MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Leo Blanchette on April 19, 2011, 22:45
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...the best site I've ever submitted my work to.
http://www.clipartof.com/ (http://www.clipartof.com/)
If your an illustrator, get in contact.
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Someone posted on here last week that they're not accepting new artists right now.
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Oh really? I guess I didn't get that memo. I only pop into microstock land every now and then.
Um...so like I was saying...when they ARE accepting new artists, definitely get in touch.
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I agree with Kona 110%. However, I think they are accepting some artists, it's just that they have some very specific criteria that not all artists meet.
About a month ago, I talked with Jamie, the owner of ClipartOf, about them accepting new artists. Jamie is very passionate about taking care of her artists and only works with serious artists with a proven track record. You can read more about ClipartOf’s philosophy here: http://www.clipartof.com/info/about. (http://www.clipartof.com/info/about.)
Here are ClipartOf's requirements that Jaime gave me, for accepting new artists:
1. The artist must offer completely unique style and content from what we already have so we don’t dilute existing contributor sales. We do not frantically add contributors like other sites do because its unnecessary.
2. Must have at least 1,000 image available to us at time of signing. All files must be vector or high quality 3d renders.
3. Must be able to accept payments via paypal.
Jaime added, “The difference between us and other sites is that we have very limited spots and will not always continuously add.”
ClipartOf is not for all microstock and vector artists. I was lucky enough to get my portfolio accepted, and the results have been great. If you meet their requirements, I would recommend that you try and add your vector portfolio, just like Kona recommended. If not, or if they turn you down, don’t worry about it. I know that Jaime and her small staff are extremely busy, so they may not be able to answer each and every one one of your questions, or go into detail about why they turned you down. Don’t take that personally. Instead, work on improving your portfolio and finding ideas and concepts that designers need.
I have worked with Jamie and ClipartOf a lot, and I know one of her primary goals is to help her artists be profitable and successful. Her guidelines are put in place to make that possible.
~ Eli
www.graphicgravy.com (http://www.graphicgravy.com)
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Yeah, I have nothing but kind words to say about Jamie and the site. They really put the agent back into agency. I wish there were more sites like it out there.
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I know there's a lot of hype out there about the good and bads about various sites. I was sad to see some of the more recent news in these forums.
ClipArtof.com is extremely unique. If you can get in, definitely do it. They are extremely independent in terms of the way they operate. I'm not getting any sort of referrals from this post either. I'm actually more thankful at just how much they've watched out for my own work and most of my success (edit, stability/success relative to microstock) really is a result of their site.
Even if your portfolio stagnates for a while, don't worry. I do feel they are a wonderful catch-net from the rest of this business which often seems to be in a lot of unrest. There are other benefits of being involved with ClipArtOf.com, but I won't elaborate too much. If you can get in, do it!
I really like their choice to remain small and focused on a small few of artists. Instead of being a big rock in the landslide of microstock, they are a small little gem sitting up on a distant hillside :D. Ok, poetics aren't my strong point, but you get the point.
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ups...accidental post
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I appreciate all of the kind words so much. You have no idea!
As for contributors, yes we are adding contributors, but very selectively as mentioned above.
For anyone interested, you can read our terms and fill out an application from here:
http://www.clipartof.com/artist-application (http://www.clipartof.com/artist-application)
I will personally respond to each request with any questions or comments. It is never my intention to hurt anyone's feelings but I really am looking for a select few artists that can supply images in their own unique niche, so if you have a portfolio similar to what we've already got, I'm sorry I will have to turn you down and wish you the best out there.
Jamie Voetsch
Owner
http://www.clipartof.com/ (http://www.clipartof.com/)
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Seems it was only two years ago. Hey look, it was two years ago! :)
It was harder than heck to find a good message with the words clipartof.com new members application. (or some of those) And then I stumbled upon this one.
Here I'll even save taking a link visit, but Jamie Voetsch was kind enough to come here with the facts and accurate information.
Here's hoping that someone else will be saved an hour of searching for the bottom line answer.
And if anyone is wondering why. I saw messages upon messages of illustrators saying it was one of their best income sites, but others saying no new members. Then others saying you could apply. ???
Sorry for the delay in the correction. I was out of town, but here's the authoritative answer. (not an incorrect two year old quote that I found here)
We have a full house with artists that contribute on a regular basis. As of about 6 months ago, we are no longer accepting new contributors at all. We simply have our hands full!
I'm now referring people over to symbiostock, and toonvectors.
I'm happy that the real answer could be found and nailed down.
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Hi RacePhoto,
Thanks for sharing this, however things have changed since then. We have a full house with artists that contribute on a regular basis. As of about 6 months ago, we are no longer accepting new contributors at all. We simply have our hands full!
I'm now referring people over to symbiostock, and toonvectors.
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
indeed, was thinking about that too, very interesting, wonder why SS or other haven't stopped? ;D
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
indeed, was thinking about that too, very interesting, wonder why SS or other haven't stopped? ;D
Maybe they should be? 50% commission on an average $14 sale with very good volume and no subs. You set your own prices. Ftp upload, they do the keywording and the site is easy to use and never goes down. Contributor service is amazing and I imagine customer service is as well. It's no wonder there are never any threads about this site. There is nothing to complain about...ever.
It's interesting they choose toonvectors and symbio to refer to. Toonvectors is almost exactly the same minus the keywording and the volume, but it is coming. Just a guess but if illustrators had their own poll I would bet that clipartof would be above SS by a decent margin and toon vectors would be above all of the low earners and some of the mid.
These are the models for what microstock should be and all of us contributors would be much better off if all of the site were like clipart of and toonvectors.
