How Social Media RUINED Art for Artists || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY 

To me consistency is the problem. I don't want to post frequently, that's tiring as hell! I want to post a masterpiece, dissapear for two decades, then come back with another masterpiece, refuse to elaborate and leave.

FINISHING the art is so stupidly important to the algorithm. Nobody wants to see your sketches because a lot of the time, your audience is made up of people who have no idea just how much PATIENCE art requires, even for sketches.

Me finding a healthy way to be addicted >>> Be able to create consistently and not caring so much with number is satisfying

Social media gives me too many ideas to draw and makes me wanna draw like a billion things at once 😭😭

I quit social media when I realized the stuff I wanted to draw was stuff no one would be interested in (original stuff).

ive always been addicted to art. even without social media... however it did make me... more addicted perhapse.. mostly in the days of being on amino

Man- this is too true. Before I began posting on social media, I drew A LOT, just things that I loved, OCs, etc. I could space out/detach from my day and just immerse myself in my work and feel happy about it. Once I did begin posting on social media, that's when my feelings towards myself and my artwork became skewed... and then of course I took a break from drawing for a few years due to health reasons, but when I came back to, and began sharing my art, I just find I hadn't had the same spark and enjoyment because of how social media would affect/influence how I felt about myself and my art. Thanks for the video, Celestia. It's always comforting to hear these things and be reminded of it, to step back and work hard on detaching the self-worth/love of your craft to the likes/retweets/etc on social media.

Honestly, this is why I almost exclusively post my art on Discord because likes don't exist but my friends make nice comments and I love their response and it makes me feel better knowing people who care about me love it. I think their thoughts mean more to me. I am terrible with working the algorithm so I just want to put out an idea into the void of the Internet. That makes me happy. Responses make me happier. Likes don't matter that much in comparison.

i love drawing.

ive been able to gain a close group of artist friends by posting (almost) exclusively in more private social spots toyhouse, discord, friend's DMs etc and my art has improved more drastically + I enjoy art more by doing this. I basically traded being popular amoung small artists / non artists (the public) for being popular amoung extremely experienced artists, its made me so much happier and it didn't affect me financially.

What hurts me on social media is that people use my art as an object, while it's the way I communicate. It litteraly contains my soul. People feel free to take it from my profile and post it somewhere else, making 10,000 likes and receiving lots of cute comments (just because they took art from tons of artists and they post more times a day and algorithm bless them) while I am the one who works full time and still draw all the night until I die asleep on the graphic tablet, just to find my self having back maybe 1,000 likes if it's a likuck day and the comment section full of complains about how I draw... Other artists complain about people stealing their art, but they have no problem with copying other (less known or able) artists' ideas. What about scammer in commissions? What about people calling you "money grabber" just because you have a Patreon or a ko fi? Like creating art is free and wishing to do what you are made for all day instead of wasting most of it in enriching a boomer that think he posses your life just because he pay you a misery and you signed a sheet of paper it's a crime. Can we talk about followers willing to support your art only if you make NSFW and the other half that leave because they don't like you to make NSFW but still don't want to help with the making of your regular stuff? Can we talk about the r4p3 A.I. is? Can we talk about those that monetize your art, just because they collected it in a video or salling it in a print on demand service? As always, the problem it's SOCIETY not media!

Im just addicted to making art bc i get inspired by everything , i have a instagram with 128 followers and the only thing that matters to me is that my family and friends see everything ✨️✨️

I am addicted to art in the way people are addicted to drinking, I still don’t own many if any social media but from a young age my to coping mechanism have been disassociating with reality and art, the praise I got from it and going to a art focused school also contributed to this addiction. I don’t think I’ve gone more than a week without drawing if we include doodles and I do full pieces in like days because the process keeps my anxiety at bay, something I severely struggle with. In the end I both look forward to and dread the day I and my family decide I should post on social media because god my self esteem sucks and will be so frustrating to keep in check if I don’t get likes. But hey, I’ll wait till it’s more stable before I post anything so eh. You and I deserve happiness and good day

"...it turns [art's] creation into an obligation: you're not making art and then posting posting it, you're making art so have something to post. Because god knows you need to have something to post." And that is why i stopped trying to create content. My social media is simply to share what I've done even if only my mom and sister see it. And as a handy way to document my progress. I post when i want, and i have been happier not trying to make it a job. I get that this can work for me because my art isn't my livelihood. But that's what i had to do to find joy in what i was doing again.

