Separate Instagram Accounts?
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Hi everyone! I have a question to pose: I am a traditional artist and have made oil paintings for years. About two years ago I began dipping my toes into illustration. I have had one Instagram account for all my art, but I noticed that when I flip back and forth between posting illustration and fine art work the engagement seems to stutter. I don’t love the idea of creating separate accounts partly because I don’t want to deal with the upkeep for two and partly because I don’t like the idea of ‘splitting’ my image - I am a creative person who wears many hats.
My question is this - am I wrong to want to keep these two very different media in one instagram account? By doing so am I making it more difficult for followers who are only interested in one or the other type of art?
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and creative new year!
Thanks for your help! -
I've also wondered this. I mostly do little sculptures, but I'm also doing digital illustration. The sculptures get more attention/interaction online, but I dont find ppl complain when I post the drawings... They just don't interact with them as much.
I'm hardly at a level where I'm worrying about splitting my audience though. I think if I opened up a second instagram for drawings it'd be a wasteland
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I have three instragram accounts, because the input doesn't fit together.
- Children's book illustrations
- Realistic illustrations, mostly fanart also photo collages
- For my shop, products, vectors I do and am selling and have nothing to do with my other freelance illustrator work
I always think, what if publisher/editors go to an IG account to look there and see lot of manga/fanart and inbetween some children's book illustration (they are looking for), I think they would like more clear IG account to look at.
I personally also like more accounts, where I see mostly the things, same type of art, for which I did the subscription. I am not that interested in other stuff. I mean if somebody posts here and there something different, than I am OK with it. The same goes for stories.
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Have been wondering the same thing lately! But as Kyle said, I don't have the following to worry about that at the moment. So now and then I post non-children's-illustration-related art, but mostly it's children's book illustrations. But I'm with you -- multiple accounts sounds like a nightmare! Guess it would all depend on whether a balance could be found so that posting doesn't become a chore.
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@MichaelaH when you make multiple IG accounts are you using different emails/login info for each of them? I was one of the lucky people that had my IG account disabled for no apparent reason A few months ago and no way to fix it. I tried making a new account but my login info like my email and phone number are tied to disabled account so it won’t let me make a new one.
K.Flagg
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@VeronicaMui I guess it depends on what your goal is for your IG account. This is my undertanding:
If you want your IG account to grow a lot of followers, have a lot of engagement, get potential job opportunities, then yes, it's advisable to have separate accounts. I think with the influx of information that viewers are presented with every moment or refresh, their attention span is greatly reduced and you're lucky if you are able to hook someone long enough to actually click on your account and view the rest of your gallery. If they don't see posts similar to what attracted them in the first place, they lose interest.
Still, even if you have separate accounts does not guarantee numbers. It just increases the probability. So you can weigh for yourself if the added stress of managing multiple accounts is worth the increase in chance.
If your aim is not too geared towards numbers and you don't want to take up unnecessary pressure, and just want to focus on creating work at your own pace and style, then one account works perfectly!
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@K-Flagg Yeah I have different email adresses for it, but all 3 accounts are connected, because I made the new accounts while being logged in in my first account. Now I can easily change where I am, only longer holding click on my profile picture and than I can chose to wich profile to change.
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Guy with an Instagram here...
Personally, I would have no interest in splitting my account--I want people to connect with ME, not necessarily just the work I make. Sometimes I post my kidlit stuff, sometimes I post a Batman sketch, sometimes I post a dapper Victorian dude holding an axe. I just make and post. And frankly, they all get a ton of love.
I dont just want someone to buy my children's book...I want them to buy prints or pins or tag publishers if they think I'm a fit for project or see when I announce an appearance. If all of those things are spread out of over multiple accounts, at somepoint you are going to cross post because you want to announce something and then dilute your brand anyway.
If it helps you mentally separate things, go for it. If your stuff is wildly different and your scared about your brand, sure...go nuts. It may totally work and rock. I think Instagrams are built over years not days. Just post. Dont overthink things too much.
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@AnthonyWheeler I looked at your IG account and your all work fits together, nicely connected...I don't think you would ever need second accound, because your style is similiar and it looks like one work.
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@K-Flagg Same! I tried making a separate account for another style that I do and was locked out of that account, which still has my name and looks super unprofessional since it's out of use. If I try to sign it, it just signs into my main one since I made them with the same email address
I tried contacting Instagram just to be able to delete it but I haven't gotten any answer and at this point it's been years -
@Melanie-Ortins well it is nice to know that if it disables one it doesn’t do it to all of them.
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@VeronicaMui I have separate Instagram accounts. Also, I only use my illustration Instagram account to follow other creators, whereas I use Twitter for the more business-y side of things (keeping up to date on happenings in the industry, following publishers I am interested in working with, etc).
It may not work for you, but I like having it all compartmentalized. I can look at my Instagram account with a more creator, artistic, peer-driven mentality. When I am on Twitter, I can focus more on the business/industry side of things.
I will likely change this system when it no longer serves me, but for now it works.
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@VeronicaMui That is a great question! Instagram is a tricky thing.
I recommend watching these videos from ergojosh
Don't make these art Instagram mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_kz4fI9F0IIn the video, he talks bout founding a focus for your account--but that doesn't necessarily need to be the style or medium of your art. The focus could be your creative journey as an artist. He puts it a lot better than I ever could, plus he shows some example accounts.
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I have three Instagram accounts - one for all my illustration work, one for my sculpture work, and one that's only for posts about personal life and my kids. But I don't split things up for based on the media or intended audience (I let the hashtags do that), so on my aj.illustrates account there's a mix of sketchbook work, pen and ink, watercolors, vector, and photoshop, because it's all me. For that same reason, I do cross-polinate: I'll post finished sculptures on my illustration account and use that post to point to my sculpture account, I'll include character design drawings on my sculpture account to show the design process and how illustration and sculpture overlap, and I'll make mention of my kids and some of the projects we do together in both illustration and sculpture accounts (for example, they have been doing Inktober 52 with me, so include their ink drawings as subsequent slides on my posts, and that really connects for some of my followers).
Basically, I don't think there's really a right or wrong answer. It's up to you to decide what you want your Instagram to be, and then, through trial and error over years, dial it in to be as effective as possible to showcase your artwork, yourself, and your creative journey.
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I just set up a second Instagram account under the same login but it is for a completely new venture. Only problem is I only seem to be able to access the multiple accounts via my phone and not on my iPad which is super annoying. I am not sure separate accounts are necessary if you are doing different styles of art.
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@miranda-hoover thank you for sharing this! I just watched the video and it was really helpful. I like how he broke things down and his emphasis on the stories and emotions attached to the images. I do feel like my story is cohesive so I may leave things as is
