Personal website or portfolio
The first problem that arises for a magazine editor who really wants to write about you, or for a site that is eager to interview you, is to let you know about it or simply to get in touch with you somehow.
That is why any aspiring and ambitious 3D artist should set up an email address and learn to check it regularly. The next step is creating some kind of platform where this address can easily be found by your name or by the name of your work. A personal website or blog is ideal for this.
It does not matter whether you buy a domain and hosting or use a free Blogspot, the main thing is that the website shows up first on Google for your name or your forum nickname. As a last resort, pay for ads in the search network (just kidding).
To rank first on Google, add your first name, last name and forum nickname to the meta title of the home page, and place a link to your contacts in a prominent spot on the site pages. The best solution here is to post not only a contact form, but the email itself. To help Google better understand that you are you, add an about section, connect Google+ to the site, in short, personalize it as much as possible. A bad idea would be to broadcast BBC news on your personal site — it is better that the information here is only about you.
Five simple tips for your website:
— Pay attention to the meta-titles of your site: put important information in them. For example, your first and last name, as well as the forum nickname you might also be searched by. Remember that the meta-title for each page should be unique and not too long;
— Come up with an attractive description for each page and put it in the meta-description. That way it will be displayed in search engines under the link to your site;
— Leave links to your site in forum signatures where you are active or on the pages of online portfolios, for example, Behance — help Google learn about it;
— Write a unique description for your works, never copy it from galleries. Do not copy other people’s texts onto your site, even if it is a very interesting article about Michelangelo;
— Try to make a simple and fast-loading site, avoid automatically playing music and video.
What else is useful to put on the blog? Post high-resolution works here, the clay of your works, possibly making-ofs and showreels. Links to existing interviews or publications are also welcome, possibly to some awards. All of this can be useful for galleries and sites that want to write about you on their own (without prior arrangement) or include you in a top-10 list of the best authors of the century. And an “About me” section and awards will be useful for journalists for the no less pleasant genre of “About the artist’s work.” After all, bloggers need to say a few words about you before they drop 50 of your works on readers. So help them in advance, supply them with information and fill your site precisely with them in mind. Do not write boringly, tell a few good stories about yourself — a hard, difficult and unusual path to fame is welcome:)
Always be ready for someone to ask you for an interview or a making-of of your work — so check your email, save good-quality work-in-progress screenshots to use later in articles.
A good addition to your site would be a LinkedIn page. True, there is a downside here — the inability to contact you through it (for free, that is). But the same bloggers will be able to find structured information here, which is only a plus for you.
I would like to repeat once again: a magazine editor or a blogger having your email address opens up great opportunities for you, so strive to make it as easy as possible for them to find it.
Publishing works in galleries
So, you already have a platform where the Oscar jury can read about you. Now we move on to step number 2 — publishing your work in online galleries.
There are plenty of them, some accept works only with pre-moderation, some, like CgSociety, allow anything. In fact, a gallery in one form or another exists at every CG forum. Here are just a few of them: 3Dtotal, CgArena, ArtStation, DeviantArt. There are also galleries in well-known communities like BlenderArtists and ZbrushCentral, where you will not only publish your work but also immediately get an active response to it.
Separately, I would single out galleries on magazine sites, since they offer more opportunities. For example, the site is the official web part of 3DArtist magazine. The best works from the gallery get into the magazine or onto Facebook, which, you must admit, is very nice. And by being the best on CgSociety, you can make it into EXPOSE.
And it is very important to understand that all these galleries are viewed daily by thousands of people, among whom are many bloggers and magazine editors. They are constantly in a state of lacking interesting material and therefore hunt for something interesting every day. You are simply obliged to help them find you.
That is why you face the task of standing out in the general flow of renders. And I am not talking now about the self-evident things like quality art, a good description and the presence of tags. I mean having social activity around you.
Drawing attention to yourself
You can draw attention to yourself in two ways: 1) model something trendy, for example a hero of a very popular series, after which everyone will instantly love you (no one will judge you for translating good 2D into 3D, or for sculpting a famous painting, or a historical event); 2) try to create artificial attention to yourself with the help of friends.
Something like that. Of course, if you have such a masterpiece, it will advertise itself. But I would play it safe…
Your friends, work colleagues or parents can help start a discussion of your work in the Gallery and contribute to the appearance of the first likes. We all trust social proof: if a work attracts the attention of a large number of people, then there is something to it. And the presence of a large number of likes and positive reviews will make the gallery moderator place it on the main page of the site or add it to favorites, which will contribute to a greater number of views and, consequently, everything will develop like a snowball. From this we conclude how important an artist’s social capital is. The more people follow your work, the easier it will be for you to get discussions and likes in galleries.
So do not forget about the need to publish links to your work on social networks like reddit, StumbleUpon, twitter, Pinterest and others, where you can be noticed. Actively use hashtags and do not be shy to ask for reposts.
Publications in communities
It is worth saying separately about publications in communities, since here you should act in the role of an expert, a professional, and bring some kind of value. So try not just to publish your render, but also to tell about the stages of its creation, what difficulties you encountered in the course of work and how you overcame them. This is a great place for posting making-of videos, work-in-progress renders and other technical details.
Communities are also browsed daily by journalists, but being busy people, they do not read all the topics, but only flip through the trends and the recommendations pushed to the top. So try to make it into the favorites: lead the discussion, help people and supply them with interesting material under your work.
Also, communities very often have many bloggers, and what that means for you, I am sure, you have already understood.
Finding a community is very easy: just type into Google the name of the program you worked in or the theme of your work (for example, steampunk) and the word forum or community. Choose only active platforms, do not waste your energy on sites where there are no discussions, where you see exclusively weak and uninteresting works. Your task is to be where the crowd is, and small forums will find you on their own.
Why can contests be useful for you?
In case of victory, you are guaranteed to get attention. You get a chance to be published in places normally inaccessible, for example, on the program’s blog. And consequently, this is a good opportunity to gain access to a new audience. Of course, you may get lost in the general noise of other works, but even in this case you lose nothing, since after the contest you simply move on to the actions described above in the article and publish your works everywhere you can.
Let me give a few recommendations to artists who participate in a contest. Always submit your work with a title, a description and clay, even if you are not asked for it in the terms. Tidy presentation of the render on the contest page is very important for its perception. Additional text will help visitors linger on the page and better remember your work. Also do not submit very heavy files, better compress them yourself so as to personally control the image quality. For the same reason, if you see that the organizers apply watermarks, do it for them.
If you see that the organizers have a blog, then regardless of whether you took a prize place or not, offer to write a making-of of your work. I assure you that they will gladly agree, and you will get no less attention than the winners.
I think that is all. Be an active artist, always look for an opportunity to tell about yourself and show your work. And most importantly — do not forget to leave your contacts, because you are often so hard to find.
