Artist. That word has taken on so many different alliterations and meanings over hundreds of years. When I think of the word ‘artist’ the first thing that comes to mind would be a painter, and that still holds true even to this day, but now the word means so many other things; like music artist (producer), filmmaker (creator), novelist, poet, content creator, voice over, voice actor, animation, comedy, stage plays, makeup, concept artist, and so on. Gone are the days of it being just about Pablo Picasso, and enter the days of creatives coming from all sides of the artistic spectrum; creating the art that they’re passionate about. With different types of art comes different types of artists; your hobbyists that do it for fun, and your professionals that do it as a full time career. Art for me will always have a special place in my heart, as it can be anything that the artist themselves views as art; basically becoming an art form.

Creating art is one thing, but after awhile (unless you’re a hobbyist) artists may feel that its time to go the professional route, and start to charge a fee for their art. If you’ve gone to the movies at any time during your life, then you’ve paid for tickets to the movie that you wanted to see. The combination of all national ticket sales gives you the domestic box office total, and the combination of both national and international ticket sales gives you the global box office total. Where am I going with this? Well, in the realm of the entertainment industry; art takes on the form of actors, makeup artists, CGI and SFX artists, movie props, writers, producers, directors, and filmmakers (who sometimes double as producers and directors). When it comes to the quality of art, how good the quality is depends on the artist who’s making it. Good artists are not cheap, and cheap artists are not good.

So, what about artists who are independent contractors (or just independent creators)? Well these individuals are artists who make a living from their art. They can do commissions, indie projects (for voice acting roles), produce beats for upcoming music artists, make Youtube content, become a social media influencer, and more. As an independent artist (in any form) this is where you have to take the value of your work to heart, and know your worth as a professional artist. So many people what to short-change artists; thinking that they’ll get the best quality of their art for less than the value the artist has given them. If I produce a beat and charge $99.99 for it, you’re not getting it for half of that value! It doesn’t work like that! If you’re an independent voice actor (voice over artist or vox artist) or a professional voice actor, then you would want to get paid for the value of your worth, and if the director/creator or company in charge is trying to charge you less than what you specified (especially if they signed a contract), then you DON’T do the project! 

As an artist, you have the power and creativity to make something special and maybe even change someone’s life. There is a beauty in art that makes us human, as we’re able to have a connection to it in many different ways; be it mentally, emotionally, visually, and aesthetically. There will always be people who feel like art is a waste of time, and that these people should get a real job instead of chasing some fantasy, but art is so much more than just seeing that anime couple that you shipped finally have their BIG kiss moment on screen.

The time it takes to produce quality art is something that I wish more people outside of the industry took a little more seriously; which is why I get so peeved when big corps rush projects that needed more time, underpay voice actors because they don’t value their worth, and even replace them with Hollywood face actors because they value their star power much more than they should. You don’t have to be a ‘starving artist’, you can be an artist who’s starving to creatively express themselves however they see fit. You wanna create fashions for models to wear during New York and L.A. Fashion Week? Go for it! You wanna make a name for yourself as an independent music artist? Have at it! The sky is the limit when it comes to being an artist, so never sell yourself short in your worth, and your value. Nobody can do it the way you do it, and the quality of your work should show people that you mean business.

That will do it for my thoughts on this topic, so until next post, stay nerdy my friends.

Alright guys, ever since I found this little medium called anime, my life became a lot less boring in certain parts; mainly the content creative side of things. In the digital age content creation has become such a hot commodity among Millennials (90’s Kids) and Gen Z (2000’s Kids), because they found a new way to make income that doesn’t involve being yelled at by Ken the Store Manager. (Or Karen the Store Manager.) Believe it or not there have been so many Youtubers whose channels I’ve come across over the years, who have built themselves a fandom from the ground up. Hell, you can take us for example; when we started in January 2016 we didn’t have business cards – we had half-sheets of paper with the very first logo I’ve ever made. And we made our debut at Animore; Otakon’s replacement anime convention when it moved to Washington, DC.

This leads into what I really want to talk about; how to promote yourself organically without getting caught up in the ‘numbers game’. That’s right; the game where you want to garner the attention of the Youtube algorithm so badly, that you’ll go through any kind of extremes to do so – even with the help of third party promoters. The music industry is the same way; with independent artists like myself at the mercy of the Spotify “Featured” algorithm, that I went to a Spotify promotion website (that I thought was legit) in an effort to try and boost my streams high enough for the algorithm to take notice. Sadly what creators (or music producers) don’t realize is that even if those third party promotion websites may SAY that they’ll boost your presence online, how they do it can be pretty…suspect.

Creating content or music is one thing, but when you’re marketing skills are ‘mid’, you usually pass that onto someone who’s an expert at it. The thing is; with so many bots everywhere on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, it can get get pretty dicey when you can’t tell if the follows or streams you get are coming from real people, or a bot farm. Promotions that have been around longer may have better relations with getting people to view your video, or stream your music on their playlist; nevertheless when you’re doing ALL of the promotion and advertising yourself, it means you may have to put a little more extra care into your project(s) before releasing them. People are impressionable these days, and will only engage in music or digital content where there’s some sort of takeaway from it; like a lesson learned, or a genuine feeling.

Other times its dumb luck, and your video just happens to go viral at just the right time.

Now you’re probably thinking “Um, doesn’t promotion cost money?” and yes, it does. However, you get to control how much you want to promote, and what to promote based on your budget. The Sonic movies would’ve never gotten big as they’ve gotten had they not promoted it – heavily might I add. The same can be said for Youtubers, podcasters, and content creators; people won’t know who you are if you don’t promote and market yourself, its just that you have to be mindful that if you’re promoting online, do it with third party promoters that social media platforms trust. Chasing numbers can be hazardous to your mental health; as you may feel like everyone’s content is better than yours based on the reactions, likes, and reposts that they’re getting.

STOP!

Everyone moves at their own pace, and there is no reason for you to feel inferior just because Johnny Gameright has 650,000 subscribers and you only got 80. He had to work just as hard as you to get there. Its not about the head count on your social media platform; but the quality of the people that are following you because they like what you do, and want to continue supporting you. So don’t worry about the quantity of your numbers, but focus more on the quality of the people that follow you, as well as the content you’re producing.

Hopefully you took something away from this post, and if you did, kudos! Until next post, stay safe, and stay nerdy my friends! 😉