The value of art? A thread:
At the end of June I decided to try an experiment on Facebook. It’s my least profitable social media presence so I figured I had the least to lose. I have around 4.5k followers on my page there, so hardly a huge number, but not nothing either. (1/10)

(2/10) So at the end of June I announced that I would no longer be updating my Dragons of Wales FB page, and instead posting new work on my Patreon. I wanted to see how many, if any, of the people who saw my stuff there for free would be prepared to instead pay $1 a month for it.

(3/10) I mean if only 1% of them did, that would be $40 a month which, whilst not exactly making me rich, would still make a difference. And if by some miracle 10% did, then suddenly my whole financial situation has changed. Well, gentle reader, it’s now almost 8 weeks later.

(4/10) So how many people decided that my work was worth $1 a month?
1.
Not 1%.
1 person, or to put it another way, 0.02%.
Now I’m not complaining, I’m certainly not asking for sympathy, and I’m not even going to put a link to my Patreon here. That’s not what this is about.

(5/10) What this is about is the value that we (myself included) place on the art that fills our social media feeds 24/7. Is the problem just that there’s too much of it? Are we so overwhelmed by the proliferation of art in a digital age that it’s become ubiquitous and thereby...

(6/10) valueless? If one artist (in this instance me) asks for a dollar for their work, why pay? There are 10 thousand other artists producing stuff to fill that void and you can see it all for free. The dilemma is that to build a business you need to advertise. But in the case

(7/10) of digital art, the “advert” is the product and the product is the advert. The simple act of sharing your work simultaneously strips it of its perceived value. It’s an unhealthy and unsustainable circle. I honestly don’t know where I’m going with this. Certainly not to a

(8/10) meaningful conclusion! I also recognise that $1 is, too many of us, a significant sum, more even than many can afford. And those people have a right to enjoy beauty and creativity in their lives as much a wealthy person. Nothing angers me more than elitism in art. The

(9/10) awkward truth might simply be that there are too many artists, too many people fishing in the same finite pool. Something that the digital age has certainly facilitated. More artists can’t be a bad thing, surely. I won’t allow myself to think that it can. But the reality

(10/10) is that earning a living from this stuff, already a tough prospect even for some of the most exceptional artists, is only going to get harder. And I think all of us who enjoy and consume their work need to at least reflect on our role in that. Here endeth my ramblings.

(11/10) All of the above explains why, when I say that my Patrons, customers and people like who like, share and RT my work are THE most wonderful, generous and appreciated people in the world, it’s not just empty talk. If you are one of them and see this, YOU. ARE. THE. BEST.