Monday 22 April 2013

My Website

For a while now, I've been keeping my Blog & Twitter as sources to show off my work and connect with other illustrators & artists. Although I did have a Tumblr, I've started to shy away fro it because of the junk people post on it. It's very fashion and trend controlled and it's something that I was into before, but now I find myself beginning to drift away from it because of that. I feel that tumblr has become childish and completely unoriginal so I have stopped using it. So i've taken to Facebook where you can choose from professional artists and you can spread your work even more, because everyone has a facebook!  I post updates of current projects on it, and I also post some personal projects on it. I like to keep it interactive and fun, so i can connect to my audience on more of a personal level, to make them feel appreciated. It's excellent for sharing work, and discovering new illustrators, inspiration, etc. I feel as though having a professional website would not be that beneficial to me, because I want to be an illustrator in my free time as a hobby rather than a profession, so having a website would not bring me anything that my Facebook doesn't. When I make a new post all the people who have liked my page will see an update, rather than having to link pages from social media pages to a proper website, its faster and much more accessible. People can also write about your service and admire your work, which is good because you can good reviews and this encourages people to take an interest in your work. Although Facebook can't be customised, It is very easy to navigate around and the design doesn't distract from what is really the most important - your work.

I also use Twitter as a way to promote myself, I always post pictures & links on there to encourage people to look at my work. Having a twitter has gotten me in close contact with some other illustrators out there, and they are all lovely people. It's really easy since you can just throw someone a tweet and from my experience, I've had more replies to my tweets than I have had e-mails! People are addicted to their Twitter & Facebook accounts, so it is something they check every minute, not once every day! On twitter, people appear to be human, and you can relate to general tweets that people write. Twitter makes me feel better, knowing peoples thoughts are similar to mine! :)

I did however, recently decide to have a website where you could just access my Images in a simple layout, and browse through them. I thought this would be best instead of complaining about websites! So i made another blogger, with a plainer layout, with just information on a need to know basis, so just the pictures and a very short description about them & the year it was made. This is good from a professional point of view, since it is essentially an easy to access online portfolio of my work. It does the job of a professional website and it's free! People are also able to share their thoughts (which doesn't crowd the main page) bt it's just a click away to view it. The only thing you can't actually do is buy the work, but it's not really for sale so that's no problem. Contact details have been added so you can arrange a purchase that way. Easy! I named it Red Jay Design after my new thought out business name, so people will remember it that way.





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