Social Media

[RobinZ]

Harold, what kind of plants? I have had wonderful success with succulents and was thinking that might be a nice side venture. I am obsessed with making plant babies of any type. I am going to plant canna lily seeds to see what crazy thing comes up! I've cross bred daylilies, too, for personal use.

 

[Artyczar]

I put it on my FB page, of course they may take it off. FB is getting kind of prissy.

That's okay. Thanks for giving it a tray either way.

 

[bob]

too me being on several social media sites promoting your artwork seems like alot of work , I'd rather have one personal website & go from there .

 

[OleKobe]

I found that it's impossible to move on from your past on social media. Too many people from 30-40 years ago who wanted to reconnect thinking I'm the same ass-clown I was back then. And then there are the "Flying Monkeys". I occasionally sell ACEOs on eBay. Otherwise, I'm only on this website and another art site based in France.

 

[ZenDruid]

What's WC?

 

[Artyczar]

It's WetCanvas, another forum that a lot of people here came from and keep abbreviating.

 

[MurrayG]

Hi Folks, I have an odd question that probably fits here, if not, let me know. I am "kinda private". I feel uncomfortable plastering my real name all over the place. Yes, I am on Creative spark, am on Wetcanvass, do have Ello and Pinterest accounts ( both Newish). All under my pseudonym of MurrayG or MurrayW. I do get nice comments and encouragement, and the works I recently posted on Ello are getting views. So, how do you self promote if you like a little bit of "privavcy". I know that sounds contrary to the game.... but there is it. Thanks. Any thoughts?

 

[Artyczar]

It depends on how you define your privacy. Do you use your real name in your real art? Do you sign your work with a "brush name?" Do you want to promote and sell your work? What don't you want people to know about you? I guess you have to ask yourself these things. It's not like you are giving away your address, but with promoting your art, you also have to promote yourself a little. People collecting your work would like to know a little bit about the artist. Just basics, like what region you're from (city, state), and where you were born. A little bit about your process and what your work is about, etc.

But if you would just like to lurk as an anonymous character and not show your work under your real name--there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you don't care to promote or sell. Maybe you just want to see if people like it and want to comment on it. Promotion and sharing are two different things. A business is something different thing to consider. Even if you owned a fishing and bait shop, you'd need your real name on it somewhere, so your customers could know who to trust.

 

[MurrayG]

It depends on how you define your privacy. Do you use your real name in your real art? Do you sign your work with a "brush name?" Do you want to promote and sell your work? What don't you want people to know about you? I guess you have to ask yourself these things. It's not like you are giving away your address, but with promoting your art, you also have to promote yourself a little. People collecting your work would like to know a little bit about the artist. Just basics, like what region you're from (city, state), and where you were born. A little bit about your process and what your work is about, etc.

But if you would just like to lurk as an anonymous character and not show your work under your real name--there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you don't care to promote or sell. Maybe you just want to see if people like it and want to comment on it. Promotion and sharing are two different things. A business is something different thing to consider. Even if you owned a fishing and bait shop, you'd need your real name on it somewhere, so your customers could know who to trust.

Hmmm, all good points. I am OK with my real name being known by people, of course, by those wanting to know more about me or my "art". I am OK with people knowing something about me and my background. I don't think I am in danger of being an international sensation or celebrity so thats OK ..... Let's face it, I am writing a book of my memoirs as a Kid... thats personal and out there. The surname on my paintings is me.... I use my middle and Surname usually - ie M Winn. I just feel a bit "anti facebook" about having every man and their dog knowing about my life, even though I sometimes talk about it.... make sense?
So is a "Brushname" Ok (yes I use my surname) and reveal the artist to those that care a fair thing?

 

[Artyczar]

I'm not sure I understand the question. A brush name is like a pen name, so it's not your real name that you would sign your paintings with. You could very well make up a completely different identity if you wanted with a fake name, but that's up to you!

I hate Facebook. I don't use it. Not for personal reasons, not for promotional reasons either. However, they offer a business page instead of personal pages where you can just have people "like" your page that you promote your work on. You don't have "friends" like a personal page. I had that when I was on there, but I quit all of that a few years ago. I do have an Instagram account and it's not personal at all. It's art promotion only.

I also put out a memoir a couple of years back. Now I am taking it out of distribution because I totally regret having so much of my private life out there. But there's not much I can do about the books that are already in bookstores. I can only halt further printing.

