Why I Promote the “Competition”
(Illustration by Brandon Dawley)
Here at Escape from Illustration Island, I spend a lot of time interviewing artists and sharing tutorials, books, blogs, podcasts, and other resources with the Illustration community. I do everything I can to find and pass on useful and inspiring information to people like you.
Every once in a while, someone will ask me “Why do you promote your competition?”
I understand the thought behind that question. After all, if I keep sending people away to other blogs, podcasts, and websites, how will I ever keep my audience at my own site, where I want them to be.
However, promoting the so-called “competition” is a big part of what Escape from Illustration Island is all about.
I take sharing resources seriously, and if I censored my information to cut out anything that would send people somewhere else, then I wouldn’t have very much to talk about, and I never would have built trust and formed relationships with the EFII community.
Escape from Illustration Island is a place where Illustrators and other creative professionals can come to break out of the isolation of their studio and connect with other artists, find useful tools, and hopefully learn to be even better at what we do.
Judging from the growth of this site and the EFII Podcast, there’s a big need for what I’m doing here, and it wouldn’t be possible without everyone that I might otherwise consider my “competition”. I invite my fellow artists to share their ideas and join the discussions in the comments sections and Weekend Forums. I work with my fellow podcasters to help bring our shows to a wider audience through reviews, cross-over shows, and the Visual Artist Podcast Network. I collaborate with other bloggers to highlight useful posts and ideas. And, like many of you, I pass on great links through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
At a base level, every artist, blog, and podcast out there is my competition. There’s no doubt about that. But one of the things I love about the Illustration community is the generosity of its members and a desire to help each other succeed and find inspiration. There is such a thing as healthy competition. That’s the kind that motivates us to improve, expand, ands always reach for the next rung on the ladder. Not to mention, the more you assist and promote your fellow creators, the more they will do the same for you.
In short, if you see everyone else as your “competition”, you will never Escape from Illustration Island.
So, you can always count on me to promote my competitors in order to to achieve my two main goals: to share resources and to BE a resource to the Illustration community. If that means that I have to lead people away from my site from time to time, then so be it.
In the spirit of that, here is a collection of past articles that will send you away from EFII. May you find something useful to share with your competition.
- 15 Illustration Blogs You Should Know About
- 1 Dozen Audio Podcasts for Illustrators
- 8 Best Freelance Business Online Resources
- Top 12 Children’s Book Illustration Resources
- 15 Thriving Online Art Communities
- Top 10 Facebook Pages for Illustrators
- 5 Essential Copyright Resources for Artists
- 35 Art-Related Twitter Users to Follow
How do you treat your “competition”? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
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Special thanks to competitor Brandon Dawley for providing the artwork for this post.
About Brandon Dawley: Brandon Dawley is an award winning graphic designer + illustrator from NY. His work has been seen in Print, Ins&Out magazine and on the wall of his living room. Popcorn is his favorite snack.
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Related Posts:
- How to Make the Most of the Online Art Community
- Illustrators Unite to Protest Online Art Theft
- How Do You Connect with the Art Community?
Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.
Sharing is fun! And you’re great at it.
Co-opetition (cooperative competition), I believe, is the transition idea to next stage in business evolution that has the distinct feel of Open Sourcing.
Somewhere in the back of my competitive/cooperative mind I’m sensing a pathway leading to a human culture more like that depicted in the Star Trek stories – a creative combination of communism, socialism and capitalistic drive heaven bent on everyone thriving and living well.
(Although, admittedly, for me the path is not yet clear.)
In that light, I will continue to share what and who I know so every artist and creative person has a better opportunity to shine and find their own way to thrivlihood.
Viva la Co-opetition!
Best,
A.
Co-opetition. I like that. Thanks for your comment, Adrienne.
I love discovering other artists. In fact, I “discovered” this blog just this week through a link on another blog. Promotion runs full circle.
In my own newsletter, I have a section highlighting another artist that I enjoy and why I like the artist — this newsletter goes out to people who have already expressed an interest in my art, so why am I pointing my audience to someone else? For exactly the same reasons you list here.
It’s by providing good content that people come back to a site. I’ve been back to this blog every day this week since I found it. I can’t wait to dig into this blog a little more and find out what I’ve missed so far. Keep promoting the competition and I’m going to keep coming back to your site! Thank you!!!!
Thanks Dawn, and welcome to EFII. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I love your approach to your newsletter. In addition, I think that by talking about the artists who inspire you, your readers get to learn more about you and your creative process. Out of curiosity, what has been the response from the readers of your newsletter?
Thanks again for your comment,
Thomas
Fantastic post Thomas. The Illustration Community as a whole is so much stronger and richer because of the generosity that it’s members have. In fact that same generosity has at times almost given me pause in the past, for fear of overstaying my welcome asking questions!
Friendly competition and constantly pushing yourself to improve is one thing, but if we all went out there with the mind set we are going to cut each others throats to get ahead we’d all end up the poorer for it.
Hi Warren. Thanks for your kind words. I agree with what you’re saying about the Illustration Community. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if all industries were as generous and communal.
Thomas
Both very well stated!
Being generous and supportive to fellow creatives only strengthens our community and helps bring everyone up. I’m all for it :)