I really want a platform exclusively for artists where you can easily communicate and interact with other artists, the art community feels so distant from one another, every ones spread out with different platforms and all competing for attention and there’s no way for smaller artists to reach wider audiences who genuinely enjoy their art. I don’t want to be famous or have a massive audience I just want to interact with other people who share a passion that I have and understand what goes into it and the time it takes.
@@BGomez-tk7lu I actually joined it after I made this comment! I’m not sure about it yet I haven’t really got the hang of the platform and I don’t think a lot of other people have either. No ones very willing to interact with one another and I mean.... that’s what you get when you put a bunch of socially anxious artists together lmao but I hope it opens up as it goes on.
@@Aj01110 idk know if it's just me but artfol lagges a lot and it's slow and kind of ruin your experience that way can you tell me if it's the same with you?
@@miasworld6352 I personally haven’t had any lag issues and I’ve used it on my ancient iPhone 7 lmao. The issues I do have are mainly navigational ones and I think so far Artfol suffers from the same issues Instagram did in terms of content and algorithm and feeling like everyone’s very out of reach. But again this could just be my lack of grasp over the app. I hope it gets better in the future and a community forms but so far it’s not exactly what I was hoping it would be.
@xyn il I’m aware of that, that’s why I’m hopeful for future development. I’m still not entirely sold on it right now but like I mentioned I’m looking forward to future development and for a community to blossom.
As a 3d artist i Hate Instagram there is nothing worst than spending weeks on something only to post it and the quality is significantly reduced, and no one ever sees it because your not able to post 5 art pieces a week.
as a 3D artist I can relate! I've been using artstation for my day job work (gamedev) but lately I tried to start a side business creating digital illustration that's unrelated to games and I was being told over and over again that I need social media to get noticed. Briefly tried selling some of my stuff as an nft and I ended up quitting doing art in my spare time for few months because I got so overwhelmed with all of that. I'm back to creating finally but I doubt I'll be posting anything soon
The way Instagram operates: you basically have to keep posting and posting to keep up with the Algorithm or else your account will basically get blacklisted and you’re reach will start to die off. Super annoying as hell but, that’s how social media is unfortunately…
Ig algorithm is just not feasible for artists because all work our is very time consuming. Like, you’d need to crank out art everyday which is just impossible, as inspiration comes and gos we are not machines. It sucks that the app doesn’t want to help its creators.
youtube and twitter seem like the best social media for artists currently. youtube actually cares about sharing content and not hiding it, it's how i found this video it was in my recommended! and twitter is fun because you can talk with people, your art has a chance to go viral within fandom and normie spaces, and it's not so serious. instagram is full of bots, their app is clunky, there are too many features, they push advertising too much, and the fact you can't post on it from a computer still in 2021 is baffling. i wouldn't recommend any artist putting effort into growing an instagram anymore
Yes! I figure this was showing up a lot and I made this video back in January! That's what's neat about youtube, it may pick up your video even if it's older. If people resonate with it, it'll get more attention. Plus the stuff in videos are so useful and always available. instagram is just struggling to try and push copied features where they don't fit. They had a good thing going but now nobody wants to use them because they're not unique. People don't come to instagram to use tiktok features.
@TRAP WALUIGI whoa wait I didn't know captions have a character limit? I usually keep my story/lore captions shorter so people don't see a massive block of text and decide to disregard it-
@TRAP WALUIGI Don't forget the huge amount of pornographic drawings that are a tremendous success compared to other types of drawings on Twitter, what an artist earns of followers in a week drawing porn is what an average artist would earn in 2 or 3 years depending on luck. (I speak from my own experience)
@@sapphie_MEALS i'm sorry you've run into porn on twitter, that's awful. instagram is a safer community because there are stricter posting guidelines, i'm glad you like it more, it's all just personal preference at the end of the day
One artist told me, constant posting and timing. IG has been stressing me out and overwhelmed by the artists's work that swolled me by comparison. It made me feel like I was constantly in a competition and my art felt so low because they didn't get that many hits. It has caused me to be in a depression and destroying my life. This thing is toxic! 🙁
So sorry to hear of how you feel...I was just scrolling through videos and comments and saw yours. I am a musician, a singer songwriter, who has been struggling with some very very difficult life challenges that threw me into depression as well. Recently I felt a little "ray of light" push through and wanted to try and dust the cobwebs of off my creativity. I started exploring the different social media platforms out there, because I am so behind, even my youtube channel is a dinosaur at theis point, and I wondered if instagram was even worth it, then I saw your comment. I know that I don't know you but for what it is worth, PLEASE do not let ANY platform destroy your brilliant creative voice!! PLEASE don't let any trend, comment, social or anything determine your value and worth. Someone,somewhere out there, needs to see and hear what you have to express. You never know the impact you can have on just one person. What is sad about social media is that we are all in a frenzy to pursue "numbers" but what does that really mean? What if you only had 20 followers but you managed to make a HUGE positive impact on one of them and becaue of something you posted, it inspired them, comforted them. encouraged them or just made them smile? The truth is your unique talent is only yours, only you can express your art the way you do. Don't worry about numbers, go only where it feels good on a platform that inspires you and just share your light...I am rooting for you! (and every other creative person reading this!) xoxo (P.S. have now subscribed to BOTH of you and feel grateful to have found this video....Leila
@@Leilasworld awe sweetie, I'm moved by this message. 😊 That is very thoughtful of you to consider. I'll never give up my gift of art. It means so much and I do feel the same way that it's meant to reach and touch others.❤ I'm working on a project that is near and dear to me at the moment. It was inspired by a vision I had while watching an animated film. I saw a series of downloads of images poped into my mind. Everscence I've been on a mission to turn this vision into a reality. It may seem impossible but with the divine all things are posible. 🌟 That's why this has been so emotional for me because that vision showed me a beautiful story to be told. I have tried other topics and they haven' impact me the way this has. This has meaning and I'm going to do my very best to express that vision. ❄💙
These are all reasons why I quit trying to grow on Instagram. It was basically a full time job that barely brought in any exposure or community. I'm on tiktok and am trying to do RUclips on another channel and it's better. At least it feels like what I'm making there is relevant for months and years to come and I can gradually grow that way. Plus the community actually talks to me whereas half the comments I get on Instagram is spam.
I agree wholeheartedly! Instagram was great for artists in 2014-2015 but I missed that time because of my own insecurities. People who grew their accounts around that time till maybe 2017 are doing great though they too say that Instagram became too demanding and their reach is dropping. I started in 2018 but I wasn't consistent due to different events in my life. Also l was discouraged because of the amount of bots, follow/unfollow trend and commercialisation. After taking a break now I see that only a handful of my followers see my art. Hashtags don't work anymore, even specific ones that are geared at new and active fandoms. I get so much more feedback on Tumblr and Reddit even though I've just created those accounts. And DeviantArt Eclipse drives me mad (the old version was so much more convenient). But I still see engagement there if I post to groups. And I've been able to find some friends there even though I'm an introvert.
@@minderleister9255 This is really unfortunate and sad that you couldn't do it despite the hard work. I feel sad for younger artists and all those who started late.
As much as I like to complain about it, I'm never going to leave DeviantArt that's my home and where I got to connect with art friends and where I learned so much through tutorials and resources from my favourite artists. It was so inspiring to see inside the minds of my favourite artists and their tutorials, even short ones had great information that helped me a lot.
I'm not an artist but I can't imagine how many people keep reposting arts when the artist told them not to, that's also another reason why artists would leave social media in general, and even if they do, their arts can still be up everywhere else on the internet but there are billions of other arts people can look at and leave your art alone. It baffles me that in 2021, Instagram didn't create an update where users can prevent their posts from being reposted and screenshot like Webtoon. Instagram, Twitter, Patreon, Tumblr should really start taking their apps seriously otherwise, we can't them seriously anymore.
Yes! Personally, I keep finding fandom repost pages and new ones just keep spawning from quite literally nowhere. I'm the type of person to tell my friends and other artists when their work got stolen and I've gotten so sick of this bs because it keeps happening with (oh wonder) no problems at all! Blocking these pages doesn't do anything too, others keep making it to the explore page. I hate how small artists get ripped off by lazy repostes and these people are even more successful than the artists. Just recently blocked a page with "credit goes to the artist if you repost this work please credit the artist". And of course they had 1k+ followers... With only 9 posts of stolen art. But Zuckerberg found it more important to rebrand and copy the logo from a fitness app so it's no wonder repost pages are protected so well🧍♀️
or atleast give others an option to report stolen art. not not go the round about way of getting an artist some that don't even speak english to file a DMCA.
I quit instagram about two weeks ago and I feel so much more motivated already. When I was on instagram, I felt a lot of pressure to post paintings before they were ready simply to feed the insatiable algorithm. I hated the numbers game and the feeling that instagram was making art colleagues compete against one another rather than fostering a feeling of community and mutual support. Also, I read an article recently that said instagram is aiming to be more like TikTok with quick, loosely made videos and an ever increasing push towards big money making influencers.
"Bro, I'm not getting paid for any of this mess" BEST LINE EVERRRR!!!! and a-flippin-men!!! I've been inactive from my account for the last 9 weeks I think?! I feels so damn good to pour that "lost" time + energy into my art and my own creative bubble and life beyond the hashtag .. love this video THANK YOU!!
I relate SO MUCH to this video, you actually inspired me to make my own ‘Instagram bad for artists’ video. The algorithm is so bad, my reach isn’t the same anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I get between 800-1,500 likes per post with 8k followers and lots of comments so my engagement isn’t bad; the issue is that I don’t reach new people so my follow count either drops or becomes stagnant for weeks at a time. Instagram demands so much for so little in return and I’m tired of the sick game and loop they want people to go through. I started RUclips a month ago and I already see better results here, I’m actually GROWING the more I post.
Ironically, my most popular video is this one, the one about Instagram. Everything else is kind of dead, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I’m glad a lot of people relate, and it inspires others, but I don’t think I’m that interesting otherwise.
I had to quit instagram and tik tok because of how toxic and demanding they are. I used insta for like 2 year and only made 100 followers even though I've posted as much as I can only to get "promote your art" comments. Tik tok is really just a bunch of people with nothing better to do. people on tik tok would either harshly criticize my art to the point where I just quit that too. I know people saw my art but I only got 10 likes and none of my followers saw my work. Its too stressful and its not going to help my get into animation. But I don't really know how to grow on RUclips so I really don't know what to do
All I ever hear about tiktok is how fast it is to grow there. I think if I had to choose a platform that has video, I’d still choose RUclips only because the content is more permanent and evergreen. Like for example, I made this video a while ago but it seems like only now people are seeing it and getting some kind of value or relatability from it. Tiktok seems more fleeting and less sustainable in the long run because of how short they demand an audience’s attention span to be.
@@Voltergeist with tik tok you could get a lot if veiws but most of the time they just like and scroll which insnt that good bc you need a higher watch time for you to be pushed into the algorithm
I know it’s been four months since you posted that video but you totally spoke to my heart. That’s exactly my issue with Instagram keeping up with all those challenges trying to follow the new trends and the algorithms and technical things that have nothing to do with your art and basically feeling desperate all the time because you are required to be social all the time, post, comment on other peoples content but then get shadowbanned because you participate too much? I really feel instagram hates artists and we as artists really need to detox from all social media in order to reconnect with ourselves and our artistic vision.
I agree with what you said about instagram and saw that article floating around too. Honestly I use insta to dump my art and keep up with artist's that are more active on ithere (via stories) but my main social medai is twitter/tumblr. The weird thing about social media is if you're lucky enough to be "big" on one site transferring that audience is hard sometimes just I just try to keep it active because anyway of getting my work out there is better than limiting myself
@@artistevivien Agreed, my posts didn’t even show up in hashtags on Tumblr. I left back in April and I don’t miss the site at all, a waste of time. Especially when people don’t reblog your work and that’s the only way to gain traction there.
