Brick by Brick, Layer by Layer

I’ve been on a journey to develop an online presence and share my art with the public. It is part of a journey to accept for myself that the coloring I do is, in fact art. It is a slow process, building the online presence but also building that acceptance.

I started with TikTok. Posting videos of my coloring process, one little video at a time. Capturing one pen on the page and stopping then recording the next. I also shared my pen collection and some information about fountain pens. My presence was not large but it was growing and I was slowly finding a community, sort of. With few exceptions, I didn’t really fit in. I was using fountain pens and not worrying about shading or shadows, other technical considerations. This meant most of the people didn’t relate to my work. Still I got access to go live and I found I really enjoyed the difference in energy.

Not all layers are built with sturdy materials, and TikTok ultimately wasn’t the best home for me. It was tedious to record every small moment of coloring but recording longer videos don’t go anywhere on there. I found myself trying to chase the audience rather than be authentic to myself. This was tearing me down rather than building me up. So when my one good friend on there left, so did I. First to YouTube, then to Twitch.

Both of those allow me to explore my art the way I want. YouTube allows me to post long form videos and shorts if I desire. Twitch streaming gives me the feel of the TikTok lives but even better. I can personalize it and make it unique to me. Much like TikTok, they grow slowly, but they are growing.

I have spent the last month really working on my presence on both. Creating cohesive overlays and working on chatbots for my stream. Designing overlays and reworking titles and descriptions of videos. Making sure everything is in my voice but also discoverable and engaging. I feel like these layers are much stronger, not quite concrete but not sawdust either.

That brings me to now, and this layer. This website and journal. A place to share my thoughts and my journey. But also a place to share the tools and the finished coloring pages that make up the substance of what I share on YouTube and Twitch. A written space to match the visual. Stills to match the motion. More bricks and layers to the home I am building for myself. While I don’t want to call this the roof as I hope to alway grow and build, this is the layer that ties it all together.

I’m excited for where this will lead.

-Flower