I dont try hard to please the algorithm anymore. Nowadays I just post photos of the wips on my ipad. Almost everything i draw now i either make prints out of it to sell at events, or I put it up on my Patreon. So I basically use my IG as an advertising tool more than an actual gallery now. Also, I find engaging with people and going to events to display your work is much more fulfilling than just constantly posting shit online.

This is a really interesting idea. Havent watched it yet but Im probably addicted too

As a young artist, I was having soooo much more fun with art before I started to post it online, then it kinda became a job. I needed to make everything "perfect" to the extremes of forgetting to care for my health, and eventually I just burned out and didn't even want to draw again because everything looked horrible to me (anatomy out of place, hair looking not right, you know the basic art problems we have as a noobs....) and I'm only just started to do art again and this video was a great help!

Unrelated but I keep checking the timestamp when i watch a duchess celestia video- im terrified it ends. Its the one time i dont even dare skipping the sponsor

For me, I have a similar, but not quite the same issue when it comes to validation. Likes don't mean anything to me, but comments do. Of course, comments are even rarer to get than likes so I'm just constantly feeling like my art isn't noteworthy enough to even have interaction

Yippee its a Duchess

Once again, I am glad that I don’t do art as a way of living. It’s a hobby and I just love drawing. I’ve always drawn ever since childhood and still draw stuff that I don’t even end up posting. But I sympathize with those who do and am fine with people who chase clout because they have good reason to. I don’t believe in putting down those who feel nervous about how much attention they get-it’s fine as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone including themselves. I hope people are able to find a comfortable balance with social media and their art. Good luck to all! And enjoy what you do!

Could definitely relate. I used to actively post fanarts in subreddits for likes, but when I lost access to my Reddit account, it made me rethink why I’m making art in the first place. Now, I draw because I enjoy it. Validation is great, but I’m much happier, having stopped clout chasing.

Agreed entirely with logging out and waiting before checking how your art is doing on social media; sometimes I'll catch myself trying to figure out my likes:hour ratio and it can feel discouraging noticing my engagement going down. It's not a healthy mindset to have. Even though art is my main source of income, it's important for me to enjoy art first and foremost.

Omg, I feel this so much and really appreciate this video. I was kinda shadowbanned after taking a 2 week break last summer. Noone was seeing my posts (barely even my followers) and it was just dropping further and further (even after I started posting twice a week again). In October I was so frustrated with the algorithm and this feeling of "being stuck" that I tried posting twice a week. I prepared art on the weekends/holiday season and scheduled it that way I had 4 posts (2xCarousel, 2xReels) a week My Engagement keept dropping so I started engaging more with the community. Commenting more on other peoples posts, watching reels to "teach" the algorithm what niche I belong to... Then at JANUARY my numbers finally stopped dropping and after some time (with some ups and downs) slowly increased again. I'm now at around 1.3k impressions a month. The hard work kinda payed off. But semester is starting again and I don't think I can keep up creating 2 pieces a week 😬 I'm almost scared to lose my engagement again... It's really sad how this makes me scared and insecure. It's like crawling out of this shadowban FOR SEVERAL MONTHS doesn't mean anything if I can't keep up with it.

Art becoming not worth to make is a horrifying thought.

I agree with the idea of not even paying attention to your social media account after you've posted something. In fact, i would even say to completely ignore social media and start working on something else to distract yourself. I've personally have had a bad relationship with social media and the thing that I've noticed when using Instagram for the first time was that the urge to excessively watch how many likes you get on a post after posting it a few hours after is very strong. It's part of the reason why I deleted Instagram off my phone. It becomes a huge problem when you're constantly wanting to pull out your phone out to see if your art is getting any likes. It has led to depression and anxiety issues for me. These days, I don't use Instagram much anymore. I've decided to turn my account to private so that only my close friends and family can see my art. I can say that my mental health has significantly increased because of that decision.

I'm so lucky I grew up when the internet wasn't a hell-hole. I was an absolute troll on Deviantart back in the early 00's. If I saw someone's work getting more likes than my own, and I felt like my work was better, you best bet I'd go off in their comment section. Nowadays, I don't pay attention to numbers AT ALL. I live off my art, but I also found my niche early on so I'm surrounded by like-minded people and fans that genuinely like what I do. The web and its algorithm nowadays is harsh and mentally-harmful and I really feel for those struggling with validity and/or finding their "place" with the right people, especially when the algorithm isn't in their favor.