I know how you feel. I’m still on there because ultimately what I want is to get a job in the animation industry and I feel like they use social media to find employers, but it’s exhausting trying to use all the features just so your art can be seen. I wish they’d go back to the chronological timeline at least, because I also don’t get to see what everyone I follow is posting since it gets lost in the abyss along with my art
Thanks for sharing! Thinking about deleting Instagram as well. I guess I just worry I will lose out on commissions. Idk. But you make a great point with Instagram just copying other social networks and then punishing people for not posting Reels . It's exhausting catching up with the all-mighty algorithm. Especially because you also get punished for not posting every day
I’m so glad you did this video. I’ve been going back and forth going back to Insta because of a friend. But I hate it and hate the “LOOK AT ME ME ME” concept. It’s awful. It did a major hit to my mental. I feel comfortable making the move to stay away ❤️
The appeal of Instagram originally was the wide range of possible audience and the chronological timeline. ArtStation for example is not quite that. Instead you might mostly meet other artists. But as an artist yourself, you might not be mainly seeking for other artists, because the people who would be most interested in your artwork would not be artists themselves but regular people. So effectively you might want the regular people to be using that same service pretty much. That's what Instagram was and is, although novadays it's quite bad for artists themselves. For example: A friend of mine is in movie industry, writing scripts and directing. He doesn't watch much movies himself because he said it can easily distract from his own ideas and inspiration. As a visual artist I often feel the same, that I can look at others' work only a limited amount before it will distract my mind and I become less creative. This is why it's necessary to get the non-artist people to see your work, because they probably would enjoy it the most. Another similar comparison would be the music for musicians vs music for listeners. You want the regular people to find your stuff, not just the professionals. Something universal is needed to take the throne from Instagram.
I pretty much feel the same way about instagram. The random scam bots spamming comments, the numerous shopping ads, etc. I also started to realize that most of my followers don’t interact with my page anymore. I thought about going back to tumblr or deviantart, but I’m not sure yet. But yeah, Instagram has become a terrible platform for posting art.
I am still on instagram but I do find it challenging. In fact I find keeping up with all social media challenging. I do not create enough art often enough to post often enough. I also find it frustrating that in order to grow, we are encouraged to engage with loads of other people, now I am not expecting to just post and run, I do like chatting with people, but I really do not want to spend hours consuming others art just to get mine seen. It really then leaves me with little or no time to create my own art to post. I hope this makes sense. I love seeing other peoples art and I do enjoy leaving comments with people but there has to be an easier way to share our creations, without selling our souls lol ;) T x
From 2017 until June this year I used to use instagram for my art, and I don't miss it one bit. I deleted my account on their and I feel so free. It's stressful to manage. Constantly posting, maintaining a consistent theme (which promotes stagnation), the algorithm and the toxic community was all too much.
I have 8k followers on Instagram and the community is the WORST. The callouts, drama and mainly because people barely talk to each other there! It’s so hard to make friends because everyone is so self absorbed…I want to leave so bad but I don’t want to abandon all my hard work. Started RUclips recently (on an alternate account) so I’m excited to see how that goes.
@@DesignzRUs1 HONESTLY EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID I swear no one on that platform gives a shit about having real friends without a follower count. It's why I left a fandom behind completely, you're right, they're so self absorbed. Also the callout posts that float around on Instagram are frankly full of misinfo I'm honestly surprised at how no one on there can think for themselves anymore, christ. I don't miss Art instagram
instagram is just cruel for new artists. i quit insta after making like less than 10 posts. making art is really hard for me since I don't have that much time on my hands, but I'll get back to it once I get my iPad and after I quit my job at my current company
Thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts on this. It's good to know I'm not the only one that's been feeling this way. I totally agree with this and have been thinking a lot about why I'm investing so much time into trying to grow my IG. Going into 2020, I felt like my account was growing and I was seeing pretty good engagement. On average, 800 or so people would see my posts from hashtags. As a small account, that was great, because that meant more people get to see my work and more potential followers. I took a month off from posting... ya know cause 2020 was tough and I needed a break. And, I've never been able to return to my previous level of engagement. Even after posting consistently for almost a year now, my analytics show that like 8 people now see my posts from hashtags. That's not an exaggeration. It's often single digits now. The only way I can get any traction is to make reels. Which is exhausting and difficult and not something I can do every day. Which makes me question why I am putting so much effort into growing my IG in the first place. How is it helpful to me as an artist to spend so much time making content that hardly anyone sees? Personally, I've decided not to quite IG altogether. I appreciate my very small, but supportive following and feel like I've made friendships with other artists. I've just decided I'm not going to spend energy on trying to grow my account anymore. I'm going to maintain a very scaled back schedule that will be low pressure and easy to maintain. And then I'm going to use that extra time and energy on trying to making better art, YT videos, and products. :)
I switched from inst to RUclips a year ago, went from 120 likes on a pic to 4k views on RUclips. The interaction and ability to share is all I ever wanted
I just wish Instagram had a Desktop-friendly format. It's fine when your posting things on your phone, but I found it incredibly frustrating when I wanted to upload differently sized images or from a computer. It's feels so limited compared to Tumblr's in these aspects. Only reason I still have an account on there is because it seems like one of the best places to market yourself and develope a following
That's one of the biggest drawbacks for me, is that IG hates desktop. I used to have to do a work-around just to upload my stuff from my PC to desktop IG but I've forgotten how to do it, and I stopped because it was too much extra work. I really do miss tumblr. it was one of the last places you could kind of have your art displayed like you want it.
Ive been wanting to make an instagram art acc because i felt like it was necessary for my growth, but this has given me a different perspective. Personally, I love youtube and even if I wasn't doing art I still would be doing youtube! I do it to create content in the first place, but since art is something I love just as much I combined the two, and Im having so much fun! Also omg how are you so underrated?? I thought you would have at least like 50k!! Your art is incredible!
I feel like we, as artists, really want our work to be as reachable as possible for other people and unfortunately platforms like Instagram that aren't artist-only are really the only ones where we can get that wide audience. This is even worse for people who rely on commissions.
First, this is such a cool drawing! Also, dude...DUDE...instagram is sooo much work for basically nothing. I am honestly growing tired of it( and that's not saying much because I was never super into it). I have tried for both art and photography but I usually just end up feeling frustrated about how little I understand it 😂😂😂. I don't really know what platform to use, I literally have only tried Insta, Facebook and youtube. But not much on any of them 🤦. If you find any good spots on the internet please share. 💙
Instagram is just full with bots and my feed has become an empty showroom with some crickets filling the sound of nothing. Instagram has become worthless in gaining any publicity. But honestly that's how life goes, things change, new things fill up the gaps. It's how you adapt to those changes. Nothing wrong with that :)
I definitely dialed my posting down drastically on IG. They punish you if you dont post 7 days a week or some crap lol. I just go and post when something is completed. I think as others have said YT and Twitter combo is your best bet rn.
I gave up Instagram and Tumblr for lent, and the absolutely radical change in my productivity and happiness is wild. Thank you for this video! I'm thinking about maybe making a discord server and dragging a few of my art friends from Instagram over there :P
Thanks for your thoughts on this - I am kinda overwhelmed by trying to keep up with social media - I unfollowed so many artists that are always posting how great their successes are...and YES vertical videos WTF?!>?!
As a commercial artist, I really wish there was a platform that was just artists and brands that was widely used. Because for networking, I really do find it the easiest to reach out to a brand or to begin building a relationship with a brand on instagram. If it wasnt for that I definitely would have made the leap because instagram can easily become a full time job. I just hit 1k on there, and I feel like that gives me a bit more credibility when brands are researching. From now on I am just going to coast on that 1k and get whatever kind of growth is reasonable while posting still fairly often but just not sweating it as much. I am also always looking for small artists to reshare to my story to give them exposure as well.
I still do are a lot but I don’t post it as I used to anymore because like the same thing you said about mental health. The only reason I use Instagram is to talk to my friends that are on there too! Now is just becoming another TikTok which I really hate! I started using Twitter from two years ago and honestly it’s somewhat better but not all the way! But this was really a good video on why and I’m probably gonna be doing the same this year!
Totally feel this! And it feels like it's getting even worse these last few months. The amount of work they want you to do to get seen leaves you with no time to actually do your art. >.
I’ve gotten to the point where I might log in once in a blue moon to post something, just to immediately log out again because the numbers give me anxiety. I don’t want to see how many likes it got and I don’t want to see my follower count. I feel so pressured to make art and to post even when I don’t want to. I am definitely contemplating taking all the tags off and removing my followers to restart and post without the stess
Being brutally honest here: Instagram does not care about small artist, Instagram doesn’t care about small businesses, Instagram doesn’t care about smaller content creators. Instagram only cares about money and their precious blue/ grey check-marked cash cows. Highly recommend Artfol, Medibang ARTstreet or Twitter (even though that place is toxic but, it’s better than nothing). Facebook will grow tired of destroying that platform eventually. 🙄
Great vid! I really feel what you said.. i tried it a view times to grow on instagram but with art you feel burnt out before u even start growing a little.. i didnt feel comfortable.. much better with youtube! 🙏🏼
RUclips is definitely the best platform for artist because they will put old/new/small creators on your recommendation. If you want more recognization you should always post it in different platforms.
I agree so much. IG really is so impossible to keep up with or feel good about. I've decided to step back from it whilst I think about what I want to do
I just quit IG for many reasons... first because of school, I'm college now and I need to be more serious, second I hate bots in there, third it's toxic like you will follow them to unfollow you (this is the most stressful and insulting reason of quitting... no offense but most of the ones who always unfollow have "unpleasant" art (can't say bad thing, but it is) and kinda too brag for IG)
I'm currently in the same position as you, I've kind of fallen off of Instagram and I'm moving more towards Twitter, RUclips, and possibly Twitch. Instagram is just not letting any smaller artists be seen. My own followers aren't seeing my posts, I have almost 400 followers but I get a maximum of 20 likes on a post so either my followers aren't seeing my posts or I'm just followed by a bunch of bots that I have no control over. I've also been using TikTok and it's kind of a hit or miss for me but it is fun to do trends from time to time
Instagram used to be my favorite plattform and I've been staying there because I like the format more than other plattforms but it has lost the sense of community, of 1400 followers I have, I only reach 50 of them and it's not even showing me posts of the people I follow, it's just a bunch of ads and recommended accounts, recently the CEO said they wanted to focus in making you discover new content but what's the point of that if once I follow them the app it's not going to show me their content anymore, I want to try other plattforms but I'm not sure which ones yet
Yup. Ditto everything you said. I even tried to pay someone to build my account, but quite literally - unless someone is doing active engagement with users every single day and posting it pitters off into nothing. I think it's a dying platform. It sucks how many places I used to be able to share art and they're either ruined by the corp itself or too many "no promo" attitudes where even chill posting an OC image triggers people. I don't really know how you're supposed to reach new people anymore. Twitter is a last hope.
I think I finally hit my Instagram wall. It’s so disheartening to see how little engagement my posts get anymore. It really gets in my head… like, I’m not good enough or something. So I’m thinking of maybe switching to RUclips. If I can find a way to make content that’s interesting and also low effort… maybe it’s a better route. Maybe I can even earn some passive income…
Good luck to you, I think RUclips has more staying power than reels or tiktoks, if finding this video almost 2 years later and it still being relevant is any indication. Give it a try, you never know! My only advice is to not stress over it. I only ever upload here when I've got something to share or say.
Good luck to you, I think RUclips has more staying power than reels or tiktoks, if finding this video almost 2 years later and it still being relevant is any indication. Give it a try, you never know! My only advice is to not stress over it. I only ever upload here when I've got something to share or say.
I just started an Instagram account to start engaging more with other artists but hearing what other artists are saying makes it seem like alot of work I am just not interested in doing. It does give me access to some artists that I like though so I guess I'll just post some art here and there and not worry about it. It seems to be too much about engagement with algorithms to even get your art seen at all and that's no fun as an artist.
Yeah. The last time I went there to browse, every other post was an ad and other times it was people I wasn't even following. Not sure about the direction they're deciding to go in but it's all gotten too complicated, now.
@@Voltergeist Soon you will have to go to college to become an influencer, so sad.Not only that but these days you might not even be dealing with real people because certain empires just love to weaponize everything.
I was on Instagram but I've noticed a ton of black artists getting ripped off. Also it seems like a lot of people are in a box that stuns creativity. Mostly I noticed people posting small comics which is ok but if they do other art the Gram doesn't push it.
I know that smaller artists get their ideas or concepts recreated by more popular artists all the time. But sometimes it's hard to tell if it was just pure coincidence or something more dubious. Ig does tend to push certain trends and it all ends up looking the same a lot of times. At least that's what it was like when I left.
