Thinking about joining Instagram

[Wolven_Sister]

Hey everyone!

Nothing crazy to ask, just a bit undecided so I was curious as to what everyone's input was about Instagram. I typically share my artwork on Facebook just because of how easy it is to share your works and FB page among groups, and it really helps with promoting yourself.

I've been seeing more and more artist's post on Instagram and so I was curious as to what the submission process was. Do you use hashtags like tumblr & twitter? Or is it more of being active in the community to generate sel-promotion? Or is it something else? Do you find it easier to spread your name or is it harder? I know nothing of Instagram and I don't know anyone personally who uses it so any bit of advice helps.

Thank you so much!! ^_^

[whovianandwriting]

Yes, Instagram is awesome.

[Robosaur]

I think instagram is great and i also plan to make a separate account for art. Tags are a really great way to have people find you and i think Instagram is the most proficient way with these kinds of things!~ C: It's also just nice to have it as a personal social account ^^

[Kayke]

I love instagram!
Here's a thread with a bunch of tapastic-er's instagrams if you're curious to see who is on there:

What's your Instagram account

[glennsong]

I'm discovering Instagram too. The only issue is that you need to do everything on your phone for the posting part. If you're taking photos then that's easy; if you're working on art on your computer you'll have to transfer it to your phone and then upload it. It takes square images 1024x1024 (although I think they have different sizes now). It's hashtag city -- look at what other artists hashtag their posts as, find popular ones, and use ones unique to yourself, and folks will start finding your work almost immediately. Aside from photos you can post 15s videos. If you use an iPhone and use a PC for making videos make sure you convert it to a .mov otherwise the iPhone won't accept it. Instagram also makes something called Hyperlapse which lets you timelapse something and upload to Instagram.

[ashriott]

I've just recently got myself an Instagram as well, but I'm not sure what to post sometimes... I think Instagram as a platform for uploading art is a bit more "personal" than uploading on Facebook. So things like WIPS, inspiration, places you've been to etc are some of the things to post. I've got 0 followers on Instagram which is no surprise xD

Anyhow, as some of the above posters mentioned it's hashtags all the way. Hashtags work so much better on insta than on Tumblr, which limits your posts to the first five hash tags. Insta you can spam as many as you like. You might try googling the top hashtags related to art/webcomics and see what comes up.

[zetina]

tbh i've been underestimating instagram... i kind of got forced into using it but i don't really have a use for it. i can use twitter for the same thing, you know? and it seems like there are artists who often post to twitter (even instead of a blog or gallery) so it has its art community too...???

[maeaton08]

I have a personal instagram and I just started an art instagram yesterday (I'm knettieaton, if anyone wants to follow). I'm not that great with social media but at the very least I feel like instagram is easier to reach people with all the tag options and there's no word limit like on twitter.

[thekampe]

does anyone know if the format for instagram is only photos or can you post videos too? I was thinking of maybe getting a vine to show the work evolve. Does anyone have a preference for these?

[somvi]

@thekampe I believe you can post short 10 second vids. Usually done with hyperlapse or some animated gif.

@Wolven_Sister just hashtag properly and people will see your posts. Interaction is pretty limited on there as people don't really read, just click like/follow and move on. Commenting system makes it easy to engage your fans. There are tons of artists on there posting different things, like behind the scenes and WIP stuff.

Out of all the networks I've used, it was the easiest to get follows on my work alone. I've posted the occasional fan art and boob pic, but still, pretty effortless on my part.

[plunatastudio]

I am joining in instagram.. https://www.instagram.com/homezonetoon/ this is my account..

[Cade]

I personally love Instagram, You can choose people you'd like to follow and get a lot of followers depending on what you share and what people are looking for. It's worth joining.

[Doubtcent]

I tried instagram... not my taste. I tried to upload some of my artwork, but the interface is a bit limited.
Oh well.

[Wolven_Sister]

thank you everyone so much for taking the time to help me out!! ^_^

After reading what everyone said, I'm a little hesitant that Instagram is so "pro-mobile" since I barely use my phone and I'm also terrible at hashtags but I suppose it doesn't hurt at least in trying it out and seeing where it leads. I have been wanting to post more WIPs but I hate flooding Facebook and I'm rarely on deviantART and Furaffinity these days just because I don't have time to individually submit to them.

I also recently got invited to join PaigeeWorld so I think I'll try that out too and experiment with it to see which I like more.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and experiences! <3 <3

[igneriss]

Thank you so much for this thread, as I was thinking about joining instagram as well and posts here are quite helpful :'D
Didn't know you have to use your phone to upload! : O

[trebordjackson]

i have a briliant idea you can play the panels one after the other in a video on instagram. It will be like a slide show.

[punkarsenic]

ive started posting more on instagram, and you get waaay more feedback than tumblr - typically 20 likes and a couple followers per drawing (so long as you tag.)

generally, ive heard people say dont tag too much, and tag divisively - if you draw a character from, random choice, naruto, then have a desc like 'heres #thatninjaboy from #naruto !' and then you could add '#fanart #artistsoninstagram' or add a tag cloud in a comment, eg '#fanart #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #art #digital art etc etc etc' if you want to use more tags. in the beginning, youll want to use more tags, id say.
also, put a link to your webcomic in your insta description, and direct people there in the caption for anything youve drawn for that.
activity in the community is always good - comment, reply to comments (on your posts, mostly), all the rest. the nice thing abt learning the ropes of instagram is its really on trend, so youll find loads of 'how to be successful on insta' kinda posts on websites like refinery29 and mashable and sweet.

honestly, if you can make shit visually appealing, insta is a lot easier than other platforms. on tapas, a following is a long and hard process, on tumblr you need to take a lot of time making fanart before people give a shit abt your original stuff, but on insta.... art is art and art gets likes.

[shaneoid77]

Instagram has been good to me, I've built up a bit of a following with selfies and so I link to my comic on there which means people will check it out. I've also make IG accounts for both of my comics and they're slowly building up a following of their own (taking a while though). The good thing about IG is it's visual, so I get a big and quick response to my work (or selfies, heh) which can make message board responses feel lukewarm, but they do dry out fast. I'd say I've probably got a lot more interest there than using messageboards.

Hint, try these hashtags #art #instaart #artoftheday #myart #webcomic #webcomics

[Zoningout]

Hey!

Im also using Instagram and I have good experience with. But make sure you know when to post and use the right hashtags.

[glennsong]

Yeah you could try and make your comic into motion comic and put it on Instagram that way. Now, you can put up to 1 min long videos on Instagram too, livestream, snapchat, etc.