The Woolly Elephant in the Room

Migration

Mastodon 2022 logo design 
By Eugen Rochko & other Mastodon contributors
 https://blog.joinmastodon.org/, AGPL,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120470930

November 2022 is turning out to be period of rapid change and a questioning of power structures. Whilst a lot of the US was focused on political campaigns, there was also a test of boundaries on social media as the Twitter platform reacted to the new owner's radical and mercurial attempts to reshape it. What he couldn't control was whether the users approved and continued to use the site. 

Like many, I felt that Twitter was nearing a point where it may collapse, after many important staff were laid off or resigned. That led to many questioning whether it was worth hanging on what started to be dubbed 'the hellsite'. As a result, many looked to other alternatives and one new option started to get a lot of traction - the Mastodon federated server site, or 'fediverse', of networked online communities. 

What Next?

With so much up in the air, what does this mean for artists, museums and galleries, online collaborations and so on, that used Twitter as a key publicity and campaign tool?

Ultimately, I suggest that it means a period of upheaval and uncertainty but I see a new, positive community spirit emerging on Mastodon. Questions remain on how artists and galleries will network on that platform, as it has no clear focal point yet, whilst still keeping their other accounts alive.

Even as and when Twitter burns down, many useful links have been formed on that site and no-one should leave it until too late to note their key contacts, just in case their favourite faces aren't on Instagram or the like. If you're unsure how to make the transition, there are lots of guides about by now and tools like Debirdify, Fedifinder or Twitodon produce a spreadsheet for you, which you upload to Mastodon to follow everyone on it automatically.

We adapted to the rise of Meta (Facebook/Instagram), YouTube and TikTok without too much complaint since 2004/2010, so I think that where there's a will there's a way and I hope for great things.

You can find me with my new woolly friend at ohai.social/@srfirehorseart

The srfirehorseart profile on Mastodon.

Sketching for MK Lit Fest

Sketch of the MK Lit Fest launch event for the MinK zine.

Live Event Sketching 

In September I was very pleased to take on an assignment for our local literary festival (now in its 2nd year). The MK Lit Fest organisers had seen an artist in residence at another literary event and approached me due to seeing my own sketches of last year's MK Lit Fest event on Instagram.

Sketching at an event is a fun an interesting mix of observational drawing and listening to the speakers. There are many ways to go about this but the one I use is to sketch 'live' on location, adding notes while I work or after the talk. I also take colour notes as I like to add watercolour washes to my sketches.

Another way to work might be to use the sketches as the basis of a more finished looking piece, possibly stringing together a theme or bullet points from the presentations. At this event we went with the immediacy of the loose sketching style which I use for urban sketching. My first sketches took in the launch event, including contributors to the MinK zine, followed by the first star guest. My notes are a mixture of comments from the speakers and background information which I researched when I got home.

VG Lee reading at MK Lit Fest

Sharing on Social Media

When the pictures of my drawings went up on social media, we also tagged in the various writers and local arts organisations. My literary festival sketches seem to have gone down particularly well with the writers from the Polari Literary Salon, based in London, who were delighted to find out that they'd been sketched whilst they were on stage. Other sketchers may have gone for a more flamboyant approach and could have made sketching more of a performance piece but my style is to sit quietly in a corner and to do candid observational sketching.

The organisers told me that posts on Facebook seemed to encourage more clicks and posts on Twitter seemed to generate more discussion. Overall the experience seems to have been a great success for both myself and the organisers, so I'd consider doing this again for another event.

Live Sketching Tips

For anyone looking for tips on practising this style of reportage, I'd recommend investing in a couple of sketchbooks, some pens or brushes that you feel comfortable drawing quickly with, a portable set of pan watercolours, watercolour pencils or gouache colours. Find a comfortable place to stand or sit while you people-watch, if you perch quietly in one place then people and animals tend to feel more comfortable than if you fidget or announce your presence. If you're uncomfortable with drawing people then start practising by drawing the environment and take some life drawing classes to improve the way you draw figures.

Also look at examples of urban sketching on websites. There are local sketch groups in Bedford and Northampton if you want to embrace the social side of sketching and a Facebook group for sketchers like myself in Milton Keynes.

To see more of  my MK Lit Fest sketches, please take a look at my Instagram account @srfirehorseart.

Note: an earlier version of this article appeared on LinkedIn.