The post that flopped was the one I spent the most time on
Spent two and a half days on a piece, photographed it perfectly, wrote a caption I actually thought about for once, posted it at a "good" time. Crickets. Like 40-something likes, mostly my mom and my partner's aunt.
Then yesterday I was mid-wash, my brush slipped and I stabbed the paper, and I just took a photo of my palette with paint all over my hand and the mess everywhere with a caption like "we don't talk about this one" and it's already doing better than that whole careful post did.
I don't even know what to do with that. I keep telling myself the algorithm is just random and I shouldn't optimize for it, but also... I need groceries. There's a version of me that's about to start faking messy palettes for content and I really hope I don't become her. Anyone else feel like the effort is actively hurting them out here?
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Ha, I've been there. I spent three days on a painting for a local fair once, agonized over it, and it sat there all weekend while the quick little one I did in an hour the night before got the most comments and sold first. It makes no sense.
I've stopped trying to game it honestly. The messy palette photo works because it's real. People who paint or do anything creative connect to that "we don't talk about this one" energy. The careful posts are for us, I think, like proof we made something good. The messy ones are for everybody else.
Probably a mix of both is the answer, I don't know. But you're not crazy for feeling confused by it. The good stuff still matters even if the algorithm doesn't care.
Okay the fair story is actually so validating because it's the exact same shape as mine, just in real life instead of online. The hour-long one selling first while the three-day one sat there?? That's brutal and also kind of hilarious. Like the universe is just messing with us.
And yeah I think you're onto something with the "careful posts are proof, messy ones are connection" thing. The careful ones are almost like... I'm showing you I'm good. The messy ones are showing you I'm human. And I guess people would rather be with a human than watch someone be good? Which is a weird thing to learn about myself honestly.
The mix thing is probably right even if it feels gross to admit I have to post the messy palette stuff too. Maybe the trick is just not hating myself when the careful thing underperforms. Working on that one lol.