Revenue Model

"Sponsored" Imagery

For example, we'd have a high definition image of a bottle of Coca-Cola, which we'd tag appropriately, mark as Sponsored, release into the Public Domain (or at least CC-BY-SA 3.0 if PD isn't possible), and use as an ad. They won't be removed by AdBlock because they're hosted on our site "natively".

In order to create a strong site culture, we should work closely with marketing departments to create ads. Ideally, we'd have users make the images. So, for example, let's say user "Bob" is super popular user who lives in Mexico. When Coca-Cola comes to us and asks for an ad on our website to promote the rollout of their Freestyle machines in Mexico, we comission Bob to draw a Freestyle machine in his own style and promote it. We then charge Coca-Cola for both the commission AND the ad space.

Traditional Advertisements

I'd prefer to avoid these if possible, people block them and dislike them. They also kinda blow in general.

Selling photography (e.g. stock photos)

We'd have a 20-80(?) split between ourselves and the photographers for any images sold via our site.

Sell user titles

You'd be surprised how much people pay for a 14px by 14px icon next to their name.

Allow artists to make prints

Exactly what it says on the tin. This involves a significent initial physical expense, but that's probably going to be worth it after enough time.

Artwork commissions

Ensure safe payment between two users, creator/client. Allow creators to set their price range per-artwork (or set it to "Price is available on request"), allow clients to go to artists with their favorite artstyle and request a commission. We take a small percentage as the "middleman" to ensure safety of transaction between parties. We could also add a rating system.

In many other websites, comissions are treated as a second-class citizen, or go through a kind of terrible "points" structure. We won't do that: you'd get cash directly in a paypal or bank account.

DeviantArt takes a 20% cut from comissions. We're going to take 15% at most. This gives us a huge edge over them---bigger than the edge we already have from being a better website in almost every way.

Additionally, we will provide options to negotiate on license. So a complete transfer of all rights to the comission might be more expensive than "Draw this picture and show it to somebody."