'Art Fight' Brings Artists Together to Celebrate Creativity, Community

Illustration by Queijac

Art Fight is an annual contest where artists can create original art and “Attack” other users with their art creations. It was started in 2007 by DeviantArt and it became so popular that it got its own official website for people of all ages (13 and up) to admire art of all skill levels and styles. Sometimes DeviantArt even mentor other users, i.e. discord moderators, on how to create decent art through social media.

The main idea of the art fight is that participants are divided into two teams. This year, the 2023 theme is Vampires versus Werewolves. There are the “Artists” and the “Fighters” can use art that they made, or characters they made, and use it to “Attack” other Fighters and Artists, but people can also fight back to gain points. The goal is to attack the opponent as many times as possible within a time frame.

These attacks are highly based on Effort, Time, Pride, and Skill. Points are given out based on how well you do any of those. Even if the art is bad, you can still say you put pride and effort into it. Every user on every team does this for one month, then the event ends and whichever team has the most points wins.

Art Fight has gained popularity over the years. Its website serves as the main hub for this annual event, providing tools for artists to upload their artwork, view attacks, and interact with the community. Art Fight has become a significant event in the online art world, fostering creativity, collaboration, and community building among artists. It promotes a positive and supportive environment to encourage artists to engage with each other, discover new artists, and receive feedback on their work. As a popular e-sport event, it encourages friendly contests rather than actual war, unless you take it that way.