i am going to say something very controversial, but no one owes you attention or likes or a following.
iâve noticed on instagram thereâs been a recent trend of artists posting content like âi didnât spend four hours on this just to get two likesâ while showcasing their art, or complaining about how the algorithm hates them when theyâre literal children with 100 followers.
i think itâs because instagram and twitter and tiktok are the primary places for posting art now, which are all algorithm-driven and give them illusion that anyone can blow up at any time and get a huge following from it, which is somewhat true, but results in beginner artists complaining about not having the same engagement as meme pages. theyâre completely different, but algorithm based social media means that all the content is mixed together, so it can feel like theyâre competing regardless. back when dedicated sites for art like deviantart existed, the users were already there to find art, and by joining groups and posting your art there, it could go directly to the target audience. thatâs why artists have a much easier time on tumblr than on instagram, you can target your art to a nice because not only can you tag your art, but people can follow specific tags.
but all of that aside, when artists on instagram complained about the algorithm originally, it was people upset that, as demonstrated by instagrams statistics for their posts, a majority of their followers werenât seeing their posts, not that their posts werenât blowing up. growing a following on social media is hard, getting into favor with the algorithm that throws your art out to random people is hard. not everyone will get a following, and you have to be okay with that. you have to be okay with the fact that sometimes your audience will just be the 20 people that interact with your posts, ESPECIALLY when youre a kid. of course everyone posts on social media to get engagement, but you should be drawing and creating for yourself. if you get wrapped up in making what you think will make you go viral, you wonât improve or feel good about your art.
iâve been an online artist since i was literally 10, and only started getting attention when i was 16, and only hit 10k followers when i was 19. even if you are one of the lucky ones who gets attention, it takes time. it also takes improvement. my art when i was 13 wasnât good enough to warrant having a following count in the five digits, i was learning and improving. as my skill improved, more people liked my art enough to want to stick around. you need to put into perspective where you are on your artistic journey. if youâre 16, you have the rest of your life ahead of you. donât focus solely on getting a following, focus on improving your craft and becoming the artist you would want to follow.
also for the love of god stop guilt tripping people into following you and interacting with your posts, youâre only pushing people away and annoying them.
