Thriving on Instagram even if everyone is doing the same thing.

A collection of images highlighting all the experiments I do.

This is something I have wanted to write since quite some time. It’s almost like a personal account of how I grew (and continue to grow) with my art after observing plenty of artists, designers, calligraphers, illustrators and the many creatives on the platform. It’s a rather quick peek of how one can survive the world of Instagram even if a lot of them are doing the same thing.

I joined Instagram in 2014. A few friends noticed my work and suggested to share it there. I had no clue how the damn thing worked but I took the plunge. I started off with posting photos, then some of my doodle art, paper art and random stuff. It was fun initially to see the kind of affirmation I got for my work.

After a couple of months though, I got bored. My work was getting repetitive and looked similar to what others did, the photos were really crappy, and the likes and comments didn’t make me feel too good about it.

So I took a break. And reassessed. What could be done better? How could I improve my engagement? What measures I could take to improve my photos and art? I got terribly bored, working on just one style of creating art and decided that things needed to change.

Start of the experiments

That’s when I decided to start experimenting with my style of creating artwork. I doodled, painted with watercolors, worked with paper, tried lettering, took up challenges and worked with different mediums and styles. I posted work in progress shots of all the things I was doing (I still do this). I started taking (and continue to take) pictures in an extremely natural way.

The magic happened. People loved what I was doing. They loved that I didn’t stick to a style, that I showcased a rawness and imperfection to creating art. But I really didn’t do all this just for people to follow me or for the likes or for anything else. I did all this to make myself happy; and for myself to grow as an artist and improve my skills.

Seeing the same all over the place

I follow a lot of creatives on Instagram. I browse around Instagram every now and then and sometimes, I get bored of seeing the same thing again and again and again. Watercolor galaxies, floral paintings, brush lettering, mandalas, doodles, etc. Everyone doing the same thing, it’s become hard to distinguish accounts.

I have a lot of respect for everyone I follow and the accounts I come across; you guys honed your skills to painting the perfect galaxy and northern lights; to drawing perfect letters and the perfect doodles and mandalas. I admire how everyone has grown from somewhere to get to where they are now; but just try this little experiment out:

Check everyone (other creative artists, anyone inspired by you) who follows you or any other artist accounts who do the same thing as you do. Every. Single. Day. And let me know how you feel.

I know, there maybe a state of denial; “It’s okay, let them do it too, I do it differently anyway.” Or even a state of euphoria; “Wow, I may (in some remote way) have inspired those people to do what I am doing and that makes me happy (now ask yourself, does it really? Someone doing the same thing as you, again and again and again).

Coming back to my account — I am close to 18k followers, which has taken me quite some time to grow. But here’s the thing; the numbers don’t matter to me. I look at my feed some days and love how diverse it is. I do the usual things that all of you do; doodles, mandalas, watercolors, etc. Just a bit differently; I don’t do the same thing continuously. One week I will be doodling and the next week I will be working with watercolors. One weekend I may be messing with acrylics. Or learning about alcohol inks. Or trying out knife painting. And in between all this I post messy work in progress shots, photos of my disorganized work table and the ridiculous amount of stationery I collect. And some days, I don’t post anything at all; I’d rather prefer to relax and do some thing else. I sure can’t create every single day.

Here are all the things I do: watercolors, doodle art, mandalas — both intricate and simple as well as asymmetrical, acrylic painting, dot mandalas, alcohol ink art, paper quilling, lettering (with pens and paints), knife painting (learning), maintaining an art journal (again, learning), gouache painting, soft pastels, digital art and mixed media art. Sounds fun, right?

The Questions and the Answers

I can almost hear the arguments in the background. “You have no style, how will people know what you do?” “How will you be recognized?” “People will not be able to follow what you do if you do multiple things.” “How will you market and sell yourself if you do so many things?” “How can you tell us to change the way we do when we already have a good following?”

Let’s answer all those questions. Firstly, as I mentioned before, I have absolute respect for everyone who have grown their art style over the years. I am not preaching anything here. I am sending out a message to all those who think they have no style on their feed; that it is okay to not to have a style and to experiment and try different things every now and then. Get out of your comfort zone. It’s your art, your way of doing things so don’t let others tell you that your experiments are wrong. Don’t get lost in all those perfect mandala, lettering or doodle accounts. You are yourself, and you are free to work however you want, in whatever style you want. If you love what you do, people will automatically love what you do.

I agree that different things work for different people. All I ask of you is to do what works the best for you and what keeps you happy at the end of the day. And if doing the same thing every day keeps you happy, then do it. All I ask you to do is to introspect every once in a while. And then, you’ll understand yourself. By limiting yourself to just one particular art form, you may be limiting your creativity and capacity to come up with new ideas. As a result, art blocks can become common.

