The problem with social media for artists & creators
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- Опубликовано: 17 июл 2024
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The worst thing that can happen is being ignored. You try, you do your best, and nobody cares.
I'm starting out with content creation for art and the mindset that what Im doing is pointless gets to me sometimes
Ignores sometimes is good.
You don’t get much pressure.
That's what happening to me since.... 4 years.
@@rob0nemusic369 Come here, I'll give you a hug.
@@EkaterinaSTADNIKOVA I'm actually writing a video to speak about my experience during the lockdown ( "confinement" in frensh, I hope the translation is correct ).
I really suffered with the social medias, and I hope the situation will change soon and that I can go back to study with real people in front of me
I have a irrational fear of getting canceled or called out for something I do even though I don’t do anything. Idk I’ve just see a lot of people get attacked for nothing and I fear it’ll be me one day 😂
Also I’m afraid to post cause my social media is a blank slate and I don’t want to stain it, kinda like the first page of a sketchbook I don’t know how to get started. I make a post and delete after a few hours cause its not perfect. 😅 I think I just need to work on my inner self
I’m really sorry you’re feeling this way. It’s a big worry of mine that the cancel culture is getting out of hand. I guess it’s easier for people to cancel someone when they disagree with them, than to have proper discourse. 😞
I have to work on my self confidence too. I have to stop comparing my works with those done by others. The best thing to do I think is to look at artists you admire, study them, and be inspired to make your own. Don’t envy, study! 😄
I don't know how to help you with the first issue 😂
But for the other one, the fear of posting online, I think I can share some "wisdom".
I'm one of those artists who posts things online then delete them after few months because "I never liked it, I just didn't want my insta account to die" 😂 and it doesn't help to see Instagram account with nice layout and color themes and here I am with 50 different artstyles
I think it's ok to feel this way, just draw for yourself without worrying if it'll look good online or not, then one day you'll have a "good art day" and you'll feel like sharing it online & you won't care if your insta feed doesn't look perfect or empty, you just like that piece!
Tl;dr : we've all been there, it's ok, please don't stress yourself over it 😅
Same as well, it was also to the point that I needed to put a long disclaimer over a simple illustration of an OC prompt because I was that scared. Cancel culture is scary.
moral of the story: stop hurting yourself
[laughs in OCD]
no
No
Yes
Edit: I'm trying so hard but I keep hurting myself ;_;
@@toceeno874 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I always used to think "Oh SURE professional artist who has a big following on social media, it's easy for YOU to say social media isn't all that great". But watching this made me realize that these are the people who've experienced all kinds of drama and/or burnouts because of it and are just trying to warn us.
So I hereby sincerely thank you for this video. I think I'm going to take a month off social media and be really productive for once!
Dude, seriously ... thank you for posting this. This video hits on a TON of issues I've been dealing with lately with navigating my success and career online as an artist. The parts where you talk about worrying how you'll come off to others, ego addiction, losing productivity to the addictive nature of social media, and obsessing over your skill level compared to other artists. All those aspects have been big problems ever since I picked up momentum and gained some success.
It's scary how you can go into it thinking you're just managing your brand, maintaining upkeep in case contacts reach out to you at any time, etc., only to lose control of yourself and become obsessed and micromanage your every waking moment online and lose time and sight on the things people came to you for in the first place (aka. your work).
Your video was so sobering and really helped re-establish some perspective for me. Thank you so so SO much for making this, dude. Never stop being an incredible and grounded human being. :>
congrats on the success. great art dude. i followed you on insta
@@doggodoggo3000 AAH thank you so much! :>
Conflating with posting and scrolling with productivity really needs to be studied more.
I struggle so much with this right now. Whenever I dont post for a while, I feel like a bum. I see some artists who post almost every day and feel like I'm just lazy for posting a couple times a week, or every other week.
This video really shifted my perspective on how soul crushing social media could be.
I vibe with you man. Last time I posted was a month ago. I feel a good thing to do is just set a good pace for yourself. But you should stay consistent, you need momentum for progress. Social media should only be a tool to getting your art seen, and keeping you accountable for your goals. Nothing more. :)
I relate to this sooo much. I often wonder "Wow how do they post like everyday when It takes me sometimes 3-5 days to finish an artwork??" It feels like I'm always struggling to keep up with this fast paste world of Instagram.
I was feeling this way before and its really draining out my energy because I can't enjoy the process and I focus more on getting it done and when I post it, it don't even get much likes and that was really depressing for me. I don't post as much as before and I'll just post if I want to and it makes me feel better because im not pressured and I became less anxious.
artist who post regulary aren't doing well to anyone, people it's acting like if art was porn, something beautiful eye-catching candy that you can watch for 5 seconds and go on with their lives like nothing.
_You post art every other week?! I haven't posted an animation to RUclips in _*_years!_*
this is why i basically quite all social media, after realizing how bad it was for my health i just lost interest in posting and looking at art and other posts on insta, twitter an tiktok alltogether. I hated how i didn’t get any likes on my posts and even though i miss out on some things now that i’m not on social media i think it’s better this way
Me too
social media is both a miracle and a curse :/
It is a tool.
Some use it for good and to genuinely help people, while others abuse the privilege.
I find this really applied to me in my community/genre/industry as well. You made this really easy to relate to, despite the difference of what you and i do, and you were able to finally put into words feelings I've struggled with for years. Thanks for this!
Twitter is a terrible place for artists! you're always on edge second-guessing yourself thinking about whether or not you're going to get harassed and canceled over what you drew.
