The death of Instagram has given me life

Dramatic much?

Heyyyy my lovely, wonderful, bright and beautiful souls!

Instagram. Substack. Youtube. TikTok. Website/Shop. That’s a lot of platforms to manage whilst still trying to draw and… all the other human things. About half of my subscribers here are in the creative industries and half aren’t, so I’m always aware of writing something that tickles the fancy of both audiences. So I shan’t bore ya with analytics chat.

There are already soooo many opinions and views on the change surrounding social media platforms. I particularly enjoyed Rebecca Green’s thoughts on the evolution of Instagram from an illustrators perspective, which you can read here.

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2024 has been the toughest to navigate freelance work. I’ve had an alarmingly large amount of projects fall through because of “budget cuts”. Alongside that the decrease in traffic through Instagram (which is where a large proportion of clients have found me) has fallen drastically. Scary, weird, wobbly, confusing times.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a huge shift happening in the world and I believe most of us are plodding along until we figure out how that change is going to impact us. I’m not sure what the future holds for many creatives which is why I’m focussing on connecting through the process of art, rather than just a pretty pristine picture or product.

Since taking my foot off the instagram pedal I cannot tell you how much easier it is to hear my thoughts instead of the something I consumed through a reel. Things that would normally leave me agitated seem quieter. I’ve gained back hours in my day. It seems a shame that the weird little app we poured so much time, care and attention into doesn’t have the same je ne sais quoi it once had, but maybe that’s for the best?

I haven’t sketchbooked in a while and needed to get a bit loosey goosey again.

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I film landscape now (sorry insta reels)

She’s a YouTuber now don’t ya know… I’m joking (kind of). I have been loviiiiing video editing. It’s a different means to story telling. Documenting the ins and outs has helped me re-evaluate the purpose of my practice. Rather than churning out content or finished pieces, I’m paying more attention to the process again which is something I lost trying to keep up with Instagram. My newest video is now live and I’m still finding my voice in this space so would love your support :)

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Giveawaaaaay

I’m giving away two limited edition A2 prints (one for you and a fellow lovely soul of your choosing). I would love for you to enter of course! To keep it fair the giveaway is being held on Instagram because, although it’s not the same app as it once was, most of my loyal lovelies still live over there… pop over to enter said giveaway, I’d be ever so grateful!

*Winner of the giveaway and Limited edition prints will go live on the 14th July 7pm (BST)*

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Cheerio for now my lovely souls,