For the question of how I get recognized; it’s because of the versatility. I got commissioned for digital artwork, creating custom artwork on coasters, painted and lettered bookmarks, watercolor galaxy bookmarks, creating artwork with acrylics for a popular stationery brand, and of course, big intricate mandalas. All because I could work with multiple mediums and easily switch between them as and when needed. And guess what, people loved it. They still love it. And importantly, I love it. This variety is what I call my style. And there is no way I am changing it.

Tips to make that experimenting happen

If you are someone willing to make the change to adding more variety to your feed and keeping things fun on Instagram, here are a few tips for you:

1. Do things differently even if everyone is doing the same thing: Okay, say, you see 5 northern lights watercolor paintings on 5 artist’s accounts each one doing it the same way. And you also want to do a northern lights painting. Think of ways you can change it. How can you make yours look different? Maybe you can use unconventionally bright colors. It can be an abstract interpretation, maybe you can recreate the painting inside some big, bold letters, turn it into a polaroid painting, or even paint them on coasters. There are so many things you can do. All you need to do is think.
2. Take the final picture in a different way: Yes. Please. Don’t stick to just flat lays, honestly, it can get really, really monotonous. Your feed may look really clean, but come on, it can get boring after some time. Add some variety to it. Take a picture of your artwork on your messy table. Or place it on your bed. Or hold the artwork in your hand and take a picture of it against a backdrop; it can be the floor, your table, the surroundings, heck, even against some greenery or even the sky. The picture you will be left with will be priceless. By taking pictures in different ways, you are opening up yourself to doing things in another way. You are being natural. You are being you. And your picture will tell a story your followers will love.
3. Keep mixing it up: There are two ways of interpreting this. One, experimenting with mediums and styles and coming up with different artwork to showcase on the grid every single day. The second; it doesn’t have to be artwork every day. It can be a really nice picture you clicked, a picture of your work space/studio, a picture of yourself, or a picture of something different you did that day. Literally anything.
4. Don’t do it for the “likes” or “follows”: Honestly, please don’t do this. There was a time when I did do this, but now I don’t. Post something because you loved making it and that it made you happy. Don’t post just because you want 100 people to like it, comment on it or maybe follow you. The more you post of the happiness that you got while creating a piece, the better. The follows, likes and comments will automatically come.
5. Be inspired by your surroundings rather than the same artwork by different artists: Come on, there are so many other things you can be inspired by, right? Your surroundings, the things you do, the food you eat, the people you talk to etc. Why do you want to do the same northern lights, the same galaxy, the same potted floral and cactus, the same misty forests, the same lettering as someone else did? Honestly, you don’t learn much by doing that, unless you add your own spin to it. Look around you. There is so much to be inspired by. Repetition of the same work makes the market highly saturated. You would want to do this in the initial stage, but after a while, please stop and try making something else. Being inspired by someone’s artwork is good in the beginning, but after a couple of attempts, start trying to work on something different.
6. Be yourself. Be real: Can’t stress this enough. Don’t try to change yourself or your attitude. Everyone who posts on social media doesn’t have a perfect life as you may picture. Social media is a facade. Instead of trying to be one of those trying to post a perfect life, be real. Be honest. Be you. Don’t try to fake your way through. Let your pictures be raw and imperfect. Your followers will find it easier to connect with you when you’re honest.
7. Most importantly, Don’t compare: It robs every little happiness that you have. Someone has 50k followers. So what? Someone is doing amazing lettering? Okay, let them do. Someone just got an iPad and I need to get one too to make amazing art? Noooooo. Don’t do this. Stay in your lane and do your thing. Comparing yourself to someone is not going to get you anything. Also comparing yourself to someone who has been practicing and honing their skills for years does not make sense. Do your own thing. Practice your craft, work hard and stay true to yourself. And you’ll get really close to all those you compared yourself too. And that feeling is unbelievable.
8. Don’t force yourself to post Every. Single. Day. : “Oh my god, you didn’t post today? How can you do such a thing? You will lose your followers.” Pfff. Don’t listen to such people. Post the day you feel like posting. Not feeling inspired or don’t feel like posting, or you’re just too tired? Then don’t. Relax, give yourself a break and do something else. If your followers really love your work, they will stick around. And welcome you back with joy once you post again. It’s not a rule to post every single day or post about every damn thing you do. Live your life too. Instagram can wait.

What I am trying to say here?

Ultimately, do what you love to do. Life is too short to do the things you don’t like and to do the same things over and over. Work on all the things you want to do. Learn new mediums, styles and techniques. Add your own touch to something that is already done. Push yourself, your boundaries and your comfort zone. Don’t stay cocooned in your perfect little world of just doing the same thing over and over. Feel free to do and explore anything you want. Share your story with people. Listen to useful advice from someone who has been in the field. Instagram is a brilliant place to learn, share and connect with amazing people. I know that because I have made some great friends on the platform. And I am grateful to each of them for being inspiring, encouraging and loving every single day. Make use of Instagram as well you can, and you’ll reap rich rewards. Also, while on the platform, be a good person too, yeah?

Peace.

*If you would like to follow me on Instagram, you can check me out right here.*