Like or Reblog this post if you’re a Pokemon Ask Blog!
I’m going to be jumping back into this blog’s plot as well as my other blog, @askthepokemonpc! I need more blogs to follow so I can send out some future asks and do more interactions again! Thank you! <3
???: “Ouch! That must have hurt! I was gonna let you keep nibbling on Mr. Grumpypants some more, but that Protect got in the way! I guess the cat got his own tongue! Heehee!”
I know that he’s already been poisoned by the cut but after he licks it it never fails to make me think of this https://youtu.be/YQTn1QxCZ2s?t=1m41s fehauifehaw LMAO
I’m screaming I FORGOT ABOUT THIS!!!! I almost choked on my water, this video is gold.
???: (( Hrrrrk... what’s wrong with me...? That scratch... am I poisoned?! ))
???: “It would appear that this will be a battle of endurance then, my friend. Careful playing with fire, now. Heh.”
Do you have any tips for someone wanting to make their own ask blog?
I sure do! But I got kind of carried away, so you can read the tips and tricks under the cut that I found useful getting started in the community! Note: I’ve been here for roughly 3 years, and still trying to improve every day!
1. Do it for you.
It is very, very easy to become disheartened if you become intimidated by other blogs whose art might be at a level you’re still striving to reach, or with follower counts that could literally be ten times greater than yours. The moment you try to make things a competition, it shows. When I was just starting out, I became resentful over a friend of mine who always had more followers than I did. No matter how hard I tried. Instead of using this as motivation to try and improve my art style or focus on having fun character interactions, I just got frustrated and found myself resenting a friend I really cared about. I lost motivation, I grew bitter, and blogging just…wasn’t fun anymore.
And I know it sounds cliché, because I’ve heard other bloggers say this kind of thing before, and wouldn’t you know it, a lot of them were/are considered “popular”, but: you really need to do this for yourself. If you’re not having fun, neither will your audience, I promise you. It really shows when your heart isn’t in it, and it can look pitifully obvious when someone is only trying to gain a number count, not a dedicated audience. You NEED to give yourself time for growth. I didn’t feel comfortable with my own art for the first two years of my blog’s shelf life. I borderline hated it. But I had fun. And when you pour your heart into improving, and improving TRULY is what you’re striving for, you WILL get there. When you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel, it seems like cheap talk. I know it does. It can take years to establish yourself as who you want to be. But when you get to a point where you’re happy with yourself, first and foremost, everything else will eventually fall into place.
One of my first posts in the community:
One of my more recent posts:
2. When things get stale, try something new.
And it will happen. You’re gonna get sick of the way you draw fur. You’re gonna hate that your lineart looks messy. You’re gonna get frustrated that you keep using the same poses. But if you keep doing the same things you’ve always done, you’re only going to be reinforcing your same way of doing things. To achieve faster personal growth, you need to do some nitty-gritty studying and do some trial-and-error.* NEVER COPY/TRACE AN ARTIST’S WORK AND TRY TO REBRAND IT AS YOUR OWN. THAT IS THEFT. IT IS STEALING. However, you can learn from other artists and study their way of doing things. Borrow techniques and methods, never their original work and ideas. Look up tutorials and don’t just save them to your computer and never look at them again (we all do it, you know you do), actually try to replicate things and learn from them. Even if the end result looks nothing like the example, I can guarantee that you can at least learn something.
*(I also recognize that there are a plethora of fantastic writing-only blogs in the community, but most of my outputted work is not of the written sort. I know there are loads of writing resources available online, so I would encourage you to seek said resources out, or to reach out for advice to writing/roleplay blogs. ALSO, even if your blog has art, anyone can benefit from strengthening their worldbuilding or writing skills! It can only help you.)
3. Tag. Your. Content.
Please. Most people will be more inclined to send you asks and interact with your characters if everything is clearly labeled. Please don’t make your audience have to dig deep and search through pages and pages of posts just to find a character they’re looking for, or something along those lines. I find that a lot of people also like to reblog things to their askblogs that are not related to the askblog itself, such as pictures of other fandoms, memes, videos of cats doing weird stuff, etc. If you want that on your blog, that is 100% your choice and you are allowed to do with it what you will – no one can tell you what to do with your own content. That being said, I personally think that keeping your askblogs tidy and free of miscellaneous unrelated content is the best way to go. If you still want to reblog random things, that is still your choice, but I strongly suggest that you tag such content as #ooc (which means out-of-context or out-of-character). It also helps to tag each of your asks accordingly, either by character, story arc, or whatever works best for your content.
4. Consider having a blog layout besides the default.
This is not of major importance, and it doesn’t ultimately make the biggest difference in the world when starting out. However, having a more unique theme is a way of showing an extra bit of effort so that everything is aesthetically pleasing. It’s not necessary whatsoever, but I’ve found that it can help. If you’re not really sure what I’m referring to by “blog layout/blog theme”, a quick google search will show you what I mean.
5. Making friends is hard, and that’s okay.
If you’re nervous about getting yourself out there, that’s perfectly normal. There are probably going to be a lot of blogs that you’ll follow and want to interact with, but please remember that every person running a blog is different. Some people like to interact with other blog mods, some people prefer to keep to themselves. I can say from experience that most people are more than happy to give a word of advice or signal boost your blog if you ask them nicely. The people in this community as a whole are generally pleasant, welcoming, and helpful. When starting out, I encourage you to message other blogs that are just starting out too. Talk about your characters together, plan out some blog interactions, send asks! Knowing that you have a couple of good friends in the community can be a major confidence builder early-on, because you’ll always have people to turn to and have fun with. And if you message someone and they seem like they’d rather be left alone, I ask that you please respect their desire for some space. The longer you stay in the community and make an effort to support others, the more likely they will be to support you, too. A lot of mods also like to livestream their art now and then; watching those streams and interacting with the chat can be a great way to befriend other mods. I know it’s happened for me! There are also Discord servers to join, although I’m not as knowledgeable about that whole deal because I don’t have an account. But ask around and I’m sure you’ll find some!
I hope this has been helpful! I wish you and all potential blog-owners the very best of luck.
Sobbsbs I finally finished t hem after 1000 years. Sorry for the delay sobss
The last of the requests I got months ago
@askthepokemansion ( Hes such a handsome boy, I am inlove. Would pay him to burn me alive sobs)
@ask-random-pokes
@askiceboundlopunny
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
