mishitales

It's been a busy week, so Arting had to take a back seat. I finally had time to work on a few drawings today.

I'm going to enter an art contest, and I am normally not one of those people who pushes it to the wire and turns stuff in at the last second, but it's getting close for this contest!

I'm nervous because of the style they want (they were very clear on what they wanted) because it's not a style I normally draw. Years ago I posted something similar on some forums, and that was a huge mistake. People can be jerks. I like what I've got so far, but...I also liked what I had posted on those forums! The nervous factor is over 9,000.

I scoured the style and the references they posted and did not deviate at all. It's a shot in the dark. I'd forever regret it if I didn't at least try. 

 The other lunch cart has tacos now.

Signed. Sealed. Delivered. Right now. Regular Lunch Cart will be Always Lunch Cart because tacos. 

My alarm went off properly today, so everything was good. Everyone is back from the holiday, and it was nice to catch up on news and...learn dances. Yes. I learned a new dance today. You know you are getting old when you have no idea what's what. Just picture three GenX Office Ladies attempting the flossing dance--hilarity ensues. 

Since today was a normal day (ie, not that interesting aside from tacos and new dances), I'll share a bit about myself!

I am a GenXer who is happily nerdy and without children. I like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Bosch, Stranger Things, Jurassic Park, History (namely WWI & WWII), tacos, and drawing. 

 So it's been ages since I've posted anything on here!

In short, all of those techniques I was trying stopped working, and I was getting frustrated. I didn't want to post a bunch of rants and be a Debbie Downer. I've tried finding groups and discussion boards on the topic of struggling Instagram artists, but those were all filled with people like "OMG, I used to get a 1,234,456,234 likes per post, now I'm only getting 1,000,000!" And the people replying were rude, "Dude your profile sucks ass. You need to pay for likes or not suck!!!11" 

I wish there was a group for truly struggling artists! Either people don't want to admit it, or I'm looking in all the wrong places.

Anyways, so this tiny little journal is going to take another direction entirely. I may post random stuff about my day. Who knows! 

Things are starting to pick up thanks to all of those YouTube tutorials I watched. 

I'm doing my own version of their advice, which is a combination of everything.

As I said previously, I only comment on photos I like to avoid sounding spammy. People have been replying, and I've been getting more likes and follows--except for follow/unfollow dickbags. One thing that seemed to be a trend across the tutorials I watched is that people are fed up with follow/unfollow! I am glad people are starting to notice and denounce it because it really is a dick move! 

Once I find a method I am 100% happy with that works, I'll share it! I'm still in the experimental phase. 

A tangent about why I care so much ;)


( Read more... )

 I promise this post is positive! 

Last night I scoured the Internet for clues as to why my Instagram activity tanked overnight, and I found out that I am not alone. I also forgot to mention in my last post that I noticed half of my friends on there had drastic drops in likes (I've been paying close attention to like counts when I scroll through posts). It was weird and there was a clear distinction from the other half of my friends (who seem to be getting more and more likes each day). 

So what happened?

They tweaked their algorithm. Again.

They are making it more like Facebook, where the more comments and likes a post gets, the more likely your friends (and others) will see it, which sucks in my opinion, especially for small accounts like mine, but that's a rant for another day! 

I looked up some new strategies (as in from posts made within the past month because that's when everything took a nose dive). 

You basically have to up your comment game and start getting into Instagram Stories.

So here it goes! Hopefully I can get everything back to where it was in April because I worked too hard to get that far just to lose it over an annoying algorithm. 

 I've run into another slump.

Things were going great as far as my account growth, but now they have stalled are heading for reverse. Sometimes I wish this was like a video game where all that hard work you put into advancing to the next level ensures that you keep moving forward. 

I guess this is a great opportunity to test new things and to post about them, what works vs what doesn't! 

It's just frustrating sometimes. I try to keep a positive attitude, but it's hard, especially with all the effort I put into my work.

At any rate, I'll take experimenting into overdrive starting today and post the results! 

About my niche
It three major trends, art, dressing vintage, and antiques. The latter two can get very pricey. Seeing that I can't buy a new antique every week and don't have a dedicated photographer (I suck at selfies, ha ha!), I'll have to focus on art for now. 

 Oh dear me! I haven't posted here in a while.