But I totally understand your concerns. I keep a blog and I am personal and candid on it. I run into people that tell me they read it and I feel a little mortified when they tell me, but I still keep writing on it. It's like a public diary about art and life. My website reveals a lot about me too. There's a ton of information about me all over the internet and there's nothing I can do about it. It's just life. However, in my "real" life, I am a very private person. I keep a PO box instead of giving out my real address to anyone, even my own brother. I don't invite people over. I'm not very trusting of new people, etc. But anyone anywhere can find your address very easily you know. These days, it's just that way.

I use my real name, though I have recently changed my first name. It's being legalized now. But my legal last name has been "Es" since I was 15 years old. I have not used my "surname" (is that the last name you are born with?) even on my Social Security card. It's always been Es, as I was emancipated as a teenager and got a name change judgement at the same time.

Obviously, I have no problem telling people all about my life, I just did it now. But there's still ways to keep certain things private. No one knows anything about my political affiliations (not that we would talk about them here), but I mean no one. Seems that is what Facebook is all about. And people posting their views on all kinds of things.

I suppose it's all about what exactly you want to keep private and what you don't mind people knowing about you, and, how you would like to promote yourself. What impression do you want your audience to have of you as an artist? Some artists want to be a complete mystery, some want to be accessible to their viewers, some want something in between, and some want to promote a mask. I like being authentic, as it's worked for me and it's actually easiest. Are there things people know about me that I don't want them to? Yes, but I just try not to further talk about those things. If they find them out, oh well. Not much I can do about it, and I can't lie or hide those things.

 

[MurrayG]

I suppose it's all about what exactly you want to keep private and what you don't mind people knowing about you, and, how you would like to promote yourself. What impression do you want your audience to have of you as an artist? Some artists want to be a complete mystery, some want to be accessible to their viewers, some want something in between, and some want to promote a mask. I like being authentic, as it's worked for me and it's actually easiest. Are there things people know about me that I don't want them to? Yes, but I just try not to further talk about those things. If they find them out, oh well. Not much I can do about it, and I can't lie or hide those things.

Thanks Ayin, I think you have addressed some of what was bugging me. Oh I know I am all over already as well, ahhh well, as you say, that's life. Well, onwards and upwards

 

[Bartc]

Privacy went out the window 2 decades ago, whether or not you participate actively on social media. But I agree with you that keeping more off than on social can at least give you a little breathing room.

I got on FB for the kids/grandkids and for business. Then found that I was using it to rant, which I still do, as well as to post my injury recovery, outdoor adventures, trips and paintings, but I did early on decide NOT to allow many "friends". Basically only my real friends and family, and probably a lot of those block or ignore what I post. It's a delusional medium: It's social in one sense but truly not or even anti-social in the classical sense where real people give real hugs. So I suppose I have a love-hate thing with it.

For 30 years I have heard for business that you "have to be on all social media" (the Web at first.) At first it was simply not true, then it became clear that it was true but not for real monetization efforts, and now it's too true for making sales unfortunately. What a shitload of work!

Though I have certainly coded, designed and maintained websites for business, I find that I stall whenever trying that for my painting. But I suspect it's because I'm not really ready for turning my avocation into my income stream, so I have that luxury.
Those of you wanting or needing to sell your art have only the choice of which and how far to take social media and the web. In a way it has certainly allowed you to reach a much broader audience and to escape the tyranny of the galleries, museums and art markets, so I suppose it has to be. Sadly.....IMHO.

I get what Ayin is saying about collectors wanting the "story", if not about the painting, then about the artist. That's something everyone who sells art seems to agree on. It wouldn't be the first time that an artist made up a story for the sake of fame or fortune if you're really worried about revealing your true self, Murray.

 

[Artyczar]

Thirty years might date back a bit further than any "social media" on the web. Ha ha. Facebook, or even MySpace is not quite that old. The Bulletin Boards are just about that old, and I was on Usenet in the 90s when you could practically count on one hand how many artists' website even existed. Meanwhile, you could order a pizza and take a shower while waiting for one image of a painting to download over your dial-up modem! Ha ha ha!!! Oh Nostalgia.

It was kinda easier to sell your art on the web in the late 90s off your website, or eBay, before social media came along, but things are different, and yes--it is a shit ton of work. Constant promotion. Forget about spending your day actually painting. I'd say, if you want to sell on your own off the web, allocate a minimum of half your day on promotion.

