Does anyone still use youtube?

[lwflouisa]

I've found it increasingly difficult to promote myself as a creator on there. I tried having different smaller channels devoted to individual topics without much overlap, but these days I get bombarded by things I'm not interested in. Although of these Goth Rock is what I'd be most likely to be interested in.

Where web comics fit in, as it seems almost every web comic ...person is a web toon creator. Which isn't entirely bad on its own. But it's become increasingly difficult to promote my own comic, while channels whose entire thing is to...start drama with other creators based on questionable premises, seems to be on the rise.

I have alternatives to youtube I can use in the mean time, but I have over 100 drawing and music videos that's just going to waste because it keep abrutrarily de-ephasizing my videos.

Which basically means either relying on being promoted by channels...that are kind of shady, or doing all the promotion myself, which I'm not used to doing.

[Crusoe]

It is not about using YouTube, I think it is also about HOW you use youtube. You say you have a lot of music videos and drawings? Try recutting them to shorts format or repost them on different platforms such as Instagram or TikTok. People are less easily going to come across your content organically but crossposting will at least help your chances.

[ShidoDraws]

Oh yeah, I stopped watching art related content now and have moved on to stuff that isn't driven by drama or hate.

I say your best bet is to adapt to the algorithm if you can't you'll be left behind. But just know it's okay if you can't adapt, just know you're not alone. Because sometimes, we can just be supportive of other creators or even better, put our mind in a more positive light where you're probably lucky to not have a bunch of people expecting something from you every day. Art is a tricky thing to tackle so make sure you're doing what is best for you and your mental health.

[ShidoDraws]

A very good example is Jazza (aka Draw With Jazza), he loves music, he loves illustrating and animations and he loves trying new things. Seeing him went from being a tutorial channel to a main stream art channel to a now smaller community fostered channel made me realize YouTube is a brutal place for artists. And you know what kills passion and creativity? The internet's algorithm, and I'm not just talking about YouTube, I'm talking about Webtoons, Twitter (X), Patreon etc etc... But don't let this discourage you, I believe luck has a huge role in these things too. You just need to know when to stop if you feel like it's at the cost of your mental well being.

Good luck.

Also, Jazza is still successful, recently supported a Kickstarter he launched last year. Cool stuff, cool stuff.

[GumshoeComix]

i use it mostly for motion comics and animatics, i love making videos
And i'll of course always use it for music
i used to do speed paints but 0 views comparatively to my animatics which get a lot more even if they take more time
And they're better marketing / you dont have to jump on the drama hype to promote yourself theres tons of options

[thepenmonster]

start drama with other creators

There are only two ways to get popular online;

1. Ride on the coattails of something more popular. The public don't know what they like but they love what they already know.

2. Find a woefully under-served niche and serve it. Given how deep internet penetration is these days you finding a good niche and colonizing it first is pretty slim.

This leaves riding the coattails of something of someone more popular.

ex- FD Signifier is an activist ex-teacher who does a lot of very good essays on some very heavy topics. And no one would have been watching them if he didn't do a video on Hamilton at the height of its popularity that gained a lot of attention. And he'll flat out say that his pop culture critiques gain far more views than his activist videos. People don't care about Atlanta cops. They do care about Drake.

Focusing more on YT, though this applies to all big platforms- The algorithm is a big part of that. It knows that Drake is a popular topic that gets a shittonne of traffic for the data-mining and ad-serving to use and will push a video about Drake.

Drake Is Good, Actually.

Drake Is Pretty Shit, Yo!

Drake Is Sitting In My Cleavage!

Drake Is An Alien! Shock Reaction Face!

I React To Hotline Bling

Doesn't matter what the content actually is. As long as there's Drake. Drama? Booba? Reaction face? Charisma? Research? Just flavouring. All that matters is the Drake part.

All hail that nasally mumbler.

This brings us back to comics. Notice how the front page of Tapas and Webtoon look the same day in day out? Samey boring sameness? A lot of artists are riding on the coattails of more popular comics, hoping to steal some of that audience because the audience aren't looking for something new. The same thing happened in the wake of Superman back in the 1930s. Same thing happened in the wake of Astroboy in the 1950s.

I don't know anything about your channel nor your music. Could be crap, could be excellent. But for the public it doesn't matter because your comics aren't Chainsaw Man and your music isn't... what's No.1 right now? Jack Harlow? Really? Jesus people...

Anyway, if you want more eyes, start talking about Lore Olympus or True Beauty, (both also based on more popular things, BTW) or start making goth cover versions of Jack Harlow. The public won't come to you because you're awesome. They come because you reminded them of something they already like.

[NickRowler]

I don’t really watch art YouTubers because they mostly fall into…

• I draw while ranting about some drama
• ranting about some art controversy on Tiktok or Twitter
• someone listing everything they hate about other people’s art styles
• some pretentious person who acts like how they draw is “right” and anyone who draws stylized is “wrong”

It’s just way too much negativity, not my cup of tea.

[Leyelle]

I do, but it's not going well, I have to get back to it, but I feel like it's not the best for promoting writing. Better for vlogs and such

Leyelle

[allenthomas]

This is why I avoid certain kinds of topics entirely on my youtube channel. Though over the last year my channel has morphed from art to videogame art. Not sure how I did that to myself but my channel is slowly starting to grow. But I'm with you I stay away from most art-centric channels. I don't understand how something so peaceful and amazing can become such a chaotic environment among fellow creators.

For the record my channel is here BTW

Allen Thomas

[metheenaroonie]

Yeah lwflouisa, I have similar concerns as you. I just started posting on YT a few weeks ago. I thought that if I get marketing trailers for my comic series up on there, that alI I had to do was interact with popular channels that focus on comics, and through those connections I'd get some traffic. Especially if those channels have common goals as you, so you'd think we'd support each other.

Then I learned the hard way that most Youtubers are grifters. Many of them don't even care about the content they create, they just want to make money from drama fueled videos about how much they hate a demographic of the entertainment business.

Like, it's rare to find a YT channel who not only claims to want good indie comics, but actually means it. Instead, it's always a channel that makes this claim while never promoting Indie comics, and instead promote hating on certain people in the industry and certain audiences. It's like really, so that's your grift?.

So, I'm just going to post new videos there every now and then and try to grow my comic base there, and see what happens. I think people like comic trailers. Can I share mine here?

[GamerPrincessXI]

I was infamous for tagging the staff on the forum to look at my comic. It worked somewhat brilliantly; I even had a lady review it on YouTube a couple of years ago. Spreading the word about your work takes a lot of work, XD.