Community Feature: WiPnation

For as much as I ramble about art marketing here, I realize I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of all the tools out there for artists to promote themselves, specifically art communities!  Today I'm featuring a fledgling art community called WiPNation in the first of an ongoing series highlighting communities that provide unique services to artists.

There are only so many hours in the day to participate in art communities and I want to share why artists should be spending some of that time on this site.

It's difficult to grow if you exist in a void (well unless you're an amoeba) and that is where constructive criticism comes in.  It is my firm belief that all artists need to put their work up for constructive critique or they risk making the same mistakes over and over again without ever improving.  WiPnation steps in to fill this need and, unlike other art communities, focuses mainly on criticism as the crux of interaction on the site.

I used this site personally to complete two pieces for DragonCon under a major time crunch and can say with full confidence that my pieces came out far better than they would have if I hadn't received criticism from this site.  The beauty of WiPn's setup is that you can upload multiple images within a single page, which allows you to follow the evolution of a piece of art as the artist uploads new steps (or Revisions as they're called).  To see this process in action, you can click the thumbnails below of the aforementioned pieces of mine:

Other users on the site can come and critique any phase of the image as well as leave redlines (visual corrections drawn in red) on the images. It sounds simple, but it beats other sites where you would have to dig through links and embedded images in a forum or comment string to see the critique relevant to your image (or a particular phase of your image). Additional features of the site include the ability to post blog posts and the ability to 'Like' and follow specific pieces and users.  They plan to roll out even more robust functionality in the future as they develop.

It's this easy to follow Revisions feature that really makes WiPn powerful, helpful, and unique.  Couple that with the fact you have a strong core of people who are passionate about art and artists at the helm and you have a site worth keeping an eye on in the future!

WiPnation is still in its beta phase right now and could really use your input, so go sign up and give it a shot!  They also need commentary from happy users to win a $50k hiring grant, which you can help out with here.

What has your personal experience with this community been like?  Has it affected your art or art business?  Will you be trying it out for yourself?  Discuss in comments!

A Reminder - I'm still seeking artists in need of portfolio reviews. Read on here for more info!