January 13, 2009 from PauloGabriel's blog
Many new designers might think that having their own site is a real important thing, that it will make their work known, and it get them jobs and money. Well, having your own site is important, but it doesn't mean that you don't need other tools to place your work out there.
It is a geniune mistake to think that your site will work solo. The internet is a big place, and if you're a new designer, your site might be very much as an isolated island in the pacific, like this one. What you'll need to make your little island known is to build brigdes from main land to your island. Main lands are the big and famous portfolio / image sites, that allow you to make your account and place your work there. That's free promotion to you.
Also, you'll get real feedback, unlike you'd get in your own site. Flickr, DeviantArt and Behance are only a few examples where you'll get this kind of visibility. For example, there are some really famous artists that not only have their personal sites, but also have their portfolios in these other sites, such as Guilherme Marconi, James White and our very own Fabio Sasso, all these at Flickr.
At DeviantArt you'll find another great roll of artists, such as Cris Vector, Artgerm and Loish (my personal favorite). There's also the DeviantArt shop, where you can sell prints of your work.
At Behance, another great portfolio site, you'll find more of these awesome artists. Glenn Jones, the Lichtfaktor crew and Peter Jaworowski are some of them.
Of these, only one or two don't have a personal site, but that only proves that if you don't want to have your work sitting alone on an island, you'll find everything you need in main land. You don't have to get worried about domain and host payments, you don't have to worry about making the site layout. But of course, if you're a web designer, having your little island is still really important.
Anyways, I just trying to make my point when I say: new designers, you must join one or more of these sites, unless you're a goddamn Da vinci and you make your island some kind of Atlantis... These sites offer you almost infinite feedback if you make the right connections, and that will make you a better designer. And that's pretty much it. These sites are an awesome source of promotion to you! Use it wisely! I hope you guys liked this post! Cheers. ;)
