Chasing That High

Not new news, but tbh if you have tiktiok, just get rid of it
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/fxgi06/not_new_news_but_tbh_if_you_have_tiktiok_just_get/

They provide users with a taste of "virality" to entice them to stay on the platform. Your first TikTok post will likely garner quite a bit of likes, regardless of how good it is.. assuming you get past the initial moderation queue if thats still a thing. Most users end up chasing the dragon.

Please don't ask me why I'm reading a year-old post on Reddit about TikTok, but this is another piece of evidence corroborating something I've suspected about social media platforms, which is that their algorithms will occasionally boost a random post in order to ensure the user's continued engagement.

I noticed this happening when I was using Instagram's "Reels" feature to see if it would increase the level of engagement on my art posts (it had no effect btw). Namely, some of my videos would get a reasonable 140 to 160 views, while some would get 2,000 to 3,000 views. This had nothing to do with the quality of the video or the day and time that I posted it - it was totally random.

I feel like a lot of what's written about social media for a general audience strays into the realm of conspiracy theories, which is a shame. Like, this isn't a matter of social science or human behavior; these are algorithms that function according to specific rules and parameters. It's not impossible to know how they operate, but it's extremely difficult unless you have privileged access to corporate cultures or a specific set of programming skills.

Shojo Sparkles

Well lads, I have learned how to use screentones.

https://rynling.tumblr.com/post/646491900903325697/draw-me-like-one-of-your-anime-boyfriends-uwu

The process of creating and applying screentones in Photoshop is not quite as arcane as creating transparent digital line art from a scanned physical drawing, but it's still some next-level wizard shenanigans.

And I can hear people from Twitter yelling "it's way easier in Clip Studio Paint," but I hate Clip Studio Paint. Don't get me wrong, I hate Photoshop too. All digital art programs are garbage. The reasons I can tolerate Photoshop are (a) I don't need an iPad to use it, (b) it doesn't insist on showing me anime, (c) people have created a plethora of resources and tutorials for it, and (d) it's what I'm used to. I'm also starting to appreciate how Photoshop organizes itself by "things the program can do" as opposed to "things the user would conceivably want to do," which makes for a steep learning curve but ultimately allows for more experimentation and creativity, I think.

I don't want to get into the details, but using screentones essentially involves coloring in grayscale. I'm not crazy about monochromatic painting, but it has the undeniable benefit of being super quick. It took me about 30 minutes to color the comic I linked to above, for example. The application of screentones gives the image texture and a manga-style feel instead of the bland and generic smoothness of digital grayscale painting. I still need to experiment more with the process, but I'm happy with the result.