It has nothing to do with color. I'm white and have had it since 2015 and still can't reach 300 followers or sell a single print I have promoted on instagram. Ready to let it go too.
@@Voltergeist Hi when I said: "black artist being ripped off" I wasn't omiting other people and saying they were the only ones. I am in a black artist group as well as follow other artists of different races but whenever I go on Amazon I was just pointing out what I had seen. I heard instagram has a weird policy that can possibly own peoples art too. I didn't mean any harm by saying that.
I actually just decided to step away. I’m currently deciding how I’m going to approach RUclips, and buff up my website. I felt like I was just doing the most and getting the least. I’m glad you’re another artist I’ve seen that has stepped away and has the same reasoning I do. Side note; I like the character you’re drawing! Is that photo shop, or what program are you using?
I was never a savvy Instagrammer, I totally ignored "stories" and "reels", thought they looked like too much work for something so transient...then I wonder why my art gets 30 likes (grateful for those, don't get me wrong) when I see other artists I love and follow with many more likes and comments (they are deserving, I just wondered what was going on). I guess I wasn't playing the game. I used to post on Flickr but that community shrunk, then I created a Facebook page for art, but that wasn't getting seen I don't think. I have a blog but have let it rather wither in favor of the ease of posting to Instagram, and it seemed the blogging community withered as well. I was not the only one who stopped regularly maintaining their blogs a few years ago. Also, blog posts require more consideration and thoughtful writing that may hopefully provide something useful to others. But blogs do have the benefit of being timeless and Google searchable. Contemplating options...I've not heard of artfol before now, I will have to check it out.
Yeah it's doing the most without much return on investment. It's all the extra work for me, at this point I have to kind of pick my battles when it comes to where I want to put my energy in engaging and promoting my art..
I completely agree! They do ask way to much of artist on Tic Tok as well because you have to make a short video thats eye catching enough to stop people from scrolling in the first few seconds or you loose out and with the algorithm changing recently if your current followers dont like your content you videos wont make it to the FYP. Im trying to start growing on youtube as well now!~
I'm sure I'm quite late to this discussion, but the constant changes to instagram have dissuaded me from posting my art. Between that time when Insta would hide posts to prevent the spread of misinformation (even though it was just animal/creature art that I posted) and now, where Insta just feels like an online marketplace I just never want to post on there anymore. This is soo frustrating honestly. The app used to be soo good too.
honestly I've been feeling anxious from instagram BECAUSE I couldn't make art every 4 days or something, it now takes me months to make art because I usually have to do youtube and art at the same time using a laptop and my phone, but my mum brought the laptop with her to another country (its hers). So now I have less motivation to do art, and I'm losing followers lol. I care about it because ppl actually followed me for my art, and losing them feels like I lost their trust or something. I also worry about deleting the account since ppl I know in real life also follow my account. But I feel like deleting my insta acc would honestly feel better for my mental health lol.
Oh, no! In the mean time keep a sketchbook and just draw at your own pace! It's alright to take a break from social media to recalibrate your relationship with your art. In fact, I recommend it! I think it's easy to fall into the numbers and it's hard to climb out...but I hope you'll be okay. Try not to be so hard on yourself.
Very recently I noticed instagram is trying out this thing where they throw recommended content from people you don’t follow into your feed. It has helped me find other artists, but between that and all the ads I feel like I barely see anything from people I follow. It seems like everyone just exists in the stories these days. If you post something, you basically have to share it to your story in order for it to get seen. And instead of scrolling through my feed I just go through everyone’s stories to see posts I would otherwise miss. I don’t mind it, and I like the ability to share other peoples work to your story- it’s like the instagram equivalent of a retweet. It’s felt like the only way to get seen, or discover new artists yourself. (I swear I only gain followers when someone has shared one of my posts to their story). I reeeeally hated stories when they were introduced and resisted for a long time, but now I’m really into it and it seems like the only way to use the app now… (I realize this video is a year old so I wanted to share how things are going lol)
Ive thought about going back to deviantart to interact with other artists but one thing I wish there was less of is the adoptable posts e.e most in my feed for some reason be selling them often e.e I miss when it was majority personal and professional art and not species and adoptables
Yeah I noticed deviant art has a pretty strong adoptable/species community. That’s how a lot of artists make their money so I can see why it’s so prominent. Definitely different from back when I started first using it!
I get how tough it can be for a lot of people who feel they're established! It's not always a clean a break as I might have depicted my experience here. Maybe it benefits you differently. Take some time out to reflect on how it might or might not!
I wanted to post my art online and the first platform i tried was instagram and I gotta say that its really discouraging. I agree with you that it is not a good platform for small artists that are just starting out like me. I get follows but they werent even interested with art and some of them were accounts that posts nude pics of themselves like wtf why did they follow my account?? one of them even added me on their group. When I tried twitter, some of my fanarts got a ton of likes but some didnt do so well. I am already a small artist and these platforms make me feel even smaller and bad. I guess its good for artists that already have a lot of followers and stuff.
Not an IG artist like everyone else since I sort of stopped using it ages ago, but Twitter was the art demon I knew stopped letting me enjoy it, yet I stayed there Slowly but surely, I’m avoiding the site for the better more often
I can totally relate. I did the same thing, just left, nothing said. I think it’s too demanding. Being an artist myself, I’m good at doing my art stuff( I draw digitally like you, crochet dolls, and stuff like that). But you get good at your craft and then IG wants you to be good at video production, being engaging during said videos, etc. that is a completely different skill set to hone. I’m not on social media platforms that are feed based(unless you count making videos on RUclips) I tend to prefer a smaller group like a discord channel. Anywho keep up the great work! Gave you a sub!
I have an account, but it's mostly to watch other people's stuff and save things I liked, like dtiys challenges or prompts. I have some stuff there, but not much, and even though I don't aim to grow (I just want to post for fun), I do feel self conscious because a) I don't draw as often and b) I feel like what I have isn't as good. I kind of want to go back to Deviantart (was more relaxing, and there's less expectation to draw for followers) but their app is confusing and I mostly left because they allowed people to post whatever debauchery came to their mind - including things that were obviously not meant to be there, and you can't filter it out. I kind of want to try artful to see how it works, but coming up with usernames it tough.
Yeah I have Instagram and I notice that some of my art isn’t on the hashtags that I put them under. Like they completely hide my art everyone and it really pisses me off, spending so much time just to get a few likes. I just want my art to be seen :( I even tried tumblr at one point but it was really dead
You got shadowbanned :( happens really often to me too because I use the same hashtags (IG doesn't understand that themed pages exist) one way to fix the banning is by posting an image without any tags to "break" the count. It does work most at the time, but if it's worth all the trouble is a different story...
I’ve actually been seriously considering leaving Instagram. I’m trying it and FB one more time. I’m not sure what to expect on changes. It doesn’t seem to matter what tactics I use going in. Here recently posted something where there was music in the background and I was muted. I have faced other issues and I may be leaving both for good and simply just staying with messenger to stay in touch with friends.
It can be tough. I'd say RUclips is worth it, it's easy enough to get around copyright concerning music if you don't use popular stuff. Don't give up, I'm sure you'll find a spot. Despite everyone saying the opposite there's room at the table for everyone.
I don’t mind Instagram as I have a small following so it isn’t stressful or content demanding. But it’s very different from a few years ago. I liked when insta was more community based and I feel as more time progresses it’s just gonna get worst for artists on insta
Ty for watching!! And yeah I tried to give tiktok my best shot, it's just not clicking with me. I get needing to promote myself, but maybe I'll give it another try at a later date. I have a hard enough time with video format though. There's some days I feel out of touch with social media too, but I think what makes it worth it are those other people you meet who are also on a similar journey.
@@Voltergeist Of course -- thank *you* for the wonderful video, which I listened to while getting work done!! : > Vertical video format is worse than Insta's square haha That's such a great way to put it! For all of my struggles with social media, I'm so thankful we all have a way to connect -- now more than ever!
I was just thinking of deleting my Instagram account. I dislike it. So stupid how you can produce great art but not get recognition because of the algorithm.
Being an artist and small RUclipsr I agree. Instagram sucks and followers are hard to get and sometimes you'd lose a whole chunk of em then you'll gain....it was just hard and RUclips is kinda lots better in my opinion Instagram seems much more harder. RUclips is like crappy in many ways but just like Twitter.... Instagram is a big shit show. However RUclips is tolerable
I remember when I posted a video instagram and RUclips. 3 days later, I checked that video on my instagram and it had 40 views but when I went to my RUclips, the same video had 1k views and 3 comments. That is when I realized that instagram doesn't care about artist. So now, I post more video's on my RUclips because my art is actually seen by people and I'm able to engage with an audience.
I'm about to leave Instagram, I use it since 2020, and from there to now there's a huge change and difference!! Before, my art used to get like from 40 to 60 likes per day and many comments, but now I noticed (since the begin of this year maybe) that my posts don't get as much visibility as before, I got now from 10 to 20 likes per day and the algorithm privileges only currently trends that I rarely join since I like to do as my own way, therefore, you have to post like everyday to get more audience and this for me is overwhelming! Now, can please someone tell me a good social for us? Like, I was thinking to use Tumblr, do you think is good? Thx for any suggestions 💗
I am a musical artist and i have been so incredibly overwhelmed with Instagram for multiple reasons. I feel like the culture of musical artists has become super superficial due to the endless self-promotion and posing. I am a very down-to-earth human that wants to connect with others who are genuine in their expression. It seems like Instagram is a distraction because people are more focused on the instant gratification of “how can I make MORE content for my page” rather than just focusing on creating actual art and completing projects (long-term gratification). People’s attention is fleeting and no longer seems like the length of a human beings. They are programming broken focus. People compare and just kinda snoop into other people’s lives. I just deleted my Instagram app to focus on my mental health because it is connected to my spiritual and physical health as well and that’s more important than getting attention from random people. Just want a real audience of people to listen to my music and then create deep community or at least hold authentic conversations! It’s annoying feeling pressured to be a product when I am a person! Thanks for making this video. I resonate 💯. I love your art.
Thanks so much! And thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm of the same mind. It's all a distraction from what matters most. It's so easy to get caught up in the systems social media built up around the idea of making art...but there was a time before all the noise. I feel for those who kind of don't know any other way and are wrapped up in the numbers/attention game. The way it's set up is unsustainable and exhausting. And I am hoping that more people are realizing it.
I'm a photographer, but I felt this video so much. It seems impossible to get a solid place to just...Not even post my own work, but find and see others, since I can always just have my own damn site. But with so many great artists in so many fields only doing things on Instagram, and RSS feeds being long forgotten, it's ridiculously difficult to simply see cool things that people are making and *want me to see*. I wish I had a better answer, but it seems that good answers just aren't as profitable as bad ones.
I don't think there was ever a solid place for artists when it comes to social media as we know it. Deviantart is where I got my start but like a lot of other people, I feel like I outgrew it. Tumblr wasn't bad before the purge, but that's it, honestly. I super miss when people ran their own sites and rss feeds were more common. I also miss forums, but maybe I'm just old and missing the fact that not everything had to be so instant and in your face.
@@Voltergeist All too true. It should be a simple thing, but between the rise of the centralized platform, the death of the targeted site and forum, and the awkwardness around the personal website... Some of this is a bit better on something like a Discord server, but even besides format issues, those just don't scale up at alllll and are impossible to find if you're not in the circle already. It's a real problem, and I don't know how to fix it.
I personally use Gab for art. Tumblr is bad? Not into DeviantArt. Literally trying to get away from Twitter because it is a dumpster fire. Insta crops horrible. Also with Gab, it just shows me the posts from those I follow and nothing more, so it makes things easier and I can upload 4K stuff XD
I can't bring myself to leave Instagram, I've had it for 3-4 years and that's really the only platform I use . . twitter is very hard to grow on and I'm barely motivated to make videos on RUclips I'm have mixed feelings with insta because i find myself hating it for not pushing my stuff I've used hashtags, I've posted everyday for a bit, I've tried animation, I've tried reels,igtv and I still don't get the engagement i think i deserve i get around 20-40 likes with around 640 something followers and thats just from 4 years. my are is medium at most but it sometimes feels low because of how unmotivated I get with the numbers I know it's just numbers but i want to get a career with what i love
This may or may not be comforting to hear but there are a lot of working artists that don't have huge followings but are successful, and at the same time there are artists with tons of follows that struggle to manage it. Likes and follows don't always necessarily correlate to success!
