Spreading the Love?

I read on a forum where someone was self-conscious because they were posting their art in more than one place. Even though this person wasn't doing it to brag, they were afraid others might feel there was a level of overkill when posting your work in more than one place.

This got me thinking. Thing is, I thought the same way for a LONG time. I felt that if people wanted to see my art, I should make a page and invite them to come. In fact, I *preferred* for them to go to where I wanted them to go. It's certainly easy to have your fanbase in one place. Problem is, I did have some people come, but some simply didn't want to. They would say, "why don't you come on MySpace" or "you should make a DrunkDuck page". People like to stay in their element. If you are on Facebook, you want everyone to be on Facebook. If you are on a particular forum, you may not be interested in joining another community. When your art is about sharing, it is vital to make accessible to the masses, and that often means giving them multiple ways to consume your goods.

Now, this sounds all prophetic, but honestly it is something, until recently, I fought very hard against. When I was on a webcomic community site, I really couldn't understand the people who thought it was not merely okay, but vital, to have different places all over the internet to showcase their art. As I move further in that direction, I'm learning they were absolutely right.

I certainly don't begrudge those who want a single online home, a place they can share everything without the hassel of updating 20 different pages. On the other hand, I know that I have fans who prefer to read through Blogger, and I have fans who love to surf on deviantART, and there are others who like other outlets. It's actually difficult keeping up more than one site. Posting on 3-4 different places is not about ego. It's about sharing my work with others and making it as easy as possible for them to enjoy it.

A bit of an aside, but on the same subject, I was thinking about this blog. If I was simply looking for a ton of comments, I would have stopped posting here a long time ago! I've had this blog around 2 years and I think I have had about 5 comments total! LOL! Sure, I love comments, but that is not what this is about. I know people read and like my art here, and even if they don't explicitly tell me so, I feel good knowing they keep coming back and presumably enjoy my ramblings and pixels.