Welcome my fellow Deviants!
Welcome my fellow Deviants!
Greetings to all of you that took my advice in my journal over on deviantArt and came over here to RedBubble! There have been quite a few it seems to come on over and explore things. This place is quite different than DA as you may be finding out, but the differences I feel are also better as you will see. So I thought that I would go ahead and throw a little primer together for you guys, kinda a FYI for ya! I hope this helps you guys! I also am going to feature a few works from some of ya down below :)
1) RedBubble is FOR the Artist!- DA charges people for having a ‘subscription’ and also a ‘premium prints subscription’. When a user does NOT have a premium print subscription, they can only make 10% profit of their sales. When they have a premium subscription, artist only gets 50% of markup with DA getting the other 50% of artist profit. RedBubble is 100% free, costs nothing to join, there is NO member subscription, the artist keeps 100%!! of ALL profits with RB only getting the base price. There is NO ‘premium print subscription” on RB.
2) NO Popularity Contest Here!- Yes You read right, there is NO popularity contest here. Everyone is one and the same, all on the same level. Sure, your statts are accessible but are NOT displayed on the front of your page. In fact they are actually kind of hard to find lol I don’t even recall where they are at! There is no “popular” area of any kind, and all that there is really is the art of the front page. Nice huh? Thought many of you would like that!
3) A Structured Groups/Clubs System—- DA has been saying that they would something in this form now for years, literally, it took RB like a week to do it lol You can see all the groups here
4) Borders and Watermarks—-Do NOT add border for images which you are uploading here, as it generally a pain in the rear for when they print things. As such, they discourage it. The same for watermarks, as RB has a built in watermarking system, and if you upload an image that has a watermark then that image when sold will have one on it. (Though I am sure they would flag it first)
5) * True Theft Prevention!-* RB has an option that places a 1 pixel gif overlay on top of your images, so when someone tries to download an image of yours, instead they get a 1px gif!
6) The HTML here—- Ok all things considered, the HTML here is a lil whacky and unique. There is a cheat Sheet there that will help you will that and also a Firefox extension you can use, which I use and has been a total lifesaver.
7* *Getting Started On RB!- There is a BUNCH of things that have been posted here in the forums to help you guys out! When in doubt, always head there. These forums are VERY different than DA as teh age here is older and the atmosphere much more professional. Tutorials and Tips for Newcomers There is a wealth of info there including how to make a site badge, slideshows showing your RB portfolio, banner images, How to make T-shirts for sale, etc etc.
8*) “The Atmosphere Here!-” It is quite different as you will see. The owners of the site and admins are VERY friendly and helpful, and are fellow full time artist’s as well. The age here is older, as you will notice right away! Many of the people who I have brought here have actually left DA and haven’t looked back simply because they like it better and feel much more comfortable.
9)* “The Upload Process here—-” It is a lil slower, because the servers are in Australia, but not by much. And that is the only slower thing about this site, it loads faster, as a whole, pages and images fly when you click on them.
10) “NO Adverts!-” Yes that is correct, no adverts anywhere, period, which makes for an awesome experience for anyone who sees your work. It also makes for a nice site to send family and friends to show your work. Art the way it is meant to be seen, as art!
All In All—- I hope you guys really enjoy it here. It is a really exceptional site that very much has the artist in mind. This is something that I think has been needed. Anyways, if ya all have any questions, please feel free to ask me, and I will help as I can as per usual! Hope ya all like the features below!
—-John
eseffpe
agree with all of this john, being here is an absolute breath of fresh air! It’s a wonderful community and such a friendly place! Three cheers for the bubble!
John De Bord P... replied
:) You said it, it really is different isn’t it!
Stefan Trenker
I agree with most of it, John!
but you have to admit that dA, in its beginnings, was totally different from what it is now.
back then (or what i call back then, as i wasn’t part of it from the very start) it was more for art as well, quality was what really counted.
but that’s the problem with almost als sites of this kind – they grow, get more and more popular and then there’s the problem of keeping the service alive and the quality up.
there has been a thread in the forums here on RB that discusses the topic of “charging RB users as well”, mainly because the quality of the submissions is also starting to get worse (still it’s pretty good).
so lets see which way RB is going to go. lets hope it’s a different one from what we’ve ssen over at dA…
John De Bord P... replied
I haven’t seen that thread yet but I will go hunting for it in just a second. Yes, DA used to be much different than it is now, I will agree with that. I think their vision really changed a lot from being an art site to being a business, and we all know that art and corporate settings are like oil and water lol I mean look at the adverts now all OVER the dang place, they aren’t even art related anymore for geeze sakes! Ficken mein knie!!! (I LOVE that German saying Stefan lol It is hystyerical!)