Because the algorithm sucks on all social media’s now and it makes art less fun if you focus too much on it. I remember how easy it was to gain followers and likes back in the day. I want to leave Instagram as well but there are too many artists that i like on there and that i get inspiration from.
I wish every artist would leave the platform. Not a lot of people are well informed about what is really going on with Instagram and even social media as a whole, and not a lot of people ever learn to have trust issues when it comes to corporate American garbage. The so-called Instagram CEO said the company will bring back the chronological feed. While most people are happy about it, to me that plan was rushed during the so-called US Congressional hearing. I have seen the sample of this "returned" feature that made me very skeptic.
UGH ITS SO REFRESHING TO FINALLY SEE THESE VIDEOS OF ARTISTS LEAVING INSTA. I have been considering leaving for 2 years now but all of my fanbase has been built there. Ive been so depressed with the shrinking of interaction. I draw more and PEOPLE SEE ME LESS! I finally made the step of moving toward youtube and posted my first video yesterday! I love how i keep getting recommended these videos now that i saw a few! (I also draw a dnd webcomic! )
Hey there! Yeah it seems like every time something goes down with IG, this video starts picking up steam. And I made this a year ago so it seems like the situation hasn't really improved. I've been trying to rely less and less on social media. They seem so desperate to keep your attention and collect your data and money...! Anyway thanks for watching. I'll check out your video, congrats on it and welcome to RUclips!
@@Voltergeist thanks! And idk i domt think anything new has happened to insta. Its been bad for a while..ive just beem doing more twitch streams and thought about vlogs and then making actual videos!!
I've been getting tired of instagram too with the reels being added also the format always take away from the quality of my art wether i took a traditional picture or a digital piece.
I am also on Instagram but also cannot keep up with generating content every Day. I need to use my little creative time wisely. The last weeks I was only thinking of what kind of reel I can create. An artist Friends on twitch and I think this is a Good community there. But this is also not for me as you are always live while painting.
This video is so cathartic, and it's still relevant a year later. (Long rant incoming) I used to post art on insta. It took me hours, days to finish a piece. So I could only post finished pieces once in a while. In between, I would post sketches/warmups/wips/etc. on my stories and such. I felt compelled to post CONSTANTLY, like every single day. It really hurt me when I spent days working on a drawing, post it with tons of hashtags, only to get 1 like and 3 bot comments. I was putting in so much effort for nothing. I literally can't post everyday because I have IRL resposiblities (college, family, jobs, etc.). Also my artstyle is kinda realistic, so it takes a long time to finish a piece (like a week at least). I feel like insta is only good if 1. you have a big following already, and 2. you can create and finish several pieces of artwork per day. I noticed most of the active/popular pages have REALLY simple cartoony artsyles, so they can post tons of drawings every single day. I was considering posting art on DeviantArt or RUclips. But for RUclips, I wouldn't even know where to start. I feel like RUclips is hard to gain an audience with, too. I tried Artfol, but it's really not active. IDK what to do anymore! No idea where to post my art! If anyone has any recommendations, please reply to my comment.
I found users also do this thing where if you create a hashtag, it gets buried under mountains of irrelevant content. So eventually I found it was more worth the shoebox budget, to host directly on my website, and use yt and other places to promote the website. Youll notice they stopped doing pitchwars as well,.which for authors, is one of the worst to promote.
I'm not entirely sure what pitchwars are but I think I can guess. I haven't posted on ig with any kind of meaningful regularity for nigh on 2 years. I understand threads was released a bit ago but it fell off after a week. It's kind of a spaghetti mess right now and I'm focused on my own website too nowadays, along with a couple of other more niche blogging sites. Probably the best way to go at the moment.
Thank you for this video. I'm a creative person that is burning out on trying to "get ahead" on IG. I quit FB last January, and think I might be moving away from IG this January. I also think I'm going to be moving all my content to my website, as I'm tired of trying to post quality stuff only to watch it disappear 24 hours later.
Yeah. Trying to please the algorithm isn't worth the burnout. I also whittled my social media down to a few places and post selectively. It does seem like a better experience overall.
i have a lot of art that i would love to post there, but i just wont because is there even a point? its so hard to be seen nowadays i don't want to do stories reels and shit.. i miss when it was just a photo app. Twitter is scary and toxic so its also a no..
everytime i post on insta there are promotion groups looking for money wanting to promote now. like for 50 dollars we will promote your art to a large audience we have 2million followers
Yeah I recently had to make a new art account on Instagram (because of some drama that happened with my main one and Instagram), but I honestly still don’t post often because…I just can’t. Between all the work with RUclips and Patreon I do it’s not possible to meet Instagram’s demands if you want to play their growth game. It’s really unfortunate, because it used to be one of my favorites. TikTok is an interesting one, because I have grown the fastest there in number of followers, but still-if you aren’t posting often, don’t expect much to happen otherwise. Patreon has become my main place to post artwork (especially because I do a lot of NSFW art now). Twitter I still haven’t figured out. 😂
I quit really posting online. The choosing beggars get on my nerves. I just work on my graphic novel and gonna publish it when its ready using my own money. I used to do the patreon too but its not worth it since people dont support you they just sub for 1 month download all the stuff from stat to that month then unsub, many users have taken to banning accounts that do that. Anyways good vid telling the truth how it is for us.
I know I'm a little late to this video, but I had to comment because it's literally speaking to my soul 😅 I've been on Instagram for 5 years and.... it sucks. Unless I CONSTANTLY am putting up art and stories, I lose followers. There's so little incentive to post anyway, because with 500 followers, I get maybe 50 likes if I'm lucky. Hundreds of views, but very, very few likes. Having that tiny percentage actually care was demotivating. It got worse when the "send your art to @accountname!" bots started going wild, and it hasn't stopped since. And another thing that is annoying is that people NEVER interacted, or read my captions. I would ask questions and try to engage my community on a regular basis (back when, I too, watched all of these algorithm vids) and I never got a response. Even from my friends. It felt so sterile and bland, there was no delight in checking into it. Add to the mix the time someone impersonated me and Instagram reacted to my report saying there wasn't anything they saw wrong to interfere with (my art being stolen on this didn't qualify either???) and... I'm done with it! I haven't deleted it off my phone, but I'm really thinking about it. I'm just tired of the crap, excuse me. It is so demotivating to post something and because my account isn't popular, I get tiny interest that's over within 60 minutes while some huge artist can post something very similar and gain thousands of likes and the feedback I only wish I could have. The most important lesson of all I learned? When I was trying to consistently feed the endless maw of Instagram, my art quality got BAD. Now that I've moved to Twitter and DeviantART, my art is better than it ever was and sure, not a ton of people care, but it definitely feels more genuine. (As a creator who works in primarily horizontal format, IG just killed my posts too)
It sounds like you've been THROUGH it over there. I'm sorry to hear that! But I'm glad you're finding your pace without having to keep up with IG. People still comment on this video and it seems like it hasn't gotten any better.
I'm still using instagram, but I do agree with a lot of these points! Honestly first it was the addition of a shop feature, then IGTV, then the tiktok feature. I missed when it was slightly (well hell not even slightly at this rate) more simple, and I also really miss the artists who'd post frequently on instagram leave the app, it really just doesn't feel the same anymore. At any rate, I do not know if I'll start a seperate account on RUclips for my drawings, or just stick with this one. Because tbf I'm very lazy to make speedpaints lol Nice video btw, it really goes to show how much this app has changed. Again, for better or for worse.
Idk if anyone gonna see this but I was Instagram artists I was doing great honestly but the thing that I have to do was too much I was just want to post my art but there was so much things to do to be successful not just post good art. First I live in the middle east and there they have some kind of style of art of picture you have too follow or it's better to follow. Like I have to show the part of table and tools I use stuff like that with a good lighting. And my style of art are not fitting their standers. I had to draw more body that are covered and mostly faces. The only 2 style that are famous were realism and anime which both are not in my style. I had to force myself to fit what the art that people wants. Second, I had to join alot of artist group or support group and there are so much to do and you can't skip a day. Yes they have helped me alot with pushing my art to other people and get me followers but it was just so much . This is honestly when of the main reason why I quit. Third, I had to post every day and not just any drawing I had to do full drawings with colorings. And also I had to follow the trend that were viral at the moment the faster I do the trends the better. . Honestly at that point it didn't feel like I was drawing for me but more like drawings for people. And my drawing become ugly to me because they were are in one style one thing that I have to keep up. Even with that I keep pushing myself but when Ik I was sure that I'm gonna enter college I decided to quit because. Ik for sure that I wouldn't keep the everyday post or post anything tbh. Now I post in fb group or my server and it feels more relaxing knowing that I can post when ever I like without getting streets . Yes there is no likes and follow but I will take that because sometimes the follow and likes thing can get a person to be obsessed.
Ya I'm an instagram artist and sometimes it gets really overwhelming with the new trends and updates. I feel like if you don't have a large following you have to put so much effort to even get a couple people to see your art. I've been considering quitting instagram, but I don't know where I would post my art. Do you think Artfol is a good place to post art?
I think it's okay. But because it's just other artists, you might not get as much engagement from people who aren't. I follow a few people, but I ended up barely using it. Your mileage may vary!!
I feel this! I've never put myself on there as a business, I just follow a few people I like to follow (not related to biz). Now that I'm ready to put myself out there with my biz, I'm trying to decide whether to engage with IG, and I'm deeply ambivalent and tired thinking about it. I HATE FACEF*CK. So the fact that it's a FF company, makes me sick actually. And the time it takes from you, and the anxiety, and the creepers, etc. etc. etc. ... I don't think I will actually go on it as a biz. I am researching a better way, and I'm thinking of just doing Pinterest and maybe RUclips. LOL I also will not touch TikTok with a 10 foot pole. Some if it is just age, too, I'm in my late 40's so I don't really relate to the social media of it all, in general....LOL. Anyhoo, thanks for this video, it's great.
Thanks for sharing! Your video was comforting to listen to after my engagement rate plummeted to an all-time low this past month. I'm looking elsewhere to expand my options, and glad to know it's not just me :-)
Honestly my major problem with Instagram is that they keep disabling my art account. It's so unfair because as an artist you stay awake to work and get a good drawing only for Instagram to throw all that away. I hate the app
As an Instagram artist, I agree with you. There really is no good social media platform for artists nowadays.
what would a social media for artists look like for you?
I would agree but then I must say that there is still Artstation wich is basicly only for Artists.
@@primordial994 probably dA but the version from 10yrs ago 🤣
artstation?
@@wolftalks4237 yeah but they allow ai art now. So basically the websites got tonnes of non artists on there now too
I really want a platform exclusively for artists where you can easily communicate and interact with other artists, the art community feels so distant from one another, every ones spread out with different platforms and all competing for attention and there’s no way for smaller artists to reach wider audiences who genuinely enjoy their art. I don’t want to be famous or have a massive audience I just want to interact with other people who share a passion that I have and understand what goes into it and the time it takes.
You gotta check out Artfol :)
@@BGomez-tk7lu I actually joined it after I made this comment! I’m not sure about it yet I haven’t really got the hang of the platform and I don’t think a lot of other people have either. No ones very willing to interact with one another and I mean.... that’s what you get when you put a bunch of socially anxious artists together lmao but I hope it opens up as it goes on.
@@Aj01110 idk know if it's just me but artfol lagges a lot and it's slow and kind of ruin your experience that way can you tell me if it's the same with you?
@@miasworld6352 I personally haven’t had any lag issues and I’ve used it on my ancient iPhone 7 lmao. The issues I do have are mainly navigational ones and I think so far Artfol suffers from the same issues Instagram did in terms of content and algorithm and feeling like everyone’s very out of reach. But again this could just be my lack of grasp over the app. I hope it gets better in the future and a community forms but so far it’s not exactly what I was hoping it would be.
@xyn il I’m aware of that, that’s why I’m hopeful for future development. I’m still not entirely sold on it right now but like I mentioned I’m looking forward to future development and for a community to blossom.
As a 3d artist i Hate Instagram there is nothing worst than spending weeks on something only to post it and the quality is significantly reduced, and no one ever sees it because your not able to post 5 art pieces a week.
