03-27-2014, 06:39 PM
woah great response everyone! Clearly this is something others are thinking about as well, and that makes me feel a bit less alone ^^
@hypnagogic : Yeah man I feel you...crit is way more important at first than anything else. Just keep working on your own stuff and focusing on that. I think that is best. :)
@Eduardo: I agree with your perspective pretty much all around though I think post-apocalyptic is actually a constant theme throughout human history. We are pretty much obsessed with death, and the PA theme is basically exploring this idea on a grand scale.
What makes me more especially wary is seeing amazing new unique designs like Aaron Beck's work and then for 5 years on, seeing his stuff in every second robot designer from that point on (even the really good ones!). I get that we all get influenced, but yeah, I want to be the Aaron Beck, not be the imitator. Living in the same city as he does I have actually met him and talked to him several times and I can tell you he designs amazing things because he is truly passionate about his bots and near future tech...he wasn't trying to be something, he just loves that shit. So definitely that's what I want to model. I don't think facebook helps with this...although I did find Sergey Kolosev on Facebook, and my god that man embodies everything I want to be as an artist. Skilled, deliberate, unique and actually has something to say through his work!
@Wolkenfels : Yep I do agree with you, Speedpainting groups I do participate in occasionally as well, and it's good for practice and to try new things, but yeah that's about all I get from that. I actually was really distracted by the "number of likes" rating type system. I found after a while that I was doing pieces based on what I thought would get more likes. I know that's a stupid thing to do, but I almost couldn't help it! It is what makes the like system addictive and so damaging in my opinion. If we can resist the need to get pats on the back, I think we will do better art. That is my opinion based on how I reacted of course. Others may not be so sensitive. Also I don't think you should pigeon hole yourself into "doing it as a hobby" It kinda seems to sideline it a bit. Accept the love for making art with pride :P I mean you are seriously working at upskilling after all....
@foxfire : Yeah you know I used to think just spamming everywhere would get me work and help "my name" get out there. To be honest, it might but in my experience the only real work I got was from other art sites and from directly approaching people. This is simply the fact. No-one goes onto facebook to hire...or very few anyway. Once I start hyping up and selling my knowledge like Noah Bradley for example, then yes definitely having a fan base on fb helps, but I'm not there yet. I guess right now I'm more concerned about what I'm doing, than what others are doing. I've never actively learned anything from facebook either or received particularly good crit so I don't see that as a reason to join in on groups, and in terms of keeping up with the scene, while you do get updates, I found I was trawling through a lot of crap to get to the more important ones, and then getting distracted etc. Haha it seems like I'm answering my own questions here. I actually think I'm pretty clear on how useful fb is to me right now. THanks for your view :)
@Ursula, yeah I think if you've got something to promote then fb is part of the equation. I have been restricting myself to just posting some of my work, some of the time in directed forums and then leaving. and I do like that so much better than sticking around to experience the noise. haha. What I don't do anymore is spend an hour trawling through messages and posts and other time wasting things.
@Meat. Haha yeah let it all out dude. :) I completely agree with you. I find fb interactions mostly shallow with short attention span and little intent. I find most posts people make are instigated from a very self-centered point of view. I even started to feel that people are basically playing out their own insecurities and attempting to boost their own self-image through their profiles...albeit unconsciously. When I realised this is how I was using it, I stopped posting anything personal at all. I'd rather get to know a real person, not a filtered version of one. Maybe I'm taking things a bit far, I have had some nice experiences, but for the most part it was with those people I have real connections with somehow already, never with people who friended me because I posted on some art group.
Anyways keep comments and discussions coming. We have focused most on fb because so many people are on it....how about twitter? I have to admit I have an account and used it only twice in 3 years to message someone. I can only imagine it is like fb but with a whole lot more insignificant crap coming through the lines? Does anyone have a good use for twitter with respect to their art besides simply self promotion? And what about Google+? A friend of mine was telling me it was better for hooking into networks but I have yet to really consistently post on it yet. Any of your experiences would be good to hear. I want to hear what people's actual experiences are and to drive past the standard "networking is good on social media" arguments that we are all told to believe because it sounds so plausible.
