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hello, happy january! i've been trying to sit down and write a bit more but it's been kinda hard. consistency is something i definitely struggle with…more on that in a bit, though. this is going to be part of my monthly blogs hopefully! i have a hard time sitting my butt down to write, so i thought maybe just freeform rambling about topics i have stronger opinions on would help get my creativity started up. i haven't been doing 30 minutes a day but i have been doing at least a few minutes, so i consider that a win, albeit a small one. i want 2025 to be a year where i start writing more again, in any kind of form. not sure if it's going to happen, but might as well set some lofty goals and see how close i get.
so the topic i've decided for the month of january is...oc creators and exposure/popularity! this is a subject i've mulled over in my head and talked to people about for quite some time, so i thought it'd be beneficial to lay down my feelings in a more constructed way.
i think some people are definitely more into marketing themselves and their work than others. some people like creating long form projects to tell a story they made. other people just kinda like their ocs as a fun character to draw and they don't really have any lore. and there's every shade in between. there's nothing wrong with either type of people, and both have the chance to get out there and make themselves known. to me, though, there feels like there are two other subcategories of people as well: people who create for themselves primarily, and people who create for others or as a social thing.
there's a lot of decisions to make when you want to upload your stuff to the internet. if you are just a casual enjoyer of your ocs and draw them for fun/put them in existing media crossovers without any strings attached, but you also are the type of person who leans towards creating for others as a social thing, it becomes a lot more difficult to find an audience. and i see so many people like this burn out due to this. they compare themselves to people who draw their ocs/designs for 'fun' but who also work hard to appeal towards an audience (people who like things such as specifically themed adopts, specific character dynamics, specific design tropes, etc.) and wonder why they're 'lacking'.
you only have 100% of yourself to put in art. and that has to be divided among how much you want to communicate with other people and show them content they may gravitate towards, and how self indulgent and enjoyable to you your work is.
a lot of people i've met have designs for their ocs and just expect people to be interested and like them. i'm guilty of that myself. but pretty designs usually aren't enough. an established story isn't that important but at least a premise and defined character traits is. i personally think the most memorable characters i know from established brands are ones that have compelling personalities that are expressed in interesting situations, combined with interesting changes to their personality through a story's events.
i don't think i ever want to be like a 'brand' or 'franchise' or anything. i just want to always create things i love and have fun posting oc content, even if it doesn't make sense to most who look at it. it's hard to remember, but in such a social media dominated world, you don't have to be a social media star if you want to be a creator. you don't have to do art as a career or establish a professional name. you can just be you and it'll be fine.
as a side note now that i'm nearing the end of this post: i've been super busy lately! haven't gotten a lot of drawing in for january. it's been a while since i haven't really drawn anything for a month. probably at least like two years. but i'm working on something that i'm hyping up a lot to myself, which i will definitely post an update regarding once it's been out for a bit to reflect on the whole situation! it's a childhood dream of mine regarding some things i really like and i'm so excited to share it with the world.
i've also been working to change jobs. my current one doesn't really offer any professional growth, so i'm taking a new job in order to guide my career to a trajectory i like better. currently, i'm slated to start in mid february at my new job, so it'll definitely be a lot of stress and time spent working on that. especially since i'll have to learn basically everything from scratch for this job, and the commute is about 45 mins for just one way.
creating more was a goal in 2025, but at the moment it doesn't seem like it's off to a great start in some ways. in other ways, i think i'm definitely feeling happy and okay with not having as much time, which i think is a good development in my own mental health. being able to just have fun and not 'work on improvement' is something that i really need to learn.
here's to a great february! i can't wait to share what happens this month, because it's definitely going to be super eventful. and thank you blitz for leaving such a kind comment on my guestbook: i too hope i can insert a ton of oc worldbuilding here soon. even if life gets busy, i'll always love my ocs and creating!
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