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that all sound awesome chromaco BUT for the ones contributing AND in terms of business I wonder how smart it is to reject very good illustrators (know a few myself that started back in 2009/10 and sadly aren't contributing there) and drive them to other sites (the ones you just said that are growing), which in my view doesn't make any sense, pretty much they are losing market in long "race", now you are doing fine and over SS but I don't think it will happen in the future
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I understand about the no new contributors, which is another reason why people don't mention them much. If toonvectors didn't pretty much match that philosophy I wouldn't have commented at all. Toonvectors is a very good option for newer contributors and I recommend them highly. Honestly I would like to have about 6 sites like these two.
As far as quality I can't argue about new talent but I do know this. My best new images go to these two sites first and a lot if it doesn't even make it to the sub sites. So one could argue that clipartof and toonvectors are getting the best images which could result in the highest quality catalogs. They also have a very good pulse on the market, If they start to slip I am sure they are in a position to act very quickly.
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Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!
I've kept a fairly open door policy thus far towards new "walk-in" contributors as I learn, experiment and grow, but it will likely be necessary at some point in the future to focus more on building up the success of existing contributors and restrict new ones to only those that I think might fit the mold of past successes or those who uniquely expand the catalog.
I am definitely a fan of ClipartOf and see them as the #1 best model to emulate as a microstock agency. There is no reason to be the dumping ground for millions of images when everyone involved, including agency, artist and buyer, can be much happier on a smaller scale with more care and attention to detail.
The Symbiostock phenomenon is also very interesting to me and I have been watching very closely and pondering the possibilities and pieces that I might want to contribute. I think it makes a great deal of sense for every artist to have their own personal site for featuring and selling their work. Not that this wasn't possible before, but the network effect puts a new twist on matters since it increases the likelihood of success. This has the potential to radically change the dynamic between artists and agencies for the betterment of both.
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I only refer artists to places where I feel they will be treated with respect. Since we cannot keep adding new contributors, and I have heard nothing but good comments in regards to ToonVectors and I know the master mind of SymbioStock and respect what he is doing.
Many years ago we more than doubled our contributors, which cost our first batch of contributors about half of their earnings due to more competition.
I wish I could open the doors for everyone, but it just does not work out well for us and our contributors, as we have previously discovered.
We aren't in this to get rich. We started ClipartOf for a reason and that was to represent artists that I had known for a long time that had been treated horribly by other agencies. Since we are in it for a different reason than most agencies/libraries/whatever you want to call us, we don't have a need to keep accepting new contributors. As long as we have a steady stream of images, we are content. :)
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
indeed, was thinking about that too, very interesting, wonder why SS or other haven't stopped? ;D
Maybe they should be? 50% commission on an average $14 sale with very good volume and no subs. You set your own prices. Ftp upload, they do the keywording and the site is easy to use and never goes down. Contributor service is amazing and I imagine customer service is as well. It's no wonder there are never any threads about this site. There is nothing to complain about...ever.
It's interesting they choose toonvectors and symbio to refer to. Toonvectors is almost exactly the same minus the keywording and the volume, but it is coming. Just a guess but if illustrators had their own poll I would bet that clipartof would be above SS by a decent margin and toon vectors would be above all of the low earners and some of the mid.
These are the models for what microstock should be and all of us contributors would be much better off if all of the site were like clipart of and toonvectors.
Didn't work for warmpics did it. Perhaps vectors are different then all the sites for photo.
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
Rivals? ???
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Interesting policy, referring possible superstars to your rivals!
Rivals? ???
Oh, are they all divisions of the same company?
That would explain it!
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I think that, maybe, jvoetsch see the business in another way instead other agency. She know that they are a small company and can't compete with the big, not in this moment at all. Clipartof understand that they can live well in a niche and with a fair trade with contributors; so they focus is holding and growing their niche and go ahead a little at a time. Evidently they think that there is enough space for other without hurt themselves. And with this in mind they refer only other agencies, that treat the artists with respect. This is the better policy in long terms to hear, good artists in small agencies and not in the big, in long terms, means that the big can lose contributors and then buyer.
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This all reminds me to start uploading to Toonvectors. I was accepted a few months ago. :o
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Much of symbiostock strategy was inspired by the generous nature and method of clipartof.com. credit links on sy sites lead back to them and Msg to show gratitude for their contributions. Kenny for instance made his contributors their own themed sites and linked to them from main site.
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Much of symbiostock strategy was inspired by the generous nature and method of clipartof.com. credit links on sy sites lead back to them and Msg to show gratitude for their contributions. Kenny for instance made his contributors their own themed sites and linked to them from main site.
I agree!
I think MSG + clipartof made valuable contributions as well..
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All of this is very positive. Nice direction.
Much of symbiostock strategy was inspired by the generous nature and method of clipartof.com. credit links on sy sites lead back to them and Msg to show gratitude for their contributions. Kenny for instance made his contributors their own themed sites and linked to them from main site.
I agree!
I think MSG + clipartof made valuable contributions as well..
Much of symbiostock strategy was inspired by the generous nature and method of clipartof.com. credit links on sy sites lead back to them and Msg to show gratitude for their contributions. Kenny for instance made his contributors their own themed sites and linked to them from main site.
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Yes they are more like a traditional agency. They don't accept loads of artists because their very successful model wouldn't work that way. They really promote the heck out of every single piece of work and look after their people. The work they put into SEO and cross promoting work through their different sites (not partners but leading back to sales on CAO) is astounding. A really great agency with a very different approach to the big guys.
They are one of the reasons I get so annoyed at the new small agencies saying they need to offer stuff cheaper to compete. No, they need to work their a**es off, and they just aren't prepared to put in the work!
ETA to add ** and heck etc. because I was getting censored