@@eeveefennecfox honestly it wasn't that bad a few years ago. It only became the worst in somewhat recent memory imo
This is helpful! Sometimes I post too frequently just for the likes but I'm trying to focus less on that.
I don't post really often in instagram,but one time i posted something and in ten seconds i got 10 likes and i was like 0_0
Well, i don't post my artwork just for some likes, i only post it to save my artwork (sorry bad english)
Wow were the exact opposite I never post but I also don't put any effort into anything I post
@@justaidiotwithaphone2782 Same
@@flyingpaper6824
Yes! But now I’m too focused on scheduling lmao
Taking a break from social media is the ultimate resolution to feeling stress about the internet. It helped me a lot. Although it's hard, the results worth it.
Just recently, I decided I was tired of just doing things for attention. Drawing fanart, posting once every couple of days... I began hating art. It was a chore to me, I just randomly gave up and now I draw weird little ugly creatures. I'm very happy now, I get 0 likes but i dont care I like my own art now.
same here, too.
That is why we create in the first place, isn't it? We love it. It makes US happy.
The trouble starts when you try to make a living off of it. Then all the crazy starts.
Make what you love first and then put it out into the world for people to see.
There is an audience for your work out there. But making a living off of it requires work - even more than it takes to make the art in some cases!
You also have to detach emotionally from the high speed feed back social media gives you.
It's fickle. Save your emotion for the art itself.
Same
I can relate to you 100%
I dont even care about followers anymore, already gave up on growing my art page. Now im taking it easy and ill stick to my 10 followers idc
Agreed. I had 7 followers then after some edgy cartoons now I have 5. 5 is better than none I guess.
@@navysteel yeah soon i will get better and my art will be amazing i believe in myself, and u should too. When you start making amazing art they wanna follow smhh, why not follow me while my page is small and struggling lol....
Yep, it feels more rewarding to draw for yourself (and in my case, my own characters) rather than for popularity and people... I want to stop being a people pleaser tbh and I think I'm doing quite well.
@@ris8447 yeah for sure!!!
Me too....At first it was exciting but then I started attracting the types of people (haters.) So now I've disabled my instagram page and feel much better.
My art twitter only has 8 followers, and the only person who retweets my work is myself on a different account. My drawings aren't very good, so sometimes I think "Well of course I don't have a following, my art just plain sucks". But I also have to remember that a lot of my physical and emotional problems prevent me from producing crisp, finished works that I am satisfied with, so I ought to be focusing on ways to get help instead of worrying about likes and retweets.
Hey, i would totally recommend you taking classes, even if online since pandemic. But being with real people, working for a goal with them, having a professional guide you, point you towards the right direction might be a game changer for you. Really hope you can get better and work with all you're dealing with ❤️. Being big in social media only means you are good with this tool, doesnt mean knowledge, practice or experince in any other area than social media
@@lusserrano I wanted to go to art college right after high school but I'm poor as fuck. But maybe I could take some online courses like the ones Toniko offers or like through skill share or something. I do miss having in-person artists to work with but unless there's art classes for free or very cheap idk what I'd do.
Hey, what is your twitter?
@@Lori_P89 if you have any art school in your town just go there to talk, see what can be done. Some teachers might allow you to watch, maybe they have something like a monitoring position were you help the teacher to organize the class and students to watch the classes for free, or even some program for low income students. But also if you want to go to college there are MANY countries with free collage educations. I live in Brazil and the best schools here are public and free of charge. Every country has its own methods and exams but its worth searching around to look into other opportunities. Just work on your art, study, make your first portfolios and send emails every where. Some places are more than happy to receive you if you want to stay there and speak their language
lori p whats ur twitter
No lie, Social Media often makes me feel so bad about my art because, I see the beautiful and well made artwork getting over 10k likes/favorites etc. I just feel like crap. Especially when i draw original work like my OC only to receive like three likes because, its not a picture of Spinel from Steven Universe. I wish people would give all art a chance. Not just fanart or popular characters. I defiantly feel bad about my art due to the amount of "cringe" reddit/RUclips content out there. But, that's unfortunately things you have to deal with when you post online.
Same with Fan art on DeviantArt or Yt vids. People put their love and passion on line and then delete it after it gets so many likes. But people mainly have issues of stealing with DeviantArt
I feel as artists especially when it comes down to digital art, a lot of us don't get much respect and the recognition that we all deserve. Honestly I wish people would open their eyes to see the wonderful creative art we all post. It takes so much time to make a good professional quality art piece. I happen to be a self taught 3d artist, 3d animator, graphic designer, character designer, etc. and all I get is hate, barely anyone likes my stuff, and wrong assumptions about my characters. I work my butt off to make my characters unique but unfortunately most people either find them creepy, unprofessional, a complete ripoff of Pokemon, and cringe. My characters are extraterrestrial creatures that live on Planet Beastoria in the Oroakan Galaxy. They are what are known as Creature Monsters aka Creatmon; and as the Creatmon slogan goes... "Survival of The Fittest!"
Just draw for the fun of it. I don’t get many likes either.
I honestly relate to this a lot. A few weeks ago I got rid of all my social media. At my highest, I had over 18 different social media pages. All of them I was posting artwork on. It took me over an hour to post artwork for one piece to all these places. I also did more fan art than my original work. I liked the fanart I did, but I really wanted to do more original work, but it got barely any views. At least for me being an artist online isn't fun anymore.
