Laura
00:00
Last week we talked about the fear of putting yourself out there and gave some helpful suggestions on how to get past these fears.
Nikki
00:08
Today, wewant to provide five helpful tips that can help you put these suggestions into action. So let’s dive in.
Laura
00:20
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.
Nikki
00:23
And this is Nikki May, with Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.
Laura
00:32
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps, and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.
Nikki
00:44
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.
Laura
00:52
Alright, so tip number one, Nikki. If you want to start sharing video on Instagram, but you’re too scared to put your face on screen yet, what do you do? You start small. You can take Charlie Clements Skillshare course, “Quick Wins: Turn Your Art into Fun Reels on Instagram”. She has some helpful ways to generate quick videos to show your process. This class is especially useful for digital artists that use programs like Procreate. You can do time lapses, before and after slider videos, reveal videos and more.
Nikki
01:25
Speaking of reels, we briefly mentioned this last week, but you can actually steal templates from other artists. And it’s not stealing, they’re available for you to use. Or anyone, really, whose reels you love. There’s a use template button on many reels these days that you can click and then insert your own video clips and images and the app will string them together into your own montage.
Laura
01:50
Cool.
Nikki
01:50
It’s a great way for traditional artists to show your process from start to finish, unpacking your supplies, setting them up, working on a sketch, adding color… and then you can show off the finished product in just a few short clips and photos that you take with your phone. YouTube also has plenty of great tutorials on how to create your own short videos. So just do a quick search and you can find a ton of them.
Laura
02:12
Yeah, Nikki, I created a reel when visiting a local art museum recently using one of those templates. And it was so stinking easy. And I got more views on that than any of my other reels that I’ve created. So I love this idea of the templates. I also think it’s kind of fun to use other people’s audio that they’ve created. There’s this one that talks about the algorithm and how they’re posting a still picture of their artwork to the reel to get around the whole video thing. And there’s another one that says, let me just show you my process from start to finish. And then it just says start/finish. And you don’t see the in between process, which is kind of funny. But also, again, super easy reel to make. It would only take uploading a couple of photos.
Nikki
02:56
And if you don’t know what we’re talking about, we’ll include a few links to those in our show notes.
Laura
03:01
All right, so tip number two is to find a safe place to practice.
Nikki
03:06
Like in our Facebook group.
Laura
03:08
Like in our Facebook group. I took this awesome video challenge a while back, it was called the Ignite video challenge. And unfortunately, it’s no longer offered by that group. I think it shut down maybe last September. But it was a great example of a place to practice where we had daily assignments, that basically we got an assignment and there would be tips inside on how to make your videos better. And then we would post these two minute long videos inside of the group to help us get super comfortable in front of the camera. And then everyone gave each other positive feedback. So we would basically be inspired to keep going nice. And after 30 days of doing that in a row these two minute short videos on on all kinds of topics. It wasn’t nearly as intimidating as on day one.
Nikki
03:55
And why aren’t you doing it more often, Laura?
Laura
03:58
I know, I know. I need to practice what I preach. But that’s why we’re doing a Startist Society video challenge right now, Nikki. So assignments for an exercise like this could be anything from sharing about why you join the challenge to sharing a story from your childhood to something about your own artwork, process or business. Just like anything, being in front of a camera takes practice, and you have to flex that muscle a bit to get comfortable.
Nikki
04:25
And really, like I said in last week’s episode, if you’re not ready to show your face and talk on camera, it’s okay to just start by having your voice talking about what you’re showing, and work your way up to actually looking in the camera while speaking. And if even the thought of that on your post, or reels freaks you out, you can always do it in a story because they only stay visible for 24 hours.
Laura
04:48
I love that.
Nikki
04:49
Of course if you end up loving it and don’t want it to disappear, you can always save a story to your highlights.
Laura
04:54
True.
Nikki
04:55
So Laura, what’s tip number three?
Laura
04:57
All right, so tip number three is don’t do it alone. Create a video with a friend. So you can create a live working session with a fellow artist on your favorite platform. Or you can chat with one of your friends either live or pre recorded, about creativity and share it with others. It can be a lot easier when you aren’t the main center of attraction when you just get started.
