Social Media Curve

Goodness.

Who knew that learning illustration would send me on a technological learning curve.

Okay. Maybe I had an inkling. Hearing that new authors really kinda need a social media presence to be considered for anything, I guess I assumed that illustration might be in the same ballpark. Really, it’s a handy way to connect. It’s a quick way to take a peek at someone’s work. It’s a great way to meet new people.

Just, I had different plans. One of my life goals is to become a hermit. And digging deeper into the land of social media does not work with these plans.

Then I found SVSlearn.com. I peeked into the “How to get your First 10k Followers“, even though everything about the title was not in line with my hermit goal. And I listened to SVS’s podcast, “Websites and Online Portfolios“, and “How to Social Media” (and a few other’s that mentioned social media in passing).

I sucked it up, and put my hermit dreams on hold.

One of favourite tidbits I learned was this:

You decide what your social media is for.

One of my social media hesitations, aside from destroying my hermit dreams, is the thought that I needed to be perfect. That if I put first attempts at art up, then that would destroy any future art career because those attempts might mar the illusion that I had been amazing since birth.

Spoiler: I have not been amazing or anywhere near perfect. Not even in the last year, let alone since birth.

Then, listening to these classes and podcasts, it was mentioned that it’s actually really fun to see famous artists’ progressions.

Yes!

I love reading and looking through learning journeys! I can handle being the beginner, because it brings me such joy to see other people’s growth.

Also, Jake Parker (SVSlearn.com instructor) mentions that you should figure out what you’re blogging and on social media for. Getting lots of followers? Selling your art? Documenting learning?

That last one! Right now, that’s me!

All going well, at some point I’d like to add my art to my stories and make a finished product. But for now, I’m learning.

And that’s okay.

Then, when I finally psyched myself up to enter the internet realm, I found that there was a learning curve attached to it. How do you post things? What mistakes do newbies do (and how can I avoid that?) How do you get little social media buttons on your blog?

That last one took me 5 hours people. 5 hours to put up tiny little picture links.

Apparently my website Theme doesn’t make finding those buttons easy. Thankfully I’m married to tech support.

I’ve now posted my first 3 posts on facebook, twitter, and instagram. My plan is to start with my animals with verbs sketches, and go from there. I’m enjoying the learning, and lack of pressure to be perfect. I still have a zillion questions, but I think that this hermit wannabe has made good progress.

Now for more art.