It used to be, but then there was so much drama. I was in constant fear of creating things that I loved because I was worried that I would get canceled. Like so many other artists have. And my own mental health couldn't take that. The online art community has a big issue with toxicity. We've seen all the art drama videos and callout posts on Twitter and the issue is that more and more people think that's what the art community is. Certain websites I just refuse to go to because of the toxicity. I know the majority of the community is great and it's the minority that makes it so toxic. But that minority is loud and thousand of people.
I have nothing against art drama videos or storytimes, but my main concern is that there are people like me out there that don't want to share personal stories or call people out publicly if they've done something wrong. But the issue is that more people look to people that are more personal with their audience, telling in depths stories about their lives. But that's a big issue for me because I want to keep myself separate from my fans, putting up boundaries. I don't want them to think that we're close because I made a post about dealing with something hard.
Sorry, this is long, but that why I vowed to just have a website for my art portfolio and that's it. Because social media does bite into my anxiety and my vulnerable self.
Mr Walt Disney himself didn't grow up with "social media". If drawing makes you happy, you don't necessarily need likes.
Business is another thing. Numbers tend to matter more when it comes to sales, generally speaking.
No matter you'll goals, just be sure to keep a healthy balance☕
As an artist, I done inktober last month. I turned off metrics with a chrome extension to hide the likes and retweets. It helped me with my work because I would not go on twitter and check for feedback. I was able just to focus on my work and I had a good time doing inktober.
There were days where I checked by mistake because I had to grab the link to the tweet from my twitter on my phone, and since there are no extension on the phone it would reveal how much likes I have. I would be unmotivated for a day, but thankfully I done TONS of art days before where I can reflect and ponder why am I doing this for, all for me.
I was able to upload daily, so I felt like I achieved something for myself!
Congrats on that! I would love an extension for the phone or some way to hide metrics there
What extension was it? And I'm really happy for you!! That's awesome ^ - ^
I totally get that.
I've been writing a comic a month for the past 4 months for contests so I'm not allowed to post them online and then I have another comic I plan to post online.
I have written 4 different comics so far and haven't touched the one I wanted to post online because I know nobody will readit, but if I send it to a contest I'll get feedback and people I respect will read it.
Pretty done with social media now lol
That's a great idea..although when I tried getting away from social media for a few days, after posting an artwork I poured my heart and soul on, and coming back only to find that I barely got any likes compared to my peer artists who even got multiple shares. I could hear the sound of my soul being crushed. I'm finally getting over it a bit after finding this video and reading everyone's experiences in the comments. Nobody deserves to feel ignored and invalidated because of social media.
I hope I finally get to focus on working on what I love and enjoy, more than focus on waiting for people's validation to decide whether I get to feel good about something I created or not.
I was posting every single day to try to keep up with the algorithm...thing is, I wasn't happy with my art. It suffered. I suffered. I lost interest in drawing and only gained a few hundred subs for all my mental anguish? Now I draw at my pace, and those who stick around; great. Those who don't, that's fine. It's a space for me to put art.
Love this comment. 👏👏Those who want to stick around will and those who don't, won't.
In my experience, social media is bad for exposure, social media won't allow you to find a community that works for you, social media can't give you career opportunities, and social media ignores your opinions as if you don't exist. Social media seems to be the place that RUINS creativity for artists.
The problem with social media is those algorithms that can favor a person because of the person's location or whether they have the right tags or if they have a ton of hashtags.. it has nothing to do with quality (it's got everything to quantity and frequency and luck)
Apparently the time you post also affects exposure. Posting at the 'busiest' times such as early morning, early evening and sometimes late at night can affect number of views. Example: I recently posted a drawing on ig around 10 am, and that got me like 10-15 likes lol. Whereas, when I posted in the evening, it got me some like 30-40 likes (I know it isn't much, but the difference is there either way). I also think that upgrading to professional profile could limit your exposure if you paid for promotion and now ig algorithm sees that and won't promote at all/much until you pay again. I'm using tiktok right now more instead of ig, and timing of post affects too... but I don't understand how the hashtags work... like I saw people get thousands of likes without any hashtags with a pretty low following... I though hashtags is the way to get you seen. Confusing and frustrating lol
I definitely relate to all of this. I was never popular, I kept judging myself worth based on how many likes, followers I got. It kept me miserable and always getting tired, or procrastinate for several months every once in a while
I always value my self worth in my artwork and when someone doesnt like what i make my soul internally crushes
@@coffintears5821 I feel ya!
I tend to try to avoid looking at follower count or likes to validate what I’m doing because if I only looked at that, I would have quit a long time ago. I post my art because I love to draw and see myself improving, and it’s nice to share that. I get little attention compared to others, but that’s not my focus right now. Remember to avoid falling into the traps of social media, that the algorithms will work against you for sure (especially if you post sporadically or infrequently), and not everyone is great at marketing themselves. If you make something you are proud of, even in the moment, that’s what should matter the most. Keep going, and keep growing 🌻
Thank you so much for your comment! reading something like this is exactly what I needed right now, your words really helped me. 🙂
Thank you! You helped me so much!
On the topic of perception and unwanted anxiety/comparison, I think social media just amplifies the underlying subconscious culture or notion that the art industry is a brutal competition, and some artists unfortunately follow that to the bone so as to achieve 'greatness' in the field *FASTER* than the rest. And when videos that seemingly claim you can ‘gain followers easily fast!’ exist, some become disillusioned and angry that they haven’t achieved that, even though there’s a myriad of reasons that they aren’t where they are, besides their own art.