Nikki
05:19
Yeah, it definitely takes some of the pressure off when you’re not the only one talking and you can play off each other,
Laura
05:25
Right? But it is also nice to know that you can pre-record something and edit it if you had to, versus just going live right off the get go.
Nikki
05:32
For sure.
Laura
05:33
And that can make you feel a little more comfortable as well, for sure. All right, so what is tip number four.
Nikki
05:40
All right, our next tip is to get past your fear of technology. Experiment and find equipment and apps that work for you. You don’t have to have fancy desktop video editing software; you probably have everything you need right on your phone to shoot and edit video. Aside from being able to do quite a lot right inside Instagram with Reels, there’s also apps like InShot, Adobe’s Premiere Rush or iMovie that’s built right into your iPhone, that will allow you to take video clips and piece them together and add your own soundtrack if you want. And Laura and I have both used all of those options.
Laura
06:19
Yeah, I probably have 20 more on my phone, I’ll be honest, but those three are like really beginner friendly, super easy to work with. And they can have really professional results. So I definitely give those a thumbs up. Now if you’re looking for a good portrait filter to make your face look fabulous, you can use built in filters in your apps like Instagram, or you can plug your video through something like the app Face Tune Video. And that will give your face a lovely dewy glow. But here’s the thing, most of us don’t care. We like to see the authentic us so be less worried about how your makeup looks if you even happen to be wearing any and more concerned about sharing a little bit of your authentic self with your followers.
Nikki
07:03
Yeah, we like to see the authentic you just not our authentic selves.
Laura
07:09
Well, we worry about getting judged, right. But we need to get over that because we should realize we value and appreciate when others aren’t presenting a picture perfect self. So why should we have to?
Nikki
07:19
Okay, I’ll get over that any decade now.
Laura
07:25
Okay, so to get the best video results, instead of holding your phone, put it in some kind of stationery holder, and that’ll avoid shake, as well as avoid making everybody seasick. That could be a tripod, it could be a Canvas lamp, which Nikki and I both have.
Nikki
07:44
And they’re awesome
Laura
07:45
And they’re awesome. Or even just setting your phone on a bookshelf and hitting record if you are shooting a talking head video. And when I say talking head that just basically is a video of your face,
Nikki
07:57
Actually talking
Laura
07:58
Actually talking, and have the phone’s camera at eye level. And you want to look into the camera lens and not the center of the phone so that you are connecting with the folks that you’re talking to. And this is especially important for any video you take that is in landscape mode instead of portrait mode.
Nikki
08:16
I’ve even seen lately, there’s a few products to help with this that are clip on lenses for your phone or even your laptop that put the lens where you’re actually more naturally looking. So you really are appearing to look somebody in the eye when you’re speaking to them.
Laura
08:31
That is interesting. I didn’t even know that existed.
Nikki
08:34
Yeah, we’ll find a link and put that in the show notes.
Laura
08:36
Cool. Now if you’re shooting your surface, like shooting down onto your tabletop, you can buy lots of different things for that. So I have an Arkon holder that holds my phone above my surface, a Canvas lamp we mentioned which is what I use most often because you can get all kinds of cool angles. And it also has a light built in which is awesome. And a gooseneck phone holder. But those tend to be super wobbly in my opinion. I’m not a big fan of those. And then a tripod with a head that can grasp the phone as well. So you just have to play with it and figure out what’s going to work best for you.
Nikki
09:12
Yeah, and as for lighting, if you can shoot with a window in front of you are off to the side. And you’ll have great natural light on both your face and your work. If you shoot with a window behind you, it’s going to be backlit and it will blow out the image and be really hard to see your face.
Laura
09:29
Right.
Nikki
09:29
If you’re working on your surface, it will also create extra shadows that you don’t want to see, so you can also use something like a white sheet or foamcore to bounce light from the window to your face and your work surface.
Laura
09:43
Yeah, and there’s no need to go get super fancy here. You don’t have to buy an expensive thing. Something like foamcore is super cheap and available and easy to get and it works great.
Nikki
09:53
When did you call me, cheap and easy to get?
