Artists Don’t Talk about Tiktok. Four Easy Ways to Convert Static Images to Short Form Video.

Artists Don’t talk About TikTok, well at least traditional artists and illustrators who produce static images as our final work. Video is not a medium that many of us feel comfortable doing.

Right?

Yet, TikTok was the most consumed app worldwide. Instagram was the most downloaded in Q2 of 2022.

Artists who produce static images often shy away from being on camera, especially on video. Our art is the product and the image. Video is for the influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and now TikTok.

Visual artists, like myself, want our images to stand for themselves. I don’t want to be on camera or be troubled with producing videos. Yet, there is the ever-present nudge and push from social media platforms to produce and post short-form video content. Instagram recently, unapologetically, insisted that the future of their platform and social media was short-form video and video in general.

What can we do to respond to the world that is shifting more and more towards video content? Should we quit making illustrations, paintings, and still images? After all, didn’t video kill the radio star?

Here are a few ways to adapt your static images and content into short-form videos.

Narrate.
Talk about your illustration, painting, or static image. Record audio to go with your static image. Talk about the concept, inspiration, or some aspect of the creation to give viewers a peak into the making of the art. Make sure that you include captions. Captions will help users with accessibility issues and people viewing with the sound off.

Share The Process.
Let people see the process of making the final image. Record or document a part of the process of creating the final image. Let viewers into the process of creating. Let viewers know what inspired the art.