We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dustin Massey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dustin below.

Dustin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I would have started much sooner. I received my BFA in painting and drawing in 1999. I was also going to pro wrestling school at the same time. When I graduated college I pursued a career in wrestling for about 10 years. Around 2001 the wrestling industry was in bad shape because WCW had gone out of business. I had not done anything artistic because I had been on the road traveling. When the wrestling business was suffering I was hired by a friend to work retail. I hated it but I was really good at it. It was not something I had every planned to do. Within 4 years I was given my own store. I was high performing and kept accepting promotions. Before I knew it I was in retail management for 15 years. I was not happy at all. It was very high stress, and I was not being authentic. Eventually, I made the decision to bet on myself. I quit my job and went back to school to get my MFA. It was the best decision I ever made. I am much happier and easier to get along with. I now teach full time at SCAD and have a successful freelance illustration business.

Dustin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My freelance business happened by accident. I had no plans to do anything other than teach. I was sharing my work on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dustinleemassey/ I was actually pretty anti social media. A fellow grad student was forcing me to participate on the platform. Two large comic pages on instagram shared my work and my account blew up overnight. I started getting requests for prints and commissions. I had no idea what I was doing but I immediately jumped in and started figuring it out. I quickly discovered about 1 to 3% of my followers were buying art from me. I decided grow my followers, grow my revenue. I studied the instagram algorithm for a year and put those practices to work. Within one year I grew to 10k followers. Now I am at 36k. Sales took off, and it opened opportunities for professional work. I have worked for several independent film directors and larger companies such as Hulu, HBOmax, WB, Snapchat, RCA, and Flint&Steele. I also have given several lectures at different colleges on how to generate sales through Instagram. I went from the guy who was totally anti social media to fully embracing it as productive.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I have sold NFTs in 2021. However, the market is tough right now because all financial markets are struggling. It isn’t taking off like it did in 2021. I think it is a good idea because it establishes provenance and the artist can make royalties when it is resold. The struggle is getting the average person to understand the value of the NFT and the idea that it is truly unique.

I study art history and know the art world is constantly evolving. At one point we argued whether photography and digital works were art. Now the debate is AI. You may not like NFTs but you need to pay attention and understand how it impacts the art world. All innovations in art have been met with resistance at first and then later adopted. You don’t want to completely ignore it. You need to make yourself aware in case it does eventually rebound. Be prepared to make the transition if you need to.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had joined instagram and marketed my art much earlier. Instagram has over 1 billion users per month. 81% of which use the app to research products and services. 130 million users tap on shopping posts a month. 50% of people on Instagram have visited a website to make a purchase after seeing a product or service. These numbers are great.

The problem now is there is no growth on Instagram. The follower rate is down 34% and overall engagement is down 23%. The platform is over 10 years old and they are losing audience to competitors like Tik Tok. Apple also had an update where you had the option to opt out of data tracking. This has impacted all of the social media platforms negatively. They are no longer generating the same ad revenue because there is not enough data to guarantee your ad will land in front of the right people. Facebook stock has dropped about 28% each quarter since this update. As a result, I think large accounts are throttled down in an effort to force you to buy ads for growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lmasseyart.space
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinleemassey/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DustinMassey101

Image Credits
Dustin Massey