Let's just say that going from two weeks of warm, sunny weather where I was outside most of the time to crappy, cold Northeastern weather where I'm right back in winter hibernation, barely moving mode is hard. I'm a child of the summer, worshiper of the sun and all things outdoors. I get the snowbird thing now. I totally get why people flock to Florida in the winter now. 

I've been slowly getting back into my routine. Now that I'm back in this timezone, my insomnia is back *cries* And why am I mentioning this? Drawing while grumpy. Several days of insomnia will make you cranky and turn you into a rabid Klingon with a chip on his shoulder. 

Tiny Artist tip #1

Don't work on a drawing when you are grumpy and 100% done with everything.

The shortcuts and lazy mistakes you'll make are not worth quickly pumping out a drawing, especially if it's for someone else! Just don't do it. Don't even pull the drawing out. Leave it be and work on it another day.

I could have worked on a drawing for a friend last night, but holy Captain Grumpy, Batman. I was not the most pleasant person, ha ha! I was at "What is that random sound? It's pissing me off!" level of cranky.

Today brings a so-so amount of sleep and a fresh start! I can live with a little sleep--it's more than what I've been getting all week. 

 If you want to skip the vent, just scroll to "Positivity! Tips for growing your account (...and I forgot I stopped doing this! No wonder things seem to have slowed! :P )"

Follow/Unfollow Vent
I know I shouldn't care, but I do! I can't help it :) If Instagram can shadow ban people over mundane things like tags, then they can certainly work on creating an algorithm that slaps these bastards on the wrist. A frequent flyers sort of deal, only a frequent follower/unfollower rewards program.  I'm normally good at spotting them, but sometimes I don't, and over the past week, I must have eaten a whole basket of FAIL cookies because my follower count dropped (looking back, I know it was due to these bastards).

It's just so frustrating because I work my butt off with my art!  

I've researched this irritating Follow/Unfollow trend, and I've seen "but you can only follow 7,500 people! (I think..I know it's 7,000 something.) How am I supposed to get more followers? "

Easy. Spam that like button to get their attention. Trust me. It will make them notice you and click on your account, and unless you post stuff way outside their niche or stuff they hate, they'll probably follow you.

Don't be a douche. Don't follow/unfollow. 

I know there are apps out there that track which accounts do this so you can block them (this is the only solution I've seen so far), but my dear little phone is an elderly being with 8 precious gigabytes of space. ...I'm at the delete, delete, delete phase just to stay afloat. (LOL)

My Personal Hurdle! 

I guess I'm just annoyed because I'm not one of those people who can easily advertise themselves. I'll share the hell out of a friend's post, but mine?  lolz nope. I know this is my biggest obstacle. It has always been an issue for me. For one, I'm shy. I've also had BAAAADDDD experiences with trying to promote myself (maybe I just had the misfortune of being around a lot of toxic people; I don't know). The rare time that I'll do it, I feel like I'm spamming. 

Positivity! 
Tips for growing your account (...and I forgot I stopped doing this! No wonder things seem to have slowed! :P )

So I did I a lot of thinking this morning (like I said, I was frustrated and upset), and it dawned on me that part of the reason I haven't been growing like I used to was because I wasn't doing my regular Instagram rounds anymore. I used to do them over the summer, and I'd get results (I'll explain below). My work's busy season starts at the end of Fall and lasts all Winter and sometimes into early Spring. Bam. That was exactly when I started seeing a decline in activity. It's not me sucking at art, it's me not investing the time I used to! The business trips don't help either (those are a lost cause because I have no time at all during those). 

My Instagram Rounds

I commute to work, and let me tell you, if you commute, this is the BEST time to do this. You're already sitting on a bus, train, tram, or trolly, so you might as well use that time for some positivity! I started doing the rounds again today, and I've already seen a little bit of activity as a result!

First things first:
Find your niche and pay attention to the tags you use within that niche. Search a tag and pay attention to the recommended tags at the top. Find out where most of your niche is from (United States, Europe, Japan..etc). This will help  you figure out when everyone's active.

Round 1:
Jump into the tags!

Once you have your favorite/most frequent tags sorted out, dive right in. Pick a tag and start liking posts (you don't have to like every single one or stuff you don't like). If you see an account that looks awesome, like a few of their posts to get their attention. Take notice of their following count. If they have 1,000 followers and only follow 5 people, don't bother following them. Like a few of their posts and see what happens. Do this for a few accounts. 