Damn... Celestia was spittin' with this one. Fantastic video on this topic.

if you’re like me and have a little number problem; make doodles for yourself and try not to post them start small, create doodles of your comfort character being silly, and don’t post that I make drawings that i only share with friends or keep it yourself it’s how i keep myself in check with my art

I have a large follower just from drawing spiderverse since I'm a fan and I sometimes get nervous and feel as though I have to live up to so-call 'STANDARDS' when it comes to posting my art which is very good. But I'm learning to not care and just post it, and enjoy it regardless of what someone thinks

I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again. The only artists who should be concerned about the amount of engagement on their art are full and part time artists. That affects their income. Hobbyists, especially children, shouldn’t be concerned with engagement because it doesn’t tangibly affect anything in their lives. Other people caring about your interests is nice, but hobbies by their nature are meant to be something you only do for your own enjoyment, not for other’s validation. This is why I always roll my eyes whenever those vent comics about artists complaining how “no one likes my art!” keep circling around on Twitter once a month. I get that some of them are meant to be hyperbole and a joke, but there are artists who do have that mentality. Clout chasing and obtaining fame is a never ending staircase. There will come a time where an artist will get 10,000 likes on an art post, and still call it a “flop” because their last post got 100,000 likes. They’ll never be satisfied. Not to mention, it normalizes the toxic mindset of only seeing people as numbers. Getting 10 likes on an art pots may be discouraging to big artists, but each of those 10 likes still represents a person who took the time to look at your art and like it enough to engage with it.

I'm not sure I have very much to add for conversation now that I have read all the comments on this video but even so I wanted to share my experience with this. I'm a young and very new artist that is trying to hone a youtube channel. I wasn't originally an art RU-vidr and the transition is still very fresh and I've ran into a LOT of hurdles in terms of well, Everything art content related. 😅 Like my video style, editing softwares, what device to use for content, and drawing as a whole. I had this perfect full proof art video series alll planed out but I just kept hitting wall after wall after wall and have now had a breakdown crying in my dads arms because of the learing curve of how to make art content. Which has made me realise that I've been pushing myself to be successful WAY to hard. All I want is to draw and be able to share it with the world even if its only in the double digits of people seeing it. But this time I'm going to make sure that I over everything have fun and take one thing at a time to hone my craft of both content creation and art skills. Not sure if this will be seen by anyone but if it is I hope you got something out of my experience and have helped you in someway or something like that 💝🫡

All these reasons are why I no longer have an art account. I was sick and tired of seeing the value of my art as numbers and saves. It was the best choice for me just post what I wish to post, with my art being a handmade touched.

this one hits frfr whats healthy when its a deadline on consistency from these platforms.... be safe yall stay hydrated watch yourself but enjoy yourself without the social dopamine hit

As an artist, I don't have any social media aside from youtube and an online mobile art game called pixel petz lol

Social Media was inevitable once the Internet was brought online. That's the harsh reality of the situation. No matter how you would put it someone, somewhere was going to think of the idea of a place where people can communicate with each other on the Internet.

I'm having a breakup with social media right now. But not because of social media it self, posting or because I'm tired to draw. I'm sick of people using my art (the container of my soul) as an object and me as a tool. Nobody seems to understand this. Not even other artists. I keep want to draw, but I don't want to share my art with anybody again and it doesn't make sense because art is actually the way I communicate with. 😢

My own personal metric is actually comments, not likes. Art for a fandom I'm in always gets me near 5 times more likes and reblogs, but if its just that I'm grateful, but not satisfied. My OC art however gets a whole bunch less likes, but a lot more comments with feedback, questions or gushing, so it's just so much more rewarding!

I keep posting no matter what lol. I really enjoy making little animations with Procreate and even if SM can be depressing and discouraging, the rewarding feelings I get when I post, will always be better.

It's weird. Art has always been my main hobby, to where I often can't imagine doing anything else with my time. I've never been one to make art *just* to post it, but the lack of engagement is still discouraging. It's not enough to make me quit art or try to make more art or make art I don't want to make, but it *does* make me want to stop posting. I've had maybe two posts that blew up, and I have come to genuinely loathe both of them, because it made me realise people don't care about my art or my characters. They care about the famous character *in* the art. I could have made a shitty little scribble and it would have still gotten leagues more attention. Now that I'm writing this out, it's making me realise why the "just draw fanart :)" advice sits with me so wrong. Fanart just isn't a way to bring attention to your stories and your characters or whatever it is you care more about. I've been posting art for almost 4 years I wanna say, and my original work *never* gets notes like fanart does. It's not enough to make me stop posting, but I don't think I'll want to post fanart online again. For me this isn't a huge deal; I rarely draw fanart anyway. But someone else might not handle it very well.

