Unveiling my artwork

Everyone has tried to learn something different or polish their already existing skills during this lockdown. And I too did. I know this might not sound anything unusual but I started my Instagram art page to bring out to the world my art. "What's that to be proud of ?", many of you might be thinking. And I agree because so many people have started one in this quarantine period. 

But it isn't as easy and "bleh" as it seems. For starters, you have to feel confident about the idea of starting one. Then you have to confront the most difficult part of coming up with a name, which would reflect you in your work. Even after thinking for a week, I couldn't come up with one. After which, I finally started asking my friends. It might seem an idiotic thing to not have asked them in the first place. But honestly, I wanted to do this all by myself. It felt like I wanted to own everything related to it. But I finally gave up and became open to suggestions. At last, one of my friends suggested me a name that felt just perfect. I mean it felt like this was it. It was some. I can't thank that friend enough.

Now I had to start with the "Create account" bit. I entered the name but it was already taken. It broke my heart a little, the thought that it wasn't as unique a name as I thought it to be. But I decided not to let this get the better of me and continued. I tried three more combinations, with underscores and full stops but those too already existed. I almost started to panic when finally I cracked the correct combination of underscores and full stops. Phew! At last, I did it.

I filled in the other credentials and made it through the account creation process. Some of my friends already owned a professional art page themselves. In fact, I'm grateful to them for encouraging me to start one. The moment the message popped on my mobile screen, "Account successfully created!", there was a sudden rush of adrenaline all through my body because of the fact that I owned something, even so small.

I went through the tips, one of which said that it would be preferable if I posted three drawings in the first week. I almost forgot what I was opening that account for to share my art pieces with others. So I decided to make and post three sketches, each on alternate days. It seemed better to be regular in posting. And I've followed that pattern fairly, since that first day.

I tried to sketch, shade, and even paint with various mediums because I wanted to explore everything. But soon I realized how poor I was at painting. I would see art pages of other artists and often think to myself, "How can you be so bad at it ?" I tried and tried with no better results. So I decided to do something which I thought I was good at - The Mandala art. That turned out fairly well, got new followers and it seemed like things were setting into place. 

I'm thankful for my friends who supported me even when my art might not have been that worthy. Maybe it was my lack of confidence in my drawings that made me think as if my friends were commenting nicely so that I don't feel hurt. Or maybe my fears were true. This was a constant thought in my mind. An occasional comment from another artist ( who wasn't my friend ) would often boost my confidence and make my day.

Just recently last week, I wasn't really feeling like drawing or painting anything but it was my duty to post on alternate days. So, I decided to post some of my old paintings. These were the ones that I made while trying to learn different techniques for painting. There were three of them, so I wouldn't have to post for a week. I posted the first one and got a direct message from one of my friends saying that he wouldn't like that post because it didn't meet the level of my previous work. I appreciate him for his positive criticism. But then, it dropped my self-confidence significantly when I lost some followers. It felt as if the downfall had started. I didn't give up and posted the other paintings and the count of followers was still going down. Seeing this, I decided to create a pretty piece. And I made one which was really appreciated but all it too could get was two new followers. I kept going on for a week but no new followers. 

This time, I felt like giving up. All my efforts seem to have gone in vain. I talked to one or two of my friends and they started suggesting ways to make my account more attractive and interactive to increase my followers. This made me realize that I was forgetting the true essence of this account. Its sole purpose was to bring my artwork in front of the world. This is what keeps me going now.

In this race to get more and more people to notice us and our work, we often forget what we stood up for in the very beginning. We often start losing ourselves in this race with the world. It's important to remember our purpose from time to time and always keep going. I'll end this by requesting you to have a look at my art page on Instagram: @_doodly._.doo_