While it's one of the many reasons and it isn't a good excuse to behave like that, I suspect this is why many new/"beginner" artists feel that they can't keep up and are lashing out against seasoned pros or even "popular" commission artists that offer blunt and sometimes less-flowery-worded advice, even though they aren't doing it maliciously and is from a generous place.
My qns would be:
- What advice or suggestion would you address this notion or mentality of 'dog-eats-dog' world in the industry for artists, especially those starting out and those who are hustling but still nowhere near their goals?
- While we can't always wait or have a "perfect" social media platform to self-advertise ourselves, what can we do individually and collectively in the platform to organically communicate and gain an audience?
These are all good points you’ve brought up here, great analysis! I hope Toniko covers this in a follow up! :D
@@xQuandaleDinglex Thanks! I was a bit hesitant but it's a burning qns I always had whenever this topic of social media comes up. Because there are those who do work hard and can do all the 'right things', yet they can't seem to get into the industry or achieve their dreams. Not to be a downer, but it does break my heart a lil.
@@doublecoloured385 I hear you there. My uncle once told me that no matter the skill and connections you make in any profession. Its all about our luck in life and I might add timing.
I felt your message. I started on social media a month ago opening a twitch channel and publishing a bit more frequently on instagram. But the anxiety for having more spectators or followers is being toxic for me. I decided to focus more on the material that i produce and less on the people watching my stuff, but eventually, if my goal is to tell visual stories, i will need people that love these stories. It is a Paradox! LOL
Unninstalling ALL social media from my phone helped me and it was the best thing i've ever had done, Totally recomend it as a first step
@unregisteredhypercam 12 the Zuckerberg's curse 😨
This has helped me too!
I'm just coming out of animation school, and while I acknowledge that I'm nowhere near being the best animator, I'm really proud of the work I've done. However, actually getting hired as an animator has been kind of an uphill battle. Everywhere I look, it seems like everyone says that, no matter how talented you are, you need a shovel (referring to having a friend already working in the industry), and/or to expose yourself like crazy to get in. And it's all kind of frustrating 😅
BRO, YOU DREW THAT BANNER!?!!? Holy Sh-! Somebody needs to hire you ASAP. All I can say is, maybe you take on some freelance work. If you don’t already have a solid portfolio, work on it. I’m no expert myself, and I’m in the same position you are in, but what ever you set your mind to, it can be done! Good luck! 😄
@@xQuandaleDinglex Thanks, friend! 😁 I've been doing some freelance work here and there, and I've been putting a lot of effort into strengthening my demo reel and portfolio. But I seem to fail all the animation tests I take, because most of them never message me back 😅
But like a friend told me, we gotta use these "failures" to learn, do better next time, and eventually we'll get there!
Try cold emailing, it can be sad getting reject mails but the hard work slowly pays off.. I got some clients this way - I started emailing about 20 companies a day about 3 months ago.
2 years later, how is the animation job hunt going??
@@nan032 It's going a bit better thankfully. I'm currently working as a storyboard artist for an animation RUclips channel, and I've been getting more freelance work on the side.
I read on a post on Instagram that said this: there are two types of creators. Sellers who create content and content creators who sell. The first person is creating content only to get followers and customers. The second person creates content even if there were no following. Be the 2nd person. You will last the long game much farther than someone who is just posting to get attention.
This is why creating a personal project with a finished end goal in mind is great, so that way you can actually finish something, possibly monetize it, and start a new project afterwards.
Losing at least 1 follower on most social media platforms is damaging to my head. It shocked me to think that I am not worth following or something. I tried to think that followers don't matter but my mind still nagging me to think that "what if it does matter and you should get serious to it in order to fulfill your future business", etc. I lose track on fulfilling the purpose on improving my artstyle and do the animation as I want
Yup. I'm done with social media. I just quit my Instagram after 4 years. I really shouldn't have started so young (13).. I think it's especially terrible for young artists because it drains so much of your focus. If I focused more on drawing rather than posting, I'd have improved a lot more. I grew the most during the times I was off of social media. I remember one summer I just filled out a sketchbook without posting it at all and I grew tremendously because I wasn't afraid to copy for the sake of study. When I'm posting, I get scared that I might become a "thief" for not being original enough. If I do studies I feel like I can't post it because it's copied, and because it's not like the rest of what I usually do. So instead of stuff that would actually help me grow, I just do stuff I know people would like. You can see how this limits getting out of your comfort zone. From now on, I'm just going to focus on growing as an artist, and putting my work on my own website for it to be out there. Still need to figure out how to make a website, but hey, it's good to try new things!
I always say to my self is that "that is my art. I am proud of it" even though I get very shy whenever I post my art. I took a lot of courage to post it.
I post 1 or 2 drawings in one month
Left social medias because it killed my passion for art and people acted like they're so much better than everyone and were hypercritical. I can't stand those people lol ruined my mental health.
I started thinking and feeling this way when i was finally being noticed by people and basically strive to have more because the love and support is like a drug that prettt much boosts my self esteem,
And i would only do what people want instead of what i want... This video made me look at it at a different perspective
What im striving now is too build a community, ny fear is, what if they dont like me anymore, they would leave me and im back an square one again, its that fear thats making mr do things i dont wanna do but do things at what they want
I really dislike how nobody actually talks about the psychological dangers of social media...
I been falling on this trap over and over but it comes in different ways... I need to work on commissions and I barely get any while I see others flooding with them... it's so easy to be jealous and it's so frustrating too.
