It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that my life as an illustrator is changing. More than ever before, I am being bombarded with things calling for my attention, whether it be a growing freelance workload, more ambitious personal projects, miscellaneous websites, and life outside of my job. On top of it all, social networking is more confusing, spread out, and demanding as ever. I am, quite frankly, wearing thin.
So I have come to the decision to scale back. I am going to put my emphasis into what I think matters most for my needs and goals and get back to basics.
My plan:
Reduce social networking
My social networking philosophy so far has been to TRY EVERYTHING. This has been a great strategy for me over the past several years and I don’t regret it. I’ve learned so much about promotion, technology, and the internet and I’ve gotten to know a whole lot of interesting and talented people.
But this strategy isn’t going to work for me anymore. I’m no longer a newbie looking for ways to get out there. And also, social networking is growing fast. It’s no longer possible to do everything and keep up. The farther I spread between them, the thinner my presence becomes in each.
I am going to continue to use Twitter as my main social outlet. I’ll also keep my Facebook page (which is really just an extension of my Twitter feed). I’m dumping everything else, or vastly decreasing my dependence on them. These include Tumblr, deviantArt, Ustream, Flickr, and Google+. Some I’ll get rid of completely; others I’ll keep for only posting occasionally or to follow other artists.
Back to Blogging
I’ve let blogging take a backseat while I’ve been trying out this newfangled social network thing. It’s time to bring it back! Twitter is great for small snippets of info, but after so long it starts to drain you instead of help you. On the other hand, maintaining a blog is something that really helps me keep my creative momentum going. I create more, learn more, and teach better while I am blogging because it forces me to come up with meaningful content rather than shooting out random bits of info and links.
So prepare for the triumphant return of my blog! I will try to post more artwork, process, tutorials, videos, advice, and other random thoughts. Subscribe to stay up to date on all my latest posts.
Some Unfortunate Necessities
Schedules and strategies for other various projects are also going to go through an overhaul. My weekly webcomic, for example, will suffer temporarily. It is definitely not going away by any means, but I am going to try to be smarter about it. This means I will not put it back on its regular schedule until I have the next volume completed.
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I am sharing all these thoughts to give you an idea of what goes on in the mind of this illustrator. I am always making plans, mistakes, and even more plans. This job is a constant balance of artistry, business, promotion, creation, and timing. Even those of us who have been at it for a few years still struggle daily.
What strategies have you used to manage your web presence? What’s worked? What hasn’t? How is it evolving as the internet landscape changes?
Great post, Dani. I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. I’m not quite as established as you are so I still feel a need to keep up the blogging along with lots of social media accounts. I’m starting to get that feeling of wearing too thin, though. I’m less interested in trying out new forms of social media until they’ve proven to be more valuable. Take Google+. It’s great and there are good conversations going on and I’ve got a wide range of new people following me there, but in a lot of ways it feels like I’m just talking to the same people I’m talking to on Twitter.
At the same time, Twitter has allowed me to have a community of artists to talk to when I’m living in a city where I know few people. And I’ve also had freelance work come from it.
I’ve automated some of this and if you’re interested in keeping Tumblr active, you can automatically post your blog posts there and not have to think about it so much. There are also ways to schedule Tweets, but I haven’t found that to be useful for me just yet. It’s a tough balance to strike and I think you’re probably making the right move for your business.
Thanks Michelle. There are things I like about Google+ and Tumblr, but I’m still figuring out how to fit them into everything. In the end I felt they were just a rehash of everything else. Every time I made an announcement or posted new art, I felt like I had to post it in 10 different places, which wasn’t working for me. I kinda feel like if I use something, it should have a purpose of its own. If I ever figure out what that is, maybe I’ll return to them.
This is a very good post. I think that it echoes what many of us are feeling. I’m not as far along in my internet marketing ability as you are, but I get the harried I’ve got o do it all predicament. I personally, love to post to my blogs for all of the reasons you’ve stated. I’ve also met some lovely people and have enjoyed fabulous art and have learned from so many bloggers. I’ve been following you for quite a while, and I want to say thanks. You’ve taught me a ton. Your Illustrated Section hosts my book and I believe it is the best and most egalitarian resource out there. I’m selfishly looking forward to more blog posts from you.
Thanks Elena. Blogging and social networking each has its own strengths and weaknesses. I think the networks are great for SHARING and TALKING to people. Blogging is more about CREATING. You can’t have one without the other, and I think there’s room for both if you can find a balance.
This is smart. Focus on bigger posts and talking about your work in more depth!
Blogging is the way to go.
Hi Dani. I think its a great idea to finish your bok before you post it online. It’s something i realized has to happen with my own work about six months ago and I couldn’t be happier I made that decision. You’ll work harder and be more excited to give everyone a chance of seeing what you’ve been so busy making! Can’t wait to see it!
Yes, I’m hoping finishing the comic before I start posting will be less stressful for me. On the other hand, I have to admit that making a weekly page has its advantages too. It forced me to make progress every week, whereas trying to do it behind the scenes without relying on a schedule often leads to procrastination and indefinite delays. We’ll see how it goes!
Just stumbled on your site when googlling for info in drawing in illustrator. I really love your style. I am a photographer/web designer and graphic artist but illustration skills are pretty elementary. I just subscribed to you blog for inspiration. I appreciated this post because I have felt the same sense of being overwhelmed with trying to keep up with social media. As much as possible I try to automate things but even that is something that needs to be monitored since the rules do change in how things work. It seems you have to invest the time to figure out what works best but nice to hear you can now focus a little bit better after learning about a lot of it. Good luck!