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buffshelIt's been on my mind for a while where to post my digital work. I'd love to archive it on some platform, but social media is not it. The concept of putting my work up on social media does not excite me at all. I've posted before on instagram, tumblr, bluesky, twitter/x, pillowfort, etc. Some of these platforms are better than others in terms of not making me feel like shit. I know on both pillowfort and tumblr the tags actually matter in curating my work and helping others see my stuff.
Of all these platforms I absolutely abhor instagram. I hate how everything is in grid format (or rectangle now since they've been prioritizing shortform video content for a long time). Unless you are posting something every day there is little to no growth to be had, and people will not see your shit. The numbers matter a lot there, and the presentation and aestheticism of not just your posts on their own but of your entire grid/page is extremely important (to the point of exhaustion). It is an exhausting platform to use, and I've found that to be true of most social media platforms.
Of all that I've used, I prefer tumblr (though only slightly). I've been on tumblr for a long time (pre NSFW ban, lol) and have gotten used to the tagging system and still like to scroll through certain tags myself. I like how posts under tag search can be sorted between popular v. recent. I like how work circulates there and doesn't seem to fall into oblivion right after it's posted. That said, tumblr certainly isn't what it was. There was, again, the insane automatic 'opt-in' at the onset of generative AI that I and other users had to manually toggle off. I hate that this has happened with multiple platforms (and I hate even more that some have made it altogether impossible to opt out). But then tumblr also initiated their communities feature, which seemed like an effort to facilitate an actual community (until it wasn't). Apparently if someone reblogs a post of yours to a given community, the creator of said post has no knowledge of this reblog and therefore cannot notice that others are out there appreciating their work. It's like people that make private discord servers for certain fandoms and gush about a fanfic on ao3 but then don't bother to leave a comment on the author's actual fic to let them know that their work is noticed and appreciated! Make it make sense! Is it an entitlement thing? Is all this expected and thought of as guaranteed?
A friend and I have been talking about this sort of thing recently (you know who you are, hello!) and I told her that, with the way things are, I'm not even sure if I want to be posting digital art. It's a real shame because I like my art, but there isn't anywhere that's friendly for it anymore. I've considered using tumblr again, but they've been keeping the lights on for several years so really can't tell how much longer they'll be around. And also of late they've been treating their user base like shit.
My friend brought up that the 'argument' that some people present to her when she expresses her grievances with how creators are treated on the internet is something along the lines of: don't let it bother you that much; you should be creating for yourself anyway. I'm sure she is writing for herself first and for her pleasure. So am I. If I weren't, then I'd quit making altogether. That said, I don't think it's stupid to want to be seen. Not popular per se, just seen.
I had said to her that we ought to take being selfish in making to its most extreme and not share anything online. Not publicly, anyway. It's nice in theory to think about what might change if there wasn't any new art or fanfiction to "consume". If there was a sudden standstill. If all of this was done internally rather than in the public online eye. That's about the point I'm at with my art. I am so tired of all of this.
Lately I've been thinking of what I might do with my art if I don't post it. I still like to draw. I went to school for it and, despite not really liking my art major, still came away a better artist than I entered. I've found some comfort in purchasing cheap frames from different stores in the area and building a personal, physical gallery for my digital art. I take measurements of the frame and then make a digital canvas to fit that ratio. Print out the result on quality matte paper (or something with little gloss) and then I can display some of them properly in my apartment. I thought of it while I was working on an art piece for someone in my family, and thought I can do this for myself, too. And I can do this for others at any time; maybe it can be enough for me to make my work for people that matter to me and to be completely "selfish" with it.
Still, the thing is that I want to post my work. I want to share it more widely, but it's just not a great online environment for it at the moment.
more thoughts
I've considered reddit, pixiv, newgrounds, etc. I've also considered YouTube for the purpose of pmvs (picture music videos) and other more involved projects, but for the present moment I'm more concerned with still images. I've done deviantart too but since they were bought out by Wix way back it is largely shit. And also they did that thing that a lot of platforms did where users were opted in automatically to AI. Extremely disrespectful, especially considering some artists whose work is still up on these platforms have since passed away and have no say in the matter.Of all these platforms I absolutely abhor instagram. I hate how everything is in grid format (or rectangle now since they've been prioritizing shortform video content for a long time). Unless you are posting something every day there is little to no growth to be had, and people will not see your shit. The numbers matter a lot there, and the presentation and aestheticism of not just your posts on their own but of your entire grid/page is extremely important (to the point of exhaustion). It is an exhausting platform to use, and I've found that to be true of most social media platforms.
Of all that I've used, I prefer tumblr (though only slightly). I've been on tumblr for a long time (pre NSFW ban, lol) and have gotten used to the tagging system and still like to scroll through certain tags myself. I like how posts under tag search can be sorted between popular v. recent. I like how work circulates there and doesn't seem to fall into oblivion right after it's posted. That said, tumblr certainly isn't what it was. There was, again, the insane automatic 'opt-in' at the onset of generative AI that I and other users had to manually toggle off. I hate that this has happened with multiple platforms (and I hate even more that some have made it altogether impossible to opt out). But then tumblr also initiated their communities feature, which seemed like an effort to facilitate an actual community (until it wasn't). Apparently if someone reblogs a post of yours to a given community, the creator of said post has no knowledge of this reblog and therefore cannot notice that others are out there appreciating their work. It's like people that make private discord servers for certain fandoms and gush about a fanfic on ao3 but then don't bother to leave a comment on the author's actual fic to let them know that their work is noticed and appreciated! Make it make sense! Is it an entitlement thing? Is all this expected and thought of as guaranteed?
A friend and I have been talking about this sort of thing recently (you know who you are, hello!) and I told her that, with the way things are, I'm not even sure if I want to be posting digital art. It's a real shame because I like my art, but there isn't anywhere that's friendly for it anymore. I've considered using tumblr again, but they've been keeping the lights on for several years so really can't tell how much longer they'll be around. And also of late they've been treating their user base like shit.
My friend brought up that the 'argument' that some people present to her when she expresses her grievances with how creators are treated on the internet is something along the lines of: don't let it bother you that much; you should be creating for yourself anyway. I'm sure she is writing for herself first and for her pleasure. So am I. If I weren't, then I'd quit making altogether. That said, I don't think it's stupid to want to be seen. Not popular per se, just seen.
I had said to her that we ought to take being selfish in making to its most extreme and not share anything online. Not publicly, anyway. It's nice in theory to think about what might change if there wasn't any new art or fanfiction to "consume". If there was a sudden standstill. If all of this was done internally rather than in the public online eye. That's about the point I'm at with my art. I am so tired of all of this.
Lately I've been thinking of what I might do with my art if I don't post it. I still like to draw. I went to school for it and, despite not really liking my art major, still came away a better artist than I entered. I've found some comfort in purchasing cheap frames from different stores in the area and building a personal, physical gallery for my digital art. I take measurements of the frame and then make a digital canvas to fit that ratio. Print out the result on quality matte paper (or something with little gloss) and then I can display some of them properly in my apartment. I thought of it while I was working on an art piece for someone in my family, and thought I can do this for myself, too. And I can do this for others at any time; maybe it can be enough for me to make my work for people that matter to me and to be completely "selfish" with it.
Still, the thing is that I want to post my work. I want to share it more widely, but it's just not a great online environment for it at the moment.
