LOS ANGELES, CA.-deviantART.com, the largest art community in the world, announces the 2005 deviantART Summit on June 17 and 18, 2005 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica California.

With 1.1 million members worldwide, more than nine million pieces of art and one of the largest audiences on the world wide web, the time has come for the unparalleled online art community to hold an event on a global scale to match their global reach, bringing together the most creative minds in art and technology to help educate aspiring artists on how to expose their art to consumers.

"The digital world has allowed us to present art in a way that reaches the mainstream. We are doing something that has never been done before but there is a deep need for it," said CEO/Co-Founder Angelo Sotira. "We want to be a leader in the world of art and this summit will help us set that stage."

deviantART has harnessed the power of the internet to serve a world of artists and make art available to the mainstream. And what is phenomenal is that for the 30,000 new pieces of art uploaded every day, there are nearly 300,000 responses within 24 hours -- a clear testament to the power and dedication of this community.

Thousands of those artists and experts in technology, gaming and publishing will converge in the spectacular Barker Hanger, a 40,000 square foot jet hangar in the heart of Santa Monica, for the first annual summit this summer. It will be a real life replication of what happens at deviantART everyday, with galleries featuring many kinds of art -- from anime to literature, digital art to flash, photography to pixel art -- as well as seminars, panels and instructional sessions. Confirmed sponsors include Linspire, GarageGames and ToneThis.

Artists will get tips on how to break into the big time from speakers in the gaming, film, and publishing industries and some of the most talented artists in the world will be on hand to share their secrets to mastering the craft.

By bringing the offline and online worlds together in one place, deviantART will be providing unprecedented opportunities for their artists to financially profit from their passions and provide some of the best artistic talent in the world to businesses in need of creative minds.