Still, I think social media benefits everyone if we used it correctly... which most of people clearly do not use it that way...
People calling out others just because their point of view doesn't match theirs... people getting triggered by anything gives the right to harass someone and DM'ing death threats and stuff... which clearly have destroyed many lives.
I think the people that work on this being Twitter, FB or whatever also have a responsibility of making sure it is used properly, I know it's not easy but these kind of issues have been happening for so long and yet little has been done about it.
The best we can do is try to keep ourselves focused and try not to depend too much on social media, even if it's our main source of attention or income for some artists we have to be careful who we interact with.
Im just watched mohamed agbadi's video about struggling motivation
Social media Artists are the most reliable at this time
Even Twitter, tumblr, facebook, instagram, these social media platforms dont matter what artist do,
Sometimes 18+/🔞 artists make pornografy and gore and design to make money
Yeah,
Most artists dont come up with social media
It is coincidental to begineer artist so keep it mind
I got followed by two RUclipsrs I've been a fan of for a long time, one of whom I've done some artwork for. I can confirm that there have been times where I felt compelled to draw things that would fall more in line with their interests as opposed to mine. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as you're exposing yourself to other subjects (thus expanding your library), but I think you should also be true to yourself and just draw what you want to draw :)
thats something im weird about. I kinda need some art commissioned, but I don't really know how to ask lol. Like i like your style. this is what im doing, i want your art i don't want to tell you WHAT to draw lol. especially if i notice their commission work isn't as good as their personal stuff. i can sorta see how that happens. i want to support the artist, but i gotta spend my dollars wisely. its tough.
This is entirely relatable stuff because over the months I’ve tried to do social media, been there, done that, but it’s not a good place for my mental health anymore, I’m not sure if I can have someone run a social media page for me either. As an independent artist, I think I’m better off making my artistic journey alone.
Honestly...the best thing that has happened for me is when Instagram's algorithm changed recently and I went from getting 300-500 likes to just around 60 likes and massive unfollowing. I've lost over 200 people, probably all of which were fake anyways. But while it really hurt for a while and I felt like everyone hated me and that my work sucks and I just wanted to give up but the truth is, it really had nothing to do with me. It's just less people seeing my work and it kind of helped me to not focus so much on the numbers but on myself now. I'm still struggling with it but I think I'm getting a little better and slowly trying to enjoy my creative journey again without trying to get likes and followers.
Build your website and promote it. You will not regret it. Social media is not the main solution for artists, and it has control over your content than you have control over it. It is a mistake to use social media as a primary thing for artists and small business people. If anything goes wrong with Instagram, Facebook etc, everyone would be screwed and have nothing to fall back on. Whoever told people that social media is great for business, art, etc is a person who is deceiving people.
The fifth point about knowing someone's POV is very interesting. To see whether yours is popular or unpopular is super interesting, which is something I never thought about.
Im a college art student. There are a few friends who make posts every week, share their friends works and etc. I find all that very stressfull. Feels like an unspoken rule like everyone needs to share their friends video and art. Even because if you dont do it, why would they do it for you? Everything just sounds awful to me, I've seen myself sharing things on facebook just cause I knew I was going to receive likes. That's not a place Im willing to go back to. Being an artist creates a gigantic pressure towards social media, and I really wanna get away from that.
This is so true
The problem I'm facing is, I got most of the following because I draw characters from a fandom, and I can say that people know me for that fandom. Then when I post something like personal work or even fanart from another fandom I'm into, the amount of likes and rts don't even got past one digit. It feels like once I've stopped drawing stuffs from that fandom, I'm basically back to zero again.
My friend is really good at her art and she never post them publicly. It makes me feel like I don't deserve my followers.
This was absolutely fantastic, and highly relevant for so many artists in this age. Since I basically live for art, I decided some time ago that, despite societal pressures, I wouldn't taint my creative energy by constantly changing my art just for the sake of chasing an audience. I want the freedom to happily spend my spare time making art that I like, and those who naturally resonate with my work can follow me if they wish. Your art is NOT only as good as your social media statistics; Social Media can be a great tool, but DON'T let it destroy your confidence, or turn something you love into something you hate. Keep creating, keep learning, be confident in yourself, and love what you do :)
Been on social media for maybe a decade now. And I quit (kind of).
I remember posting things on deviantart when I was way young. Eventually that turned into tumblr, then instagram. I never had a huge following, and perhaps 2 years ago I just felt like my instagram was going nowhere. No one really comments, I get some likes, but nothing big unless it was a DTIYS and the original artist shared it. I've been drawing my whole life, ever since I was a kid. Thought that social media could help but there were a few times where I seriously got so sick of it that I just hid the app on my phone and didn't touch it for months. I would've gone on normally to look at other people's work in the past for inspiration and to learn from them, but after a while I just got a sense of "what am I even doing here" or "my stuff isn't worth looking at" and basically, the numbers got to me. So yes, I hid the app away for months and even took a break from art for almost a whole year, which was nuts because I honestly, honestly don't think I've ever done that in my entire life.
At first I'd grimace at every mention of "you should draw again!" or "where'd you next masterpiece" from family and friends, but eventually I just ignored it and when I felt ready, I drew again. I doodled a little, did what *I* wanted. I did it for myself, because it was fun! Not for likes, not for other people, but simply because I know that I love art and I love drawing. At this point I don't give a shit what other people think. As long as I, myself, am proud of it and like it, then I think it's enough. Actually, I think I improved quite a bit since I stopped giving a shit. I used to be able to fill out one of those art memes where you put a piece of art for every month. I definitely can't this year, but I don't care and I'm not gonna put pressure on myself. What I made so far was awesome.
