Hello Steemit Fam!
My name is Anna and I'm an emerging pop surreal oil painter and illustrator.
I found Steemit through other online artists and couldn't help but try out this social platform and blogging! I really wanted to start out my blog by talking about what it's like dealing with being an emerging artist with a small following/appearance on the internet. If this interests you please do keep scrolling to continue reading!
For those who have just decided they want to take their passion for art seriously and those who are in the early stages of making their art careers all know how high the pressure can be trying to gain a following on social media, let alone finding the confidence in being able to share your work for the world to see. For instance, Instagram is full of so many artists trying to make themselves standout from each other. Comparing themselves to the plethora of other artists posting pretty polished photos of their work, getting hundreds of likes and comments, it can be extremely discouraging and sometimes putting the feeling of hopelessness deep within. I know I deal with this internal struggle as well, in fact just about EVERY day!
It seems trying to get noticed isn't getting much easier either with the biggest concern for artists lately is Instagram's new algorithm.
If you haven't already seen the many frantic posts about it, Instagram's new algorithm is apparently a huge strain on small artists who don't get immediate engagement. This lack of immediate engagement is supposedly causing only 10% of your following (hence the non-chronological ordered posts on your feed) actually seeing your post on their feed. There have been other factors that have been said such as using too many hashtags will flag you as spam as well as comments less than 4 words.
As if artists weren't already having a hard time just getting most of their following to like/comment it's become a bigger discouragement to try at all! Though you could post awareness of this to your followers and reminding them to like comment on posts, turn on post notifications and what not, it's also hard to not feel like a huge nagger.
I know I'm making it sound as if the world of working for recognition as an artist isn't worth the work, but please do not make that assumption just yet!
Yes, the factors I have mentioned are pretty discouraging but you have to just look at this as the facts of life and how it works. Once you except that and let go of the emotion you have brought with it, it's time to turn that emotion into confidence in yourself becoming the successful artist you deserve to be. I mean lets be real here, if you don't have the trust and confidence in yourself that despite the hurdles being placed in front of you making the journey a real challenge, you'll still come out as successful as you hope to be, then you won't have the drive to do so!
This drive is so important in keeping yourself consistent in your work and active presence online.
I admit I still struggle with this a lot of time, but the more I learn to accept the hurdles are there and only I can really make myself stop trying the easier it becomes for me to keep working.
It's also important to not let yourself obsess over this ONE factor of your career. If you do you'll drain yourself of all your energy and then there's next to no energy to create your work! Sometimes just putting online growth to the side is the best option so your work doesn't suffer. If you feel completely hopeless about the social media growth but still feel the small need to try, maybe try new platforms that are starting up, find artist based ones. I recently found a platform called Ello that's aimed for creatives and provides call for artist opportunities.
Build an appearance where you live!!
Get involved with your local arts community as best as you can. Find opportunities to display work in small shops and cafés. See if there are any art fairs or markets that happen near you that you could possibly sell work at and NETWORK with potential clients.
Don't let the internet be your only option for exposure, always remember there's a real world beyond your phone screen :).
Lastly, even though it's just a repetition I feel it the MOST important factor is to TRUST in yourself!! Doubt and fear will always hold you back. Be confident that you deserve what you want out of your journey and it will all start to come easier.
Sorry this was so long I just really wanted to remind all of those who are struggling to never give up, lets support each other and help each other grow as best as we can!
Thanks for sticking around this long and I'll talk to you all soon and will start posting my art soon!!
Lots of love,
Anna.