A Website allows potential clients to see an artist's portfolio anytime, anywhere. Here, Derin Basden designed this site to showcase artist Liz Holzman's work. © 2002, 2003 Liz Holzman. All rights reserved.

“I just spent $500 updating my demo reel,” my friend Adam said on the phone. His voice was mixed with pain and optimism. “This new reel will do the trick, it will help me get a job soon, it has to.” Meanwhile, on the other end of the phone, I picture the recruiter’s office. There are a few shelves with mountains of portfolios, drawers full of resumes, and a whole corner of the room solely devoted to little black VHS boxes. Some are very dusty; some are less so. However, among these boxes, there is one VHS tape, Adam’s, which is, believe it or not, “the little VHS tape that could.” During the afternoon, it manages to slide its way all the way from the corner of the room, and hop unnoticed on top of a series of conveniently placed stacks of books all the way to the recruiter’s desk. “Okay,” it thinks, “mission accomplished, I thought I could and I did. I am where I ought to be in order to get noticed.” Hours later, while listening to a myriad of conversations, the tape realizes that the recruiter does not make any final decisions – the producer and the director do, but their offices are on another floor. Momentarily dismayed, the tape starts mulling over a few strategies, “I can cartwheel my way down the hall, but how do I get to the fifth floor? What if I get noticed in the hallway? Will I be sent back to the corner? I think I can, I think I can.” And off it goes looking for the real limelight.

I can’t promise this is what really happens, but just about everyone has lost a portfolio at some point in their career, and I wonder, could it be that their portfolios took it upon themselves to get their creator a job? And then some how mysteriously turned down the wrong hallway into the insurance agency’s office – or landed on the wrong floor! Where are they now – all these brave souls that “thought they could?” Is there a portfolio heaven somewhere?

A cyber gallery might be the most effective advertising available to a freelance artist.

Get A Website!
Did I share this vision with Adam? No, I didn’t. I simply said, “Next time you have some money to spend promoting your career, consider creating your own Website. If possible, use your name as the name of your site, and let any one around the world who has access to the Internet see what you have to offer.” “Still pictures, can’t replace animation,” Adam responded. I agreed whole-heartedly, however, I reminded him that it was always possible to convert a few animated scenes to MPEG files or digital videos and add them to the site. Am I saying that it’s time to burn your portfolio? No. All I am suggesting is to let your Website open the initial door for you, and then your portfolio can fulfill its mission. Together Adam and I brainstormed about who is looking for artists, and he said he might consider moving to another state to look for work. All of a sudden when he talked about considering Texas, I said, “Adam, I know of a CG feature looking for board artists for a couple of months in China – it is the brain child of one of the world’s most highly regarded sci-fi artists.” Adam was excited. “Now, if you had your Website, you could just forward the URL via their email address, and they could look at your work instantly. You wouldn’t be scrambling to put a demo tape/portfolio together to ship to China. Instead of wasting valuable time and money getting your artwork together, agonizing over how to address the envelope, and having it get stuck in customs, your work would already be there.”

We all know that the industry is suffering, and too many of us are out of work – however this is the ideal time to work on creating your site. If you are an artist, you can show your commercial work and perhaps your fine art as well. You can even let your personal cyber gallery sell your work for you. Another friend called me earlier this year asking me for advice on local galleries. I asked her, what about www.lizholzman.com? Now, Liz happens to be an artist who does animation, ceramics, painting and jewelry – you can’t really appreciate Liz’s talent until you get to spend some time with her. She took my advice and had her site designed for her, and I think she is finally in a gallery that does her work justice. And for once she has a choice on when the exhibition will end, if at all!

Start Slow…But Start
For many, the thought of creating a Website is overwhelming. So many artists have told me, "My friend has offered to make one for me when he or she gets a chance." I ask the same question a few months later, I get the same answer. I can tell you one thing, if I got a dollar for every time I heard, “My friend is going to do my Website for me,” I would have enough money to fund your site right now.