I did plan on having a career in the arts, but whatever this is right now? Not feeling tied down to obligations with my art? Damn, it feels good. I will draw whatever the hell I want, whenever I want, and I will give no fucks when zero people like it. Cause whatever their response is, isn't helpful to my personal growth as an artist. As in, I literally don't need them to improve on myself. And neither do you!
If you wanna be better at art, then do some work and learn with intent. Self improvement and finding that confidence by yourself feels a whole lot better than being dependent and waiting for the likes to come in.
I just disabled my Instagram account where I have 120k followers. I'm too stressed out having too many eyes watching me and making myself feel like I failure to them..
The constant getting emails from companies wanting to collab with me really annoys me especially whatever they sell doesn't feel like is related to art or whatever I'm creating.
Mbn 😔 I get nothing
@@minderleister9255 wow calm down lol
Question: How do you grow, when you're already at the top? How do you know when to stop "improving"?
Just assume you're never at the top, and look into doing things that you are somewhat clueless or inexperienced about. There's a joy to feeling like a complete beginner at times.
@@TonikoPantoja oh, that’s a good question, let me rephrase the idea, how do you grow your social media presence when you’re already at the top? Let’s say, Will Smith is famous, he created a RUclips channel and a short time later his social media is already at the top, what’s next? I know that comes back to what do you want to do and grow yourself as an artist btw
@@PanConQueso001 Well I'm sure someone like Will Smith has a bunch of other things to do besides that being at the top of his career and social media. What do you mean by the top? Being famous? I don't agree with this whole idea of being at the top of something when there's a lot of different projects or life adventures you can get into.
@@TonikoPantoja yeah, I mean, that’s a particular example, might as well be a well known artist that doesn’t really need social media to be known, but yeah, at the end, it’s just a tool, but a powerful one for young artists.
The stuff i'm googling now is more like "how to succeed as an artist without social media", bc really i don't see the point of battling the algorithm
Media can make you feel depressing, degrading, happy, exited, angry/jealousy I need to calm down and just keep drawing. Stay away from media myself, except for helpful things like this channel at least lol.
certainly don't go on social media after waking up. this should be creative time for one's self
Whenever i draw people, i now feel guilty and sad and feel like: "i wish i could just be as good as (blank)." So i just draw little funny things. It's creeping back. Im now thinking that if i dont draw people, my art is gonna be bad and nobody likes it. When i watched this video, it really helped me.
Wait, you guys are getting likes?
But in all seriousness I gave up on that a while ago after using 80h on a painting and a dude with the 5second doodle got approximately 1 000x the likes I get.
Yet I'll still keep doing art, for art it self.
What’s your insta handle?
I try to not think so much about social media but then I get in the position of not being able to get commissions for not having enough followers, just, what I'm doing? Why what I do and post is so boring?
probably u should use more hashtags :x
@@car3907 Hashtags don't help that much, they do help when they are popular at that moment, until artists with a lot of followers use it, like the #nobodyartistsclub or the #under (X number) gang getting full of +10k artist trying to take all the spotlight for themselves.
the worst part about social media is big artists with +10/50/100k followers complaining about not getting as much likes and followers as usual, lol.
I'm a very small artist on Twitter and ever since I began sharing my artwork on the site I began following some artists because of their art and they've also followed me back but I can agree that the platform is distorting the value of my art, one of my mutuals literally brags about their followers and likes all the time and as much as I appreciate their characters and drawings the bragging really annoys me to the point where I often feel small and pathetic I am and how my art has little to no appreciation on the site, I feel attention hungry but I do my best to not get absorbed by my ego.
I admit, these issues have sent me into therapy and it took months of repeated therapy sessions to find out what I really like.
I put 100% of my value online in comments. If I make something that takes a ton of work, and no one reacts to it... well... what was the point of making it?
I might as well just daydream! The novelty of improving as an artist wears off pretty fast.
Likes/favorites/whatever mean almost nothing to me cuz it means "cool" or "ayy" or something that's just only slightly nicer than ignoring what I did.
Reblogs are better because it's sharing it with people, but comments are where it's at. What drove me most in making comics and stuff was people anticipating the next page, loving a certain joke or hell even "why does that pikachu have boobs?" is more rewarding than likes/views.
Otherwise it's *waaaaaaay* too hard to draw, aunno if it's because my skill and expectations increased and therefore it's more work or if it's my disability, but it's so fucking hard to make full color art, and being ignored stings.
If I don't get comments, might as well just daydream about how cool a story would be. =\
Do you have ArtStation?
All of this, man. ;-;
It’s all the same anyway
I think videos like this are good to have around when you new to social media or even trying to build a brand online.
Honestly, I only joined social media long ago because I was told to. It was never my intention to be drawing and posting everyday. I just wanted to create and n publish my comic, but I lost myself in the internet world.
I've never gotten a job from Twitter or Social Media. It's always been from Conventions and Face to Face conversations. Social Media is an unnecessary stress that I'm sick of dealing with but I have to for some vague hope that maybe this will work out.
