If however you are new to building your online presence in order to progress in modelling then you can follow some of my top ten tips. You don’t have to be a curvy model, otherwise known as plus-size model, to gain something from these tips. Heck you don’t even need to be a model – but as that’s one of my areas of professional work I’ll use that as an example.

These things have and are working for me, and although I now work exclusively as a fuller figured model via my agency, making yourself known outside of that so you build a base of followers and supporters can certainly help you gain notoriety – even press attention.

You may already be doing some or all of these things – so if you are – keep doing your thing.

So let’s begin!

1. Make friends – By this I don’t mean start friend collecting like crazy and only speak to a chosen few. Be open to speak to everyone (unless they are rude or creepy, in which case you remove them). Share their links or comment on their tweets, blogs or Facebook statuses. You’d be surprised who you can get to know on social network sites, and in a positive way.
2. Get a blog and off MySpace – MySpace is a friend collecting haven. I have met some nice people from there but mostly when I first started. Up until last year I used MySpace every day, but in all honesty as far as networking goes it’s pretty much redundant – even if you’re a glamour gal or a musician, the saturation of people on there and all the different add-ons makes it very difficult now to form an alliance of people (I’ll talk about alliances in a minute). You may have over 1,000 friends on there but out of those people who actually comes on your page regularly, who shares your news with anyone? When I say get off MySpace I don’t mean close your account. I mean sign in say hello and then don’t go back for like a week, because honestly in that week you could set up a free blog, twitter, and Facebook and build an alliance of people who WILL share your news, and interact with you. It just breaks my heart to see so many people (especially models) waste hours trying to build a following on there when really it’s nothing more than old fashioned friendster.
3. Build your army – I know who each and every one of my army and they know I’m on their army too! Do you have an army, or an alliance of people who will re-tweet, have you guest blog, share your links and post comments on your blog? If not you need to start building. Alliances are the independent model’s most powerful tool and through your alliance you can gain amazing opportunities and contacts. Building your alliance starts with one person. One person you get along really well with. Someone singing from the same hymn sheet as you and the relationship is balanced and mutual. That person could be another model, or it could be someone who has nothing to do with modelling. From there you mutually connect with other people and you will find in no time at all you have an army of people who will watch your back and promote you. But it works both ways as I’ll explain in step 4!
4. Don’t be selfish with the sharing – If you have an alliance of people no matter how large or small do your best to support them also. It’s very easy to get carried away and enjoy all these people sharing your links, posts etc but don’t forget that that alliances are two way streets. Don’t just thank them then move onto your next project and hope they will promote it. Sooner or later they will realise that you have not shared anything of theirs and it could lead to you losing one of your army. Get on your Facebook, blog or twitter and shout out for them. Pass on their information and the karma will be returned. Link shout outs in blogs or little mentions all help solidify you care about the members of your alliance.
5. Look outside the box – Modelling isn’t just about taking a picture or walking down a runway and schmoozing with magazine editors and photographers – as you know from reading my blog there are other types of modelling to make money from. Try to reach out to people who are not involved in modelling in any way. Business coaches, Lawyers, Charity workers the list is endless and by getting to know people outside of modelling you will not only learn new and interesting things which you may be able to use in your work, you also might gain a valuable lead to a modelling opportunity.
6. Work 24/8 – Okay this may seem silly but you know there are never enough days in the week, but really you need to cram an extra day’s work blog updating, posting new modelling pictures and social networking in order to stay current and in people’s minds. I have taken to updating my site a few times a day just very recently because I realised by looking at my stats my visitors were coming onto my site at certain times of the day – and due to time differences (especially between Europe and The US) I wanted to have something fresh for people to see. I also take time to have chats with people in my alliance about their plans so I can give advice, work on something we can both promote together. As a model they say you should get enough rest – and whilst I can’t dispute the benefits of this the dedication to your craft needs for you to work even harder and longer hours than most.
7. Make fun of yourself sometimes – Some may disagree but I wholeheartedly endorse poking fun at yourself once in a while. Post a funny picture of yourself, blog about an embarrassing but funny moment as I have done recently in my blog about my ASOS Curve fit modelling session. These things make you human. People can relate. In the midst of your serious shots for your portfolio on your blog you should also have something that people think, ‘she’s comes across as professional but if I worked with her we are bound to have fun.’ Don’t be a poker face all the time! Models are the worst for this – in this day and age of sharing it doesn’t pay to be aloof with your readers or social network friends. Let them see you know how to smile.
8. Share your knowledge – If you’ve done something that you think people can learn from, share it. I wrote a book about modelling which is currently being revised and will be out again soon. You don’t have to write a book, but you can share stories you feel people will find interesting or thought provoking. Be on hand to answer questions from other models or anyone in general. Knowledge is a huge crowd puller and modelling when you’re bountifully curved is a very hot topic and one that has gained a lot of media interest. I’ve been featured in magazines and newspapers because of my knowledge of fuller figured modelling world. Never think people can’t learn something from what you’ve achieved or what your experiences have been.
9. Showcase others – This could quite happily sit under tip number four of not being selfish – but honestly it deserves to have a number by itself because it’s something that so many models forget to do. If you have a blog then invite someone to guest post on it. Guest posts are valuable in the sense they open the scope for readers of the other person to find information about that person on your blog. It opens up interest in you as well. I’ve often added people to my Facebook or twitter who I’ve found on other people’s blogs as a guest writer and conversely I’ve added people who own blogs my friends have guest posted on.
10. Meet ups offline – When organised well a meet up with photographers, other models, or simply people you’ve met online can be extremely beneficial. Obviously be aware of the safety aspects of meeting people you only know online. Big group meets are a great way to break the ice and solidify friendships made online and you’ll find people will try and support you even more once they have met you in person. If you do go to a large meet up or fashion related gathering, such as fuller figured fashion week in New York (FFFweek) take some business cards with you. Put a few of your best shots on them with your website address, Facebook page, twitter and email and hand them out where appropriate. You may not get ‘discovered’ or land the gig of your dreams but you will be doing the ground work of connecting with people and showcasing who you are!

