The Owl Video and the Internet

I drew this little guy on my last video. These were very simple doodles I did in less than 6-7 mins just for fun to loosen up, because I wasn't feeling very creative that day—if you pay close attention, the ink is still wet when I finish. But for some crazy reason beyond my understanding, this video has more than 110K views on Instagram and has been shared by pages like Drawing the Soul on Facebook—which has around 1.2M likes.

I am incredibly grateful for all the attention, new follows and cool vibes that have come my way since I posted this video! It has been overwhelming and, really, hard to understand because I wasn't expecting it with some old doodles. However, the intention behind this post is not to brag or simply express my gratefulness. There's another reason why I'm writing this.

I always see that people thank and rejoice when this happens, but I haven't seen a lot of posts about the not so pretty part of being exposed on the Internet. When big pages share your content—and from time to time even on your own timeline—there's a small percentage of feedback that will be negative and there's an even smaller percentage, that will be mean and rude just because. It happens more often on other pages because it's easier for people to leave negative feedback if the content is not posted on the artist's page. Let me clarify, constructive criticism is good, I'm not talking about comments from people trying to be constructive. I think you know exactly what kind of comments I mean.

I consider myself a very sensitive person, but I'm pretty good at rationalizing things—I've had to develop the skill to prevent things from affecting me too much. When the video started being shared I made the mistake of reading all the comments and OMG I became so very anxious because my brain, obviously, decided to focus on that small percentage of negative feedback it was receiving instead of all the wonderful things that were happening at the same time.

Then I decided to reach out to my IF (Instafriends) community in our FB group and express how I was feeling. These guys, I'm telling you, are the best thing that has happened to me on this journey as a new artist. Yesterday, I REALLY understood the importance of having a community of supporters. They calmed me with their good vibes and wise advice. We've been there for each other, and that means so much. Thank you my dear friends!

Anyways!! After I realized that I let the Internet get to me and was not being myself—I normally don't care for random people's opinions out there—I started enjoying again all the positivity that was coming my way because of this post. It made me think of all the other artists out there that may have been been through similar experiences and got discouraged. DON'T. You can't be everyone's cup of tea. It doesn't mean that your creations don't have beauty or value.

Make art for yourself and because you have to, because it fills you up, because it's your therapy. Make art because it's your passion, because it amuses you and entertains you. Make art because it calms you, because it excites you, because it makes you happy. For whatever reason you make art, just keep making art in spite of everything.

My InstaFriend Cate shared a quote with me that everyone should read because it is THE way us artists have to think, especially if we're putting ourselves out there:

"Recognizing that people's reactions don't belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what you've created, terrific. If people ignore what you've created, too bad. If people misunderstand what you've created, don't sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what you've created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest—as politely as you possibly can—that they can go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours." - Elizabeth Gilbert

In my mind she drops a mic after saying this!

Now let me go stubbornly continue making art.

Love,

JessieAmo