Dying to please on IG, FB or Pinterest
As an artist, I am often asked about the creative process. People are fascinated by how my work is “made”. There is no one answer for that question, as each piece is unique. I can share with you what goes into making social media posts. It may not be as glamorous as some people think!
Behind every beautiful Instagram post or Pinterest pin lies a lot of hard work. For example, to get that perfect shot of my latest creation, I might spend hours staging and adjusting light settings until everything is just right. And sometimes it takes dozens of tries to get the perfect picture! Even then, there is the postproduction to help fix certain aspects of the photo or reel.
Often there is more behind getting a piece to final display on FB, IG or Pinterest than you would think. You need to have the perfect background or perfect music behind your reel for it to be eye catching. Another thing to keep in mind is the physical time you post on any of the forums. That can mean your post gets caught in with the tidal flow of other posts looking for your attention. Crafting the perfect message and finding just the right image can take a lot of time and effort. But it’s worth it – because when it comes to social media, aesthetics is key! Posting beautiful, eye-catching images is essential if you want people to stop and take notice.
As I have written before in these blogs, I really hate the business side of things. To me the joy and freedom of bringing a new creation into the world may take me between 50 and a couple hundred hours. At times you want to smash the piece and other times the vibe is flowing straight from your inside through your hands and all is right in the world. Even when you can’t seem to translate what is in your mind through your hand into the piece, it is still better in my opinion than all the business side of running a creative venture.
I’m sure if you’re an artist as well, you will agree with me on that. Needless to say, we still have to keep the doors open and do what is needed to keep the lights on. For me though the business side of my art takes a back seat. Keeping the lights on affords me the opportunity to keep creating and ultimately, I create for me at the end of the day… If people like what I do, that’s a benefit. If not then it really doesn’t matter to me. I really really don’t want this to be taken wrong, but think all my customers and friends respect the fact that when they acquire one of my pieces, they know it is true freely inspired art. It isn’t following any trend or thing that may be cool for five minutes. I believe we as artists need to create because we MUST get these ideas out of our heads and into the world, not to beg for approval from the masses.