Good luck and have fun!

Vx

Related Articles:

When The Agent Calls

Tips to Treating Your Plus Size Modeling Career as a Business – Guest Post by Kimmoy The Curvy Coach

This look using Beauty UK Cosmetics was inspired by an ad by Akris of Bond Street London that Rachel gave me…

In it the woman is looking to the side but direct and her eye and lip make-up are about the only colour you see. She’s pale as milk. Obviously I’m not HA! so I switched it up in Photoshop.

Eyes were done with Beauty UK Cosmetics ( palette 04) and lipstick – Shu Uemura (Brown)

I have done a video review of Beauty UK cosmetics and I will post the link with this shortly. You’ll be able to see me make-up but untouched
V x

Vanessa Reece

One question I get asked a lot is how do I come up with ideas for photoshoots.

Some models don’t find this process easy when trying to build a porfolio or test shooting.

I tend to get ideas on the hop and use things around me as props or certain make-up looks to inspire me.

This past Sunday I was cleaning my make-up brushes and sorted out my make-up when I came across two items that inspired the pictures you see on this post.

One item was a bright green eyeshadow called, Jade, by Ben Nye and the other was the cheap-as-chips diamante style bracelet  that for some reason was in my make-up bag.

The two items combined inspired me to shoot a few head shot pictures with the theme of, ‘Envious Greed’.
I applied my make-up (and if anyone is interested I’ll note the colours at the end of the post) – then I simply got a feather boa and wrapped it around my face. I didn’t want to mess with the hairstyle but I wanted it to allude some extra glamour.
I asked my son, who’s learning about basic photography, to take some simple headshots of me.

I then picked two I liked and ran them through Adobe Photoshop. I have a plug-in for it called ‘Imagenomic: Portraiture’ and I literally set that to a function called ‘Glamour’ and played around with the light until I got the look I wanted – which was that of a glossy print ad. I then ran the curve tool which gave the picture more depth.

It took about five minutes.

Next time you are sorting out make-up or outfits think about how you can use them in your modeling work. You’d be surprised how you can use things around you to build a good photoshoot.

If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop you can download a fully functional 30 day trial from www.adobe.com and as a model you would be best to get to know this program because it’s good to use for very basic to more detailed work.

You can also resize your pictures in it which is invaluable. I’m always amazed how many models don’t have a clue how to use photo editing tools. I never see using photoshop as simply retouching either. It’s good to add light to a picture or turn photos to black and white.

There are a ton of Photoshop tutorials online. I learned most of my basic Photoshop skills from free video tutorials and the rest I stumbled upon when using the program.

The second picture here shows me in a slightly different light. Again, I played around in Photoshop with the curve and brightness/contrast tools to get to this final result.