I draw somethin' every day, but not 'cause I want more engagement. I do it to get better and to go outta my comfort zone. Half of what I draw is fan-art and the other half is OC stuff. I don't care if fan-art of Sonic gets more likes than an OC that I drew for someone, artists are bound to get varying likes on posts especially if they draw a wide variety of things. I'm not gonna fall into the trap of only drawing specific art just to please followers or for whatever's trending.

That was exactly what I needed to hear ! again another spot on video ! Thanks Celestia !

One thing I wanna perhaps touch on is to *be engaged with your art community* . That means consuming other's artwork and interacting with other creators and users on the platform. Comment often on art you enjoy, sharing them and build networks, relationships and friendships with other artists, creators and viewers. While this _could_ help with your exposure, be genuine about it. Do it to support your fellow creators and show how much your viewers' support means to you, and not only for you to benefit from. This will give you at least one other thing to look forward to when logging on the platform, but of course don't get too distracted and set limits for yourself.

I started to have engagement on my arts when I start doing mostly only doodles and not high quality arts, focused on one-two fandoms. I wish I can do more amazing detailled arts but social media really don't push them ^^' I still love doing doodles but sometime I wish I can do more art I'm proud of :') (art is also my job so I feel I don't have to choose what I draw anymore)

The only reason I made a Instagram is because every once in a while I will check to see what people have posted since you need an account to see their stuff it's kinda annoying but I guess that's how Instagram is nowdays.

The only reason I post art Is so I can see the art that i've made over the years.

once i realized that i simply can't draw anything the algorithm recognizes as worth promoting, i stopped uploading anything to my accounts (i also stopped drawing altogether, but for different reasons)

Just my two cents, I’m not sure if Discord counts as social media, but I’ve been able to get both more community AND business from art on there than I ever did on Twitter. Less stressful too because you can curate your exposure much easier

It can also really suck when finicky community guidelines get in the way, like on TikTok. I was drawing some religious pics, and I drew a picture of Adam and Eve in Eden. They didn't wear clothes, but I made sure any "naughty bits" were covered. It was taken off the FYP for the nudity, even though nothing was being shown. Not to mention, I've seen real half-naked people on the app before. It really sucked since I spent eight hours on it.

this honestly was a video I need to listen to at this time, I struggle with keeping my motivation and well I just don't always have the time to just create I wish I could have a chance to back log my work so I can post more often but drawing constantly just for this unhealthy need to seek the sort lived serotonin it gives me compared to how drawing the piece in general made me feel? Is where I try to pool my focus instead. In truth on twitter I stopped using tags to increase the view of my art making it really only those who follow me and sometimes more see my stuff. I just draw for fun and trying to keep that mind set is my current goal so i can love creating again

it's alright I barely get any likes to begin with i've become numb to it. But yeah lately looking at other artists' work and doing art for myself with traditional medium was very helpful for my mindset

U made my day by posting!!!

I really like this topic, I think I haven't posted or even created art in a long time for this reason. But the last time I did on Tumblr, and after reflecting about it it was because it was art I genuinely wanted to make to connect to other people who loved the same thing - and what stuck with me wasn't the number of likes, but the comments it got. I set out to make something that people could think or feel deeply about and it worked! Not to say that every piece has to be this deep thought provoking thing or NEEDS comments to have been worth posting, of course not. But it helped me figure out why I want to share art to begin with.

For me the problem is I just find myself wanting to appease my viewers so I end up making stuff I’m not happy with as a result

Did you see Rim making a video about kooleen sexualizing Jaiden on her video? It's so awful to see aroace person being sexualized. What do you think about it?

Amazing art I wish I had a style like yours but idk how to find a style

could you do or do you have a tutorial on how you color hair? im not sure what the color style is called but ive been wanting to learn because it looks almost jelly but i dont want the “jelly art” style

Taking a break from social media makes me feel better. Likes and interaction is nice but stressful when you dont get none.

I'm kinda the opposite lol. Like, I want to share my art and have friends seem and get a few likes here and there, but I'm always afraid it's gonna attract trolls, despite my art being the most vanilla stuff ever. And it has on occasion and sometimes left me devastated.