Sometimes, I have no earthly clue how some of these artists have so many followers and have so much painting output at the same time. How??? Do they paint at lightning speed? Is someone else doing their social media? Are they sending their art to China and having someone else painting their pictures? I don't understand it really. The people/artists I follow are wildly successful and I just look at a distance and am in mystery as to how it's all possible. How they get 80-200 comments a post and constantly post new work. I'm left in the dust. It all makes me feel like a 2-bit loser. But I have to keep doing as much as I can, which isn't much: about 15 minutes a day on Instagram. That's all the time I have. I have to tend to this forum for most of my morning these days and my painting time has been cut in half (or more). I was a slow painter to begin with.

I complain on my blog, so I hear you, Bart, about venting on Facebook, but I haven't been on there for years and I don't use my Twitter anymore. I figure if people want to know my opinions, they will follow the blog, and some people do. It's my place to vent and talk about art. It's a great outlet and sometimes I sell work through it. Sometimes.

 

[Bartc]

Thirty years might date back a bit further than any "social media" on the web. Ha ha. Facebook, or even MySpace is not quite that old. The Bulletin Boards are just about that old, and I was on Usenet in the 90s when you could practically count on one hand how many artists' website even existed. Meanwhile, you could order a pizza and take a shower while waiting for one image of a painting to download over your dial-up modem! Ha ha ha!!! Oh Nostalgia.

It was kinda easier to sell your art on the web in the late 90s off your website, or eBay, before social media came along, but things are different, and yes--it is a shit ton of work. Constant promotion. Forget about spending your day actually painting. I'd say, if you want to sell on your own off the web, allocate a minimum of half your day on promotion.

Sometimes, I have no earthly clue how some of these artists have so many followers and have so much painting output at the same time. How??? Do they paint at lightning speed? Is someone else doing their social media? Are they sending their art to China and having someone else painting their pictures? I don't understand it really. The people/artists I follow are wildly successful and I just look at a distance and am in mystery as to how it's all possible. How they get 80-200 comments a post and constantly post new work. I'm left in the dust. It all makes me feel like a 2-bit loser. But I have to keep doing as much as I can, which isn't much: about 15 minutes a day on Instagram. That's all the time I have. I have to tend to this forum for most of my morning these days and my painting time has been cut in half (or more). I was a slow painter to begin with.

I complain on my blog, so I hear you, Bart, about venting on Facebook, but I haven't been on there for years and I don't use my Twitter anymore. I figure if people want to know my opinions, they will follow the blog, and some people do. It's my place to vent and talk about art. It's a great outlet and sometimes I sell work through it. Sometimes.

Yeah, I should have counted the years better, but I've been on the Internet in bulletin boards and chat rooms (the Well), then the Web, then social, so I too go wayyyyy back on this stuff 30 years. However, I can assure you that I did hear those comments (not necessarily about art, but about connections for personal and business) for that long. Yes, indeed! And most of that period I thought it was self-promotional bullshit from the purveyors of that advice and sites. But it's long since that was the norm, and now selling whatever on the Web one way or another is the norm. Storefronts are dying and galleries were always a risky proposition.

There was a time when all you needed was a business card to be considered in business and maybe taken seriously. Then brochures. Then fax machines and pagers, and at long last the Web and now social. What's next?

 

[Artyczar]

I've been "here" since Usenet, about 27 years, so I get ya.

What's next? I think we had never seen anything like the internet before its inception and it was, and still is, an incredibly magical turning point of life as we ever had known it. I can hardly imagine something better to come along since I'm still astounded with it! My guess is that there will just be new, innovative ideas (apps, coalitions, etc.) that will be implemented by artists and developers to further make art accessible to people. I see it locally and I think it needs to start there, organically with the help of the internet that utilizes social media and whatever else can help navigate events and other opportunities. I see artists banning together more and more, especially since Covid trying to do this. Covid has also been changing the landscape as well with events on Zoom and virtual exhibits that don't necessarily need the assistance of brick-and-mortar galleries.

Even many galleries have changed their programs to online consulting firms instead of physical spaces, while still keeping their rosters and collectors. This allows them to cut their overhead and the ability to participate in fairs and whatnot, which is ultimately more important than staying open throughout the year in a retail space. This is my observation anyway.