Well, hi there.

I find myself lacking focus when it comes to posting online, particularly with regards to my own art. In the distant past I used Livejournal, then Elfwood and DeviantArt. After that it was Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, and I have a portfolio website of course, but as for places to quickly drop work no matter the level of completion and receive some sort of feedback, I depended on social media.

Lately, the social media landscape has changed a lot. Twitter does not have the reach it once did. It’s like shouting into the void over there, so I left. I left Tumblr long ago over changing policies and now it’s a completely different place. Meanwhile, platforms like Instagram have prioritized video over images, and that’s to say nothing of how Meta and other companies embrace data scraping for generative image and text technology (aka “AI,” though that term is a catch-all phrase that does not accurately describe how this technology functions or is used… more accurate to consider them plagiarism machines). The era of social media that makes it easy to share art with the masses seems to have ended.

I’ve tried Patreon, ArtStation, Cara, and many others, but nothing feels quite right, so I’ve taken a long break from regularly posting art, which has suited me fine. As it happens, I’ve been busy with my full-time job and also illustrating graphic novels on the side. My days are full of doing work that I can’t share that also leaves me too tired to do personal work, so in truth, I haven’t had much to post.

Of course, that’s quite the conundrum for an artist online. Posting work is how we get noticed and stay relevant. It tells fans and hiring professionals alike “Here I am, this is me” (yes, I did just quote Bryan Adams). Additionally, I’ve been wrapped up in contracts for a long time, and as I cross the finish line on each assignment, it frees up a little more time to think about personal work. I’ve got my own voice and style I want to explore. I don’t want my life to pass by consumed by working on other people’s stories. I’d like to share my own, and I should probably start doing that instead of hoarding all my ideas like an OC dragon.

That brings me back to: where to post online? I do have this blog that I’ve been saying I want to use more, but (gestures at earlier explanation, so tired, so very tired). So I am simply going to give it a go of trying to conserve a bit of energy to share more personal work, trying to share more work here as well as writing about art, publishing, gardening, and whatever comes to mind.

Thanks for coming to my blog talk.