CHALLENGE 34

Sharing your creations online

ARTISTS TODAY HAVE A HUGE ADVANTAGE OVER THEIR PREDECESSORS: THE INTERNET. SHARING YOUR WORK ONLINE IS A SIMPLE WAY TO IMPROVE. IN THIS CHALLENGE, DISCOVER THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS KIND OF EXPOSURE, ALONG WITH A LIST OF BEST PRACTICES SO THAT YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE CAN FULLY NURTURE YOUR ART. I PURPOSELY LEFT THIS SUBJECT FOR THE END OF THIS BOOK BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR PRACTICE, IT IS IMPORTANT TO CREATE FOR YOURSELF AND TO EXPERIMENT AWAY FROM THE GAZE OF OTHER PEOPLE. NOW, THOUGH, DARE TO SHARE A CREATION OF YOURS BY CREATING AN INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT, A BLOG, A WEBSITE, OR AN ONLINE PORTFOLIO.

Why share your work online?

This approach has numerous advantages. Opening up your creativity to the outside world will, in fact, improve your:

progress: Sharing encourages you to push yourself in order to do the best you can. That also allows you to improve other skills of yours that are indirectly connected with your art (such as photography, computer skills, etc.);

expertise: By sharing your knowledge and your experience as you are learning, you will reveal yourself as being more of an expert than someone who has never tried. You will, therefore, certainly start receiving questions;

stimulation: As you see other artists sharing their work and you begin to see reactions to your own, you will want to share more experiences. That will give you even more energy for continuing your work;

confidence: In spite of what people sometimes say, online feedback is often kind and encouraging. The first comments you get will surely reinforce your self-confidence;

network: The internet will allow you to gradually build a community. Finding people who have the same passion as you is extremely nurturing, motivating, and inspiring. It is also an opportunity to meet wonderful people;

career: Sharing your work online is the best way to make yourself known today if that’s what you are looking for. It allowed me to transform my pastime into a professional project.

Spotlight on Courtney Cerruti

On the benefits of sharing what you’ve learned, whether online or elsewhere, Courtney Cerruti writes: “Ever since I was a student, and now professionally, I share a lot of my knowledge, either through courses or in workshops. It’s very gratifying. I never hesitate to openly share everything I know, really everything, and the more I do it, the more I learn. Teaching helps you to master your art. You have to see it through your own eyes but also through the eyes of your students, and this constant dialogue allows you to evolve and grow.”

See Courtney’s story on page 26.

The author’s website: The French title means “Marie’s trials and tribulations.” Tabs across the top include Home, Blog, Free Courses, Watercolor Courses, My Book, and Find Out More. On the blog, you have the option of seeing my most recent articles, or choose All articles, Watercolor tutorials, Art supply reviews, Watercolor tips, Creative tips, Inspiration, Videos, News. The specific blog titles shown include Mistakes to avoid for water-color flowers; New video class: Fantastic Flowers; My watercolors are blah!; Hints for painting watercolor flowers; and Why Is Copying Not Enough?

What should I share?

You have several options, including:

a blog or a website: This is a long-term project and requires the most investment. Your website needs to have new content added regularly and offer something of value to the reader in order to be discovered by search engines or Pinterest. This is the most professional option, especially for building a portfolio;

Instagram: This social network, which is based on the images that are trending at any given time, allows you to share more spontaneous videos, which will disappear after twenty-four hours (called stories). This is the simplest way to share your creations that I can suggest;

Facebook: The main advantage of Facebook is in the possibilities it offers for joining discussion groups and sharing groups. For example, I recommend the group “Ateliers de DESSIN - Renata” (“Creative workshops with Renata”), in which Renata suggests new ideas every week for drawing easily, along with many challenges;

YouTube: This video platform has more and more viewers every day. The video format gives you a different way to share your art and your personality. However, the quality of the videos, overall, is very high, which can be discouraging when you are starting out;

specialized platforms: Depending on your art form, you might find it worthwhile to share your work on specialized platforms, such as 500px or Flickr for photography. These two sites allow you to share your photos, make comments, find inspiration, and participate in discussion groups.

What should I share?

