Hello there!

I'm UszatyArbuz and today I want to tell you how to make your feature look fancy It isn't much to dump several thumbnails in a journal and post it - a lot of people will appreciate the feature anyway. But it takes a bit of thought to make people ask themselves "Why is this feature so appealing?". Since I started making features two years ago, I have posted almost 150 features on my personal account, and countless number of them on behalf groups, such as dAWishingWell , CrazySquad , PixelChallenges and All-about-features , each and every in different type and purpose. Here are some of my suggestions and ideas I follow when creating a feature, I hope they will be useful

For newcomers to DeviantArt, asking "What is a feature?" - a feature, my dear friend, is a collection of deviations published in some way by a deviant, often gathering artworks in similar art medium, topic or connected to each other in some other way. Features are mostly posted as a journal entry, less frequently on profile widgets.
There is a special feature called Daily Deviations, that is a daily feature chosen by Community Volunteers or DeviantArt staff from all the galleries over DeviantArt. This feature has their own special place on DeviantArt and can be found here. For more info on Daily Deviations, check out FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?

In this article I will be speaking about journal features, however some of the section can apply to profile features as well.

Let's ask a primary question....

1. But HOW to make a feature?

It's pretty simple - gather some deviations, and paste their thumbnail codes to the journal while writing a journal entry.
A quick explanation for the newbies: to make a new journal entry, go to your journal page and chose "Submit a new journal entry". Here, we can easily begin creating a feature!
Chose a few deviations of you or other people that you want to feature. To get the thumbnail code of the deviation, visit the deviation page. On the right, below you have the "Details" section. Here, there is a box called "Thumb" with a text box right next to, or below it. Just copy the code that is in the box (looks like :thumb123456: ) and paste it to your journal.

Now, when we know how to make features, let's talk about different aspects of features.

2. Do not overload it

This is one of the most important and easiest mistake to do with a feature. Although..

Everyone can have up to 200 thumbnails and 300 icons in their journal (...).

- FAQ #9: What are the limits for Thumbnails and Emoticons?

...you should really consider the number of deviations that you want to add in a single journal. The most basic reason is: the journal with a lot of deviations will load FOREVER. People usually don't have time, or don't want to wait even a couple of minutes to see the feature. They want it quick and they want it now. Moreover, some people just won't be able to see the journal, because they have weak hardware or slow Internet connection, and trying to open the journal with a feature will cause an instant freeze.

Second reason is that people are losing their focus on the feature that is going forever. It's nothing much to explain - people just can be bored with scrolling through 500 kilometers long journal. It has a direct impact on the very main purpose of features - it will cause a lack of interest in particular deviations. It will be harder to keep focus on deviations with such long journals.

On aside note, there is also limitation for mentions that you can send at one time. If you want people to know that you have featured them without sending each and every one a message, try to reduce the number of deviations (there is no official source, but I think it's up to 70 mentions at a time - similar to limits of llamas and comments).

3. Think about composition

As I mentioned, it isn't much to paste a few thumbnails and submit the journal, it's more on how you will showcase them. Deviations have different sizes, and with resizing option you can make countless number of compositions that will be appealing and will show deviations in a nice way.
I could write here a ton of description, but it will be best if I just show images of my favorite and, in my opinion, nicest way to showcase deviations with different sizes

4. Match deviations

Firstly, when looking at a journal feature, eyes usually goes to the middle, so it will be very helpful to align deviations to the center. Just select deviations with a mouse (by clicking and running over all of them) and click "Center Align" from the top bar of the journal writing page.



Now, if you want to go even deeper in this topic, think about how to group images in a single row. Try to "suggest" the point of view on the particular rows. It can suggest the center of a row, another deviation, or it can enhance the composition of the deviations. Eyes usually follow movement, anther's person look and lines created by elements on the picture. Again, it will be a lot more simple to explain with some examples.

5. Full view those damn pics

Sometimes, even good matching deviations doesn't help in bringing focus to them. Some of deviations presents much better in full view, or at least bigger size, when you can see important details.

There are several art mediums on DeviantArt that should be showcased in full view no matter what. I'm speaking of deviations that require preview for submission. There just isn't any sense in featuring previews for deviations.
But before you run out to full view all the deviation you have, take a look on this FAQ article:
FAQ #69: Can I use animated images within my journal, journal CSS or journal background?
As you can see, anyone should be extra conscious while featuring animated deviations such as pixel art, flash, films, fractal art and animations of other, various type.

6. Stick to the topic

It's always nice when you can see a feature with certain topic or theme - it brings attentions from particular parts of the community. If you want to make themed features, try to create a feature with one theme but in different medias, or different themes in one media. Now, I know that mixed features are extremely popular withing types of features, and there is nothing wrong with them. But you should consider giving them some kind of story, or lead the mood of the feature as people scroll by. A perfect example will be "Fairytale Feature", to which link is in the bottom of this article. Again, I present some examples on how to make it interesting and consistent, even with very random deviations. They may look very messy, but I don't want to use actual images - just colors and shades. Some examples of these are on the bottom of this journal.

7. Add a little spice up

But adding thumbnails is not everything. There are new ways of making features even more interesting. Trending one is adding a link, or embed video, with a music that suit the theme, or create particular mood for the feature. This is a really wise move, since you can bring attention with two senses - sight and hearing. Some people even make the music the most important part for the feature, and the deviations are nice addition for describing the music.

We must not forget interviews, a separate type of feature, but still a feature - it takes a lot of work to make a good interview, and you can always make it interesting by adding artworks of the artist that you make interview with. I won't go into details, because I myself never made any interviews.

Examples

So here all my tips I frequently use, or see, in features. As you can see, it takes a bit more time to create something really eye-catching and intriguing as if it comes to features, but isn't that with anything that we create?

Before I finish, I'd like to share with you some features that were using tips I suggested below, hoping that they will inspire you and explain anything that is not clear.

Thank you and have a great week!