Today I did something I told myself I wouldn’t do, hand out my Instagram handle to my friends on Facebook.

I have always had this issue with taking compliments that come from my friends when it comes to anything I create. While I have a couple friends that will come right out and tell me something I made sucks, and how it can be better – most compliments from friends are more of a ‘friendly support’ rather than an compliment – always positive. They’re your friends, they don’t want to hurt your feelings, and want to show support rather than offer criticism.

So, I hid my instagram, giving myself a handle that no one would guess on purpose, for that reason. I wanted to create an organic, real growth of my instagram, rather than have it populated by follows, likes and comments from friends. Getting a stranger to say “That’s cool!” – it kind of means more than when a friend says it. Having other artists I don’t know follow me, and routinely like my work – it’s exciting.

Well, the lame side of Instagram has shown its face to me over the handful of months that I’ve been active. Robots that automatically like your stuff based on your hashtag game. People that follow you to get you to look at their page and possibly follow them back, only to see they’ve unfollowed you shortly there-after. Adult entertainment attempting to lure you into some kind of weird online thing. Robots promising followers if you employ their services.

I realized that Instagram is just as whack as other platforms for sharing your work. I’m not getting famous off of Instagram..  I’m not getting famous from this blogging, I’m not going to be famous – and that’s ok- I’m not trying to get famous – not even in a niche market. I just have a drive to create, and as long as I can keep doing that I’m happy, and why not share it – and Instagram? If I’m dealing with Robots, why not let my friends see it too.

Some of my friends will see this probably… I’m not trying to offend, I promise… but negative criticism always drives my work in a positive direction. Always has, always will. My brother drew penises on every character I drew in a sketchbook of mine when I was growing up. There were only a few that he spared. He spared them because he thought they were good. The rest were trash, and he was right – I tried harder in my next sketch book, no penises were drawn in that one… Don’t be afraid to tell me you don’t like my work – I can handle it. And I can use the push – to be better.

Thanks.