Art is such a divine amalgamation of perfection, wisdom, expression and excellence that seldom do we think about commodifying it while creating one. However, once created, it needs to be discovered and shared. Be it performance art, conceptual art or any variety of expression, the network you must, if you want to succeed in a creative occupation. An online social network sets the route to reach out to a wider audience and showcase your piece of art.
Establishing a professional network with partners and collaborators often creates a large pool of readily available talent. The digital age significantly contributes by offering several trusted web portals that aim at creating a rich network of creative groups across the globe.
Here’s a list of 10 small and giant social networks for artists to connect with creative groups around the world:
1. YouTube – For artists, YouTube can be an incredible opportunity to promote talent. The video camera is a brilliant option to capture an artist’s music video, dance moves, story-telling, video blogging, studio tours, teaching techniques and slideshows. A powerful webcam and trusted video creation software can be used to create these videos and upload them. You get the upload process started by following few simple steps. Click on the Upload tab and submit your video. Click Publish to make the uploaded video public. Adjust the privacy settings and revel in the raining commendations.
2. Twitter – A Twitter account holder finds himself in the midst of a huge crowd dashing in various directions. Once an artist starts exploring the network, he can “follow” numerous people in his interested domain of art and culture. It considerably increases artists’ chances to network with the exponents of several forms of art and creativity. This essentially means that artists start receiving short messages from them on their Twitter page. Since people in this forum do not know each other, they have finite interest and thus, limited and useful content must be posted.
3. Facebook – You may not acknowledge it as a serious networking medium but the truth is that Facebook has a subscriber base of more than a billion people. It is therefore difficult to ignore it. A lot of promising artists have phenomenally explored the power of Facebook to sell their art through this medium. Get started by creating an FB page to establish a professional identity. This helps in interacting with other groups and individuals in a similar domain.
4. Behance – An online platform to showcase your creative work, Behance is a medium for professional artists. While it aims at organizing the creative world, artists benefit tremendously by attracting potential clients to their attractive portfolio of work. Creative people can assemble their body of work through simple and easy Behance tools.
5. Culture Inside – It is a gallery based social network that includes space for artists’ to add artworks, artist statements, biography and an art blog. Random though but it is a great tool to meet and explore other artists’ and their work and showcase your own.
6. Artreview – Art lovers often network through this wonderful website that mostly includes collectors, curators, artists and art galleries as members. While artists can create their online portfolio, video files, audio clips and blogs, other members can review these pieces. Young artists can keep track of several exhibitions through the Art Calendar option and participate in regular panel discussions on this forum.
7. Dribbble – Young artists make the most of their skills by uploading their pieces of work on Dribbble. Instead of a regular video or audio upload, Dribbble encourages creative professionals to upload random snapshots or trailers of works in progress to receive opinions and feedback from fellow artists. However, only visual designers and artists researching in this domain can benefit from this networking medium.
8. Artslant – Every artist can avail the advantages of networking through Artslant for free. It does not charge any membership fee and allows an artist to create a profile along with an unlimited slideshow of his artistic talent and a personal blog. Millions of art buyers regularly buy and sell art on Artwork which displays a large scale of artistic creation.
9. Artbistro – It is a premier career social network for designers and artists to attract opportunities, share portfolios, and establish new touchpoints. It focusses on the visual art community to come together and celebrate their works of art.
10.DeviantArt – They claim that they bleed and breed art! And true to their statement, DeviantArt is one of the largest online social networks for creative professionals, artists and art enthusiasts. It is a community with more than 35 million registered users and an even higher number of frequenting the website daily. It includes a wide range of art forms that include craft, visual and digital arts. Members can share and sell their pieces of work through this medium.
Online networking mediums are hence, emerging platforms made up of diverse and talented professionals from all over the world. It is this space where the online artist community gets closer to create a supportive environment that attracts curators, promotes works of art, and facilitates retail.
