Getting artists work and interviews on a small blog, likely?

analogmonkey

I’ve been a lurker on the site for a while and thought this would be an ideal time to post.

I’m setting up a blog that’s going to focus on mainly concept art and illustration. So we’re looking at review of books, interviews, possibly art supplies etc.

My question really is with interviews and getting artists work featured. I’ve got no experience in concept art or illustration and really that field of work (I'm a web and graphic designer). Do you think this would put off artists having their work featured on my site or maybe being interviewed?

I’ll be doing the site either way as I collect art of books and would love to share this passion with like-minded people. If I could help, up and coming artists get exposure in the long run that would be even better.

Just after some constructive views really.

Thanks

PixelMasher

I would say step 1 is to actually get started and start producing the blog and content. People will be much more inclined to hop on board and contribute if you already have a baseline of content for people to dive into and not just an empty site.

step 2 would be to consistently put out high quality content and start building an audience, the larger an audience you have, the more access to high level people in the concept art/illustration industry you will get. The chances of a blog that gets 20 visitors a month getting some of craig mullins time for an interview is pretty slim, however a thriving blog with hundreds of pages of awesome content, an large email list and facebook group with lots of active, engaged fans is much more likely because the value exchange is starting to be on a more even playing field.

start providing the community with so much interesting and engaging content and it will be pretty hard to be ignored. sitting there planning and trying to build success off of other peoples names and time is a surefire way to never get anything done. Demonstrate what you are passionate about by putting in the work and building something kick ass, and doors will start to open up, it will take quite a bit of time, effort and patience. hope this helps  

analogmonkey

Thanks for the reply PixelMasher, really appreciate the feedback.

One of the main reasons for interviews is because i'm a massive fan of the process and the artists mindset. I love the artists in residence section in Imagine FX, so this was part of the inspiration for that question.

I guess really my question should have been what do artists want to see in a blog, what would you class as high quality content? Do you find anything missing from current sites?

 I'm just trying to add value to the site really and know this would be tricky as i'm not in the industry.

I know this isn’t the design industry but I found it incredibly tough to get into that, especially at an older age. So would be great to help a few people out getting exposure in this industry as well as finding some kick ass new art.

Add3r

There definitely is a bit of a "market" for this, as sites like 80.lv have been seemingly growing at a steady pace.  Love the content that comes out of that site.  If there is a blog/site that covers even more of a wider range of art in multiple artistic industries that could be tied into games and VFX type work (architecture, design, etc) then you could count me in as interested.  

Brian "Panda" Choi

If you need interview subjects, feel free to hit me.

On the shoulder.

Sensuously.