I've been on the HUG platform for a few months now and feel I can let you know of the good aspects and the bad.
Let's start with good first and work our way to the not-so-good.
Open Calls
The HUG has become a hub for art open calls and if there is one reason to join the platform, I believe this is it. There are usually several for each week with a wide range of locations and themes.
Open calls are a wonderful opportunity to get your work seen and adding to your resume. I highly recommend being on the look out for them and participating.
Word of Caution: Remember to carefully read the requirements and be aware of any submission fees!
While most open calls are free, there are some that cost money per submission or will require money from a winner. Many open calls do specify medium, aspect ratio, and file size so you will want to comply with these.
Artist Profile
If you need a portfolio, HUG is not a bad place to create one. You have complete control over what items are featured and images may be put into categories for easier browsing.
Once a week, HUG sends members a summary of updates. If you have more than 10 followers, your updates will appear on your followers' summary.
Unfortunately at the moment, the only way to find an artist on the site is by either specifically searching their name, finding their work in an open call, or seeing their name in a list of reviews or followers. I hope there will be more opportunity to search by categories such as medium and genre in the future. It would also be nice to be able to search for art as well as artist.
Artists have to be approved for a profile and this can take some time -- at least a few days -- so be sure to watch your inbox.
Resources
The HUG offers a great number of resources for artists. Their "free resources" are PDFs with information about how to sell your art or buy it from others. Their weekly newsletter "Creator Royalties" also covers a number of topics.
There may be one-off opportunities for learning. Recently HUG offered a "Lens Innovation Bootcamp" which consisted of two 2.5 hour long meetings on the subject and the ability to mint a Lens profile for free. Recordings were sent to those who missed the meetings, so signing up for opportunities like this doesn't hurt even if you are unsure of your schedule.
Shopping
The HUG has print-on-demand and onchain options for your art. Their print-on-demand options are currently limited but they seem to be set on offering more in the future. I suggest checking the available products every once and a while since they have not announced new options in the past.
Their onchain collectable options use real currency instead of crypto. I personally like this option since I do not have a crypto wallet and would prefer to deal in real money as a seller. As far as I know, HUG is the only one to offer this kind of option.
Unlike portfolio art, shop items are searchable, primarily by the title. That said, I do not think there's a large market of people shopping on HUG at this time. If you wish to sell items using their shop, you will need to do the marketing yourself.
Shops also take time to be approved -- weeks instead of days. I do recommend keeping an eye on the website as I got access to my shop before I got the email letting me know I was approved for one.
Reviews
Reviews are a nice, if underused, feature of HUG. You may write a review for any artist on the site. These reviews must be approved by curators so there is little worry about harassment or spam.
In my experience, reviews are not very common, so if you get one, you have good reason to feel special.
Artist Invites
Like most sites, HUG has a referral program. You may invite other artists using your specified link. Just because a referral is used though, it doesn't guarantee acceptance as an artist. Only accepted referrals count toward prizes which include discounts and swag.
If you would like to join using my referral code, please click here.
HUG Points & Curation
HUG points are given for participating in the website. You must 'pay' 50 HUG points to do a review and you will receive 150 in return once the review is approved.
How HUG points are displayed is very confusing: the amount shown on the account pages are your "lifetime" points while the amount shown on the dropdown menu is how much you actually currently have.
In order to use HUG points or participate in voting or curation tasks, you must buy either a HUG Pass NFT. The lowest of these currently is at 0.0109 ETH (just under $30).
HUG points are redeemed in raffles for NFTs, so you are not guaranteed any item.
As mentioned previously, I do not have a crypto wallet, and at this time, I do not have the desire to get one. This essentially locks me out of participating in curation and voting. While I understand this might be an antibot measure, it baffles me that I have to own a wallet and pay to do tasks for this site.
Conclusion
The HUG can offer opportunities in the form of open calls, resources, a portfolio, and print-on-demand shop, but it takes a long time to be approved for a profile or shop, and some aspects of participation are firmly tied to the blockchain.
At this time, I would recommend trying to get an artist profile just to be able to participate in open calls. However, the website is still relatively new and limited so don't expect to sell much or be easily found.
In the future I plan on creating a list of AI artists on X that are also on the HUG.
Do you have a profile on the HUG? What has your experience with the platform been like?
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