I have been looking at the online presence of successful childrens book illustrators to see how they market themselves, what platforms they use and how the make their presence appropriate and appealing to their audience.
Jon Klassen's main platforms appear to be Tumblr and twitter. His tumblr is populated with a variety of images from works in progress, finished products, personal photographs and promo material (event poster etc). The layout and content seem fairly straight forward, the blog offers viewers a chance to see how the illustrator works, contains information about upcoming events and displays finished products that are already available to buy as well as future releases. The photographs add a personal touch, giving an insight into the illustrators life. This definitely makes the blog feel more relaxed and appealing, creating a connection between the artist and the viewer.
His twitter feed feels even more personal, there are mentions of products and examples of his works but the majority of the posts are observations and interactions with fans and other illustrators. This is a great platform to interact with people from a range of backgrounds to create a network and show the personality and ideas behind your work but is not as good as a platform to showcase and sell work compared to other platforms centered around images.
It would be interesting and informative to contact Jon Klassen and talk to him about his use of social media and his online presence. What he thinks about the importance of it and what works best.
- Does only having finished illustrations take away from the impact of individual illustrations?
- Does more variety make for a more interesting and appealing gallery?
I feel like a gallery made up of only finished illustrations, in my case that would usually be mostly made up of double page spreads, could become overwhelming and detract from each individual illustration. I think it is important to think about how the illustrations work as a whole and the layout that suits them best. A combination of roughs, characters, animations and finished pieces could have the most visual impact, especially when the layout has been carefully considered, in the case of Instagram this could be as simple as the order they are uploaded in or creating illustrations that connect across three slides.
- Should I use different images on different platforms? Use my website for finished work and display works in progress on Instagram, Tumblr etc?
I think varying the images to suite the platform is a good idea. For example on Instagram I could include a variety of works from the roughest of sketches to finished products as well as personal photos. This platform can be used as an informal collection of work that also gives an insight into my personality. I often find it more appealing to buy direct from an artist than from a third party especially if their site feels more personal. Creating a connection with potential buyers is important on all platforms but they ways and extent to how it is done vary from platform to platform. The type of content appropriate on social media may not be advisable on your own site or on The Dots. Different illustrators approach this in different ways, some really go all out and create a wild and crazy online presence that moves away from the usual conventions where as some have a site that is simple and easy to navigate with only the necessary information included. You cannot please everybody and both of these approaches will have their fans and critics. What is important is to chose and presence that suits the personality and audience of your work.
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