How to Effectively Create an Online Presence

Creating an online presence is an incredibly important method for gaining attention from potential clients and employers to generate work, all from the comfort of your own home - regardless of what facet of the creative industries you are involved in. You can showcase the very best of your work, whilst simultaneously and actively networking, as well as receiving criticism from all across the world, from different abilities and industries, helping you grow and change to further your career and to hone your skills.

Image by Josh Goodwin

There are many platforms in which you might find yourself creating an online presence however, all have their pros and cons. For example, career focused social media such as LinkedIn and ArtStation are beneficial for uploading snippets of work, communicating directly with employers and connecting with fellow members of the industry. In comparison, online platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok are more dynamic and allow you to display your work instantaneously to a large audience due to the nature of the user interface and algorithm.

As an animation student I find that ArtStation has a vast range of easily accessible information and inspiration with concept art from studios such as Fortiche Production SAS - the studio behind "Arcane" (A popular Netflix animated series)- and Larian Studios, which created "Baldur's Gate 3", (A highly grossing Dungeons and Dragons inspired roleplaying game). These examples are just two well-known studios that have a strong online presence, especially on forums such as ArtStation. 

Above is the face model of Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3, by Stephanie Chafe on ArtStation.

Often in creating online portfolios on platforms, users can get carried away and include almost, if not every piece of work they've produced in an effort to catch potential employers or clients attention. However, this isn't always effective - whilst "less is more" isn't necessarily the way to go. It is advisable to not include weak work when able to and users should attempt to not oversaturate their portfolios with different work from various mediums if they aren't aiming to be a jack-of-all-trades. Whilst it is beneficial to showcase your different abilities; this also could be confusing for employers if you, for example, are a 2D character concept artist with more 3D animation uploaded as opposed to character concept sheets.

Above is the full 3D character concept art/turnaround for Vi from Arcane, by Candice Theuillion.

Moreover, when it comes to setting yourself apart from competition in your chosen field online, you need to be able to prove you can use a variety of different tools amongst other skills. Being able to adapt is beneficial, however, having a base level skill when it comes to most industry standard applications will set you above others who may not share these same skills. If you include this within your portfolio, it can make you more attractive to those seeking what you can provide. Overall, displaying your skills in a way that makes you marketable and employable online is a good head start into the industry.

In order to take full advantage of these online platforms, users should try to keep regularly updating and uploading their work in order to highlight it. For certain platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, this will allow a user’s content to appear more frequently, subsequently garnering more interaction and reaching a further crowd. TikTok themselves say to upload "1-4 times per day" to most effectively reach as many accounts as you can, (TikTok For Business, 2021). This therefore will increase the chances of a user’s work being showcased to many different accounts and this is extremely beneficial for those in animation and games development, as they can easily upload a variety of works such as showreels, demos and speed paints. 

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Image by Olivier Bergeron

Having a brand online is vital to keeping up a presence and is attractive to potential employers as consistency shows you can create work that is of a strong and similar value each time. Kamila Ołdakowska in “Explain Visually” states that in order to promote yourself online you must "Focusing on Consistency and Branding – Maintain consistency in your animation content to reinforce your brand identity." (Ołdakowska, K. 2024). This means that, in order to create a demand for content, users must make their work have a distinguishable aspect that is unique to themselves, be it, for example, the style of art or flow of the animation. Therefore, users are showing what they can contribute to the studio or client they wish to work with, effectively cultivating a strong online presence.

In conclusion, there is nuance to everything, for example content that could result in popularity  on TikTok could simultaneously receive little traction LinkedIn which could be explained through the different algorithms of both platforms. Attempting to create an online presence simply by posting content isn't effective on its own; however, the aforementioned platforms can be incredibly useful when networking online and that is invaluable within itself. You cannot just rely on having a strong portfolio online, building industry relationships both within your field and out can ensure you have a strong, effective, and lasting online presence.

Overall, using social media platforms effectively to create an online presence can prove difficult but when done right can help boost your career. For example, making a LinkedIn and creating connections with people from your university can create long lasting connections that could benefit you in the future - who knows where you will end up therefore, having a positive relationship with someone online can only be beneficial in potentially opening doors that were previously closed.

 

References

TikTok For Business. (2021). Creative Solutions: The Ultimate How-to Guide | TikTok For Business Blog. [online] Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/tiktok-creative-ultimate-guide?redirected=1&ab_version=control.

Ołdakowska, K. (2024). Animation in Social Media Marketing: Explore Now! (online) Explain Visually. Available at: https://explainvisually.co/en/animation-in-social-media-marketing

Image by mediamodifier