some notes on art in internet culture:

-literally no one, ever, as far as i can tell, has published any formal writing on this

-what the hell

-im only looking at 2d drawn (including animated) stuff- so no 3d, sculpture, cosplay, image editing, video editing, audio, etc

-its mostly digital, but there’s plenty of traditional art in this style

-also only internet culture. NOT “net art”. the art world cares about that stuff but i m o it’s nowhere near as important, significant, or relevant as someone’s deviantart ocs

-first image capable browser was 1993. i havent found any internet culture style art from earlier than ~2002, but im sure it exists, i just havent found it

-art style is influenced by pop culture- mostly cartoons, anime, games. people try to be realistic/naturalistic mostly. tries to look good. really not influenced by art history, bc they arent formally art educated

-a lot of people trying to copy a particular thing’s art style. anime is the big one here.

-some internet original stuff tho!! initially: the harry potter fanfiction community artstyle (idk how to describe this. u also see it with like superwholock, teen wolf, etc fanart), flash animation style (i really need to research this more), furries (they started before the internet but they seem to have very rapidly become an internet thing)

-then deviantart gets big i guess, idk. everything gets smashed together, so u get interesting cultural things. 

-emphasis on having your own original style. lots of ocs (theyre a whole thing in themself). commissions, art theft, etc are interesting culture things. there are so many different art communities (roleplaying, art requests, comics, collabs, e t c e t e r a)

-about internet culture and art: everyone can be an artist. you see so, so much unskilled art, which is kind of unique in art ever i think. but that makes it accessible?? like, you can see the whole gradient of skill from beginner to expert. 

-patreon is also a thing. so are webcomics.

-idk if this is just a tumblr thing, but it seems like in recent years a) personal art styles have got a whole lot more unique and interesting b) in general there’s a lot more race/body type diversity. im love it

anyway if anyone knows of art websites from pre 2000 please tell me