What to do when social media takes over your art.
It happens. Sometimes, your artistic decisions become influenced by social media.
Have you ever made a painting so you could use a specific hashtag, or tag a specific artist? When you sit down to do art, are you thinking about what sorts of things get the most likes?
Full disclaimer, if you want to create a platform, grow a following, or reach new customers, then these are things you probably should consider from time to time. Focusing on growth might influence how we use social media, how we frame a photograph, when we post, or what hashtags we use.
But I’d argue that it should not influence what we create when we make art.
If you primarily make art to share on social media, and you consciously or unconsciously create what gets you positive feedback, then you are outsourcing your creative decision making to a changing, varied audience. This becomes increasingly detrimental for self-taught and hobby artists, because they rarely have input or direction from any other source. If picture A gets lots of like and picture B does not, then we might decide to draw more pictures like picture A. In fact, we might decide to only draw pictures like picture A, because they’re the only sorts of pictures that get us the validation we want.
You can perhaps see how quickly this becomes limiting to artistic growth, and understanding ourselves as artists. If we only draw what is safe (for getting likes), we never let ourselves explore interests that might be validating in other, more nourishing ways.
Art is an ever-changing process of feeling and reacting, and you grow as an artist when you listen to your reactions, not other people’s.
Spending a lot of time posting and consuming art on social media can lead to feelings of comparison, frustration, and discouragement. Seeing artists be successful, create beautiful work, run businesses or win prizes, work in beautiful studios, and go on amazing art holidays and retreats, can be tough, especially when your own life is in a rough patch.
The sort of discouragement and burnout that comes from comparison and perceived rejection can take days, weeks, or months to recover from. Some parts of the creative process need a little bit of gentle care and sheltering from the hailstorm of doubts and comparisons other people’s opinions can bring. So give your art a bit of breathing space, and see what you can do when no-one else is watching.
If you’ve read this far, and this feels familiar, here are some things you can do to enrich your art making and change your thought patterns!
Look at many different styles of art. Use pinterest, magazines, galleries, youtube, books from the library … look at art you like and art you don’t like. Take note of your responses to different things. Look at historical art and contemporary and modern art. Look at oil painting, sculpture, watercolour, illustration, textile art, performance art . . . don’t hold back!
Draw or paint one thing a day that you don’t share to social media. Don’t even mention you’re doing it! Do this every day(ish) for two weeks. Reflect on how your decision making changes when you know no-one will see your work but you.
Keep an artist’s journal. An artist’s journal is a private collection of interior thoughts, ideas, and problems, and it’s the perfect way to make sure you get some time alone with your creativity, without any other eyes on you.
View and consume art in other ways. Read artist’s blogs, pick up a copy of an art magazine, or visit some of the local contemporary galleries in your town. It’s a good reminder that the art world is vast and varied, and you see only a small slice of it on social media.
And as always, happy creating!