Everyone has a guilty pleasure.
Whether it’s a questionable choice in movies or food to maybe even a personal fetish. In my experience, as I’m sure some of you can relate, the more I try to avoid giving in to these guilty pleasures the more they creep into my life and take over.
TikTok was no different. I heard about it and saw a meme or two here and there. Then one day my little sister is shoving a screen in my face with some girls dancing in the middle of a restaurant. And then it became one of those bonding experiences because I liked watching them, I just didn’t want to commit to downloading it onto my phone because I knew that’s when everything would go to absolute cr*p, including but not limited to, my school work, my social life and my sanity.
But here we are, folks.
I obviously gave in despite my efforts to avoid TikTik like the plague (or coronavirus…sorry, too soon?). Rather than participating in the viral dances, I saw girls doing in crop tops and high waisted jeans, I opted to join a different part of the TikTik community – the artists.
I love to draw and paint, and I even do calligraphy, so I figured why not share that with the rest of the artists and viewers on the app? I posted my first TikTok on Jan. 14, a 15-second clip of me painting different designs on a table for cup pong. It did rather well for my first ever video with almost 300 views within the two days of posting it.
Then it became more about lifestyle, so I opted for package unboxings and daily routines. These also did pretty well, but by now I was so invested in the app that I couldn’t settle for a couple hundred views. I wanted to crack the code to instant fame.
After inspiration struck and I picked up my paintbrush, I posted a TikTok of an Aladdin-inspired painting. And boy did they like that one. I posted it around the end of January and within the first week, it had 10k views and roughly 5k likes. By the end of January, I went from 12 followers at the time of my first TikTok to 2,500. Not too shabby, but why stop there?
I quickly realized that a lot of people giving the Aladdin painting attention were Disney fans. So, I made another for their viewing pleasure. This time, a more detailed painting of Elsa in Frozen 2, followed by a rock version of ‘Into the Unknown.’ If I’m being honest, I didn’t like this painting as much as the Aladdin one, but people didn’t necessarily agree with me. It quickly surpassed the Aladdin painting’s 125.9k views at 134.5k views to date. However, the Aladdin painting still has the most likes with 34.5k, whereas the Elsa painting has 28.8k.
Since the Disney craze, I’ve posted other projects including my denim jacket that I painted, but they have yet to receive the same level of attention, which is okay. I have recently surpassed 5,300 followers after posting a Harry Styles-inspired drawing this past week.
I’m still unsure as to how the TikTok algorithms work, but I’m okay just uploading and receiving quality content through the platform. Although it began as a guilty pleasure (and might still be), TikTok has actually become a fun place to share my artwork and engage with people that share that interest.
After getting some attention for my art, I have opened an Etsy shop where I sell some of the art pieces I post in videos. What’s next? I hope to continue making TikToks and growing my platform that will then allow me to open up a sticker shop by the summer.
So TikTok, I know we had a rough start, but I underestimated you.
You can follow me on my TikTok journey @francasaine, and please share your TikTok names with me through my Instagram!
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