Monsters + Flowers

[rynling]

Silksong
https://hannahlockillustration.tumblr.com/post/794407609977421825/silksong-just-beat-phantom-in-the-game-u-where

I love Hannah Lock's art in general, and I especially love this illustration in particular.

I'm linking to the piece here as a reference to myself. What I hear is that the way to develop your style as an artist is to allow yourself to be as horny as you need to be about one specific thing, and this is exactly the sort of thing I can't get enough of: A little guy in a lushly green environment. This is, for example, why I still love the Zelda games despite also kind of genuinely hating the Zelda games.

While studying my social media metrics over the past two years (which is a totally normal thing to do), I realized that reception is totally random. In addition, nothing I draw is ever going to do numbers in the current social media ecosystem. So why not give up and do whatever I want instead? Specifically, given that I love color and composition but suck at linework, why not loosen up a bit and just fill the page with rough lines and color blocks? And if I draw dozens of pieces just like the illustration I linked to above, so much the better! In the art world I believe they call this a "theme."

I have a handful of pieces I need to wrap up; but after that, it's little guys in green environments time. 🌿

Comments

[lassarina]

A friend of mine who has been doing a weekly comic for FFXIV commented on something similar, re: reception; a lot of it is simply up to the (lack of) mercy of the algorithm, and there's not much any one person can do to influence it.

[rynling]

I hate this, but thank you for sharing. Hearing this makes me feel less isolated. Good luck to your friend. Good luck to all of us, I guess.

People still use Twitter, of course, and there are a lot of art and comic posts that still do big numbers. I think the indie art world is still coming to terms with what it means for most of us to lose that platform, though. I'm not a particularly talented "creative" by any means, nor do I have a following, but I still had about half a dozen of my posts go viral every year or so. As of mid-2024, this possibility no longer exists, not for me and not for most people. Bluesky doesn't boost posts in the same way, engagement on Instagram and Tumblr is steadily falling, and TikTok is exhausting and requires a unique set of skills.

During the past twelve months, I've seen all sorts of incredible art and comics projects fail to get funding on Kickstarter. Both indie + mainstream lit mags have closed in droves, and dozens of small presses have shut down as well. With a few exceptions, even fanzines aren't doing the half of the numbers they used to.

It's really tough to get off the ground right now. Government funding for small arts studios, like the kind that exists in Canada and Scotland, would be very useful in helping people to weather the current "social media recession," but alas.

At least AO3 is still going strong, and that's not nothing.

[lassarina]

Yeah, it's rough, because the fact that an algorithm isn't shoving random shit in my face is one of the reasons I could interact with bluesky, but I also see why that same lack is really hard on people who are trying to use the platform to share art.

I guess all we can do is keep making things that make us happy, because that's the thing we can control.

[scrawnytreedemon]

Hannah's art really is just such a treat, isn't it? A veritable sensory buffet.

Do whatever you want forever!!! Proper linework is also a pain for me, to the point it was impeding my ability to create digital art, so I went fuck it and opted to have my sketch layer be the linework — After all, that's where the energy is at, and what's stopping me from refining it as I go along should I wish? Gives us more space to indulge in colour and composition :)

Hell yeah, green it up 🌿

[rynling]

Hell yeah do what you want forever 🌿🌿🌿