Other Ways of Finding Artwork
I’ve talked quite a bit about the submission process here at Stampington, but now I want to fill you in on the other ways we find the awesome artwork we publish in our magazines. So here is a short list:
- Blogs: Like you, we spend a lot of time on art and crafting blogs. It can become an endless search. We start on one blog we like, and click away on all the various links, looking for a great project idea or a new technique. For this reason, it’s a great idea to have your email address listed somewhere on your blog so we can easily contact you if we want to get in touch.
- Flickr: This is where I spend the majority of my recruiting time. I like Flickr because it’s easy to conduct a specific search for what you’re looking for. I also like that you can peruse various art groups, as well as view users’ favorite pictures.
- Etsy: We also do a lot of recruiting from Etsy, though now that there are so many users it’s becoming more time-consuming to navigate. But we do like it because we’re able to search for more specific criteria. It can be dangerous though, as we frequently lose our way, and wind up finding things we want to buy for ourselves. J
- Pinterest: This relatively new site has become a very valuable tool for our editors. If you aren’t familiar with the site, it’s basically a giant, digital inspiration board. You can create “boards” of your own to “pin” images to. This makes it extremely easy for us to enter a topic like “art journaling” and find all images labeled as that, as well as boards that are entirely made up of journal images.
Something that is important to keep in mind as you read through the different sites we use to recruit artwork is that they are all visual. We’re relying on the pictures you take to “sell” your artwork to us. It’s important to keep the pictures clean and simple, and make the artwork the focus on the photograph. Another thing to keep in mind is that your online “popularity” has nothing to do with whether we will try to recruit a piece of artwork from you. Some of the best art I’ve found has come from a blog with little to no followers, or an Etsy shop that has yet to have a sale. We don’t care who you are (though we’re sure you’re very nice!); it’s your art that matters to us.
So, if you have a blog, or belong to any of these sites, watch out! You never know when we’re looking for you . . .
Christen Olivarez is Director of Publishing for Stampington & Company and Editor-in-Chief of Somerset Studio, the top-ranked magazine for mixed-media and paper artists. Her blog posts appear on CreateMixedMedia.com every other Tuesday.
MORE RESOURCES FOR MIXED MEDIA ARTISTS
* Find great books, DVDs, downloads & more for mixed media artists!
* Sign up for your FREE email newsletter for great tips, projects &
more…
* Download free mixed media
desktop wallpapers!
2 Responses to Notes by Christen: Beyond Submissions