I really used to enjoy making art for art sake now the content mindset virus has ruined any and all future or even past art works. I don't know how to fix it....i guess i could stop using social media to post art

I don't post my art on social media for attention or whatnot. I usually post it in response to stuff. (or literally make it to reply to a post or comment) E.g. Someone asked for eyes, so I drew two eyes and posted them

I'm honestly addicted to art, but not because of social media. Its because drawing make brain feel good.

idk I kind of... disagree. Is it addiction or hyperfixation that fulfills that creative itch? Does the algorithm make you compelled to draw more, though? I don't know. From personal experience, it's more that I have more ideas than I have the ability to draw fast. So I draw fast, quick sketches. Given the fact algos want MORE consistent posts to get anywhere, yes - it will make people want to post more, and some folk will push themselves to do more. I don't think that's addiction though. It's like meeting tight deadlines over and over. Which, can and does lead to burnout. I think people get addicted to the engagement/seeking pleasing the algo, that is true. But I don't think it's "addicted to art" ...maybe I'm wrong though.

This is why I took one month of social media cause is toxic and it was worth it now I'm doing art for fun again 😁😁😁

Instagram and Twitter is hard to gain followers. I sorta giving up. I will migrate to Pinterest as well as Reddit.

Celestia, have you ever thought about posting your audio parts on Spotify as a podcast? Personally, id love to listen to your podcasts ❤

Well plot twist........Im banned on Instagram and I dont use twitter 😂, so those two are not the reason im additcted to art.

I've quit social media for awhile (Thanks to AI craps), and I couldn't be happier drawing OCs

There's no a real need to post often... if you are a SOCIAL PERSON. As everything in this silly world, a huge net of fake friendships (I prefer to call them alliances) works better than you will ever do with your efforts. 😢 If drawing it's the way you communicate you will be cutted out the art community as well even if it's a paradox.

Listening to this, I feel like the idea of 'performance' has gotten away from us too. If you're on stage, a good performance is something that a person does that conveys an appropriate emotion or feeling to the audience. If you're talking about something like a car, performance is to do with how well the various components function to facilitate a person driving around. A manual transmission performs better in a race and an automatic transmission performs better in stop and go traffic, etc. Computer performance and social media performance are more like the latter. You can have a 500 hp engine in your car but that doesn't mean you're a good driver. And you can have your post in front of a million people that click like as they scroll past but that doesn't mean you're a good artist. It means your tools are working well at connecting you to your audience. Someone with a 500hp car is a bit more likely to be a good driver and can do things other drivers can't, but most good drivers don't have a 500hp car. Someone with a big subscriber count is a bit more likely to be a good artist and can do some things other artists can't, but most good artists don't have huge amounts of likes or subscribers.

Not quite I usually do less. Post once a week is enough.

I’ll be honest, I think I might’ve dodged that problem at the pass due to the fact the art I post is passion projects, and the only reason I’m interested in likes at all is to gauge how the algorithm is reacting to my work I don’t care about getting a bunch of likes, I’m just sharing my passions. Plus when the line art of the same piece does better than the flats, you already know that’s just social media doing social media stuff

you guys are getting likes?

Social media when artists can actually draw whatever they want instead of silly cute things accord to they extreme moral standart :😨👹💀

If someone chases algorithm - then that's their choice. If they are in art for likes - again, their choice. Social media did not ruin anything for artists -artists ruined it for themselves. Social media is just a tool and if you seek validation from it - well, your problem. Also people need praise from the world so much they whine how they NEED to post. No - learn to enjoy your work for yourself and not search validation from everybody else. People will take a look at your art, say it's nice and move to gazillion other artists that create the same thing and are only differentiated by their nicknames. :/ I have Instagram for myself. I gain one like in three weeks. But most important I no longer hide my stuff in the drawer and I still get likes from my friends - and that's the most important for me. I have more art I don't show that I do show. Art is for me, not to ductape my low self-esteem. :/

“How could I possibly be addicted to art?!? I can’t get enough ar…… oh…”😅 (oh I misunderstood the thumbnail lol): But yes as one of those doofuses who does an “everydays” thing I constantly wonder if I’m just shooting myself in the foot by doing all this work for social media following of nobody 😅

comment just to comment :)

I'm just going to go ahead and assume you're a fan of My Little Pony based solely on your name. 🤣

People still get likes? 😂

I struggle with this so, so much. I've stagnated at 480-something followers on insta for about 8 months now. I'm a brand new youtube channel and my videos have like, single digit views. I'm struggling, if I'm honest 😅

This video is why so many artists I feel are burning out lately including me🥲 I hope we can all find a good balance♥️✨