Unasked for Advice

Hey folks,

I recently received an email from a high school student who was asking for some general art advice. They asked a few questions but there was one in particular that stuck out to me as it's something I've been asked in different ways, numerous times, by people at all stages of their art career. It's something I can't be certain on but I do have some confidence in answering it from a personal place. 

Their question was, "How did you let yourself be known? How can I do it?". There are a lot of ways to interpret this so, of course, (as I am not one for brevity), I answered it every way I could think of. For context, they mentioned "being known" twice and the first time was in the context of having social media accounts but struggling to use them. I have a lot of complicated feelings about being online and frankly, hearing someone so young, in their midst of their development as an artist, ask such a question really made me pause! In some ways, it made me feel like art is something that is now created in order to be shared, considered, and viewed in the context of feeds; a means of gaining followers and becoming known. I guess it's not so different then trying to get your work into a gallery a hundred years ago. I digress. Whatever.

Anyways, I spent a while answering this question and, since I've been asked it before, I figured I'd share my answer. I hope there's something in there for you too. 

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to comment.

- How did you let yourself be known? How can I do it?

I'm going to give two different  answers. One is my knee-jerk old-man advice that I stand by and the  second answer I'll try to more directly address your question. I feel  like there are a few ways to interpret this question so I hope I am  addressing it correctly!

It's okay to make  work and not be known. My best advice is to first let yourself make work  strictly for yourself; learn what it is about drawing that you enjoy  and don't worry about an audience. Trying to build an audience  prematurely can be extremely detrimental to artists - it's not about  follower counts it's about making art. Getting to a place where you're  "making art" comes from making a lot of "bad" work that shouldn't be  shared. If you're constantly making work with the aim of sharing it you  will be less inclined to experiment which is a necessity in developing  as an artist. Worrying about creating work that can be shared makes you  run the risk of stamping out your own natural progression and perhaps  even adopting the shorthand of just copying others' artistic styles. If  you can find what it is you enjoy about making art (which can take years  or can be as simple as "I just love drawing") it becomes much easier to  share it without worrying about "building an audience" or "why isn't  this image doing as well as my last post"? If you're at least enjoying  or an ounce confident in your own work you've at least already gained  something prior to posting and sharing your own work. Being online is a  gift and a curse for us artists - it's been genuinely beneficial to my  short career but it's also caused a lot of bad mental health days; days  where i wanted to throw my sketchbook out the window as it was hard not  to compare my work to my peers who were posting great work while I  struggled to make anything at all. In my opinion, it's not worth  fretting about at this point. However, as someone who grew up terminally  online, I appreciate that this is a hard thing to do.

I  remember the feeling of looking at other artists' work on instagram,  seeing their follower count, and feeling a rise of toxic jealousy within  myself. Innumerable times, this jealousy would lead me to hate my own  work - it wasn't "cool" or "weird" enough! Drawing anything would become  so difficult because there was a voice in my head that was constantly  comparing every line to the work of the artists I admire. My advice  comes from the hopes of helping people avoid that. The reality is my  work was not ready to be shared on such a scale, and even if it was, there's no guarantee of gaining a follower count by making good work. Good work doesn't always get attention and the reverse is also true;  you don't have to be good to get attention! It's a game with rules that  are always changing so it's best, in my opinion, to not take it so  seriously. A high follower count does not indicate quality and vice  versa. Give yourself the time to develop as an artist! It can be a long  journey to end up at a point where people will pay attention or they  just never will. Some of my favorite artists currently working have  under 1k followers on twitter and instagram. Platforms like instagram or  tiktok don't function in a way that strictly rewards "good work"; there  is an algorithm behind all of it and you have to play the game in order  to maybe get an ounce of traction. This is why I always try to come  back to enjoying the act of making work; if you've already found value  in making it it becomes easier to drown out the noise of social media.

The real answer to your question is:

In  terms of "letting myself be known" - I don't know! Despite being a bit  of a loner, I've always really enjoyed the side effects of sharing my  work. I grew up on internet forums and have always enjoyed chatting with  strangers about the work we liked. Meeting other folks creating work  helps establish a feeling of community which at least allows your art to  be known by other artists. It's hard to say whether or not my work is  known at this point. It's something that has built up a lot over time.  There's a huge amount of luck involved. I've been posting my work online  for around 10 years now. It's been extremely beneficial to go to events  and  meet others who are doing similar things to you. Just showing up to  these community events and being kind has helped establish a lot of  connections. I met the art directors  for both of my graphic novels from tabling at comic fairs. I think  "becoming known" takes a lot of fortitude as it's not something that'll  happen over night. If it's something you want to happen quickly it's  going to be a hardtime; there's no recipe for success in any of this.  The reality is, any amount of recognition, once received, feels normal  and no longer feels like an achievement. Being "known" is temporary and I  think, in longer terms, it's hard to quantify. I think you just have to  keep creating work for yourself and hope it pans out.

In  terms of being known online, some people gain online followings  overnight and others never will. My follower count skyrocketed over the  past couple of years and I couldn't really tell you why. Again, I've  been at this a long time. The rise in followers seems to have coincided  with gaining confidence in my own work but it's hard to pin down. If you  don't feel ready to be known then that's great - savour it. You don't  need to be making work for anyone other than yourself; art does not demand an audience. It's natural to be self conscious about your work. Give yourself time,  be kind, and when you do share it, take confidence from those who are  kind about your work and be grateful for it. Understanding that nobody  owes you their attention makes it all the more gratifying and humbling  when your art receives it. There will always be people who don't like it  and there's nothing you do about that - again, this is why I always  come back to making work for yourself and just enjoying the process. At  the end of the day, I draw dumb pictures for a living - it's a really  safe activitiy and try not to beat myself up too much or tie my value as  a person into it. If I draw something bad what's the worst thing that  will happen?

If you aren't in a place where "letting yourself be known" or sharing your work feels right then just let that be