mishitales

 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. 

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!

#1 Trying to erase a tiny mark, but all you have is one of those giant "artist" erasers, so there's a 90% chance you're gonna erase a giant blob of hard work.

#2 Hands

#3 The Other Eye

#4 Drawing with pencil and smearing it as you start sketching on the other side of the page.

#5 Ruining an entire drawing because you wanted to be extra and write on it when you damn well know your handwriting sucks.

I may or may not have just ruined a drawing by bedazzling it with my wobbly handwriting... >.>