Anyone make an artfol account yet?
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It’s still quite slow and so far feels a bit like a mobile deviant art which was a place I never got very into. However I’ll give it some time to balance itself out. I don’t know how to find specific users but maybe if we start tagging works with #SVS we can connect our networks that way.
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Personally, I think it has some intriguing potential. I'm happy that you can't see how many likes something has, so it's not driven by that paradigm. I also really like that any art you find/like can be shared--I've found most of the folks I'm following because other artists have re-posted work they really like. Plus it seems it can't be downloaded, so the only way to "copy" an image is to take a screenshot.
I don't know what their algorithm is for their "trending" search category, but it only shows a handful of images in those results, so once you've seen them you have to go scroll through the other search categories that seem to be organized by how recently images have been posted. It has a nice "bio/info" section with as many links to your website/storefront/other platforms as you want to include. Plus, you can only post one image every ten minutes, so that's nice. And no "multiple images" per post--you post one complete image that isn't cropped to a ratio or size specification which seems awesome!!
To me, it feels a bit "youth-interest-driven" at the moment, and I wonder if that lends itself to DeviantArt comparisons. I'm not sure I care to participate in any of the challenges, but the fact they have them at all is interesting. Plus there's a specific "asking for critique" category which is nice. It's unfortunate they're mobile-only.
Children's Illustration Portfolio: https://www.coreyartusillustration.com
Art Portfolio: https://www.coreyartusimagery.com
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@Coreyartus
Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/Coreyartus -
@Coreyartus Yeah I really love that you can't see how many followers someone has so there is no option of self comparison. I think it seems like it has a lot of potential to be a happier place than other social media platforms. No influencers! lol
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I tried but it gave me a server error
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It's been an interesting thought process for me because it's really made me consider why we share stuff in this way to begin with. It is really straight forward when it comes to communities like SVS or Illustration Department or Discord servers because you're actively engaging with a relatively small community gathering feedback, improving together, etc.
Instagram inherently can't fill that hole because it's goals are not our goals. I can't post something on IG with the hope to get actual feedback. The overwhelming majority of feedback will be saying how cute or amazing or incredible it is, or nothing at all, and there's a good possibility the people whose opinions I value won't even see it at all because IG doesn't value showing it to them enough to make it worth it.
Then again, the other reason to expand your IG following is it's a means to an end - a big enough following can enable you to do things like kickstarter campaigns, or sell products or market courses or things like that. But you don't technically need a following to do any of those things if you instead budget the dollars to get in front of those people (and unlike sharing your work, paying for advertising guarantees it'll show up in their feeds as long as there is budget).
So it goes back to why I'm posting at all lol. The biggest part of it is making it accessible for anyone looking up my work as a potential project. So it's kind of an extension of my portfolio. But will art directors or potential clients ever use these other 3rd party providers? I sincerely hope so because the posting experience as an artist is far superior.
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@jdubz right! I have thought about that stuff as well, but I started thinking how great this would be if art editors and agents started using it as a resource since it has artists all in the same place with easy to use categories.
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I think they'll need to expand their categories a bit... Right now they're a bit general and I think folks from illustration industries will want to have the capacity to search categories that are specifically relevant to them. There aren't many tools right now to make searching for relevant artwork very easy... For example, if you want to be found by kidlitart or childrensillustration artists, they need to use those terms as one of their three hashtags in order to be found in search results for topics that don't have a specified category. In my opinion, if they can emulate the phenomenally robust and specific search engine on ArtStation they'll be moving in the right direction.
Right now, however, I think its best strength is as a peer review tool, but it lacks the intimacy and focus of a forum like SVS or a Discord with a more limited audience, and that's both beneficial and problematic... It seems it relies upon mutually-interested "discovered circles of friends" to be relevant to the users, but I'm not sure that's much different than many of the other social media platforms out there... It's clear this platform is specifically relevant to artists in a way that Instagram or Twitter isn't, but is this a "preaching to the chorus" situation with an audience limited to fellow artists? Is that... useful? Generally?
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I have an account @jfbray. Just the yeti design up so far. Look forward to seeing you all on there!
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@K-Flagg I made one! @carliannecreates now to try and find you all
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