The two social media mediums I chose to explore more deeply this semester are Twitter and Instagram. I am super interested in beginning to follow animators and artists with similar niches on Twitter (something I have started doing over the past month) as well as Instagram. I occasionally get new artist-people following me on these platforms, and I usually notice them when I apply appropriate hash-tags to my posts (especially on Instagram). I want to really utilize the power of following the right kinds of people and using the right kinds of hash-tags (as well as playing with the ideas of what a hash-tag is).
I am currently 2000 some tweets deep on Twitter. My favorite part of Twitter is that I feel like I can easily dispense and share small tidbits of thought. As an artist, I am always thinking of something clever that I wish I could tell someone, but will more than likely forget about (something that usually isn’t as clever as I think it is, but still). The way people represent themselves on social media platforms is a direct conversation about who they are – and I like to think of my Twitter as not just a place where I retweet other social media posts, but also where I can let my humor show through – something that makes me human. I also can show bits of my life that people can relate to – whether it be the music I am listening to, where I am at, what is up, what I’m thinking, even a retweet from a friend – just lots of little ways to sell myself as the character that I am.
I think it’s important to remind my audience that I AM a character – a quite unique one, at that – not just someone who draws them!
This idea of shameless celebration of MY character brings me to the reason my second choice of social media to explore is Instagram. This summer, I started a steady, somewhat consistent few weeks where I would do “Selfie-Sundays” to mock the one of the most popular (and obnoxious) hash-tags on Instagram. I would draw myself looking ridiculous in different styles. I think it would a really great exercise to do a quick self-portrait each Sunday – this would force me to not only keep posting content, but to keep showing chunks of my personality to my audience.
Another branch of this idea would be to do “Throwback-Thursday”,”Man Crush Monday” and “Woman Crush Wednesday” posts to mock the popular indulgent hashtags of Instagram.
Another idea I have to flex my own personal character muscles would be to draw random, abstract, strange, nameless, different quirky characters (which I have drawn here and there throughout my life) and post them consistently – that way I can get the chance of becoming “that girl who makes those weirdo creatures all the time”. This is something easier to stay consistent with, and what I already have been doing, in the world of Instagram.
Also – I am very interested in using these platforms to show the process on my thesis project. I would like to lead up to next semester, where I would post a picture of an alien almost every day in order to play up the concept of the short (and how there are 1000 aliens to destroy)! I have put lots of thought into how I could fluff up momentum for my thesis, and this is a great way to start the gears turning in my favor.
Sarah Mae Schmidt 