Tumblr I love. But I don't consider that social media really. Thanks for the great comments so far guys!
@hypnagogic : Yeah man I feel you...crit is way more important at first than anything else. Just keep working on your own stuff and focusing on that. I think that is best. :)
@Eduardo: I agree with your perspective pretty much all around though I think post-apocalyptic is actually a constant theme throughout human history. We are pretty much obsessed with death, and the PA theme is basically exploring this idea on a grand scale.
What makes me more especially wary is seeing amazing new unique designs like Aaron Beck's work and then for 5 years on, seeing his stuff in every second robot designer from that point on (even the really good ones!). I get that we all get influenced, but yeah, I want to be the Aaron Beck, not be the imitator. Living in the same city as he does I have actually met him and talked to him several times and I can tell you he designs amazing things because he is truly passionate about his bots and near future tech...he wasn't trying to be something, he just loves that shit. So definitely that's what I want to model. I don't think facebook helps with this...although I did find Sergey Kolosev on Facebook, and my god that man embodies everything I want to be as an artist. Skilled, deliberate, unique and actually has something to say through his work!
@Wolkenfels : Yep I do agree with you, Speedpainting groups I do participate in occasionally as well, and it's good for practice and to try new things, but yeah that's about all I get from that. I actually was really distracted by the "number of likes" rating type system. I found after a while that I was doing pieces based on what I thought would get more likes. I know that's a stupid thing to do, but I almost couldn't help it! It is what makes the like system addictive and so damaging in my opinion. If we can resist the need to get pats on the back, I think we will do better art. That is my opinion based on how I reacted of course. Others may not be so sensitive. Also I don't think you should pigeon hole yourself into "doing it as a hobby" It kinda seems to sideline it a bit. Accept the love for making art with pride :P I mean you are seriously working at upskilling after all....
@foxfire : Yeah you know I used to think just spamming everywhere would get me work and help "my name" get out there. To be honest, it might but in my experience the only real work I got was from other art sites and from directly approaching people. This is simply the fact. No-one goes onto facebook to hire...or very few anyway. Once I start hyping up and selling my knowledge like Noah Bradley for example, then yes definitely having a fan base on fb helps, but I'm not there yet. I guess right now I'm more concerned about what I'm doing, than what others are doing. I've never actively learned anything from facebook either or received particularly good crit so I don't see that as a reason to join in on groups, and in terms of keeping up with the scene, while you do get updates, I found I was trawling through a lot of crap to get to the more important ones, and then getting distracted etc. Haha it seems like I'm answering my own questions here. I actually think I'm pretty clear on how useful fb is to me right now. THanks for your view :)
@Ursula, yeah I think if you've got something to promote then fb is part of the equation. I have been restricting myself to just posting some of my work, some of the time in directed forums and then leaving. and I do like that so much better than sticking around to experience the noise. haha. What I don't do anymore is spend an hour trawling through messages and posts and other time wasting things.
@Meat. Haha yeah let it all out dude. :) I completely agree with you. I find fb interactions mostly shallow with short attention span and little intent. I find most posts people make are instigated from a very self-centered point of view. I even started to feel that people are basically playing out their own insecurities and attempting to boost their own self-image through their profiles...albeit unconsciously. When I realised this is how I was using it, I stopped posting anything personal at all. I'd rather get to know a real person, not a filtered version of one. Maybe I'm taking things a bit far, I have had some nice experiences, but for the most part it was with those people I have real connections with somehow already, never with people who friended me because I posted on some art group.
Anyways keep comments and discussions coming. We have focused most on fb because so many people are on it....how about twitter? I have to admit I have an account and used it only twice in 3 years to message someone. I can only imagine it is like fb but with a whole lot more insignificant crap coming through the lines? Does anyone have a good use for twitter with respect to their art besides simply self promotion? And what about Google+? A friend of mine was telling me it was better for hooking into networks but I have yet to really consistently post on it yet. Any of your experiences would be good to hear. I want to hear what people's actual experiences are and to drive past the standard "networking is good on social media" arguments that we are all told to believe because it sounds so plausible.
Tumblr I love. But I don't consider that social media really. Thanks for the great comments so far guys!