I am a fan of 3D art and I am always shocked by the lack of followers I see on 3D artists profiles
@@grumreapur its a difficult road for 3d artist specially if you are not already popular before Instagram
as a 3D artist I can relate! I've been using artstation for my day job work (gamedev) but lately I tried to start a side business creating digital illustration that's unrelated to games and I was being told over and over again that I need social media to get noticed. Briefly tried selling some of my stuff as an nft and I ended up quitting doing art in my spare time for few months because I got so overwhelmed with all of that. I'm back to creating finally but I doubt I'll be posting anything soon
The way Instagram operates: you basically have to keep posting and posting to keep up with the Algorithm or else your account will basically get blacklisted and you’re reach will start to die off. Super annoying as hell but, that’s how social media is unfortunately…
Ig algorithm is just not feasible for artists because all work our is very time consuming. Like, you’d need to crank out art everyday which is just impossible, as inspiration comes and gos we are not machines. It sucks that the app doesn’t want to help its creators.
youtube and twitter seem like the best social media for artists currently. youtube actually cares about sharing content and not hiding it, it's how i found this video it was in my recommended! and twitter is fun because you can talk with people, your art has a chance to go viral within fandom and normie spaces, and it's not so serious. instagram is full of bots, their app is clunky, there are too many features, they push advertising too much, and the fact you can't post on it from a computer still in 2021 is baffling. i wouldn't recommend any artist putting effort into growing an instagram anymore
Yes! I figure this was showing up a lot and I made this video back in January! That's what's neat about youtube, it may pick up your video even if it's older. If people resonate with it, it'll get more attention. Plus the stuff in videos are so useful and always available. instagram is just struggling to try and push copied features where they don't fit. They had a good thing going but now nobody wants to use them because they're not unique. People don't come to instagram to use tiktok features.
@TRAP WALUIGI I feel this way about IG!
@TRAP WALUIGI whoa wait I didn't know captions have a character limit? I usually keep my story/lore captions shorter so people don't see a massive block of text and decide to disregard it-
@TRAP WALUIGI Don't forget the huge amount of pornographic drawings that are a tremendous success compared to other types of drawings on Twitter, what an artist earns of followers in a week drawing porn is what an average artist would earn in 2 or 3 years depending on luck. (I speak from my own experience)
@@sapphie_MEALS i'm sorry you've run into porn on twitter, that's awful. instagram is a safer community because there are stricter posting guidelines, i'm glad you like it more, it's all just personal preference at the end of the day
One artist told me, constant posting and timing. IG has been stressing me out and overwhelmed by the artists's work that swolled me by comparison. It made me feel like I was constantly in a competition and my art felt so low because they didn't get that many hits. It has caused me to be in a depression and destroying my life. This thing is toxic! 🙁
So sorry to hear of how you feel...I was just scrolling through videos and comments and saw yours. I am a musician, a singer songwriter, who has been struggling with some very very difficult life challenges that threw me into depression as well. Recently I felt a little "ray of light" push through and wanted to try and dust the cobwebs of off my creativity. I started exploring the different social media platforms out there, because I am so behind, even my youtube channel is a dinosaur at theis point, and I wondered if instagram was even worth it, then I saw your comment. I know that I don't know you but for what it is worth, PLEASE do not let ANY platform destroy your brilliant creative voice!! PLEASE don't let any trend, comment, social or anything determine your value and worth. Someone,somewhere out there, needs to see and hear what you have to express. You never know the impact you can have on just one person. What is sad about social media is that we are all in a frenzy to pursue "numbers" but what does that really mean? What if you only had 20 followers but you managed to make a HUGE positive impact on one of them and becaue of something you posted, it inspired them, comforted them. encouraged them or just made them smile? The truth is your unique talent is only yours, only you can express your art the way you do. Don't worry about numbers, go only where it feels good on a platform that inspires you and just share your light...I am rooting for you! (and every other creative person reading this!) xoxo (P.S. have now subscribed to BOTH of you and feel grateful to have found this video....Leila
@@Leilasworld awe sweetie, I'm moved by this message. 😊 That is very thoughtful of you to consider. I'll never give up my gift of art. It means so much and I do feel the same way that it's meant to reach and touch others.❤ I'm working on a project that is near and dear to me at the moment. It was inspired by a vision I had while watching an animated film. I saw a series of downloads of images poped into my mind. Everscence I've been on a mission to turn this vision into a reality. It may seem impossible but with the divine all things are posible. 🌟 That's why this has been so emotional for me because that vision showed me a beautiful story to be told. I have tried other topics and they haven' impact me the way this has. This has meaning and I'm going to do my very best to express that vision. ❄💙
@@Bridget7521 I LOVE THIS!!!! Enjoy the process..woooohooo! I'm sure it will be very healing....
@@Leilasworld 😊❤
@Leilasworld thank you so much Dear for that comment, I guess I'm going to save it and read from time to time, it's very meaningfull for me
These are all reasons why I quit trying to grow on Instagram. It was basically a full time job that barely brought in any exposure or community. I'm on tiktok and am trying to do RUclips on another channel and it's better. At least it feels like what I'm making there is relevant for months and years to come and I can gradually grow that way. Plus the community actually talks to me whereas half the comments I get on Instagram is spam.
I agree wholeheartedly! Instagram was great for artists in 2014-2015 but I missed that time because of my own insecurities. People who grew their accounts around that time till maybe 2017 are doing great though they too say that Instagram became too demanding and their reach is dropping. I started in 2018 but I wasn't consistent due to different events in my life. Also l was discouraged because of the amount of bots, follow/unfollow trend and commercialisation. After taking a break now I see that only a handful of my followers see my art. Hashtags don't work anymore, even specific ones that are geared at new and active fandoms. I get so much more feedback on Tumblr and Reddit even though I've just created those accounts. And DeviantArt Eclipse drives me mad (the old version was so much more convenient). But I still see engagement there if I post to groups. And I've been able to find some friends there even though I'm an introvert.
Created my account in 2017, already too late. No chance to gain attention from the algorithm. (And i worked hard and constantly)
@@minderleister9255 This is really unfortunate and sad that you couldn't do it despite the hard work. I feel sad for younger artists and all those who started late.
As much as I like to complain about it, I'm never going to leave DeviantArt that's my home and where I got to connect with art friends and where I learned so much through tutorials and resources from my favourite artists. It was so inspiring to see inside the minds of my favourite artists and their tutorials, even short ones had great information that helped me a lot.
@@Oceanlinx hmm. Do you know about DeviantArt algorithm?
I'm not an artist but I can't imagine how many people keep reposting arts when the artist told them not to, that's also another reason why artists would leave social media in general, and even if they do, their arts can still be up everywhere else on the internet but there are billions of other arts people can look at and leave your art alone. It baffles me that in 2021, Instagram didn't create an update where users can prevent their posts from being reposted and screenshot like Webtoon. Instagram, Twitter, Patreon, Tumblr should really start taking their apps seriously otherwise, we can't them seriously anymore.
Yes! Personally, I keep finding fandom repost pages and new ones just keep spawning from quite literally nowhere. I'm the type of person to tell my friends and other artists when their work got stolen and I've gotten so sick of this bs because it keeps happening with (oh wonder) no problems at all! Blocking these pages doesn't do anything too, others keep making it to the explore page. I hate how small artists get ripped off by lazy repostes and these people are even more successful than the artists. Just recently blocked a page with "credit goes to the artist if you repost this work please credit the artist". And of course they had 1k+ followers... With only 9 posts of stolen art.
But Zuckerberg found it more important to rebrand and copy the logo from a fitness app so it's no wonder repost pages are protected so well🧍♀️
or atleast give others an option to report stolen art. not not go the round about way of getting an artist some that don't even speak english to file a DMCA.
I quit instagram about two weeks ago and I feel so much more motivated already. When I was on instagram, I felt a lot of pressure to post paintings before they were ready simply to feed the insatiable algorithm. I hated the numbers game and the feeling that instagram was making art colleagues compete against one another rather than fostering a feeling of community and mutual support. Also, I read an article recently that said instagram is aiming to be more like TikTok with quick, loosely made videos and an ever increasing push towards big money making influencers.
"Bro, I'm not getting paid for any of this mess" BEST LINE EVERRRR!!!! and a-flippin-men!!! I've been inactive from my account for the last 9 weeks I think?! I feels so damn good to pour that "lost" time + energy into my art and my own creative bubble and life beyond the hashtag .. love this video THANK YOU!!
I relate SO MUCH to this video, you actually inspired me to make my own ‘Instagram bad for artists’ video.
The algorithm is so bad, my reach isn’t the same anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I get between 800-1,500 likes per post with 8k followers and lots of comments so my engagement isn’t bad; the issue is that I don’t reach new people so my follow count either drops or becomes stagnant for weeks at a time.
Instagram demands so much for so little in return and I’m tired of the sick game and loop they want people to go through. I started RUclips a month ago and I already see better results here, I’m actually GROWING the more I post.
Ironically, my most popular video is this one, the one about Instagram. Everything else is kind of dead, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I’m glad a lot of people relate, and it inspires others, but I don’t think I’m that interesting otherwise.
I had to quit instagram and tik tok because of how toxic and demanding they are. I used insta for like 2 year and only made 100 followers even though I've posted as much as I can only to get "promote your art" comments. Tik tok is really just a bunch of people with nothing better to do. people on tik tok would either harshly criticize my art to the point where I just quit that too. I know people saw my art but I only got 10 likes and none of my followers saw my work. Its too stressful and its not going to help my get into animation. But I don't really know how to grow on RUclips so I really don't know what to do
All I ever hear about tiktok is how fast it is to grow there. I think if I had to choose a platform that has video, I’d still choose RUclips only because the content is more permanent and evergreen. Like for example, I made this video a while ago but it seems like only now people are seeing it and getting some kind of value or relatability from it. Tiktok seems more fleeting and less sustainable in the long run because of how short they demand an audience’s attention span to be.
@@Voltergeist with tik tok you could get a lot if veiws but most of the time they just like and scroll which insnt that good bc you need a higher watch time for you to be pushed into the algorithm
I know it’s been four months since you posted that video but you totally spoke to my heart. That’s exactly my issue with Instagram keeping up with all those challenges trying to follow the new trends and the algorithms and technical things that have nothing to do with your art and basically feeling desperate all the time because you are required to be social all the time, post, comment on other peoples content but then get shadowbanned because you participate too much? I really feel instagram hates artists and we as artists really need to detox from all social media in order to reconnect with ourselves and our artistic vision.
I agree with what you said about instagram and saw that article floating around too. Honestly I use insta to dump my art and keep up with artist's that are more active on ithere (via stories) but my main social medai is twitter/tumblr. The weird thing about social media is if you're lucky enough to be "big" on one site transferring that audience is hard sometimes just I just try to keep it active because anyway of getting my work out there is better than limiting myself
Would you say that your stuff is still being seen on Tumblr? Because I feel like Tumblr is fading into obscurity these days.
@@artistevivien Agreed, my posts didn’t even show up in hashtags on Tumblr. I left back in April and I don’t miss the site at all, a waste of time.
Especially when people don’t reblog your work and that’s the only way to gain traction there.
Is twitter a lot better for art?
I know how you feel. I’m still on there because ultimately what I want is to get a job in the animation industry and I feel like they use social media to find employers, but it’s exhausting trying to use all the features just so your art can be seen. I wish they’d go back to the chronological timeline at least, because I also don’t get to see what everyone I follow is posting since it gets lost in the abyss along with my art
I wish there was only one platform as popular as instagram for us artists and none of the other nonsense...
Thanks for sharing! Thinking about deleting Instagram as well. I guess I just worry I will lose out on commissions. Idk. But you make a great point with Instagram just copying other social networks and then punishing people for not posting Reels . It's exhausting catching up with the all-mighty algorithm. Especially because you also get punished for not posting every day
I’m so glad you did this video. I’ve been going back and forth going back to Insta because of a friend. But I hate it and hate the “LOOK AT ME ME ME” concept. It’s awful. It did a major hit to my mental. I feel comfortable making the move to stay away ❤️
The appeal of Instagram originally was the wide range of possible audience and the chronological timeline. ArtStation for example is not quite that. Instead you might mostly meet other artists. But as an artist yourself, you might not be mainly seeking for other artists, because the people who would be most interested in your artwork would not be artists themselves but regular people. So effectively you might want the regular people to be using that same service pretty much. That's what Instagram was and is, although novadays it's quite bad for artists themselves.
