This time, my mind is focused on social media and my relationship with it as both an artist and a tattoo artist.
Last winter, I joined Threads, Instagram’s offshoot that functions like Twitter for Instagram users. Frankly, it’s something I didn’t need, but the clever creators of Instagram lured me in with pop-up notifications in my feed, saying, “So and so that you follow wants you to join Threads!!” So I downloaded the app, and the algorithm began showing me other creative individuals—some I recognized, but many I didn’t. Almost everyone was posting about their frustration with Instagram, lamenting that nobody was “liking” their artwork, even though they had 10K+ followers. This sentiment came from users in both the tattoo industry and the visual arts. After scrolling through Threads for a bit and encountering these complaints repeatedly, I lost interest. I kept the account mainly to share my work from Instagram, but I have zero concern about the attention it receives. My work gets very little, if any, recognition on Threads, and let’s face it: Instagram today is a far cry from what it was over ten years ago.
In the past, you could post a simple photo and receive a good amount of attention online. While I'm not a standout artist, I would typically average between 150-300 likes on a tattoo post. Nowadays, I see only 40-100 likes. Sure, if I wanted to spend some money, I could boost my posts or hire a bot to like them repeatedly, but why would I feel the need to do that? Does it even matter? Does it change anything in my “real” life or my actual job? Not at all. The only thing it does is create an illusion of popularity online.
With art prints, the situation is similar. A few of my artworks have gone viral due to my involvement with the band Ghost, as well as one piece inspired by the Cordyceps fungi in *The Last of Us* video game and TV series. I experienced a surge in popularity for a couple of weeks, but then life returned to normal. I remember when I was drawing for Ghost that I gained a wave of new followers, all with Ghost-related usernames. I’m sure I’ve lost more than half of them by now since I don’t exclusively create Ghost-themed art. I love the band and enjoy drawing them, but I also want to explore other subjects.
Now, with platforms like TikTok and Reels, we’re expected to produce content that is stimulating, dynamic, and flashy!
All of this keeps us invested in the social media gods, who have convinced us that the only way to achieve success with art—or really anything—is to post content at every opportunity. It’s exhausting, and based on what I’ve observed on the Threads platform, it’s undermining the spirit of creativity.
I'm not suggesting that social media is entirely negative, but I do feel we've become overly dependent on it to feel good about ourselves. On the positive side, social media can be inspiring, create opportunities to sell our craft, foster engagement, and enhance our portfolios. If you can navigate away from negative aspects like imposter syndrome and ignore the pressure to feel like you have to contribute to social media all the time; I believe it can be a great resource.
After much self-reflection, I decided to remove all social media platforms from my smartphone. I don't want to eliminate social media entirely, but I wanted to return to the days when I only used it on a desktop computer. You really don't realize how often you look at and scroll through your phone until you no longer have that capability.
In the end, I suppose I'm just fed up with the control and the illusion that we, as creatives or even non-creatives, need social media to have any significance.
It’s not ALL there.
I no longer have an online store with bigcartel.com. I have a selection of giclee prints and apparel available on this website on the portfolio page. Facebook and Instagram/Threads are the only social media platforms I use.