For me, it's the only option, seeing how the only interactions with people who actually pay for art are online... Small rural towns suck for people like me :(
@@pczb2692 I live in a rural area myself, so I depend on tiny art fairs and library cons that get me more exposure than sales. I've been making a life gamble on the vague hope that my art is worth anything and my friends and family aren't blowing smoke up my butt.
yeah the addiction part gets me the most, i can barely stand instagram cuz of how it's designed to completely suck your attention away, it's like a candy machine. not to mention focusing on likes doesnt help, it does make me feel inferior. it doesnt help that older art I posted on instagram ends up on a site called cringe worthy [ahem without my fucking permission i might add] and mocked by pointless idiots who have done nothing in their lives....
your videos are always super helpful, not just for skill or career tips, but also for the spirit. im starting out my art brand on Instagram and have had some anxiety issues here and there. this was a great video, thanks so much.
I don't know how long this video has been siting in my "watch later" list, but I'm glad that turning on shuffle finally made me watch it. I really needed this reminder right now. Thank you for making it!
Love when you call me a dirty little slu-
I have that type of feeling when it comes to social media including the nurse says that Social Media can be dangerous when I was in the hospital when I had an anxiety attack.
I love your youtube content but it always catches me off guard and cracks me up how you end these now: "that's all I wanted to talk about BYE" and then an *immediate* cut. lol 👏
I needed to hear this big time, thank you so much for your content!
Have been following you on insta, and quite started my own growth on insta few months ago, I would say this was reaaally needed. Thank you so much for this, and I do agree that more influencers need to bring this up
i know that i've improved greatly in art but its such a shitty feeling knowing that no one gives a shit about the art piece you spent hours on
i've had my twitter for a couple of months so me not having a lot of followers shouldn't be an issue but whatever social media i use it's so hard to get attention as an artist i've not managed to surpass 100 followers on my accounts yet alone 10 on twitter sometimes i think its because im a bad artist when really the algorithm does not work for artists well
I'm glad there's videos like this talking about Socialmedia for Artists and all of that, it brings people together who say they have no following, so it doesn't make me feel like the only one
I just found out your channel and I absolutely love your work and your videos. Thanks for posting these they are very helpful ❤
Spot on video & Really like your pieces too, There's a really lovely whimsical look & feel to them
Lately i have been struggling with how to pursue social media as an artist. I have to say that your video was one of the best on that matter that I have seen in a while. Definitely gave me some confidence, thank You very much.
This is like fresh air, i haven't even started to try to get money from my art, but that is my goal, and some times i find myself getting anxious about social media 😔😢😔😢
I think that a lot of people post on social media(whether it's art, pictures of them with friends/family, or posting about how they feel), for *legacy* .
They don't want to feel like they're forgotten.
Originally I made an online account in hopes of making other artist friends and sharing my work. And, although I did those things, the more I spent posting art the more fixated I was on making art *specifically* to post. Not for myself. I wanted the compliments, because they served as motivation for me. And it’s okay if you find nice compliments as motivation, but I was so focused on getting comments, likes and reshares that it got to the point where drawing wasn’t for myself anymore. If one post didn’t get a certain amount of likes, I would feel like deleting my account and never posting again. It’s very disappointing to see a recolored edit of an already existing cartoon character get thousands of more likes, because you work so hard on your own characters and they only get a portion of that recognition.
So, I decided to change some things. I deleted my account. And let me tell you, doing that has helped my creativity and artistic mindset *so* much. Now, I take my time to draw. I draw for myself. And I don’t compare my progress to anyone else. It is still hard not having anywhere to share my work, but getting rid of my account was for the best. It was making me feel less motivated, and I needed to find motivation elsewhere. Eventually I’ll create a new account, once I’ve learnt to focus less on the likes and more on my own journey and progress. :)
The way that I ended up doing fanart instead of my own art/concepts/oc to get noticed by an audience 🚶🏻♀️
And even doing it, my art just reaches around 10-40 people where only 3-4 (who are the same persons in every post) really interact with me 🤣🥴
And it's not like I don't appreciate it but when I see other artworks with a much less quality getting those numbers and interactions ...I feel a bit discouraged 🚶🏻♀️
Thank you for showing me this video, I starting to see and understand it. I don't through that problem on DA and Tumblr a bit, but I learned my mistakes and move on, whatever I want to fix things, or just keep moving forward to a new angle.
This is really informative thank you! I’ll keep this in mind!
I can't even get 23 likes so getting anywhere near thousands of likes makes it sound completely unrelatable. I don't know how anybody sees thousands of likes as "did I do something wrong?" just because its relatively less than your other popular piece. Eh...even that example is somewhat relatable, I don't really care too much. If people don't like my detailed sketches compared to colored art (which takes a lot of hours, but might not have the same amount of details or energy as a well-worked sketch), then its their preference/algorithm that pushed that art for some reason over the other. Its all algorithm and has nothing to do with drawing skill. Social media seems important only for getting people to commission you or getting criticisms/feedback from others, maybe...I take pride in my own work and self-motivated to improve. People don't even seem to be interested in friendships on social media so I stopped caring about online friendships.
I've been following you for years and you've definitively won my respect. I love your constant awareness for education and dedication in the industry. Been different or controversial is an achievement, especially with good intentions.
FINALLY a decent video on the topic.
Thank the lord !!!!!
Yes! Thank you for this video! I’ve found I’ve both struggled with valuing my art based on likes and followers, along with feeling a lot of guilt because I don’t always have the time to go and like the posts of every person I’m following, and I don’t wanna make them feel bad/miss out on their work. It really is FOMO at its worst lol. I wish I had seen this video when I was younger.
