maandag 22 mei 2017

Back from the Monastery Part 3: Web Presence

Hi Everyone,

In the last Blog we talked about my experiences with conventions. Today i will discuss my web presence, and how it currently helped me, and hopefully will even more in the future.

As another part of my mentorship with Samuel Flegal we talked about me getting the most out of my exposure on the internet. It seems there are alot of layers to peel here to maximize your exposure and make potential enthousiasts of your art have an efficient and enjoyable experience browsing it.

Hope this blog helps you!



Getting Followers on social media


Its the first thing people think about when they hear the world exposure, and rightfully so. On this section i will tell you a few ways i think you can improve your overall following on the internet.  Each platform has its own way to handle things but i will tackle the general bulletpoints for now.



1. Post consistently: The more and consistent you post, the more you will remain in people;s retina. It will also get you higher on peoples walls due to algorithm which is present on most platforms.
2. Post quality: Even though your work is okay-ish and better than the average human being, internet is flooded with it. We get bombarded by it all the time on all the platforms. Thats why even though it might sound harsh, mediocre work gets ignored. hard. Only post the work you are most proud of and it will show.
3. Interact: If people see you are interacting with them, commenting on their art, giving advice, share WIPS, sharing knowledge, it will get you liked and indirectly familiarized with people and they will be more eager to follow you.
4. Thinking outside the web: Among my most quality followers, (most engaged followers) are people which i met outside the internet. I am not talking about my family or friends only, but people i met on conventions. Try meeting new potential lovers of your art outside, and due to the personal interaction you can get lifelong supporters out of it (see my former blog post).
5. Shameless promotion, what does that even mean?!: There is no such thing as shameless promotion. Share on every group and platform you can think of for maximized exposure. However, dont cross the line by breaking any group rules.
6. Post in relevant groups: Find your niche and interact with that area. It doesn't make much sense to post your realistic dark fantasy art in a group where most people adore chibi art of their favourite animals.

Getting to know the platforms

Now you know how to get followers, its time to find out where to find them. In this section i will discuss most notable platforms i use. Some of them require more knowledge to handle properly, some are just good to have around without paying too much attention to them.




Facebook:

Post as much relevant content daily as possible, but dont get too spammy. Your followers here have a more personal connection with you here in general so you would like to be more connected with them. Posting to groups which are aligned with your artwork is a must too. Do not post/share from your art page! Facebook algorithm forces you to pay money for more people to see your artwork there. I recommend turning on the ''follow'' function and do everything from your personal account.

 My Account: https://www.facebook.com/joel.holtzman.9

Instagram:

Post every day as much relevant content as possible with the correct hashtags. Also make use of the ''story'' function to share 24HR snaps, if you aren't interested in posting that specific photo permanently.  Instagram is one of the most used social media platforms to date so being active there could garner you a lot of followers

My Account: https://www.instagram.com/joel_chaim_holtzman/

Twitter: This Platform is tricky due to it being bloated. You can easily get 1k+ followers which results in it being hard for your followers to see your posts, because they might follow that amount of people as well. My advice, follow as many interesting/relevant people as you like, and that will be the moment, when they see you followed them that your account will have theyr fullest attention.

My Account: https://twitter.com/JoelCHoltzman

Tumblr:

Same as twitter and instagram. Be connected with other people. Reblog /like/follow their stuff to get noticed in the beginning. after that its just a matter of blogging alot to stay updated and get reblogs easily after.

My Account: http://joelchaim.tumblr.com/

Linkedin:

The most unused platform for art in my experience. I just share my art here through other platforms when they offer me to. Further more i connect myself with all relevant people to garner a mutual following.

My Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-chaim-holtzman-70830310a/

Pinterest: Besides being a goldmine for inspiration, you can also post your art in various boards for other people to repin. Make sure you have pinned alot of inspiration for people to follow you, and after that repin your art. pretty much a win-win situation; You pin your inspiration, and you get exposure as well!

My Account: https://nl.pinterest.com/joelchaimholtzm/pins/

Deviantart:

Seen its glory days, its the most crowded art related site of the world. From amateur to professional, it takes time to stand out. If you start out share your art in various groups to get seen and be consistent with it. After a while you will see your followers number increase and you will get likes/exposure by itself.

My Account: http://joelchaimholtzman.deviantart.com/

Artstation:

A site where mostly professionals are present, and people are hiring. It is mostly focussed on concept art, but more illustrative artists are here as well. Personal interaction for exposure is crucial in this platform due to the limited amount of users compared to deviantart for example.

My Account: https://www.artstation.com/artist/joelchaim

Behance: 

Another design site. As described previously interaction is crucial to gain a following on this platform.

My Account: https://www.behance.net/joelcholtzman

Blogger/Youtube:

Excelent platforms for exposure. People really like to learn and delve into the personal life of an artist. When you use these plaforms post regularly to build a consistent reader/viewerbase. This really takes time to build.

Reddit/Imgur:

 I heard these platforms are potential exposure goldmines, but  I dont have too much experience on these platforms. If you do please share them in the comments


Making your portfolio website


I see a lot of questions and confusion regarding how a portfolio website should look like. Here are some bulletpoints i would like to share with you on how to make your website as readable as possible for art directors and enthousiasts.

1. Keep it simple: You can add as much gadgets on your website but it most likely just distracts your viewer. Keep separate tabs for each thing you would like to share.

2. Only show your 8-12 best works: Art directors have limited time, they dont want to scroll an unending protfolio. Besides, you get picked for your worst piece. Limiting the chance of having a the worst piece stand out is dont by having the 8-12 piece limit.

3. Dont post student work/studies in your potfolio: It is unusable for 99% of potential clients, and as the title says, it shows a studentlike feel to you an an artist. Avoid this entirely or make a separate tab for it with your best pieces of that specific subjectmatter.

4. Make 1 tab with all your pieces in it: People are not keen to search for your best pieces scattered through 3-5 tabs. Since you only need 8-12 pieces anyway in it you can put your best illustrations, character art and environments in 1 tab.

5. You will get hired for the work you show in your portfolio: As the title says, you will get hired for the work that you show, so only add works that you really like to make. If you would show pieces that you don't like to make it would probably show anyway.

6. Dont use custom websites: Alot of people use Artstation or even worse WIX/Deviantart as their portfolio. While they may serve as artdump platforms, as portfolio sites they look highly unprofessional, with an exception for perhaps Artstation. The problem i have with the Artstation portfolio is that the thumbnails are INCREDIBLY small and cut off your images.

7. How to present your artwork: When making your website, make sure all your images are viewed in full, not too small as explained in point 6., but not too large it covers your entire screen. Make the images clickable so that if someone would like to view the piece in large the posibility is present.

My website for inspiration: www.joelchaimholtzman.com

I hope this blog helped you! Next time i will conclude my series of my hiatus year from blogging. If you have any experiences or tip and tricks regarding web presence to share, please do so in the comment section!

Wish you all the best, until next time,

JCH

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