odin is like “when thor was born the sun shone bright upon his beautiful face. i found loki on the sidewalk outside a taco bell”
Oðinn spake:
Bright the sun shone | at the time of Þor’s birth, And bathed his count’nance fair. Loki, wolf-father, | the trickster, the liar, I found on the cold pavement While returning in glory | from a grand hunt For a 3 AM quesadilla.
So fun fact–I’ve gone into the calligraphy tag on tumblr, and plenty of times I’ll see people who post pieces that are, quite frankly, better than mine. And yet, they will often have a total of 0 notes. And it’s because they don’t understand that tumblr isn’t instagram. They have the edge with calligraphy, but I’m better at understanding how to operate tumblr–does it matter if theirs is better if no one sees it? So, I figured I’d outline some of the ways to run a successful calligraphy blog on tumblr!
Only the first 5 tags will show up in the tags. If you use serach, or go on mobile the first 25 will show up, so make sure to put the 5 most important tags first
Instagram is solely pictures and videos. Tumblr is Not. So while there is a calligraphy community, it isn’t the same as instagram. So definitely use “calligraphy” in the first tag, BUT if you use a quote from, let’s say a marvel movie, have the other 4 tags be marvel related.
Like don’t spam the tags by tagging things that don’t apply, but this is tumblr–there will be plenty of blogs who will then see calligraphy and lettering for the first time
(tbh less of an exposure to calligraphy means that their standards will also be lower on instagram. it’s easier to get a following while also then improving
something about tumblr that is completely different about instagram is that now these non lettering blogs will reblog your things, then exposing even more people to calligraphy who would never even follow that kind of blog
another point of tags with tumblr? use spaces. u s e. s p a c e s. Instagram you have to fit it within one hashtag. You do not have to do that with tumblr. When people search for things, they use spaces. If it doesn’t it won’t be found
and then the only people who will then see things are the ones who are also on instagram, which defeats the purpose of even using tumblr as another social media platform
so use spaces
something that I do is leave my askbox open to requests! at this point I get so many requests that I usually keep it closed BUT this is a pretty good way to accumulate and keep followers. People see that maybe you’ll make something for them, and they become ride or die since you made them something, and then are much more likely to reblog what you made, and tell their friends about it
this isn’t instagram, where all they can do is like it or comment. all of their followers will see it. tumblr is more interactive in a lot of ways than instagram–take advantage of it.
But, something that I do to accumulate commissions is to make rules about requests. I have word limits, won’t do full names or anything not safe for work, or color specific requests. If they want those things, then we can talk about commissions.
don’t let people pull you around–sometimes people can be demanding, but you are giving them things for free.
reblog other people’s calligraphy along with posting your own! if you really want to get their attention, put tags of commentary about what you think! it’s how you make friends on here and those are also the people who will then reblog your things! (plus it’ll make what you do more fun! success aND fun! always good!)
these are just a few tips and tricks for how to manage a great calligraphy blog, so go out and make calligraphy!
@intersexmycroft: “the flashcards in your calligraphy blog is how i imagine mycroft leaves notes”; “stuck on the fridge, eloquently calligraphied: ‘if you eat my ice cream i will kill u’”