Round 2:
People normally post a lot during commuting hours (I don't know if this is because my niche has a lot of Europeans in it, but it is something I've noticed). The morning commute is especially prime time for me! 

When one of the bigger accounts you follow posts, tap on the likes and start looking at the accounts who liked it. Why? These accounts are most likely within your niche and are more likely to like and follow back. They are also active right then and there since they just liked someone's post. They're more likely to notice you. Do a little bit of Round 1 here (you don't have to follow every single account or even follow one! Just start liking posts--posts that you enjoy!). If one of these accounts follows you, follow them back asap!

Round 3: 
If you really like something, and it stands out, don't be afraid to leave a comment. I reserve this for posts that I especially love. This makes the comment more genuine and doesn't make it come off as "PAY ATTENTION TO ME! FOLLOW ME RIGHT NOW!" ;)

Round 4:
Look at the recommended accounts. Instagram is pretty good at recommending you accounts within your niche that a lot of your followers/following follow.  Do some Round 1!

Risks:
The only risks are private accounts. Sometimes Instagram will recommend them to you or you'll see them during Round 2. You'll see that several of the people you follow (within your niche) follow them, so you think, okay "10 people like this guy, so I'm going to give him a shot." ...and you see that he posts nothing but strips of bark, blurry screenshots of FarmVille, or nekked girls. Following these accounts is a gamble! My magic number is 10 mutual followers. Once I grow, it will probably be more...like I said, it is a gamble! You do not know what you're getting. I look at the bio for clues (even that isn't a fail safe). 

So there you have it, some positivity and advice! This method takes an investment of time, and it takes a bit of time to grow, but if you can do it during your commute or during an idle hour, I recommend it. You don't feel like you're spamming people, and you're liking/following people that you genuinely enjoy. 

The irony is that it dawned on me today...I'm going to be gone for two weeks. I will not have time to do my rounds. 

 This series is about my real life! It's a sort of get to know me post. 

The Mark of Gideon
A reference to a Star Trek TOS episode about an overpopulated planet

Yesterday was the first day it wasn't either raining, snowing, or blasting polar winds. Even though it was still in the 30s, everyone got the same idea and headed to the same store. Yikes. Not fun. People tend to block shelves and NOT move when they see you trying to get to something here. I suppose I could ask them to move, but that would involve Peopling, and I avoid that at all costs, ha ha!

The thing I love about this store (and why everyone else loves it) is that they have everything, groceries, clothing, art supplies, pet supplies...you name it, they probably have it. 

The excitement of the shopping trip was my new suitcase and the fact that I restocked up on canvases. I was down to one. 

My new suitcase rocks! It's large and is a deep purple (almost black) with a slight camo pattern on it (it's so dark, that the camo just looks like some kind of Jake Sisko sweater pattern, ha ha!). As someone who travels a lot in the winter, I've been needing a large suitcase for quite some time now. It is so hard to stuff all the annoying layers you need among your regular clothes and toiletries. Plus, I hate winter, so I tend to over pack because I hate winter fashion with a passion :P 

Now I don't have to worry about cycling through the same three outfits for a week long trip! Winter on the East Coast is rough, and hotels tend to be cold. Heat? What is heat? We just don't know. 

You're usually working at the desk (our work rents hotel space for our travel stuff) in your winter coat with all your layers beneath your outfit as your fingers freeze--a big suitcase is a must! 

In my last post, I talked about how I hate having to start from ground zero every time I get back from a business trip.

I'm following up on that post with my progress!

So I drew characters from screenshots people recently posted (ALWAYS give the person who posted the screenshot credit. ALWAYS. It also helps that this fandom is small and comprised of the NICEST people you'll ever meet).

This is proving to be an effective way to build myself back up to where I was instead of having to start from ZERO and finally working my way up only to have to leave on another trip and start all over. 

One of my drawings has over 40 likes, and another I posted today is already at 20--remember what I said about being a teeny-tiny artist ;). The one I posted today got some attention on Twitter. I feel like getting any sort of attention on Twitter an accomplishment! 

I think the key was sticking to fandom stuff rather than original characters or "experimental" art and drawing things from recent photos. 

I will keep posting my adventures in artland in hopes that it helps another teeny-tiny artist out there!

And always, please feel free to say hello!