Sue Nueckel
WELL SAID!!! :D
John De Bord P... replied
lol
Christy Grimes
Takes a lot of getting used to here after being at deviantART for so long! :
) Of course, making time for just deviantART is pressing lately, but I’m really enjoying the site here and hope to upload some new pieces soon. :) Thanks for guiding me here!John De Bord P... replied
Hey you! :D Oh you are VERY welcome! It does take a lil time but once ya got it down, yer well on yer way! I think it is a lot easier tan the new v6 anyhow, and more reliable at least lol Damn FF crashes lol
George Lenz
I just recently started on DA… I did not purchase any services yet… it it not easy to navigate and the pages are very busy…you comments are true about RB… I’ve been here a year and like it a lot…. this was informative and….i may just casually use DA for awhile to see if anything sells…thx for your article…:-)
M. Huston
Nice write-up, and thanks for taking the time to do it. I’ve only just opened my account here…because you were always talking about this place so highly and my curiosity finally got the better of me. ;)
John De Bord P... replied
I seriously love it here, I can’t say enuff good things about it! Glad you joined us!
Matt Claghorn
Awesome journal, already installed that script, too. Thanks once again, man!
SL Van Geest
That HTML cheat sheet is EXCELLENT! Thanks for linking it. It’s been driving me nuts that I haven’t been able to bold or link anything on my page. Also, do you know what exactly the Firefox extension is? I’d love to get that as well.
John De Bord P... replied
Hmmmmm there should be a link on the same page where the cheat sheet is at to download and install it. Let me know. Glad ya made it here!
steppeland
Hi! Well, I did discover redbubble already some months ago, but your journal at dA definitely got me into it! Thanks for introducing us here :)
Daniel Zrno
Thanks for this introduction! I think I’ll enjoy it here :)
TJ Photography
it is taking me some time to get used to the redbubble way!! i am going back through my photos and re-editing my best work from DA. I am taking your advise and starting the get set up for possible print sales too. Thanks John..it is a new atmosphere here! Also, thanks for the photo feature!
PNFdeb
your right on target with every thing…. lol
Jo O'Brien
Hey this is great! Love to see you are enjoying RedBubble. I’m mildly addicted to it myself. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help make the transition easier for you. There’s also a Devaint Art Welcome Group
peter
Cheers John – and welcome to RB.
Jennifer Eiford
I love it here! Thanks for sharing your advice. It’s been most helpful!
Susan Dailey
I’m still trying to get used to it….I joined about a year ago, but I only log in once or twice a month…my bad
Jody Johnson
I found RB through word of mouth, and so glad I did. I adore looking at everyone ‘art’ from around the world, and I have sold a couple items, isn’t that a nice kudo!? Someone else likes my stuff too! A great learning experience ~ I have met some wonderful people more than eager to share techniques and advice…..and I agree, a wonderful place to send family and friends to see your works….thanks for this post, wish I had seen it when I started out. I have rec. this site to a friend who is doing very well in the sales of her t-shirts….so I am glad I could do my good deed!
pjofriel
Hi, John! Fellow Deviant here. hehe. Finally made a Red Bubble account! Thanks for telling us all about this place. I’m going to wander around a bit and see how I like things. Here’s hoping I have some success! :)
John De Bord P... replied
hey GREAT to see ya on here! Your work will be a hit!
Amber Lynn
That was quite helpful; thank you very much. :)
I will definitely upload some of my work soon! :3
John De Bord P... replied
Awesome deal Amber! I think u will REALLY like it here! It is a KILLER site!
Nathan Hobbs
Thanks for the feature, I was hiking in the windrivers at the time.
I like the atmosphere at redbubble so much more!
But its hard to leave DA because i have some good freinds there as well.
John De Bord P... replied
Oh I don’t ya gotta leave, but balance is always good!
Famz
you can even add journals to favourites! :| neat!...I just gotta break the bad addiction I have to dA
John De Bord P... replied
:) Yes u certainly can, just balance both sites out, I think u would learn much more here when it comes to photography
Wayson Wight
Hey John! I found ya! lol. I am brand new over here and have just started to upload my work, (altho I’ve got to start over ‘cause my stuff has borders). Anyway, as usual, great journal post that is incredible useful! Have a good one John, and if this site is as good as you say, I can’t wait to get involved.
Paperdaisies
Hi there everyone.
I am a current DA member (under the same name) and discovered redbubble through my aunts recommendation who heard it from the nephew of a fellow art teacher. I am in the process of moving my images over…but they are all on my other computer that is having a tantrum. I feel like RB and DA have different roles for me. DA is just a fun way to showcase all your art…I like to include some fun stuff that I wouldn’t include on here to sell.
I’m not really sure about how the traditional art community feels here…I really love that part of DA. At the moment I feel dwarfed by photographers here…(I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just an observation…)
I am really excited to be part of this community and am looking forward to exploring!