Begin my Journey

1. Create an account

Use Join free in the upper right. Sign up with Google, or choose a username, email, and password. If you already joined, sign in instead.

Your username is the address of your profile, /u/your-name. You can change the display name later. The username is what mentions and profile links use.

2. Set up your profile

Open your profile. On a wider screen your name sits in the upper right, before your picture. That menu is yours: Portfolio, Projects, Messages, and Applications.

• The pencil on your photo sets your picture. Crop it before it saves.
• The pencil at the top of the profile opens Edit profile. Add a display name, location, and a short bio. The bio tools are the same as an update: bold, italic, lists, and links.
• Pick a profile color if you want your page to carry it. Leave it empty to keep the site colors.
• Add the roles you fill, and the mediums and themes you want to be found by. Creators search uses these.
• Email, phone, and Discord each have a visibility switch. Public means anyone on your profile can see it. The other setting keeps it for collaborators. Lower down, choose which of those to include when you apply for a role.
• Save. Discard returns you to the profile without writing the changes.

3. Add your first portfolio piece

A portfolio piece is one file you are willing to show: an image, a clip, audio, or a document. It does not have to belong to a project yet.

1. Open your portfolio. It is the first tab on your profile.
2. Choose the pencil on Portfolio to arrange. Add appears beside it.
3. Choose a file, give it a title of at least two characters, and a short description if you want one.
4. Leave Project as “Not attached to a project” until you have work from a crew.
5. Save. On a phone each piece is full width. On a larger screen you can drag and resize pieces while arranging is on.

Open the piece to see it on its own page. That page is what other people land on from your portfolio.

4. Follow ArtLabs Odyssey

ArtLabs Odyssey stays on the site so there is always a first project to follow. Following is not joining the crew. You will see its updates in Following. Joining means applying for an open role.

Open ArtLabs Odyssey and choose Follow under the title. Come back later and the same control reads as following.

5. Find your way around

• Featured is the front page: anticipated projects, then their latest updates.
• Following collects updates from people, projects, and tags you follow. It stays empty until you follow something, which is why ArtLabs Odyssey is first.
• Projects is the full list. Search by title, role, medium, or theme.
• Creators is people, filtered by the roles and tags on their profiles.
• A project page has Overview, Files, Communication, and Crew. Updates live under Communication. Open one and the back arrow returns to that list, not the overview.
• Files and Settings are for people on the crew. Visitors see the public page.
• Messages and Applications are only on your own profile, from the account menu.

After this

Browse open roles on a project when you want to join a crew, not only follow it. An application can include the contact methods you turned on. Your portfolio is what people look at before they say yes.