Just a few days ago I reached my latest milestone of 400 followers:
Compared to some users here on this site, this is a very small amount, but I keep thinking to myself just how much 400 people would be if I had every single person standing in front of me, or how big a room would need to be just to fit 400 people in it. With this in mind, 400 followers is really no number to feel down about.
Some of you may not believe it, but back when I had just 100 followers, I very much so considered having this account deleted. Discouraged by my initially slow progress, and believing that no considerable amount of people would ever care about my work, I thought about just throwing all the art and followers I had accrued down the drain. Prior to this, I actually did have an account right here on Newgrounds, in which I had gained 75 followers, and DID have said account deleted out of the belief that my work was worthless, that it did not even deserve to exist in the public eye. I then made this account, and spent months getting back all those followers I had trashed.
Some of you might say, "Bombs, you shouldn't rely on social media to validate your artwork or yourself," and normally I would agree. However, you have to know, I've been drawing since I was 12, and now as a man of 25 years of age, my art making ability is the only real skill I've nurtured over the past 13 years. It's the only thing I really have to my name, and so to have people comment on my work, or to see the same people favorite my stuff time and time again is an assertion that all the time and frustration, all the hours I've spent alone in my room working to make my art better, really has meant something. With this in mind, I've also gained the confidence to finally start working out the ideas I've had for webcomics for some time now (something you can look forward to).
So, I want to thank all the people who've followed me up until now (and who will hopefully continue to do so far into the future). I give immense thanks to the Newgrounds staff who have frontpaged all my work, especially the pieces I made leading up to Pico Day, as that exposure netted me a huge boost in followers in a very short amount of time. Lastly, thank you to all the other prominent Newgrounds artists who have taken the time to click that little follow button.
Template88
To be appreciated is nice, but remember that it is a shallow appreciation, momentary and transient, like pressing the like button on a picture of a kitten. I find art is better made for oneself than for the eyes of others who consume it in a moment and never think of it again. Followers can be useful but they'll never fill the hole inside.
BombsAhoy
It's a complicated feeling to articulate. I still very much so make art for myself, but like I said I've been doing this for 13 years, and now as an adult, I have no other discernable skills. Making art for oneself is fine, but one also has to be practical and think of the future, and this thing that I've been sinking time into needed to pay off for me sooner or later. I don't want my work to just have an audience of one forever, and I'd rather have people consume my work once than never at all.
Though, do remember, I do have stories in mind that I would like to tell in the future, and, if I ever get around to doing so, it is these stories I hope will make a lasting impression.