How do you feel about posting your art on social media?

[Darth_Biomech]

I feel like I'm doing something wrong since whatever I post barely gains any traction. My absolute record is a whooping 25 likes on Twitter. It vastly outstrips my usual rate of 0-3 likes.

[Shanny8]

I'll post other art stuffs that are not my comic here in the forums and on social media...for the most part, it doesnt bother me. I do post "snippets"(not full entire pics) of Patreon exclusive art that I create for my account on that site; I do create art stuffs that I can post a full pic of it.

Kind of hard for me to gauge if a piece is well received on Twitter coz I dont get many likes on it, but also- I post comic update notices or promotion- and I can see a correlation to the increase in my views here on Tapas. It's vice versa on Instagram- I can see the likes on a post, but hard for me to translate how it transfers into views/subs on here.

Since Pillowfort just started for me this year, I still feel like I'm screaming in a vacuum there; not enough eyes on that site yet...I'm trying to debate if I should put any energy into Tumblr again- I still have my account there, I just haven't posted anything since November of last year. I also think I forgot my password as well(LOL) since I havent been on there in a while.

[AmazementComics]

Man, when I first started posting stuff for our comics, all I could thing about is how well it would be received. I still do. I know it's not a good mindset, but the fact of the matter is this. So often I look at comics that have an Instagram and see that they have 1000+ followers and X amount of likes, when their level of artwork is more or less similar to mine.

Regardless, I'll still continue to post on social media, but it's a real bummer when you're not receiving at least a decent enough audience...

[Caro]

I feel like my relationship with social media has changed a lot over the course of my career. Early on I really focused a lot on instagram and tumblr (before it was on the decline) because I was really intent on making it a career and was going down the self publishing route. Then I started to get work through it too and the numbers and it was easier to sell my books and merch and everything. So back then everything I had posted felt like it had to be a engaging and shareable and only the best of the best (which admittedly wasn’t very good because I just wasn’t as good at comics as I am now!)

Now I kind of just use social media with the mindset of sharing with my friends and catching them up on what I’m working on. Occasionally my obsession with numbers kicks up again and I’ll post a little thing I know would make the rounds but then it passes and I go back to just posting whatever art I wanna post. But since I’ve amassed a relatively large following on Instagram basically any post I make is guaranteed SOME engagement and new followers.

I’ve also really started using twitter seriously this past month or so to keep in touch with a lot of my comics friends since cons are cancelled and I miss them and also because its better for industry contacts and industry chitchat and I’ve noticed that my work does a LOT better on Twitter now than it used to (compared to my first attempts years ago) even though it still feels like a relatively new platform to me (I literally just figured out the difference between quote tweets vs retweets). I also have a higher concentration of people in positions of hiring me for work on Twitter than I do on Instagram where most of my followers are just readers so I’m less concerned about making big spreadable posts and getting my numbers up high and more concerned about uhhh who I could approach for work (COVID hit my finances hard)

[a.g.meade]

Ah, social media. I don't have any issues posting my stuff on Instagram or Deviant Art. My art used to get more interaction when it was worse, so I know it isn't about quality but instead about algorithms and understanding how social media works in general (which I have tried and have given up on). That probably sounds defeatist, but I assure you that it isn't - it's actually been quite good for my mental health! There's nothing more frustrating than putting all this time and effort into artworks and researching hashtags and social media strategies, and then... nothing changes.

These days, I pretty much use both platforms once every couple of weeks to post random OC illustrations... and chibis! Who doesn't love chibis?!

[erma]

I used to be eager to share my work on social media, but lately the thought of it makes me nervous. I'm trying to work through these fears and am starting to post again, though. My anxiety has skyrocketed during the quarantine. Oh boy...

I was very active on Twitter a couple years ago, and I started to notice that every day there was a new 'hot take' about things artists shouldn't do - whether it was about technique, composition, character ideas etc. Maybe it was just the accounts I was following, but it also felt like there was a lot of drama going on. I ended up quitting. I went into a huge art slump in 2019 and deleted nearly all of my art accounts because I didn't feel like I was good enough.

I recently started posting on Instagram again, with a fresh account, and I reach out to my friends for critique more now. The content I post is mostly stuff from my design portfolio. I still haven't fully gained back the confidence to regularly post things about my comic or my characters, because of the fear that I'll accidentally do something wrong or that people will find my stuff annoying. So far though, things have been going very well, and the fear is slowly starting to feel less intense.

