29 months of being a CV I now rarely write descriptions: repetition and defence.
After a year and a half into being a CV I found that a lot of my descriptions were sounding the same. They basically echoed what I looked for in a good DD in my guidelines; good use of colour, texture, line, perspective, negative space, originality, etc. I would spend half an hour trying to write a description that didn't sound identical to one I had written the week before, which was not a good use of my time (and some DD suggestions would sit in my inbox for weeks before being DDed because I couldn't explain them adequately).

The other issue is that my descriptions came off as too defensive, like I was trying to go "look at x" in order to cover up something bad about y. Which is totally unfair to the art and artist. Also defensive wording invited people to tear apart the description instead of focusing on the art, which was another disservice to the art.

So now I don't write descriptions often but I do appreciate reading why people think something deserves a DD since I don't always see the piece the same way as the suggester. And if I asked, I will always try to explain why I DDed a piece; so if anyone ever wonders, shoot me a note "

Aeirmid - Photomanipulation CV

"I have heard community members say many times how much they value the descriptions that CVs put on DDs. This is for many reasons:

It gives the community an idea of what they need to strive for if they, too, would like to have a DD.
It helps them learn more about technique. For example, if something has really great lighting, pointing that out can help a less experienced deviant see in a concrete fashion what "good lighting" looks like.
It allows the community to get inside the CV's head and see what they like.
It can serve as an explanation of why something was chosen, which may offset negative feelings if community members don't agree with the choice.

As for me, I vary. Sometimes I will absolutely include a description, but a lot of times I feel the art speaks for itself."

In the end...

It's just a matter of perspective and personal preference

There's a wide variety of opinions in both the community and the volunteers, ranging from not wanting descriptions to adding one to every single DD! In such a massive art site as deviantART we're bound to not agree with everyone's points of view, but acknowledging and understanding them is important. Today we've learnt how the community sees descriptions in Daily Deviations, some CVs will keep including descriptions, some won't but now you have an insight about their reasoning

. Knowing your CVs will aid you in successfully suggesting DDs, even if they end up not using your description, it might help them see something they might have not noticed!

What are your thoughts on Daily Deviation Descriptions?

Comments19

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Minato-Kushina

Mar 4, 2013

Indeed, a description is optional. Personally, I always describe my suggestions, as it really helps the CV to understand even more why a piece deserves to be chosen. It's like I "offer" my thoughts to the others, helping them to see through my perpsective: what I like in the picture.

The same happens to me. Often, the DD description helps me to understand a picture better or to notice a detail that I haven't seen at first. Some descriptions are really well-written and thoughtful. <3

A picture may speak 1,000 words, but a description can add 20-30 more words, so the picture will now speak 1,030 words.

However, I also think that I repeat the same things in my descriptions, like I have run out of new words.

So, I often check other descriptions to take ideas.