Even if you don’t share it, you still created it.
Balancing "creating" and "sharing on social media".
While sipping my tea…
…I was worrying about the fact that I had not shared anything yet. I was worrying and wondering: “When can I find the time to draw something in my sketchbook to then take a nice picture and share it somewhere?”.
Then I remembered 2 things:
I committed to living a softer life and taking a break from obsessing over social media growth;
I actually had already created art today! It’s just that I cannot share it.
As a full-time artist who works in publishing, I usually can’t share my work online, and even when the projects I’ve been working on finally come out, I don’t have the rights to share all of my work online, sneak peeks aside.
In the last two years, I’ve created for work an approximative total of
131 comic Pages
98 cards between Tarot and Oracle cards
41 illustrations divided between two books (one of which is still in progress)
1 book cover
1 comic book cover
20ish additional decorative illustrations (frames, corners, etc)
This is the much I’ve been creating besides the things I could share on social media, which, if you follow me on Instagram and/or YouTube, you know were A WHOLE OTHER LOT.
Today I worked on another illustration for the book I’m currently working on, and then I took a break to rest a little, and get out of “work-mode” by dedicating a bit of time to a passion side-project of mine while watching a movie.
And yet. While sipping my tea, I started worrying: “I haven’t created anything today” - truth is, today I don’t have anything to share.
A voice within me (which I like to think of as the voice of my Intuition) then told me:
“Veronica, the fact that you did not share it does not mean you didn’t create it”.
True! How many artists working with publishers must feel like I do, unable to share their work because of a contract! NO VERONICA. THAT’S NOT THE POINT! THINK BETTER. DIVE DEEPER.
I did. And I remembered.
20 years ago, I was 11, soon to be 12, and I still had not discovered the internet to its full potential. To be fair, it would have taken another 10ish years to get to the point we are now, with the social media fever. 20 years ago, I was surrounded by my drawings and had no one to show them besides myself. Many were fanarts or self-inserts in my favourite cartoons, so I would have actually felt embarrassed to show them to people. They were all for me.
I used to create because I couldn’t stop. I made art because it was natural, like breathing. And I did it, with no one to share it with.
So no, the point is not a contract/NDA, the point is that sometimes we just want to create, and that is, again, natural.
I fear that people with a healthier relationship with the internet might read this and think: “yeah, you are the problem girl, you are the obsessed one”, and you are 100% right!
But if there are people, artists, creative folks like me, out there, struggling with the social media race, I want you to know that even if we don’t share our art online, OUR ART STILL EXISTS.
Sure, we should put ourselves out there, for who knows where our creations might land? Maybe someone will look at our creatures and connect with them, or even better, connect with themselves!
But that’s not what we are talking about here. Let’s ease, if not stop, this pressure, this urge to perform, to prove ourselves, to share on social media.
Your art exists because you created it, not because you shared it.
Your art exists. You exist. You are here and you are enough. And you did enough today.
I have one rule only. Every day I ask myself: Was I creative today?
And as long as I’ve created something, whether it’s a little art or a bit more peace in my life, the answer is: Yes, I did.
Turns out, today I had something to share with you. I shared it cause I felt called to share it, and it feels right.
- V
Yeh creativity is a charging rush.
Managing it is the balance part.