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Break from Posting Art
2 years ago
General
Hiya!
tldr: I'm going on an art + social media break. No eta.
Juicy details:
I don't like how easy it is to compare myself to others on social media because it's beginning to change how I see myself and my art. So, I'm going to take a break from posting on most platforms and really only post for monthly art obligations when they roll around. It might be a short break. It might be a long one - who knows! Certainly not me!
Further reasoning being...
I've been feeling pretty down about my art lately which I've noticed has been a growing concern for me ever since I started posting it on social media. I used to honestly just keep it to myself for the few years I've been drawing and, to be honest, I found myself a lot happier that way because I didn't feel the need to be better to get a greater audience, to get likes, or anything silly like that. Like... when I started posting, I genuinely didn't care about that stuff because for years I've been an art lurker who appreciated artists without giving that stuff. Mostly because I was and to a degree still am horribly socially awkward at times. Granted, it was way worse a few years ago. I didn't want to like stuff because I was scared someone would come up and talk to me. But anywhooo...
As more time started passing, and I posted more, I found myself wanting that previously trivial thing and it just doesn't feel good. It's setting up really unhealthy expectations inside my noggin that I don't like until I got to this point where I almost feel like a walking contradiction of "I don't care about views/likes/watches/followers/etc." and "I do care about these things because they make me feel good."
And now it's affecting my interpretation of my art and that's where I'm really getting at. Even when I was significantly worse at drawing, I was proud of it. I was so happy to finish it. I think that's because it wasn't tied to anything social and once I started posting everything I made I found it increasingly hard to appreciate my own art because it suddenly became attached to other peoples' judgment of it, not my own.
I don't want that to be the case. So, I want to go off the radar for the most part until I feel better about that stuff.
It does suck because there are a few good people I've already gotten the amazing pleasure of meeting and talking to, relationships I would've never gotten otherwise, but I think for now I got to slow down because I know if I keep going it's just going to hurt my mental health and I don't want that. So, I'm going to mostly go back to drawing only for myself until I'm ready again. I think that's the best course of action for me right now.
So... yeah! Off the radar for most things! Bye for now!
For Patreon people:
Since I know the above stuff might seem scary, I do plan to keep up at least the bare minimum of whatever workload exist there which isn't too bad, just a few exclusive drawings a month so you don't have to worry! Most of my mental health issues seems to come from other sites, anyways.
tldr: I'm going on an art + social media break. No eta.
Juicy details:
I don't like how easy it is to compare myself to others on social media because it's beginning to change how I see myself and my art. So, I'm going to take a break from posting on most platforms and really only post for monthly art obligations when they roll around. It might be a short break. It might be a long one - who knows! Certainly not me!
Further reasoning being...
I've been feeling pretty down about my art lately which I've noticed has been a growing concern for me ever since I started posting it on social media. I used to honestly just keep it to myself for the few years I've been drawing and, to be honest, I found myself a lot happier that way because I didn't feel the need to be better to get a greater audience, to get likes, or anything silly like that. Like... when I started posting, I genuinely didn't care about that stuff because for years I've been an art lurker who appreciated artists without giving that stuff. Mostly because I was and to a degree still am horribly socially awkward at times. Granted, it was way worse a few years ago. I didn't want to like stuff because I was scared someone would come up and talk to me. But anywhooo...
As more time started passing, and I posted more, I found myself wanting that previously trivial thing and it just doesn't feel good. It's setting up really unhealthy expectations inside my noggin that I don't like until I got to this point where I almost feel like a walking contradiction of "I don't care about views/likes/watches/followers/etc." and "I do care about these things because they make me feel good."
And now it's affecting my interpretation of my art and that's where I'm really getting at. Even when I was significantly worse at drawing, I was proud of it. I was so happy to finish it. I think that's because it wasn't tied to anything social and once I started posting everything I made I found it increasingly hard to appreciate my own art because it suddenly became attached to other peoples' judgment of it, not my own.
I don't want that to be the case. So, I want to go off the radar for the most part until I feel better about that stuff.
It does suck because there are a few good people I've already gotten the amazing pleasure of meeting and talking to, relationships I would've never gotten otherwise, but I think for now I got to slow down because I know if I keep going it's just going to hurt my mental health and I don't want that. So, I'm going to mostly go back to drawing only for myself until I'm ready again. I think that's the best course of action for me right now.
So... yeah! Off the radar for most things! Bye for now!
For Patreon people:
Since I know the above stuff might seem scary, I do plan to keep up at least the bare minimum of whatever workload exist there which isn't too bad, just a few exclusive drawings a month so you don't have to worry! Most of my mental health issues seems to come from other sites, anyways.
if You feel like you need to break from art that's totally okay because it's your choice, just remind yourself to try to come back, you never know if giving social media a second chance would be better for you now.
As myself i can see myself comparing a lot of other artists and i can't lie to say it makes me perfectionism because of that, but i take it as a lesson to learn and try to get better, art is hard and everyone has it's own pace of art, it should feel natural and good for the artists.
but other than that, have a nice time drawing for youself!
PD: I rlly did like the drawing from the raffle, thanks a lot!
You definitely got a ver nice perspective on it, thanks you! I was already a perfectionist even before social media, so posting on it definitely intensified that a little as well like in your case.
Thank you for your words, Tenshi. I'm glads you liked the drawing ^w^