Living off social media is a goal and a dream for many creatives out there. The idea of being a patreon-backed “content creator”, or an artist that can live off of furry commissions sounds very appealing indeed. Imagine being paid literally just to pursue your hobbies, your passions!
You’ll never have to step out of your comfort zone ever again!…
And you never can, if this is truly what you want. Because you might risk disrupting your “personal brand”.
I’ve seen so many of my artist friends try and fail to gather a following on social media precisely because they didn’t conform to any one niche.
The ones that did get “big”, that can live off of furry commissions, or selling adoptables: their aesthetics, their subject matter was extremely uniform. Drawing the same things, over and over, and over again… In exactly the same way, never changing up anything in the process, using one workflow.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with becoming “stale” with your craft, inherently. If you’re comfortable like this, using your chosen process, representing yourself in one way and one way only - good for you.
I just don’t know how people can live like this. I never have understood it and never will.
“Just be yourself and everything will come to you!”
I came across a Tumblr ask directed at a big furry artist asking for advice on getting commissions, on gethering a following. They replied: It’s not that hard! Just draw what you like and be sincere and it will all come to you!!
Not my first time seeing “advice” like this. It’s still extremely frustrating to see, as someone who for many years tried to achieve the social media artist dream and never got there.
This is what started this whole train of thought, and it also prompted me to post this thread on fedi:
I could never maintain a personal brand. Whether in the form of an “art style” (as understood by social media) or subject matter or anything else. It’s why I’ve never been an successful (measured by interaction counts, commissioners) social media artist.
I’m always all of me. Shifting, squirming, changing me. That’s not fit for online success.
When I was on twitter, the biggest surge of interactions, commissions and general popularity was when I tried to compartmentalize myself as “anthro bird artist”
Once I started being more numbers went down
You can’t gain success online without being One Thing. Unless you get exceptionally lucky
I suppose this applies to capitalism in general, too…
Obviously, having all your creations be uniform and instantly recognizable makes it a hundred more times easier to find customers/commisioners.
When you buy something, you would rather like to know what kind of product exactly to expect, right?
closing thoughts?…
I don’t know what I want to say, making this post. I suppose I’m just complaining a little bit here. I hate it when people make out living off art to be an easy thing.
Maybe I’ll end up coming back to this post.