Laura
09:56
Nikki, you always twist my words. Okay, so let’s talk a little about sound. Most phones have pretty great mics these days, but avoid sitting in a really echoey room with lots of hard surfaces or near windows in your house,
Nikki
10:13
Or bus…
Laura
10:13
Or bus – that have lots of noise on the other side. So I’m talking barking dogs, road noise, things like that. If you ever decide to do more video, like if you want to teach online courses, for example, it’s really worth investing in a small lavalier mic – and those are little mics that can hook up to your lapel. And there are some really budget friendly ones. There’s one on Amazon called Boya that I have. And we’ll link to that in the show notes because it has a really nice long cord, and you can buy converters that will change it from an audio plug on the end to whatever fits inside of your phone. So just make sure you have a decent charge on your phone before you hit record if you’re using a mic like that.
Nikki
10:55
Laura, do you think people these days know what the hell a lapel is?
Laura
10:59
People don’t know what a lapel is?
Nikki
11:01
I mean, I do but I’m just wondering if our young listeners have a clue what that is.
Laura
11:11
I would hope so.
Nikki
11:12
Anyway, these mics can clip to your shirt. All right, let’s get serious again, if you’re saying to yourself, but Laura and Nikki, making videos takes so much time, I don’t wanna… Of course, you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. You can choose not to create video, and stick with sharing still images of your work, that’s totally fine. But just know that it’s probably not going to get seen very much due to social media’s push towards video.
Laura
11:48
So tip number five is that video is going to get quicker to make as you learn your own shortcuts for the types of videos you make and the apps that you gravitate towards.
Nikki
11:57
Yeah, and you can also repurpose your videos. If you spent a long time putting something together, you can find ways to repurpose it for more than one thing. So for example, if you make a Reel in Instagram, you can save it to your phone. Just know that most of the time it saves without the audio because of licensing issues. But you can then reuse that video on Tik Tok, you can create video pins for Pinterest, you can add it to your website.
Laura
12:24
Yeah, if you have one link to your video in your next newsletter, your email newsletter that goes out.
Nikki
12:29
Oh, I remember when I used to do those.
Laura
12:32
Me too.
Nikki
12:34
That’s another episode.
Laura
12:36
It is and I’m getting ready to relaunch mine because I’m now done with my move.
Nikki
12:40
Oh, let’s do an episode about that, Laura, about relaunching your newsletters after ghosting users for like a year.
Laura
12:48
I think that’s a great episode. Yes, we will. So some video platforms when you create videos create cool animated GIF or GIF files. Wait, which one is it, Nikki? I think we already had this debate in a previous episode.
Nikki
13:02
We did. Let’s not do that again. Just assume that I won.
Laura
13:06
Okay, well anyway, you can create those for your videos that you can use in different places. And I know Vimeo does that I’m guessing a lot of the other platforms do as well.
Nikki
13:17
And another super fast and easy way to make your graphics move, if you use Canva, you can turn any image you make into an animation with just one click and it will animate adding each element one by one and you can choose whether it fades in, spins, flips and even types out text. It’s a super fast and easy way to create animations.
Laura
13:38
Yeah, we’ve done that for the Startist Society’s Instagram feed. It’s super cool because you can even save them as templates and then you can just replicate them and modify them like with a new picture or new text or whatever. It’s definitely a time saving hack. So we’ll link to some of those in the show notes so you can see what we’re talking about.
Nikki
13:55
We still think you – and even me – should work up to showing your face and talking to your audience. But with all these tips, there are exactly zero excuses not to post video on your social media accounts.
Laura
14:09
Well, Nikki, I can always find a good excuse for just about anything.
Nikki
14:13
A good excuse, or just an excuse?
Laura
14:16
But I will definitely be giving it a go as part of our challenge, which, as a reminder is to post three short videos on your favorite platform or in our Facebook group. And that could be reels, lives or stories where you show yourself – either your face or your hands – over the next two weeks.
Nikki
14:35
Find links to the resources we mentioned in this episode in the show notes at startistsociety.com/videotips. And don’t forget to join us in our Facebook group and feel free to ask for feedback or advice about creating your videos.
Laura
14:49
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.
When you purchase something using the links in our resources section, we may earn a small commission with no additional cost to you.
We only promote products and online shops that we use and love!