For example: A friend of mine is in movie industry, writing scripts and directing. He doesn't watch much movies himself because he said it can easily distract from his own ideas and inspiration. As a visual artist I often feel the same, that I can look at others' work only a limited amount before it will distract my mind and I become less creative. This is why it's necessary to get the non-artist people to see your work, because they probably would enjoy it the most. Another similar comparison would be the music for musicians vs music for listeners. You want the regular people to find your stuff, not just the professionals. Something universal is needed to take the throne from Instagram.
Instagram makes me feel like my art is trash, and I'm not very confident. Twitter is not a good gallery, but you can post almost anything in any shape
I pretty much feel the same way about instagram. The random scam bots spamming comments, the numerous shopping ads, etc. I also started to realize that most of my followers don’t interact with my page anymore. I thought about going back to tumblr or deviantart, but I’m not sure yet. But yeah, Instagram has become a terrible platform for posting art.
I am still on instagram but I do find it challenging. In fact I find keeping up with all social media challenging. I do not create enough art often enough to post often enough. I also find it frustrating that in order to grow, we are encouraged to engage with loads of other people, now I am not expecting to just post and run, I do like chatting with people, but I really do not want to spend hours consuming others art just to get mine seen. It really then leaves me with little or no time to create my own art to post. I hope this makes sense. I love seeing other peoples art and I do enjoy leaving comments with people but there has to be an easier way to share our creations, without selling our souls lol ;) T x
From 2017 until June this year I used to use instagram for my art, and I don't miss it one bit. I deleted my account on their and I feel so free. It's stressful to manage. Constantly posting, maintaining a consistent theme (which promotes stagnation), the algorithm and the toxic community was all too much.
I have 8k followers on Instagram and the community is the WORST.
The callouts, drama and mainly because people barely talk to each other there! It’s so hard to make friends because everyone is so self absorbed…I want to leave so bad but I don’t want to abandon all my hard work.
Started RUclips recently (on an alternate account) so I’m excited to see how that goes.
@@DesignzRUs1 HONESTLY EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID I swear no one on that platform gives a shit about having real friends without a follower count. It's why I left a fandom behind completely, you're right, they're so self absorbed. Also the callout posts that float around on Instagram are frankly full of misinfo I'm honestly surprised at how no one on there can think for themselves anymore, christ. I don't miss Art instagram
instagram is just cruel for new artists. i quit insta after making like less than 10 posts. making art is really hard for me since I don't have that much time on my hands, but I'll get back to it once I get my iPad and after I quit my job at my current company
Thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts on this. It's good to know I'm not the only one that's been feeling this way. I totally agree with this and have been thinking a lot about why I'm investing so much time into trying to grow my IG. Going into 2020, I felt like my account was growing and I was seeing pretty good engagement. On average, 800 or so people would see my posts from hashtags. As a small account, that was great, because that meant more people get to see my work and more potential followers. I took a month off from posting... ya know cause 2020 was tough and I needed a break. And, I've never been able to return to my previous level of engagement. Even after posting consistently for almost a year now, my analytics show that like 8 people now see my posts from hashtags. That's not an exaggeration. It's often single digits now. The only way I can get any traction is to make reels. Which is exhausting and difficult and not something I can do every day. Which makes me question why I am putting so much effort into growing my IG in the first place. How is it helpful to me as an artist to spend so much time making content that hardly anyone sees? Personally, I've decided not to quite IG altogether. I appreciate my very small, but supportive following and feel like I've made friendships with other artists. I've just decided I'm not going to spend energy on trying to grow my account anymore. I'm going to maintain a very scaled back schedule that will be low pressure and easy to maintain. And then I'm going to use that extra time and energy on trying to making better art, YT videos, and products. :)
I can TOTALLY relate to this, good for you! ♥️💜♥️
I switched from inst to RUclips a year ago, went from 120 likes on a pic to 4k views on RUclips. The interaction and ability to share is all I ever wanted
Shorts are the way for small artists
I'm more willing to try shorts than anything ig puts out.
Me 3
I just wish Instagram had a Desktop-friendly format. It's fine when your posting things on your phone, but I found it incredibly frustrating when I wanted to upload differently sized images or from a computer. It's feels so limited compared to Tumblr's in these aspects. Only reason I still have an account on there is because it seems like one of the best places to market yourself and develope a following
That's one of the biggest drawbacks for me, is that IG hates desktop. I used to have to do a work-around just to upload my stuff from my PC to desktop IG but I've forgotten how to do it, and I stopped because it was too much extra work. I really do miss tumblr. it was one of the last places you could kind of have your art displayed like you want it.
seriously. even now we cant post using PC through the developer tool
It's also a nightmare on the phone. I hate how hard it is to upload good picture of drawings because they get cut off.
Ive been wanting to make an instagram art acc because i felt like it was necessary for my growth, but this has given me a different perspective. Personally, I love youtube and even if I wasn't doing art I still would be doing youtube! I do it to create content in the first place, but since art is something I love just as much I combined the two, and Im having so much fun!
Also omg how are you so underrated?? I thought you would have at least like 50k!! Your art is incredible!
Thank you so much! That means a lot...
I feel like we, as artists, really want our work to be as reachable as possible for other people and unfortunately platforms like Instagram that aren't artist-only are really the only ones where we can get that wide audience. This is even worse for people who rely on commissions.
First, this is such a cool drawing! Also, dude...DUDE...instagram is sooo much work for basically nothing. I am honestly growing tired of it( and that's not saying much because I was never super into it). I have tried for both art and photography but I usually just end up feeling frustrated about how little I understand it 😂😂😂. I don't really know what platform to use, I literally have only tried Insta, Facebook and youtube. But not much on any of them 🤦. If you find any good spots on the internet please share. 💙
Instagram is just full with bots and my feed has become an empty showroom with some crickets filling the sound of nothing. Instagram has become worthless in gaining any publicity. But honestly that's how life goes, things change, new things fill up the gaps. It's how you adapt to those changes. Nothing wrong with that :)
I definitely dialed my posting down drastically on IG. They punish you if you dont post 7 days a week or some crap lol. I just go and post when something is completed. I think as others have said YT and Twitter combo is your best bet rn.
I gave up Instagram and Tumblr for lent, and the absolutely radical change in my productivity and happiness is wild. Thank you for this video! I'm thinking about maybe making a discord server and dragging a few of my art friends from Instagram over there :P
Thanks for your thoughts on this - I am kinda overwhelmed by trying to keep up with social media - I unfollowed so many artists that are always posting how great their successes are...and YES vertical videos WTF?!>?!
As a commercial artist, I really wish there was a platform that was just artists and brands that was widely used. Because for networking, I really do find it the easiest to reach out to a brand or to begin building a relationship with a brand on instagram. If it wasnt for that I definitely would have made the leap because instagram can easily become a full time job. I just hit 1k on there, and I feel like that gives me a bit more credibility when brands are researching. From now on I am just going to coast on that 1k and get whatever kind of growth is reasonable while posting still fairly often but just not sweating it as much. I am also always looking for small artists to reshare to my story to give them exposure as well.
I still do are a lot but I don’t post it as I used to anymore because like the same thing you said about mental health. The only reason I use Instagram is to talk to my friends that are on there too! Now is just becoming another TikTok which I really hate! I started using Twitter from two years ago and honestly it’s somewhat better but not all the way! But this was really a good video on why and I’m probably gonna be doing the same this year!
You hate TikTok because it is a Chinese brand? If TikTok was an American brand, would you feel the same hatred?
@@Artist1974CH yes! i dont care what country makes it, i still hate it!
Totally feel this! And it feels like it's getting even worse these last few months. The amount of work they want you to do to get seen leaves you with no time to actually do your art. >.
I deleted my art insta at 5.7K and haven’t been happier
I’ve gotten to the point where I might log in once in a blue moon to post something, just to immediately log out again because the numbers give me anxiety. I don’t want to see how many likes it got and I don’t want to see my follower count. I feel so pressured to make art and to post even when I don’t want to. I am definitely contemplating taking all the tags off and removing my followers to restart and post without the stess
Being brutally honest here: Instagram does not care about small artist, Instagram doesn’t care about small businesses, Instagram doesn’t care about smaller content creators. Instagram only cares about money and their precious blue/ grey check-marked cash cows. Highly recommend Artfol, Medibang ARTstreet or Twitter (even though that place is toxic but, it’s better than nothing). Facebook will grow tired of destroying that platform eventually. 🙄
Great vid! I really feel what you said.. i tried it a view times to grow on instagram but with art you feel burnt out before u even start growing a little.. i didnt feel comfortable.. much better with youtube! 🙏🏼
RUclips is definitely the best platform for artist because they will put old/new/small creators on your recommendation. If you want more recognization you should always post it in different platforms.
I agree so much. IG really is so impossible to keep up with or feel good about. I've decided to step back from it whilst I think about what I want to do
I just quit IG for many reasons... first because of school, I'm college now and I need to be more serious, second I hate bots in there, third it's toxic like you will follow them to unfollow you (this is the most stressful and insulting reason of quitting... no offense but most of the ones who always unfollow have "unpleasant" art (can't say bad thing, but it is) and kinda too brag for IG)
I'm currently in the same position as you, I've kind of fallen off of Instagram and I'm moving more towards Twitter, RUclips, and possibly Twitch. Instagram is just not letting any smaller artists be seen. My own followers aren't seeing my posts, I have almost 400 followers but I get a maximum of 20 likes on a post so either my followers aren't seeing my posts or I'm just followed by a bunch of bots that I have no control over.
I've also been using TikTok and it's kind of a hit or miss for me but it is fun to do trends from time to time
Instagram used to be my favorite plattform and I've been staying there because I like the format more than other plattforms but it has lost the sense of community, of 1400 followers I have, I only reach 50 of them and it's not even showing me posts of the people I follow, it's just a bunch of ads and recommended accounts, recently the CEO said they wanted to focus in making you discover new content but what's the point of that if once I follow them the app it's not going to show me their content anymore, I want to try other plattforms but I'm not sure which ones yet
Yup. Ditto everything you said. I even tried to pay someone to build my account, but quite literally - unless someone is doing active engagement with users every single day and posting it pitters off into nothing. I think it's a dying platform. It sucks how many places I used to be able to share art and they're either ruined by the corp itself or too many "no promo" attitudes where even chill posting an OC image triggers people. I don't really know how you're supposed to reach new people anymore. Twitter is a last hope.
I think I finally hit my Instagram wall. It’s so disheartening to see how little engagement my posts get anymore. It really gets in my head… like, I’m not good enough or something. So I’m thinking of maybe switching to RUclips. If I can find a way to make content that’s interesting and also low effort… maybe it’s a better route. Maybe I can even earn some passive income…
Good luck to you, I think RUclips has more staying power than reels or tiktoks, if finding this video almost 2 years later and it still being relevant is any indication. Give it a try, you never know! My only advice is to not stress over it. I only ever upload here when I've got something to share or say.
Good luck to you, I think RUclips has more staying power than reels or tiktoks, if finding this video almost 2 years later and it still being relevant is any indication. Give it a try, you never know! My only advice is to not stress over it. I only ever upload here when I've got something to share or say.
I just started an Instagram account to start engaging more with other artists but hearing what other artists are saying makes it seem like alot of work I am just not interested in doing. It does give me access to some artists that I like though so I guess I'll just post some art here and there and not worry about it. It seems to be too much about engagement with algorithms to even get your art seen at all and that's no fun as an artist.
Yeah. The last time I went there to browse, every other post was an ad and other times it was people I wasn't even following. Not sure about the direction they're deciding to go in but it's all gotten too complicated, now.
@@Voltergeist Soon you will have to go to college to become an influencer, so sad.Not only that but these days you might not even be dealing with real people because certain empires just love to weaponize everything.
I was on Instagram but I've noticed a ton of black artists getting ripped off. Also it seems like a lot of people are in a box that stuns creativity. Mostly I noticed people posting small comics which is ok but if they do other art the Gram doesn't push it.
People in general get ripped off, I'm not sure about stats on black artist specifically on instagram having that problem.
