I saw a post yesterday that was basically along the lines of “If you ‘Like’ my art, that means you don’t love me or love my work, cause you don’t love it enough to share it with other people.” THIS IS SUCH A BAD ATTITUDE TO HAVE, especially if you’re a young and developing artist.
If you’re young and starting out your creative journey―whether that means being a hobbyist or pursuing a creative career―don’t listen to these posts. Don’t think that people who Like your art are secretly wanting you to fail, or that social media ‘Likes’ in lieu of shares somehow dooms your creative career. Not only does that kind of talk make other people anxious (”oh no, I gotta reblog this even though I don’t want to or else this user will think I hate them”), it almost even discourages people from genuinely Liking (or sharing) your work in the first place.
If a drawing you post (and maybe even worked really hard on) doesn’t get many likes, you can mope over it for a bit, but don’t focus too much on it. Keep drawing. Move along. Work a little differently next time. Maybe even try doing some studies or developing a different part of your creative process. Art really is a huge winding journey and it’s always changing, just like your style and skill level. Don’t blame your feelings of “non-success” on other people. Just keep it up, always improve, and people will notice your efforts.
I always feel weird trying to be inspirational or whatever because I feel like I’m still a nobody artist too who barely knows what the heck I’m doing most days… but if I could help at least one of you feel a little better about those weird posts that’d make it okay.