19 Best Art Independent Communities (Updated Jun 2026)

19 Art communities on Independent Platforms

Updated 6/9/2026

All

#1
wetcanvas
Wet Canvas is the forum of visual artists around the world. From our humble grass-roots beginnings in 1998, WC has grown into a veritable gold mine of information, serving painters, sculptors, illustrators, digital artists, photographers, and other visual artists. We recently updated the site to a new web platform and streamlined the navigation so your experience will be faster and more secure than ever.
13K members
Forum
19 views / month
#2
Krita Artists
A central hub for Krita artists and developers
13K members
Forum
Chat
Jobs
Courses
Tools
12 views / month
#3
Cartoonists of Color
The Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists, and Disabled Cartoonists databases were created and are maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi as a way to spotlight marginalized comics creators. The databases are used by booksellers, librarians, academics, editors, book publishers, event organizers, readers, and more.
Tools
4 views / month
#4
Great Big Photography World
A vibrant community for photographers of all skill levels. Join the Great Big Photography World community to access premium courses, participate in engaging contests, and enjoy a supportive environment to share your work, refine techniques, and get feedback from fellow enthusiasts.
14K members
Forum
Chat
Perks
Newsletter
Paid
Courses
13 views / month
#5
3D Total
An educational source for online artists offering a variety of free tutorials, informative interviews, and an inspirational gallery.
Perks
Newsletter
Courses
4 views / month
#6
Women Who Draw
Women Who Draw is an open directory of female* professional illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by two women artists in an effort to increase the visibility of female illustrators, emphasizing female illustrators of color, LGBTQ+, and other minority groups of female illustrators.
3K members
Newsletter
Tools
5 views / month
#7
Queer Cartoonists
The Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists, and Disabled Cartoonists databases were created and are maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi as a way to spotlight marginalized comics creators. The databases are used by booksellers, librarians, academics, editors, book publishers, event organizers, readers, and more.
Tools
#8
FineWoodworking
Woodworking workshops, plans, and tips.
Forum
Perks
Events
Newsletter
Courses
3 views / month
#9
Cybermodeler
Welcome to Cybermodeler Online! The Largest Online Scale Modeling Magazine, featuring reference photos, color references, and product reviews.
Events
Tools
4 views / month
#10
Disabled Cartoonists
The Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists, and Disabled Cartoonists databases were created and are maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi as a way to spotlight marginalized comics creators. The databases are used by booksellers, librarians, academics, editors, book publishers, event organizers, readers, and more.
Tools
Earthboard
Earthboard is a global collaborative art platform where artists claim territories on an interactive world map and create drawings that evolve together. All artwork expires in 24 hours unless extended by community appreciation, ensuring fresh voices always have opportunities. The platform is 100% human-only with no AI-generated content allowed.
Forum
4 views / month
DeviantArt Community
DeviantArt is a massive online community for artists and art enthusiasts to share, critique, and promote artistic creations across various disciplines.
Forum
3 views / month
ArtStation
ArtStation provides you with a simple, yet powerful way to show your portfolio and be seen by the right people in the industry.
Perks
Newsletter
Jobs
Courses
International Plastic Modellers' Society
The International Plastic Modellers' Society consists of a number of associations around the world that are engaged in building plastic models. Their site also has Urban Fredriksson’s Color Reference Charts for authentic color military matching, organized by country.
Forum
Perks
Events
Tools
Behance
Behance is a platform for creative professionals around the world to showcase their own work and to discover the creative work of others through three key features: Search (Discover), Live, and Jobs.
10.0M members
Perks
Jobs
Courses
Mastak
Mastak is online community for artists, creators and their supporters. Artists and creators all around the world welcome to open a free account to promote they arts. Mastak helps creators to promote they arts. You can find there all different artists and creators. If you like some of them you can support them with donation.
10K members
Chat
Jobs
Paid
6 views / month
CG Society
A networking platform for professional digital artists.
Forum
Courses
5 views / month
Sketchfab
The leading platform for 3D & AR on the web. Manage your 3D assets. Distribute 3D & AR experiences. Collaborate with others. Showcase your work. Buy & sell 3D models.
Forum
Perks
2 views / month
Behance Community
Behance is a leading online platform for creative professionals to showcase their portfolios, discover new work, and connect with the global creative community.
Forum
2 views / month

All Art communities

Art
69 communities for Artists
2K / mo
Art, 69 communities, 2K views per month including community pages

FAQ

: A broad collection of communities for artists of all kinds, from traditional painters to digital illustrators. Discord servers make up a big portion, with communities for sharing work, getting critiques, finding commission clients, and collaborating with other creatives. Covers a wide range of styles and media.
: Hive Index lists 19 Art independent communities on Independent Platforms. Most listings with size data are huge (21%) or large (5%). This is a smaller slice of our database, so read trends as directional. The main Art topic page covers every platform we track for this topic.
: Forum is the most common (53%). Others that show up often include courses and member perks. Use the feature filters above the list to narrow results.
: 17 of 19 (89%) are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: On Hive Index, the default Popular sort surfaces wetcanvas, Krita Artists, Cartoonists of Color, and Great Big Photography World first. Popularity reflects visitor interest in communities on the site, not a universal quality score. Use the sort menu for Ratings, Largest, or Newest.
: Great Big Photography World has the highest review scores on this page. Switch the sort to Ratings to see the full order. Reviews come from Hive Index members and reflect their experience, not our editorial ranking.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for topic relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available. Member counts are approximate. Popular reflects visitor interest in communities on the site, with richer profiles breaking ties. Ratings, Largest, and Newest use review scores, reported member counts, and listing age instead.
: This page was last updated 6/9/2026, based on the most recent change to the topic or its listings. We refresh entries when communities are submitted, claimed, or reviewed, and we update member counts, features, and traffic data on an ongoing basis.