You can share a variety of content, depending on your preferences: inspiration, workspace, process, finished creations, creative reflections, doubts, reviews, advice, and so on. However, in terms of sharing content, only share what you are comfortable with. Shaun McNiff, an American artist and the author of Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go, points out that not all art needs or ought to be shared: “Can you imagine people feeling that their prayers, spiritual exercises, and meditations must be exhibited in a gallery or commercially published? This simple distinction between primal exercise and commercial production describes the fundamental values of my approach to making art.”

Facing your fears

Sharing your art with strangers often provokes the same kinds of fear for most people:

Fear of having nothing of interest to share and not being good enough: Don’t be afraid of being too much of a beginner to share something. There will always be someone less experienced than you who will be interested in your perspective and your experience.

Fear of being copied, of having your secrets or your art stolen: This is indeed a risk, but there are ways to protect your creations once you have reached a certain level. More generally, sharing your techniques will bring you more opportunities than headaches. You will position yourself as an expert and develop interest in your discipline.

Sofie Dossi, American contortionist, in the New York City subway for a ten-minute photo challenge with Jordan Matter, 2018.

Spotlight on Jordan Matter

“Online, you choose what you share. It’s important to show both your successes and your failures at the same time, not just your successes. People have to see that making a mistake is not a bad thing if you want to create, in fact quite the contrary! For me, it’s all the more important because most of my audience is young, and therefore very easily influenced. My next challenge is to use my YouTube channel to have a positive influence on the life of the people who follow me. I would like to offer new kinds of videos where I celebrate individuality, sharing with deaf dancers, overweight dancers. . . . I want to show that it’s a good thing to step out of the mold where everyone has to be like everyone else.”

See Jordan’s story on page 46.

Fear of not being able to stick with it long-term and of dropping the ball: Trying doesn’t commit you to anything. If you like it, you can establish a rhythm that works with your schedule, and if you can’t manage it, too bad!

Fear of becoming addicted and not creating for yourself any longer: This is definitely the biggest risk. You have to create in order to have content to share, but that should not be an end in itself. Make your priority be your own experimentation and practice, not the internet.

Developing your online presence

Don’t feel obliged to get all of this set up in a systematic way. You can choose to share your experience periodically, and that’s fine too. If you want to go further and improve your online visibility, take advantage of the suggestions below, which were very helpful to me.

Quality and relevance

Pay attention to the quality of what you publish (photography and writing) and try to offer the greatest value possible (experience, advice, etc.) Limit yourself to photographs of your own creations: if you share content on too many different subjects, you run the risk of alienating your audience, which will then lose interest in your art.

Regularity

Be regular. That’s the most important piece of advice. If you decide to share one blog article a week, one image a day, or one video a month, try to stick to that. It is by creating a rhythm that you will collect a community, which will count on your regularity. The time that you dedicate to publishing should not, however, keep you from unplugging in order to be able to recenter yourself in your art.

Engagement

If you appreciate the reactions and comments that you are getting, take the time to answer and engage in the discussion. Even if it takes time, keep your community animated, show an interest in other artists’ work, answer questions, and so on.

Vulnerability

Show your vulnerability on social networks. It’s definitely not easy, but share your mistakes and your moments of doubt. Your community will recognize itself in these difficulties and will see you as a “normal” person. Your followers will open themselves up to you in response, which will help you as well. By showing that you’re not perfect, you will reinforce the relationship of trust you have built with them.

Chasing “likes”

Publishing on social media is addictive. “Likes” and comments give you immediate gratification and a burst of adrenaline. This can cause you to create for the sake of getting likes and to evaluate your work based on how much response you get when you publish it. But the creative process is made up of stages, and sometimes they take time. Social networks, on the other hand, push you to go fast and publish a lot. Don’t fall into the trap of chasing likes. Take the time and the perspective that you need to develop your art, as the most important thing. Don’t force yourself to create only what gets positive responses on your networks. Ask yourself: Are you happy with your art? Are you enthusiastic about it? If not, you may have reached a plateau. Take risks, reactivate your curiosity, and become a beginner again. This may disorient your community, but in order for your creative activity to be sustainable, it is you who have to like it, most of all (challenge 32).