[cookieroach]

@MeltingCORE Yeah these forums are probably my favorite place as well! (hehe thanks! )

@domisotto Sometimes I feel it's so random what gets views/likes, a crappy sketch does "better" than something you worked hard on... it's weird. I don't like instagram that much either, I don't know why... the update with the shopping button didn't exactly improve it either.

@Darth_Biomech You're not alone!! But instead of looking at numbers I feel better when I focus on connecting with other artists, it's more fun!

@Shanny8 I got the feeling that tumblr kinda died after the ban on nsfw artwork, but I was never active there so I'm not sure. It never hurts to try I guess?

@AmazementComics I think it's good to have some self confidence in yourself and your art, as long as you don't put other artists down. But maybe a balance is good, not be too anxious, but not have too high expectation either.

@Caro Interesting to hear your story! I really like the mindset of sharing with friends. I've been lurking and following people without sharing any of my own content for so long, it feels nice to be able to do both!

@a.g.meade Everyone loves chibis!! I agree it's better to do your stuff and not get caught up in following the algorithm. Nothing wrong with being inspired by popular artists, but it would be so boring if everyone did the same thing just to get followers and likes.

@erma I totally get that. And I'm also annoyed by the "rules" some people make up about what you can do with your art. I feel bad for younger artists who maybe are just starting out and think that they have to follow arbitrary stuff that other people make up... I hope you gain back the confidence little by little, and start posting more about your comic/characters. I love seeing that stuff, there can never be too much

[Puck]

I feel horrible about it, that´s why I stopped it.
I deleted all social media accounts like facebook, instagram etc because
I didn´t feel good about it and I feel happier since I did that

[Crusoe]

I haaave gotten obsessed with numbers on tapas before because I really want people to read my story, but on social media I don't worry about it too much. I just post whenever im bored or whenever I have something fun to post

[Legendofgenii]

they have 1000+ followers and X amount of likes, when their level of artwork is more or less similar to mine.

Maybe there is a trick to all of this?

[cookieroach]

@puck I think it's ok to not post if you don't feel like it!

@MeLovesTacos mm it's easy to get sucked in.

@Legendofgenii Is the trick selling your soul to the devil or something similar?

[Puck]

I think so too but I know that in 2020 it´s a stupid move business wise, but it is what it is

[azzy-m]

I like posting my art on social media, but it's mostly people who I know IRL who tend to interact with them. Understandable, I don't post as often as one would typically need to to keep up with the algorithm (esp on IG, jesus), and when I do it's usually original art and not fanart. I don't really care too much about whether or not I get followers tbh, being relatively invisible on social media is oddly comforting.

[Llyrel]

I've tried pretty much every social media platform to post my art, so worrying about what other people would think is definitely not my main concern... most of the time I do tend to get a little paranoid when my posts are completely ignored, however. I used to be VERY obsessed with numbers back in the Deviantart days and even though I don't obsess over my followers/likes as much as in the past, I still feel let down when my posts goes completely/almost completely ignored. This doesn't apply solely to art, though: if I make a text post on my blog and nobody comments on it for over an hour, I end up deleting it because I hate feeling like I'm talking to a void. Dunno, it's kinda like when you're in a group of people, you try to make a fun joke and nobody even looks at you and just goes on with the conversation as if you never spoke at all: awkward and embarassing.

That said, however, I don't give up: sometimes I delete the post and share it again later when I feel that more people is online to see it, sometimes I simply post it on a different platform (Instagram is the one that works best for me as far as interaction goes), some other times -if the platform allows it- I reblog the post... either way, I sure as hell don't stop posting just because one or two posts got ignored. I'm stubborn like that

So far, the only place that made me feel extremely paranoid about what people would think of my art was Tumblr, with its constant drama and people tearing other artists apart over the most ridiculous details. I still have my account on there, but I barely even post anymore, and when I do it's just reblogs.

Overall, the platforms I like the most are Instagram (even though I hate the square format) and Pillowfort (despite the utter lack of people, it feels super cozy on there :D). Twitter is about as useless as Deviantart for me, but I keep both because whatever :'D I'm kinda curious about this Artfol thing a lot of people is talking about nowadays, but I'm gonna wait until it gets out of beta to make an account on there.

[nostalgicroxas]

Posting my art on social media?
Takes time. Takes effort. Gets no results by in large.

