We've all seen the Instagram feeds where people post a daily painting, photo or post that displays their art. I've attempted it and lasted about a month before I missed a day or didn't have the time to post. As inspiration I follow the people who make it though, like the woman who made a paintings for ants and posted them to Instagram every day, and the guy who made a movie poster every day for a year, and then the daily vloggers like Casey Neistat who once posted a video once a day. The determination is what inspires me the most, and seeing the development of that person's skills and the following grow and the success coming from that.
Lorraine Loots, the artist who created a painting for ants every day for a year, was recognized by Instagram and got featured too. This was a huge step for her work and due to the following and interest in her paintings she was able to start shipping them internationally, exhibit at renowned galleries and basically do what she loves to do, which is painting and being an artist. You can see more of her work here.
Pete Majarich designed a movie poster every day for a year. Now, I've designed in the past, but I wouldn't call myself a graphic designer, but I know what it takes to design something that creates an aesthetic impression on others, and this guy did it daily. He kept the same style with all the designs, although he decided to use photos instead of illustrations depending on the movie and the overall theme and message the movie portrayed. He gained a following, and he is making a career of being a graphic artist who is able to deliver high quality work. Check out this video that shows every poster.
This next person we've posted a lot of his videos in the past, just because it's of such a high quality and quite a different style of editing. Casey Neistat did a daily YouTube video for over a year. The readers who edit videos as a profession will know that it's not easy to shoot, edit and make a video of value in the first place, never mind delivering every day. He's done it, and he's grown a following of more than 7 million subscribers, which is no small feat.
Conclusion
These are only three of many others who have done it. I'm using these references as inspiration to deliver. The idea is to not to shoot and deliver what I think people will like. It's about delivering to myself. The best thing you can do is to hold yourself accountable and for you to decide whether something is good enough or not; to do the work to make it into something you enjoy experiencing, looking at or watching, and then to deliver it to your community. The point is to choose which video clip or photo succeeds in what you want it to evoke. I'm not delivering every day, but I am more focused on developing my style within. I'm not going to just look at others and trying to follow a trend or style. I have a voice, I want my work to show my eye, video, and angle on the subject or world. The skills developed to do it, and the way the process is displayed is an added benefit and it's a good way to show these skills and that you know what you're doing, but first, it's about the work. Be your own client for a change. It's about going out, taking the shot and making something for yourself first.
I post on my insta every second day, so thats 3.5 images a week. I feel that gives me enough time to go out and shoot good images and edit them without being stressed. However often I shoot one day in the week and use several shots from that day. But its a way to still have a consistent flow of images of good quality without being too stressed.