#(i am Not afraid to turn anon off and i refuse to let strangers DM me haha)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

"We need more diverse queer representation!"

You cannot even handle queer jews.

[tragedy-machine]

Hey Alice I hope you answer this because I am too shy to approach you off anon. I love art and have loved it since I was three. I am thinking of starting an art blog on tumblr where I would post both originals and fan arts. Do you have any suggestions? How can I reach more audience and make friends? What about time management?

Hi baby! First of all I’m so flattered you consider me qualified enough to answer any of these lol

Second of all, these are all my suggestions

My general advice for starting an art blog: 

- don’t be so hard on yourself! No matter what, remember that you’re doing it for fun and whether you don’t get a lot of feedback or think you’re not good enough or are stressing out about posting regularly, you just gotta take a second to relax and remember that everything just takes time. You will improve, you will get more feedback, you will get better at keeping a schedule, you just have to be able to give yourself time

- you won’t always be in a mood for creating art and that’s okay. Sure, draw as often as you can but sometimes you have to take a break. On the other hand, I found that when my slump continues for more than a week and it’s not because I’ve been busy but rather just unmotivated, I try to find an easy idea and push myself a little to start drawing even if I’m feeling lazy. That usually does the trick and then I get into it again. It’s also always easier to come back to a wip or a sketch rather than start from nothing so just doing a simple layout one day will make coming back to it the next day so much easier

- if you’re serious about improving, you have to prioritize art in your schedule. I’m personally still struggling with time management and adjusting to my new work. What helps me is putting on a tv show on netflix on my phone or a youtube video/podcast/audiobook in the background while you draw, so you still can keep yourself entertained and feel like you’re just chilling instead of working

- finding a community and people who support you will always be the biggest motivation to draw, at least for me. It’s really satisfying to see people enjoy your stuff or to exchange ideas with other creators, so if you can do that, I’d suggest you start off like that (that’s why fanart is great)

- and lastly, there’s no need to be afraid to start an art blog! Judgement of strangers on the internet means absolutely nothing to you irl and if someone you know personally wants to follow you while you don’t feel comfortable with that, you can always just refuse/don’t tell them you’ve started an art blog. I have flat out told someone I don’t know them well enough to show them my art blog yet and they’ve been very understanding and chill about it

About reaching a bigger audience:

- use relevant hashtags (but don’t crosstag), that’s the easiest way to a bigger audience. If you consider starting an instagram page as well, participate in as many drawing events as you can! Many artist do features event when they reach a certain number of followers, or recently the #drawitinyourstyle was popular, and you can always find something in the #drawingchallenge or #featurefriday

- draw fanarts for other people’s aus or fanfics, but don’t force yourself to do it. If a fic inspires you and you genuinely love it and don’t only want to gain followers, draw smth for it, let it happen naturally because people can usually tell when it isn’t

- be prepared that, especially on tumblr, original art will get way fewer notes than fanarts, but you said you wanna do them as well, so you’re all good! That’s the best way to find a community and grow from there

- if you wanna make friends with other people in the fandom you can start by commenting on their work, leaving feedback, asking questions. After a while there’s a chance they’ll notice your engagement. Another great way is to just dm someone about a post they’ve made if you have more thoughts about it and then just carry the convo from there. I guarantee you nobody’s gonna turn you down if you just randomly message them, it’s usually super nice for the creator and the worst thing that can happen is that they’ll respond late, or with more popular blogs there’s a chance they won’t respond at all, but that’s okay! You weren’t being annoying, they just get a lot of other messages all the time. You can always try next time. Ofc you can also participate in any fan events that interest you or join the discord server if that’s your cup of tea

I think that’s all from me for now, I hope it helped you a little and if there’s anything more I can do, please don’t be afraid to hit me up again!