Don’t think you’re selling out by using Photoshop. You can use a little or a lot. Every picture you see in glossy magazines has been edited in some way. You can create some very artistic looks by using Photoshop. I have a mixture of very natural pictures and highly made up ones in my portfolio.

As a pin-up model you can get away with a lot of artistic looks.

Imagine what you can do with what’s around you; a pose, and five minutes in a photo editing program.

For those who like my make-up here is a list of items I used and where I used them.

Remember I used foundation, concealer and my eyeshadow base (Clinique touch base)  first.

Ubran Decay: Eyeshadow (Honey) Used all over the eye first as well as underneath the lower lid.
Ben Nye: Eyeshadow (Jade) Used from the middle of the eye blended to the outer corners and slightly flicked up at the ends. Plus, a little mixed under the eye to blend with the honey colour.
Rimmel London: Black Liquid Liner (eye lids)
Clinique Mascara: High Impact (Black)
False eyelashes. I cut one in half and used them from the middle of the eye out.

Shu Uemura: Blusher (Brick 65)
Clinique: Lipstick (Red Drama) I only used this very lightly. It’s a lot darker when used fully.
Lip liner (just a basic red)
Clinique: Lip gloss (202 Cherry Spritzer)

Further Links:

Check out my six part make-up tutorial for a light evening look here

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/user/vanessareece

More information on plus-size pin-up modeling can be found here:
http://vanessareece.com/professional-plussize-model/

This one tribe separated into different parts of the world. Over time some of their skins no longer needed all that melanin which protects the skin from the sun, so their skin tones lightened.  This took a long time. It’s called evolution and adapting to ones evironment.

This whole concept is lost on a few people in the plus-size community of late who deem it appropriate to call out a magazine that according to them has not put a single black person on their cover.

I am offended. To the mainstream western world I’m mixed race, from a  ‘Black’ man and a ‘White’ woman. But science tells us that every single one of us can trace back our origins to Africa. That is science! DNA! It’s our blueprint.

I know a man from India whose skin is slowly turning white due to Vitiligo. Would you ever tell this man he wasn’t Indian? No you wouldn’t.

What about this woman who was born to black parents but who has the condition Albinism. Are you going to tell this girl she isn’t Black or not Black enough? If you would, you’re an idiot. You are no better than someone from the KKK or BNP.

To the ladies who are most miffed their particular skin colouring is not showcased on the front of a magazine – think before you speak.  You’re words make you look uneducated and am I wrong in thinking that educated is how ‘Black’ people have strived to show they are.

Admit that you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about not getting in that magazine and the only argument you can come up with is the fact you’re a certain skin colour. I’d hazard a guess you didn’t get on that cover because your mind is not a free thinking one. You cannot represent freedom.
The freedom we strive for in the plus-size community is to be accepted for who we are and that goes for the colour we happen to be. By closing your mind to one aspect you are showing you are not  free thinking. You didn’t cut the mustard. Go back  and learn about evolution. Learn about where WE ALL came from and then come back with the same argument. You will be speechless because there will be no argument.

To you small group of ladies I ask you to think outside the box and show some sort of intelligence. Or better still learn to accept gracefully that you were not what this magazine wanted.

One of the magazine’s mantra’s is ‘DON’T HATE’. You ladies need to try that some time. You are free to speak as you will, but you need to think what your words say about you. That you are closed of mind and your only hope to open the doors of perception is to educate yourself on human history.

ONE LOVE.
Vanessa Reece

More Links:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1885586220070718

http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/pale-skinblack-genes-african-tribes-of-europe/

http://www.newscientist.com/topic/evolution

http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/black-white-skin

Photo:

Kenosha Robinson

Photo Credit: Taghi Naderzad

I agree with so much though that is said in this article. And what makes many women so bitchy towards women they see who are plus-size? Once again they also note how Ann Wintour is not all she’s cracked up to be.
Once again, we want they ideal and we want equality but when it’s delivered many women just can’t take it.
I would have been intestested to know the average weight ratio of the ladies who took part in the reader group that the article documents.

So ladies, do you want reality in ads and fashion or do you want the ideal that you aspire to in your mind, which possibly is more slimmer and glamorous than you.

Personally I aspire to be myself but it’s a tough battle and I’m not going to say it isn’t. I want to live a life where I don’t have to feel pressure to look a certain way. I aspire to be happy with me. What about you?