#there's a lot more non-fandom stuff cluttering it up than I'd like

[anch0ram]

Hiiii for what it's worth I'd love to see more of your art, even/esp ocs and non fandom! I know it's tough to feel undervalued for ur art though, wanting validation is matter of course, and the whole 'you have to separate the value of your work from the attention it garners' thing doesn't work for everyone. I hope you do end up figuring out a balance for posting what you feel comfortable with. If I may be so bold as to offer a word of advice- try to consider yourself at least half of the audience you're trying to reach, give yourself the praise and attention for what you make, and it might help you to be more confident when it comes to what you post and to who, and to find a steadier group of followers. We're all just along for the ride! You're the one doing the magic. Scroll through your files and admire your art. zoom in on the details that you're proud of. Sincerely, another creator who can't show their work to a lot of their friends (in the closet) and has had to learn to not take themself too seriously for it

First of all, thank you for the encouraging words anon! I really really appreciate you taking time out of your day to write this. I also hope that one day you may be able to show your work to all of your friends, should you wish to do so <3

This got long so I'll put more ramblings under the cut.

Your advise is pretty sound, especially the part about making sure that you're your own target audience. It's something I've had to work on teaching myself because in the past I would be discouraged from drawing when I didn't get any response from my art.

I think my issue now is that my feelings about validation are in bit of a schrödingers situation. If I don't post my art anywhere I'm usually able to gather more than enough satisfaction from myself alone because since I never post it anywhere I can tell myself that people would have liked it if I had posted it. But the second I post I have to face the reality that not everyone is interested, which can be a harder pill to swallow when you know that your past fanart has been more popular.  That, and I feel intimidated by the fact that I know how people follow me for one thing, which might not be what I’m posting that moment and I can’t get over the idea of cluttering their dashboard (silly I know, when blacklisting tags and unfollowing exists).

A little while ago someone tagged a drawing I did with the fact that they missed the artist (me) which made me feel a little weird because it wasn't like I had gone anywhere.

On the other hand people here have usually been incredibly nice to me when I've posted in the past (I see you and I thank you <3) and it's been incredibly encouraging, even if this support somewhat hinging on the fact that I've been posting stuff from a fandom they like. I recognise that that’s just how it is and I think it’s a totally fair way to enjoy something.

I'm going to try to post more of what I want when I feel like it because ultimately even if I'm 50% of my audience, maybe the single other person out there who'd make up the remaining 50% would have their day brightened by seeing my take on something they're interested in. 

#askbox #anon ask #thank you again <3