Cargo Collective

With the thought of being able to create and manage my own website being possibly a little too much at this stage of the illustration career, i have opted to run with Cargo Collective. Cargo Collective are an 'invite only' web hosting service and in a nut shell have done all of the hard bits for you in terms of web design, therefore all i have to do is upload my work etc... Cargo has a few competitors however, and Hotglue being one of them offers a very similar service, but in my opinion doesn't come across as flush and professional. (just check out maddypethick.hotglue.me  as an example (Its nothing against Maddy, but the layout is not to my taste)).
There are a number of testimonials for the Cargo hosting site, these include laurajayneweeks.com , ryansalter.com and benchallen.com all of which have just graduated and seem to be getting on very well with the site.

Incidently the cargo collective site is http://www.cargocollective.com

Because Cargo have an invite only i had to apply to them for web space, and this is how i did went about it:

Greetings Cargo Collective,
I am a 3rd year BA Hons Illustration degree student about to embark upon the real world. For this i will be needing a website and having been recommended your services i think that you and i would make a great team, and therefore would greatly appreciate a handful of your web space.

Many thanks,
Nathan Jeffries.

I had an almost immediate reply from them which was brilliant seeing as they say it will take up to 48 hours:

Hello and thanks for your interest in the Cargo project. Here's an activation link:http://cargocollective.com/start/new/369329
Since you are about to get acquainted with Cargo for the first time we can imagine you may have a few questions or comments, with which we're glad to help via http://support.cargocollective.com.

Collectively yours,The Cargo team 

With that i was then able to develop my web space and was stumped with a long list of design styles to choose from:

I eventually chose Mondrain and then was given access conformation via another email form them:

Hi Nathan,

Your site was created successfully and is located at
http://cargocollective.com/nathanjeffriesillustration

Edit your site here: http://cargocollective.com/nathanjeffriesillustration/admin
Your login name is: jeffriesillustration

Good luck!
The Cargo Team 

And so, my current website address is as follows-

http://www.cargocollective.com/nathanjeffriesillustration 

I have uploaded parts of my current portfolio and included a statement about my practice and myself. The statement is this:

To illustrate is diversity from my day-to-day life on the farm on which I work and live. Having studied a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration at Plymouth College of Art I produce handmade greetings cards featuring warm themes that differ from the norm. I also work digitally and keep up to date with the ever-evolving illustration scene by producing prints that incorporate topics I find interesting such as vehicles, music and animals. 

My vision is to be able to reach a point in my illustration career where I can not only say that I have worked along side the best in the business, but also give guidance to upcoming illustrators and designers who wish for it.