Thank you for making this!
i have this need of validation(stems from childhood) so i feel that if my art is appreciated by many, must mean im not that bad at art. there's also that...and anxiety. i stay away out of twitter most times because sometimes it gives me anxiety. besides, it feels clogged or limited. im not jealous at my friends for having a good base of followers and such, but sometimes i feel they dont give support back. is it bad to expect to be offered support back?
also, im also working on a comic which has a few morality topics but im afraid that people will interpret something the wrong way and cause a fight. there's this oversensitivity issue online where people start fights over issues that are not there, it''s just their distorted interpretation. sometimes i feel people judge someone much harsher than they do a popular artist. though i have seen the reverse too.
During the lockdown ( it's " confinement " in frensh, I hope the translation is okay ), I started to focus on posting my art on social medias ( draws, animations and music ). It actually gaves me depression because it gaves me the feeling that nobody cares about my work, that I don't progress and that I suck freacking hard... that my work is useless... I've got an Instagram account since 2 years, and a RUclips account since 4 years, but I decided to try to focus on them in order to be more serious about posting online. The fact is that I never have been so much complexed about my work untill now. I almost lost all of my motivation for drawing, and I'm almost only wokring on music now...
I want to take a break from social medias, but it seems to be impossible when you're an artist these days... Everything looks like a competitions, feedbacks are just numbers.... I hate social medias for that. One day, I will have to use social medias to get money, and it scares me.
After I posted a photo of my cat on my art-insta, and it got more likes than any of my artwork, I stopped looking and caring for likes and followers XD. I rather put stuff out there so people can SEE it than actually liking my stuff.:)
Seeing artists apologizing and feeling stressed to put shit out, just to appease their followers also put me off the idea of getting more followers.
I'm not even drawing for the sake of career, and this just pointed out all the issues I've been facing for awhile now (especially due to a social media backlash incident that destroyed me outright, to the point I've never fully recovered). Thanks man.. I needed this more than even I knew, to the point it kept popping up continuously on my RUclips algorithm *constantly*. Perhaps life's way of trying to help me heal finally? Who knows.
I only post my art on social media for the sake of just showing my work, I don't know social media gave me a reason to draw more, I want to like show everyone my works but I don't really care about likes and retweets that much i just post so i think everyone should have a mindset like this because you can't please everyone
Hey. Not really a frequent watcher but I loved this video. As a person trying to get into the industry for a long time now. I can actually say social media held me back big time because of depression and comparing my own work to others.
This is needed. Thank you.
Excellent analysis of social media’s psychological and mind game effects related to one’s work and self esteem.👏👍⭐️
i think social media causes problems for anyone not only artists (duh) but yeah really good video thank u for talking abt this i feel like the phone the likes the fame and all that have overall become kinda bad for todays society and people and their mindsets which i find very sadening
This has gotta be one of the finest topics to talk about. Glad I took a look into it.
And remember to stay healthy! Exercise! Consume fruits and veggies! The longer you're lost on Social Media, the less of care your body can get.
Very nice video man. Good job. 😀👍🏾. I really do like social media. i find it very useful and helpful, if I am looking for potential jobs or finding inspirations. But what I don't like about it is being obsessed with likes and followers and thinking everyone has a much better life than I do because they went on a wonderful holiday.
Dude You spoke of everything that I actually did.
I learned my lesson.
I agree with everything you've said here. Some particularly good quotes as well. Thanks for sharing!
Great advice I took a 3 month break cuz I was sick of the politics online and the chaos. That is always a healthy move. Decompress and reset. Mental Health is important.
Tbh having someone else do it for me is one of my big goals. This is the single most draining part of being an artist for me and my biggest obstacle because my work is basically not put out there cause I hate to have to update my social media frequently. I love answering messages, getting in touch with people and the connection that comes from people engaging with my work, but it's the process of posting and having to be consistent with it that gives me major anxiety.
Keep it up with all your amazing advice.
Hello👋
I am an art hobbyist, but more importantly I have a degree in information systems. I had an entire course that explored algorithms, machine learning, and the recommender systems behind a lot of these social media platforms. Skill does not equate to your visibility (which then translates to more engagement)! Its a multi-varied thing, but it comes down to how easily the algorithm can match a post to any user's profile. The most common matching functions are mutual follows and hashtags. There is also the time of day you post, how frequently you post, and more because each social media company has their own weird cocktail of metrics.
Point is, don't worry about your likes, like he said. This is just the explanation for why it works that way. The algorithm has no idea what that collection of pixels you uploaded even is. Photo heavy sites may be able to recognize photos of people and things but art is just a confusing mess to them.
I just started leaving social media at the first of November until next month. So far after the first week I’m getting better physically,mentally and creatively. Plus I’m getting to finish my projects more especially my comic I’m working on. \m/
Wow, way to call me out on nearly EVERY single point, haha! Being active on social media used to be a major source of anxiety for me. Posting art and updates, maintaining an online presence, it all felt like a performance. And for a person who has pretty bad performance anxiety...it could trigger anxiety attacks and depressive episodes. Since I've (almost) untangled my self worth as a person from my social media presence, I have a healthier relationship with my own art. I'm happiest drawing for myself and just sharing personal doodles with a trusted circle of friends.
When you're a self-employed creator who depends on having a wide reach to secure commissions and business prospects, it's a tough balance to post just enough to keep your audience engaged n' happy, and not letting social media drain you and pull you back in. Though, like you said, follower counts and Likes don't always equate to dollars, and definitely shouldn't quantify your own self worth.