I know that smaller artists get their ideas or concepts recreated by more popular artists all the time. But sometimes it's hard to tell if it was just pure coincidence or something more dubious. Ig does tend to push certain trends and it all ends up looking the same a lot of times. At least that's what it was like when I left.
It has nothing to do with color. I'm white and have had it since 2015 and still can't reach 300 followers or sell a single print I have promoted on instagram. Ready to let it go too.
@@Voltergeist Hi when I said: "black artist being ripped off" I wasn't omiting other people and saying they were the only ones. I am in a black artist group as well as follow other artists of different races but whenever I go on Amazon I was just pointing out what I had seen. I heard instagram has a weird policy that can possibly own peoples art too. I didn't mean any harm by saying that.
I actually just decided to step away. I’m currently deciding how I’m going to approach RUclips, and buff up my website. I felt like I was just doing the most and getting the least. I’m glad you’re another artist I’ve seen that has stepped away and has the same reasoning I do.
Side note; I like the character you’re drawing! Is that photo shop, or what program are you using?
That's Clip Studio Paint! A wonderful photoshop alternative.
I’m actually thinking of posting on tumblr again. I haven’t done that since 2015
Try it! You've got nothing to lose. I'm slowly going back to posting there too. I don't feel forced into posting there which is nice.
I was never a savvy Instagrammer, I totally ignored "stories" and "reels", thought they looked like too much work for something so transient...then I wonder why my art gets 30 likes (grateful for those, don't get me wrong) when I see other artists I love and follow with many more likes and comments (they are deserving, I just wondered what was going on). I guess I wasn't playing the game. I used to post on Flickr but that community shrunk, then I created a Facebook page for art, but that wasn't getting seen I don't think. I have a blog but have let it rather wither in favor of the ease of posting to Instagram, and it seemed the blogging community withered as well. I was not the only one who stopped regularly maintaining their blogs a few years ago. Also, blog posts require more consideration and thoughtful writing that may hopefully provide something useful to others. But blogs do have the benefit of being timeless and Google searchable. Contemplating options...I've not heard of artfol before now, I will have to check it out.
Yeah it's doing the most without much return on investment. It's all the extra work for me, at this point I have to kind of pick my battles when it comes to where I want to put my energy in engaging and promoting my art..
I completely agree! They do ask way to much of artist on Tic Tok as well because you have to make a short video thats eye catching enough to stop people from scrolling in the first few seconds or you loose out and with the algorithm changing recently if your current followers dont like your content you videos wont make it to the FYP.
Im trying to start growing on youtube as well now!~
I'm sure I'm quite late to this discussion, but the constant changes to instagram have dissuaded me from posting my art. Between that time when Insta would hide posts to prevent the spread of misinformation (even though it was just animal/creature art that I posted) and now, where Insta just feels like an online marketplace I just never want to post on there anymore. This is soo frustrating honestly. The app used to be soo good too.
honestly I've been feeling anxious from instagram BECAUSE I couldn't make art every 4 days or something, it now takes me months to make art because I usually have to do youtube and art at the same time using a laptop and my phone, but my mum brought the laptop with her to another country (its hers). So now I have less motivation to do art, and I'm losing followers lol. I care about it because ppl actually followed me for my art, and losing them feels like I lost their trust or something. I also worry about deleting the account since ppl I know in real life also follow my account. But I feel like deleting my insta acc would honestly feel better for my mental health lol.
Oh, no! In the mean time keep a sketchbook and just draw at your own pace! It's alright to take a break from social media to recalibrate your relationship with your art. In fact, I recommend it! I think it's easy to fall into the numbers and it's hard to climb out...but I hope you'll be okay. Try not to be so hard on yourself.
Very recently I noticed instagram is trying out this thing where they throw recommended content from people you don’t follow into your feed. It has helped me find other artists, but between that and all the ads I feel like I barely see anything from people I follow. It seems like everyone just exists in the stories these days. If you post something, you basically have to share it to your story in order for it to get seen. And instead of scrolling through my feed I just go through everyone’s stories to see posts I would otherwise miss. I don’t mind it, and I like the ability to share other peoples work to your story- it’s like the instagram equivalent of a retweet. It’s felt like the only way to get seen, or discover new artists yourself. (I swear I only gain followers when someone has shared one of my posts to their story). I reeeeally hated stories when they were introduced and resisted for a long time, but now I’m really into it and it seems like the only way to use the app now…
(I realize this video is a year old so I wanted to share how things are going lol)
Artstation and twitter is where its at right now. For videos tiktok and YT.
Ive thought about going back to deviantart to interact with other artists but one thing I wish there was less of is the adoptable posts e.e most in my feed for some reason be selling them often e.e I miss when it was majority personal and professional art and not species and adoptables
Yeah I noticed deviant art has a pretty strong adoptable/species community. That’s how a lot of artists make their money so I can see why it’s so prominent. Definitely different from back when I started first using it!
I am also thinking about quitting instagram as an artist for days but can't quit idk 🤦🏻♀️
I get how tough it can be for a lot of people who feel they're established! It's not always a clean a break as I might have depicted my experience here. Maybe it benefits you differently. Take some time out to reflect on how it might or might not!
Try deleting the app and switching to using only the Instagram website with how limited it is in some things it could help lessen the draw to the site
it took me 3 to four years trying to run away. friends and acquantances kept me from sanity. I am finally out.
I wanted to post my art online and the first platform i tried was instagram and I gotta say that its really discouraging. I agree with you that it is not a good platform for small artists that are just starting out like me. I get follows but they werent even interested with art and some of them were accounts that posts nude pics of themselves like wtf why did they follow my account?? one of them even added me on their group. When I tried twitter, some of my fanarts got a ton of likes but some didnt do so well. I am already a small artist and these platforms make me feel even smaller and bad. I guess its good for artists that already have a lot of followers and stuff.
Not an IG artist like everyone else since I sort of stopped using it ages ago, but Twitter was the art demon I knew stopped letting me enjoy it, yet I stayed there
Slowly but surely, I’m avoiding the site for the better more often
I can totally relate. I did the same thing, just left, nothing said. I think it’s too demanding. Being an artist myself, I’m good at doing my art stuff( I draw digitally like you, crochet dolls, and stuff like that). But you get good at your craft and then IG wants you to be good at video production, being engaging during said videos, etc. that is a completely different skill set to hone.
I’m not on social media platforms that are feed based(unless you count making videos on RUclips) I tend to prefer a smaller group like a discord channel.
Anywho keep up the great work! Gave you a sub!
Thank you! More videos are on the way.
I have an account, but it's mostly to watch other people's stuff and save things I liked, like dtiys challenges or prompts. I have some stuff there, but not much, and even though I don't aim to grow (I just want to post for fun), I do feel self conscious because a) I don't draw as often and b) I feel like what I have isn't as good. I kind of want to go back to Deviantart (was more relaxing, and there's less expectation to draw for followers) but their app is confusing and I mostly left because they allowed people to post whatever debauchery came to their mind - including things that were obviously not meant to be there, and you can't filter it out. I kind of want to try artful to see how it works, but coming up with usernames it tough.
Yeah I have Instagram and I notice that some of my art isn’t on the hashtags that I put them under. Like they completely hide my art everyone and it really pisses me off, spending so much time just to get a few likes. I just want my art to be seen :( I even tried tumblr at one point but it was really dead
You got shadowbanned :( happens really often to me too because I use the same hashtags (IG doesn't understand that themed pages exist) one way to fix the banning is by posting an image without any tags to "break" the count. It does work most at the time, but if it's worth all the trouble is a different story...
I’ve actually been seriously considering leaving Instagram. I’m trying it and FB one more time. I’m not sure what to expect on changes. It doesn’t seem to matter what tactics I use going in. Here recently posted something where there was music in the background and I was muted. I have faced other issues and I may be leaving both for good and simply just staying with messenger to stay in touch with friends.
It can be tough. I'd say RUclips is worth it, it's easy enough to get around copyright concerning music if you don't use popular stuff. Don't give up, I'm sure you'll find a spot. Despite everyone saying the opposite there's room at the table for everyone.
FB is pretty dead. No more than 1% of engagement, groups are spammed by bots, the whole site has way too much overwhelming features than no one needs
I don’t mind Instagram as I have a small following so it isn’t stressful or content demanding. But it’s very different from a few years ago. I liked when insta was more community based and I feel as more time progresses it’s just gonna get worst for artists on insta
Ugh they're so beautiful
Ty for watching!! And yeah I tried to give tiktok my best shot, it's just not clicking with me. I get needing to promote myself, but maybe I'll give it another try at a later date. I have a hard enough time with video format though. There's some days I feel out of touch with social media too, but I think what makes it worth it are those other people you meet who are also on a similar journey.
@@Voltergeist Of course -- thank *you* for the wonderful video, which I listened to while getting work done!! : >
Vertical video format is worse than Insta's square haha
That's such a great way to put it! For all of my struggles with social media, I'm so thankful we all have a way to connect -- now more than ever!
I completely switched to Artfol - I feel so much better art being online now. It's really a cozy space to be.
I was just thinking of deleting my Instagram account. I dislike it. So stupid how you can produce great art but not get recognition because of the algorithm.
Being an artist and small RUclipsr I agree. Instagram sucks and followers are hard to get and sometimes you'd lose a whole chunk of em then you'll gain....it was just hard and RUclips is kinda lots better in my opinion
Instagram seems much more harder. RUclips is like crappy in many ways but just like Twitter.... Instagram is a big shit show. However RUclips is tolerable
For the first time in my life I’m trying to gain a small platform but due to how most social media’s work it’s difficult as a full time student
Thank.You.For.Posting.This.
I remember when I posted a video instagram and RUclips. 3 days later, I checked that video on my instagram and it had 40 views but when I went to my RUclips, the same video had 1k views and 3 comments. That is when I realized that instagram doesn't care about artist. So now, I post more video's on my RUclips because my art is actually seen by people and I'm able to engage with an audience.
I'm about to leave Instagram, I use it since 2020, and from there to now there's a huge change and difference!!
Before, my art used to get like from 40 to 60 likes per day and many comments, but now I noticed (since the begin of this year maybe) that my posts don't get as much visibility as before, I got now from 10 to 20 likes per day and the algorithm privileges only currently trends that I rarely join since I like to do as my own way, therefore, you have to post like everyday to get more audience and this for me is overwhelming!
Now, can please someone tell me a good social for us? Like, I was thinking to use Tumblr, do you think is good? Thx for any suggestions 💗
Tumblr is good, definitely a quieter platform than most and it doesn't have a stupid algorithm that messes with your timeline...Give it a try!
@@Voltergeist I already posted some first posts there and it's good 💜✨
I am a musical artist and i have been so incredibly overwhelmed with Instagram for multiple reasons. I feel like the culture of musical artists has become super superficial due to the endless self-promotion and posing. I am a very down-to-earth human that wants to connect with others who are genuine in their expression. It seems like Instagram is a distraction because people are more focused on the instant gratification of “how can I make MORE content for my page” rather than just focusing on creating actual art and completing projects (long-term gratification). People’s attention is fleeting and no longer seems like the length of a human beings. They are programming broken focus. People compare and just kinda snoop into other people’s lives. I just deleted my Instagram app to focus on my mental health because it is connected to my spiritual and physical health as well and that’s more important than getting attention from random people. Just want a real audience of people to listen to my music and then create deep community or at least hold authentic conversations! It’s annoying feeling pressured to be a product when I am a person! Thanks for making this video. I resonate 💯. I love your art.
Thanks so much! And thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm of the same mind. It's all a distraction from what matters most. It's so easy to get caught up in the systems social media built up around the idea of making art...but there was a time before all the noise. I feel for those who kind of don't know any other way and are wrapped up in the numbers/attention game.
The way it's set up is unsustainable and exhausting. And I am hoping that more people are realizing it.
I'm a photographer, but I felt this video so much. It seems impossible to get a solid place to just...Not even post my own work, but find and see others, since I can always just have my own damn site. But with so many great artists in so many fields only doing things on Instagram, and RSS feeds being long forgotten, it's ridiculously difficult to simply see cool things that people are making and *want me to see*. I wish I had a better answer, but it seems that good answers just aren't as profitable as bad ones.
