Sheezy.art is probably one of the most comfortable and easy to navigate art sites I've been on in years. Growing up in the mid-2000s, young artist me really loved DeviantART when it was in its prime. New artwork greeted you each time you opened up the webpage, and you could also sort art by popularity if you wished to. Categories were available in the sidebar for faster browsing. DeviantART also did a great job separating various site functions, which meant that you weren't constantly bombarded with shop pages or advertisements while scrolling through posts. Everything was neat, navigable, and accessible. It was designed in a way that made interacting with art a breeze.

Artists were also given a spotlight; they could customize their pages in ways that spoke to their interests and aesthetics. Many art sharing websites (and by extension, social media platforms) have morphed into corporate billboards. There is no character to profiles nowadays. Modern platforms in their pursuit for simplicity and professionalism have become miserable, uninspired digital landscapes. And this reality is laughably ironic considering that these applications are geared toward content creators, whose job it is to be creative and stand out. Nowadays it is hard to imagine there is a person behind the portfolio (even if they are posting themselves too). It is all so disingenuous.

But I think Sheezyart is doing a decent job at balancing a sleek, modern vibe of today with the quirky, experimental art sharing platforms of the past, which were at their heart focused around fostering community between artists. This is the only place where I can count on my artwork being seen and, most importantly, acknowledged instead of simply looked at. That's another area where places like Twitter, Instagram, and hell even Cara fail; they're set up in a way that you're meant to just scroll, pause, and keep scrolling. Sites like that are more about consuming than engaging, despite what their developers will have you believe.

Sheezyart also appears to take a lot of inspiration from old-school DeviantART which makes me feel incredibly nostalgic. The clever assimilation of HTML customization and profile widgets is not lost on me LMAO. Even the way journals are set up here are echoes from that era of dA. It's so fun to see young artists do things with their pages and journals that I did nearly a decade ago. I think there is something here for everyone on Sheezyart.

Anyway. Soapbox over. Feel free to offer your thoughts below! :3