A couple of weeks ago, I made my first post after stepping away to develop my skills as a creator. I find social media posting an exciting beast in itself. Returning to the swing of things reminded me of when I first started posting and how vulnerable it can be.
It's not just about posting content. I often ask myself if what I'm posting provides something meaningful to people. Is it helpful and informative? Or perhaps just fun and thoughtful? I see nothing wrong with posting pictures of yourself, but tastefully.
Perhaps you're off to an event and are super excited about it. You're about to get dressed all fancy and picked up in a limo, so you decide to take your audience along for the ride. But just sitting at a coffee shop and taking photos of yourself bothers me.
Because I used to do that, too, when I first started posting. Random photoshoots at home to create fancy pictures. I was going down a path I didn't like at all. See, it's all fun when you start, but as you continue, things become more serious, and you get the attention. 100 likes don't seem much anymore, and you want 1000 likes. You start creating a false negative around yourself. But when I stopped and looked at myself, I realized, holy shit, where is my music? I had become so focused on creating this image that I started because of the music. I had shared very little of it.
It's scary to think about it. Sure, it's fun to create content and, in some ways, easy if you're attractive. But very little skill is involved. Anyone with a camera and some attractiveness can sit around coffee shops with fancy clothes. However, creating content around genuine skills is a different animal. Take, for example, making the levels solo that I recently posted. It's not just about taking a camera and pressing the record. First, you need to figure out how to structure the solo. Then practice and practice till it's ready. Then press record. Even then, you still have to make sure you capture the best take, which is a son of a bitch. But that, to me, is content worth creating. That type of content is unique to you.
However, the aspect I struggle with most is having confidence in my work. Once you post something, it's no longer in your control. You must have confidence for people to judge your work. It's all part of the ball game. But I find that if you have the respect to only present your best work, people feel that and respond positively. Music and art are very subjective. But we are emotional creatures. People will feel it, and if they shit on you, then in most cases, it's rightfully so. That's not to say everyone is going to be right. I know that certain things I do creatively might not be understood. Just because I'm not world-renowned or have multiple platinum records doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. But unfortunately, when you start out, your creative adventures are seen as mistakes. But that's nonsense. Just because modern creators, composers, and musicians don't work in multimillion-dollar studios doesn't mean you can't create music and art that will challenge the industry. Today, more than ever, all the technology is in your grasp. The only person who can stop you is you. Fuck, Skrillex does everything on his laptop and challenges things constantly.
So when you see a Picasso that looks like a 5-year-old painted it, say to yourself, a genius made that. He had the ultimate confidence to create the work he felt, not the work he thought he should be creating at his age.
Much Love,
Val
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