I don't think there was ever a solid place for artists when it comes to social media as we know it. Deviantart is where I got my start but like a lot of other people, I feel like I outgrew it. Tumblr wasn't bad before the purge, but that's it, honestly. I super miss when people ran their own sites and rss feeds were more common. I also miss forums, but maybe I'm just old and missing the fact that not everything had to be so instant and in your face.
@@Voltergeist All too true. It should be a simple thing, but between the rise of the centralized platform, the death of the targeted site and forum, and the awkwardness around the personal website... Some of this is a bit better on something like a Discord server, but even besides format issues, those just don't scale up at alllll and are impossible to find if you're not in the circle already. It's a real problem, and I don't know how to fix it.
I personally use Gab for art.
Tumblr is bad?
Not into DeviantArt.
Literally trying to get away from Twitter because it is a dumpster fire.
Insta crops horrible.
Also with Gab, it just shows me the posts from those I follow and nothing more, so it makes things easier and I can upload 4K stuff XD
Reddit
I can't bring myself to leave Instagram, I've had it for 3-4 years and that's really the only platform I use . .
twitter is very hard to grow on and I'm barely motivated to make videos on RUclips
I'm have mixed feelings with insta because i find myself hating it for not pushing my stuff
I've used hashtags, I've posted everyday for a bit, I've tried animation, I've tried reels,igtv and I still don't get the engagement i think i deserve
i get around 20-40 likes with around 640 something followers
and thats just from 4 years.
my are is medium at most but it sometimes feels low because of how unmotivated I get with the numbers
I know it's just numbers but i want to get a career with what i love
This may or may not be comforting to hear but there are a lot of working artists that don't have huge followings but are successful, and at the same time there are artists with tons of follows that struggle to manage it. Likes and follows don't always necessarily correlate to success!
Because the algorithm sucks on all social media’s now and it makes art less fun if you focus too much on it. I remember how easy it was to gain followers and likes back in the day. I want to leave Instagram as well but there are too many artists that i like on there and that i get inspiration from.
I wish every artist would leave the platform. Not a lot of people are well informed about what is really going on with Instagram and even social media as a whole, and not a lot of people ever learn to have trust issues when it comes to corporate American garbage. The so-called Instagram CEO said the company will bring back the chronological feed. While most people are happy about it, to me that plan was rushed during the so-called US Congressional hearing. I have seen the sample of this "returned" feature that made me very skeptic.
UGH ITS SO REFRESHING TO FINALLY SEE THESE VIDEOS OF ARTISTS LEAVING INSTA. I have been considering leaving for 2 years now but all of my fanbase has been built there. Ive been so depressed with the shrinking of interaction. I draw more and PEOPLE SEE ME LESS! I finally made the step of moving toward youtube and posted my first video yesterday! I love how i keep getting recommended these videos now that i saw a few! (I also draw a dnd webcomic! )
Hey there! Yeah it seems like every time something goes down with IG, this video starts picking up steam. And I made this a year ago so it seems like the situation hasn't really improved.
I've been trying to rely less and less on social media. They seem so desperate to keep your attention and collect your data and money...!
Anyway thanks for watching. I'll check out your video, congrats on it and welcome to RUclips!
@@Voltergeist thanks! And idk i domt think anything new has happened to insta. Its been bad for a while..ive just beem doing more twitch streams and thought about vlogs and then making actual videos!!
I agree... I hate social media 😪
I've been getting tired of instagram too with the reels being added also the format always take away from the quality of my art wether i took a traditional picture or a digital piece.
I am also on Instagram but also cannot keep up with generating content every Day. I need to use my little creative time wisely. The last weeks I was only thinking of what kind of reel I can create. An artist Friends on twitch and I think this is a Good community there. But this is also not for me as you are always live while painting.
This video is so cathartic, and it's still relevant a year later. (Long rant incoming)
I used to post art on insta. It took me hours, days to finish a piece. So I could only post finished pieces once in a while. In between, I would post sketches/warmups/wips/etc. on my stories and such. I felt compelled to post CONSTANTLY, like every single day.
It really hurt me when I spent days working on a drawing, post it with tons of hashtags, only to get 1 like and 3 bot comments. I was putting in so much effort for nothing.
I literally can't post everyday because I have IRL resposiblities (college, family, jobs, etc.). Also my artstyle is kinda realistic, so it takes a long time to finish a piece (like a week at least).
I feel like insta is only good if 1. you have a big following already, and 2. you can create and finish several pieces of artwork per day. I noticed most of the active/popular pages have REALLY simple cartoony artsyles, so they can post tons of drawings every single day.
I was considering posting art on DeviantArt or RUclips. But for RUclips, I wouldn't even know where to start. I feel like RUclips is hard to gain an audience with, too. I tried Artfol, but it's really not active. IDK what to do anymore! No idea where to post my art! If anyone has any recommendations, please reply to my comment.
I found users also do this thing where if you create a hashtag, it gets buried under mountains of irrelevant content. So eventually I found it was more worth the shoebox budget, to host directly on my website, and use yt and other places to promote the website.
Youll notice they stopped doing pitchwars as well,.which for authors, is one of the worst to promote.
I'm not entirely sure what pitchwars are but I think I can guess.
I haven't posted on ig with any kind of meaningful regularity for nigh on 2 years. I understand threads was released a bit ago but it fell off after a week. It's kind of a spaghetti mess right now and I'm focused on my own website too nowadays, along with a couple of other more niche blogging sites. Probably the best way to go at the moment.
Thank you for this video. I'm a creative person that is burning out on trying to "get ahead" on IG. I quit FB last January, and think I might be moving away from IG this January. I also think I'm going to be moving all my content to my website, as I'm tired of trying to post quality stuff only to watch it disappear 24 hours later.
Yeah. Trying to please the algorithm isn't worth the burnout. I also whittled my social media down to a few places and post selectively. It does seem like a better experience overall.
A lot of truth being told here.
i have a lot of art that i would love to post there, but i just wont because is there even a point? its so hard to be seen nowadays i don't want to do stories reels and shit.. i miss when it was just a photo app. Twitter is scary and toxic so its also a no..
everytime i post on insta there are promotion groups looking for money wanting to promote now. like for 50 dollars we will promote your art to a large audience we have 2million followers
Do not do it, they’ll take your money *and* might take your posts. That why they have 2mil.
Yeah I recently had to make a new art account on Instagram (because of some drama that happened with my main one and Instagram), but I honestly still don’t post often because…I just can’t. Between all the work with RUclips and Patreon I do it’s not possible to meet Instagram’s demands if you want to play their growth game. It’s really unfortunate, because it used to be one of my favorites.
TikTok is an interesting one, because I have grown the fastest there in number of followers, but still-if you aren’t posting often, don’t expect much to happen otherwise. Patreon has become my main place to post artwork (especially because I do a lot of NSFW art now). Twitter I still haven’t figured out. 😂
I quit really posting online. The choosing beggars get on my nerves. I just work on my graphic novel and gonna publish it when its ready using my own money. I used to do the patreon too but its not worth it since people dont support you they just sub for 1 month download all the stuff from stat to that month then unsub, many users have taken to banning accounts that do that.
Anyways good vid telling the truth how it is for us.
I know I'm a little late to this video, but I had to comment because it's literally speaking to my soul 😅 I've been on Instagram for 5 years and.... it sucks. Unless I CONSTANTLY am putting up art and stories, I lose followers. There's so little incentive to post anyway, because with 500 followers, I get maybe 50 likes if I'm lucky. Hundreds of views, but very, very few likes. Having that tiny percentage actually care was demotivating. It got worse when the "send your art to @accountname!" bots started going wild, and it hasn't stopped since. And another thing that is annoying is that people NEVER interacted, or read my captions. I would ask questions and try to engage my community on a regular basis (back when, I too, watched all of these algorithm vids) and I never got a response. Even from my friends. It felt so sterile and bland, there was no delight in checking into it.
Add to the mix the time someone impersonated me and Instagram reacted to my report saying there wasn't anything they saw wrong to interfere with (my art being stolen on this didn't qualify either???) and... I'm done with it! I haven't deleted it off my phone, but I'm really thinking about it. I'm just tired of the crap, excuse me. It is so demotivating to post something and because my account isn't popular, I get tiny interest that's over within 60 minutes while some huge artist can post something very similar and gain thousands of likes and the feedback I only wish I could have.
The most important lesson of all I learned? When I was trying to consistently feed the endless maw of Instagram, my art quality got BAD. Now that I've moved to Twitter and DeviantART, my art is better than it ever was and sure, not a ton of people care, but it definitely feels more genuine.
(As a creator who works in primarily horizontal format, IG just killed my posts too)
It sounds like you've been THROUGH it over there. I'm sorry to hear that! But I'm glad you're finding your pace without having to keep up with IG. People still comment on this video and it seems like it hasn't gotten any better.
I'm still using instagram, but I do agree with a lot of these points!
Honestly first it was the addition of a shop feature, then IGTV, then the tiktok feature. I missed when it was slightly (well hell not even slightly at this rate) more simple, and I also really miss the artists who'd post frequently on instagram leave the app, it really just doesn't feel the same anymore.
At any rate, I do not know if I'll start a seperate account on RUclips for my drawings, or just stick with this one. Because tbf I'm very lazy to make speedpaints lol
Nice video btw, it really goes to show how much this app has changed. Again, for better or for worse.
Idk if anyone gonna see this but I was Instagram artists I was doing great honestly but the thing that I have to do was too much I was just want to post my art but there was so much things to do to be successful not just post good art.
First I live in the middle east and there they have some kind of style of art of picture you have too follow or it's better to follow.
Like I have to show the part of table and tools I use stuff like that with a good lighting. And my style of art are not fitting their standers. I had to draw more body that are covered and mostly faces. The only 2 style that are famous were realism and anime which both are not in my style. I had to force myself to fit what the art that people wants.
Second, I had to join alot of artist group or support group and there are so much to do and you can't skip a day. Yes they have helped me alot with pushing my art to other people and get me followers but it was just so much . This is honestly when of the main reason why I quit.
Third, I had to post every day and not just any drawing I had to do full drawings with colorings. And also I had to follow the trend that were viral at the moment the faster I do the trends the better.
.
Honestly at that point it didn't feel like I was drawing for me but more like drawings for people. And my drawing become ugly to me because they were are in one style one thing that I have to keep up. Even with that I keep pushing myself but when Ik I was sure that I'm gonna enter college I decided to quit because. Ik for sure that I wouldn't keep the everyday post or post anything tbh. Now I post in fb group or my server and it feels more relaxing knowing that I can post when ever I like without getting streets . Yes there is no likes and follow but I will take that because sometimes the follow and likes thing can get a person to be obsessed.
I see you. It is too much pressure, and I hear it's gotten worse with ig wanting to be like tiktok so bad. Continue to take care of yourself!
Ya I'm an instagram artist and sometimes it gets really overwhelming with the new trends and updates. I feel like if you don't have a large following you have to put so much effort to even get a couple people to see your art. I've been considering quitting instagram, but I don't know where I would post my art. Do you think Artfol is a good place to post art?
I think it's okay. But because it's just other artists, you might not get as much engagement from people who aren't. I follow a few people, but I ended up barely using it. Your mileage may vary!!
I feel this! I've never put myself on there as a business, I just follow a few people I like to follow (not related to biz). Now that I'm ready to put myself out there with my biz, I'm trying to decide whether to engage with IG, and I'm deeply ambivalent and tired thinking about it. I HATE FACEF*CK. So the fact that it's a FF company, makes me sick actually. And the time it takes from you, and the anxiety, and the creepers, etc. etc. etc. ... I don't think I will actually go on it as a biz. I am researching a better way, and I'm thinking of just doing Pinterest and maybe RUclips. LOL I also will not touch TikTok with a 10 foot pole. Some if it is just age, too, I'm in my late 40's so I don't really relate to the social media of it all, in general....LOL. Anyhoo, thanks for this video, it's great.
Thanks for sharing! Your video was comforting to listen to after my engagement rate plummeted to an all-time low this past month. I'm looking elsewhere to expand my options, and glad to know it's not just me :-)
Honestly my major problem with Instagram is that they keep disabling my art account. It's so unfair because as an artist you stay awake to work and get a good drawing only for Instagram to throw all that away. I hate the app
Thank you! 🙏🏽 💟🙏🏽