I'm a number cruncher and if spending hours and hours working on art for attention to post onto any given site gets me : no followers, no comments and no likes except from the 1 person I know IRL, it's largely a fail to me. I've tried tags, other sites, other tags, randomly scheduling things more frequently, fanart. I'm at the "give up and pack it in" point of social media. My eyes cannot roll any farther back in my head.

Part of my issue also is that some people can get away posting wips, some HAVE to post the finished piece - period no questions asked. I seem to fall into that "finished piece" category, but let's be real. (my wip's get zilch attention while a crop of a finished piece gets more attention. even if it's a good and interesting wip pic) A 2000 pixel sized image looks like a potato on a cellphone screen scaled or cropped down to 400 pixels.

I have a larger following there than Facebook or Twitter, but it's also the least user friendly platform. So a lot of the time if I can't be bothered to get an image ready to post on Instagram (i.e. make sure it'll crop decently to the ratio restrictions, and get it from my computer to my phone)

Use the "creator dashboard" from Facebook. since they bought insta, they integrated it into their dashboard. I use it to post onto Instagram from my laptop instead my phone. It lets you kind of handle the cropping, and can let you post multiple images. Best of all, you can utilize a schedule feature

[Rhonder]

Use the "creator dashboard" from Facebook. since they bought insta, they integrated it into their dashboard. I use it to post onto Instagram from my laptop instead my phone. It lets you kind of handle the cropping, and can let you post multiple images. Best of all, you can utilize a schedule feature

omg! I can't believe I missed that D: I legit looked at the creator dashboard once like a year ago, thought it was just for handling notifications across both platforms, and never looked back LOL TYVM for the insight!! Just made a test post this way and *chef's kiss*

[frgmnt]

Ah, having to promote my art on social media... The bane of my artistic existence.
I feel like I have to bother with it because it's the only way to maybe someday have enough of a fanbase to make money with my art. ...I have never went over 50 followers on any platform though, so I guess that's not happening this century.
I don't think it's my art - I mean, it's not great, but I've seen people with comparable/worse skill getting a lot more traffic - so I honestly don't know why, and gave up trying.

I do not enjoy keeping up with social media in the slightest, and twitter is the worst. I hate participating in challenges, art promo threads, popular tags etc. - it only works if you already have a follower base, my stuff gets buried in miliseconds. But when I don't do it, it feels like wasting an opportunity. I also hate posting fanart only to get like 5 likes on it on a good day.
I honestly wish I could deactivate or restart my twitter, but I'm on the fence because I have like 2 people regularly liking my stuff on there and I'm not sure they'd carry over to a new account.

I tried posting on instagram for a short while but had tons of problems with it, then soon was locked out of my account permanently (I can't even delete it, fml), and don't really feel like making a new one.

So far, the only place that made me feel extremely paranoid about what people would think of my art was Tumblr, with its constant drama and people tearing other artists apart over the most ridiculous details. I still have my account on there, but I barely even post anymore, and when I do it's just reblogs.

those people have already migrated to twitter, jsyk. tumblr is a mostly chill place now.
Currently, Tumblr is my main platform for posting art, and although I don't get a lot of traffic there (still more than I did on twitter, though), it makes me much less nervous than any other site. I'm still dumping my art into the void, but it doesn't feel as humiliating and disappointing as on twitter.

[AmazementComics]

Do you know what it is? Because I can't figure it out.

[rajillustration]

For me it's not so much about posting art, but which art to post. Every platform is slightly different, with slightly different tastes. Stuff that blows up on tumblr is dead silent on twitter, and visa versa.

That and I've been really hating the drama going on with the art community on twitter so I decided it's really not serving me so I don't really go there much anymore. It actually makes me upset to scroll down haha. Which is a shame! there's a lot of good people there! Maybe when those drama people move on to another platform I'll be able to fully use it again.

[Llyrel]

those people have already migrated to twitter, jsyk.

Yeah, I know though I seem to understand that most of the drama on Twitter (as it was on Tumblr) is usually related to fan artists, and since I posted a grand total of 1 fan art on Twitter so far (which was so badly cropped you could only see the eyes of the character), hopefully I'm safe :'D as for Tumblr being more chill... eh, depends on the communities, I guess. Dunno if I'm extremely unlucky or what, but every single fandom I joined on there pretty much always turned out to be a HUGE shitfest. Original art seems to be safer to post... but I agree with you there: most of the time it definitely feels like dumping stuff into the void ._.