Welcome to Gaia! ::

I like it.
It's just slow in the beginning. It's best to friend a few friends' DA and add them on it, then search through some art and add a few artists to your watch list you like, or someone you could talk to.

I honestly love it because I am always talking to lots of online artist friends. I think it's fun.
:3

Well, above all dA is BIG. Not only in members, but in genres. You can find practically anything there and it's nice for those of us who does many different kinds of art to put it all on the same site (the only artform dA does not allow is porn - which can partly be worked around if it's "artistic nude").
I myself got manga-ish drawings, realistic drawings, photography, poems, novels and short stories in my dA gallery. You can also find fractals, vectors, designs for houses and cars, pixel works, flash... practically anything :3

On the downside it's slow in the beginning. You'll have to fish for watchers who'll comment and (hopefully) fav your works. Since a person's favourites are displayed on their page, people might stumble over your art without having heard of you before - so it's a little bit like a popularity contest! XD

You can also join guilds (which basically is a normal account that the members watch) and participate in contests to be noticed. I've found that if I leave comments on someone's work, they are likely to look at my gallery and comment on one of my works ^^

Well, deviantart got their own big contests of course, but I've never dared participating in one sweatdrop Too much competition.
Basically, you make your art piece, submit it in your gallery and tell whomever is holding the contest that you're done (including a link is a good idea). The contest holder then gather together those links (usually in a journal) and after the deadline they will pick one or several winners. Rules vary depending on who's holding it, just like on gaia 3nodding

Sending in material to a guild works the same way. You submit something the guild will approve into your gallery (a certain fanart, style or theme) and then send a link to the guild. The guild owner will download you picture (usually in a small size) re-upload it in the guild gallery with a strict order not to fav there and a link to your artwork.

Holding a guild on dA is very troublesome even in small sizes because of this. I tried once - almost rove me mad @_@

O.O....oh...was that an obvious thing?...
sry, not always brightest crayon in the box sweatdrop
Thanks again though!! xd

I have a dA, so I can tell you first-hand: When you submit your art, there is a feature that you can set your comments to Critique Encouraged (though that may not do it, it does help people know!) However, it'snot really a place for getting critiques, since its (as I call it) "the Google of the Art world" xD

As for stealing art, their rules are around the same as the ones in this guild- copying, tracing, etc, etc. However, you CAN- with the permission of the original artist (tip! if you copy and paste the consent into the Artist's Comments and show their icon, then it's so much easier!) and you'll be less likely to have them beathing fire down your neck.

Deviant art it good, and a water mark is even BETTER. I have a Deviant art account and its a pretty fun place. It's just that, with so many artists there are 'ARTISTS' who steal others' art because there are so many people on deviant. Other than that you get good feed back (I find that artists' give better feedback than the general populace) and you can find many good pictures and Tutorials on there if you get bored or need a reference pic.