Just realized my art demo clips were way too long

I used to post 5 minute walkthroughs of my digital paintings, showing every single brushstroke. Last month I chopped them down to 60 second time lapses with just the key steps visible. My engagement on Instagram jumped from like 30 views to over 400 on the next piece I shared. Anybody else here trimmed their process videos and saw a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

valsullivan1mo ago

Cutting those clips down was the best thing I ever did for my art page. I used to post full 10 minute tutorials and nobody stuck around past the first minute. Switched to 45 second speedpaints with just the transitions and color choices highlighted, and my reels started hitting a thousand plays regularly. One piece where I showed the messy sketch, the base color, and the final lighting in three quick cuts got shared like 50 times. What kind of content are you posting now that the clips are shorter?

wren8261mo ago

Wait, are you saying people actually want to see the messy sketch part? I've been deleting those because I thought they looked like a kid's drawing compared to the final piece. But that three-cut idea sounds genius, maybe I've been overthinking it. I literally just posted a 90 second thing last week where I showed every single brush stroke... and then wondered why nobody watched past the first five seconds. Maybe I should try hiding my shameful first draft and just flash the pretty colors like a magic trick or something.