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TikTok for Illustrators  | Episode Transcript

Intro

Welcome to the Self-taught Illustrator podcast. My name is Natasha Polozenko. I am here to prove that you do not need formal training or a background in art to make it as an illustrator. So listen up and get ready to be inspired, encouraged, and uplifted in your illustration journey.

Let’s do this!

Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode. I am really looking forward to talking about this topic, and to be honest, maybe a little scared too! I am going to dish up some unfiltered honesty that I think may make some people cut off this episode. But this needs to be talked about, and just remember, everything that I say is my own opinion, and what has worked for me and my students. BUT you may find that how you’re doing things serves you, and you may decide not to take my advice. And that is completely fine! 

Dealing with embarrassment

Ok, so now that we have those disclaimers out of the way, let me dive into this episode, and introduce you to what we’re going to be talking about. So I want to talk to you about one of the biggest hurdles that I see self-taught illustrators struggling with, and that is “embarrassment”. Now let me take a step back and explain exactly what I mean. There are so many self-taught illustrators out there who are intensely passionate, driven and have goals and dreams of making a living with their art. A lot of the time these illustrators are talented and love creating, but there is a whole host of limiting mental constructs and beliefs that ultimately lead to one feeling, and that is “embarrassment”.

Imposter Syndrom

So, perhaps you can relate to some of these mental constructs… reflect on whether you have experienced these feelings and thoughts when it comes to your own art and illustration practice. The first one is the classic imposter syndrome. Almost everyone deals with this at some point or another, but for the self-taught illustrators, the stories, and narratives we tell ourselves can really take that imposter syndrome to the next level. We tell ourselves that we can’t be as successful as the illustrators who went to art school and studied illustration. We question our skill, talent, and ability, and imagine that people who compliment your work, are just doing so to be nice. This imposter syndrome ultimately leads to this feeling of inadequacy and embarrassment.

Caring what other people think

Something else that we self-taught illustrators think is, what will my friends, family, or even co-workers think? We might feel this reluctance and embarrassment to share our work with the people around us, for fear of what they might say or think about us. We may also be scared of the potential embarrassment that we might experience if we “fail” or decide that we don’t want to do illustration anymore. So those are just a few examples of internal dialogue that we have as self-taught illustrators, and you can see how the common feeling and result of all of these is in fact “embarrassment”.

How this manifests

Now, what I’m about to say right now is the part that I feel may rub people the wrong way. So this embarrassment is really a huge hurdle that is truly getting in the way of a lot of people’s success, because the way that it manifests is that people ultimately want to protect themselves, and they don’t step into the role of an illustrator. So, a lot of the time this looks like posting under an anonymous handle on Instagram, not showing your face, or telling people your real name. It may mean that you don’t tell your friends, family, or co-workers that you’re an illustrator, it may even mean that you shy away from calling yourself an illustrator in the first place.

Illustration hurdle

Being an illustrator or artist is so much more than the work itself, yes it is a big focus, but when people are deciding whether or not they want to buy from you, to hire you, or to engage with you in any way, they want to know that there is a real person behind the screen, we all want to know who we are dealing with. And so that’s why I feel like embarrassment is such a huge mental block and barrier that really gets in the way of a lot of illustrator’s success.

What can we do about it?

Now, maybe you’re listening to this, and you recognize that you have struggled with embarrassment in the past, or are even struggling now, and don’t feel bad about that. I definitely have struggled myself in the past, and sometimes to be completely honest, it’s still something that I deal with every now and then. But the good news is that we can do something about it. And it is as simple as slowly easing into the things that make you uncomfortable in a way to help your confidence grow little by little. It’s impractical to think that at a snap of a finger that you’re all of a sudden going to be super confident, and overcome all forms of embarrassment. But you would be surprised how quickly you can improve and grow, by just doing small things that make you feel uncomfortable each day.

Re-train your brain

Sometimes our brains can play tricks on us, it’s this inbuilt defense mechanism that keeps us from embarrassing ourselves. But we can rewire the way our brain works. When you feel that embarrassment coming on, let’s say you are afraid to share your illustration work because you’re afraid of what your friends will think or say, take a step back and consider the absolute worst-case scenario, what is the very worst thing that that person could say or do realistically. More often than not, I’m sure the answer to that question, is probably, not much at all… So once you get over that mental hurdle and post that illustration, and you realize that posting didn’t cause you any harm, no one ridiculed you, in fact, you may have experienced some positive benefits… then your brain will not be so ready to bounce into defensive mode when it comes to your illustration work. So you see how those small actions can help you bit by bit grow your confidence and overcome embarrassment.

Focus on you

And honestly, once you start putting yourself out there more and more you will soon come to realize that people are not watching you as closely as you think they are. Everyone is wrapped up in their own lives, thinking about themselves and their own problems. It’s a really liberating realization to come to. Once you stop thinking so much about others and just create without the fear of looking silly or embarrassing yourself, you will proudly be able to step into your role as an illustrator and Artist.

TikTok for Illustrators | Outro

Alrighty, So that’s it, for now! Thank you for tuning into the Self-taught Illustrator Podcast. Where we prove that you do not need formal training or background in art to make it as an illustrator. 

I hope This episode was helpful to you, drop me a DM @nataszko, that’s nataszko on TikTok or Instagram to let me know! I look forward to bringing you more illustration tips tricks and nuggets of wisdom. So, until next time. Bye for now.