I finally got my 100k silver play button, and I have you to thank. So I thought today I’m just going to talk about myself and how I never expect to become a YouTuber. I will be giving away 3 paintings as an appreciation for your support!
Even though I wasn’t really expecting this, in some way, this is what I’ve always wanted. Since I was little I feel like I was craving attention, whether is from my parents, at school or when I was in the church Youth Group. But I was never good at getting attention, well, the kind of attention I want anyways. I am an introvert person, so even though I want people to notice me, I don’t want to constantly go out of my way to socialize with other people. And I don’t have a this outgoing, fun persona, that attracts people naturally. But here’s the thing, I don’t want to attract people for something that I’m not. I sort of selfishly want people to notice me and give me attention for being myself and do things that I’m interested in.
But I’m always the wrong person at the wrong place and the wrong time. I always like drawing since I was little, so when I was very little I do get praise from the teachers and other adults about my drawing. But in Asian culture, art wasn’t something that’s widely appreciated in the school. So even though I like drawing and I was decent at it, it doesn’t really help my school grade. And when I was little, your test grade dictates whether you are a good student or not. So most of the attention I got when I was little was not-so-good attention, I was labeled as a bad student which pretty much means a problematic kid.
Later on, I moved to the US, and here they appreciate art relatively more than Taiwan where I was from. But then I got blocked by the language barrier. And again, my introverted nature doesn’t really help. I remember there was a time in the school assembly. There’s a girl I had sort of crush on sitting in front of me. And because it’s like a stadium seating, she sat sort of next to where my feet were. So instead of trying to talk to her like a normal human being. I intentionally put some of my drawings next to her so she “accidentally” saw them. And she was pretty nice and gave me some compliments on my drawings and talked to me for about 10 seconds. And I remember I was happy for a week. Sounds kind of sad and hilarious now but that’s how I was.
So the similar stories happened throughout my college years and my time in the church youth group where I met my wife. I tried different weird things to get attention and they never quite worked out well for me. Until I learned to live with the fact that this is who I am, I’m just not the type of person who will get a lot of attention and spotlights. And I had to be ok with that. I learned to be contained with what I have and who I am. And that’s the state of mind I was in when I started this YouTube channel. I want to share my painting and process. But I was never intended for it to be big. I thought if some people see it and like my painting, maybe they’ll be interested buy a painting from me. And then I was giving small watercolor workshops at the local art store, I had fun doing it so I thought I try to do the same thing on YouTube. Fast forward 4 years, I have a decent size YouTube channel!
It’s funny because I realized that I finally got the attention I wanted since I was little after I stop trying so hard. I simply accepted who I am, and focus on giving value and just sharing. And YouTube became such a wonderful platform for me to do that. One of the most amazing things that happened to me as a YouTuber was earlier this year. I was in California for Andy Evensan’s workshop. I had 3 different people came up to me and asked “are you Eric from Cafe Watercolor?” I was really surprised and exhilarating on the inside. Being very animated and energetic is just not who I am. And I realized that, even though this is not the biggest watercolor painting channel, not by a long shot, it is reaching and helping people. And this feels amazing.
I know this is not possible without your support, right now the channel is at 104k and every single one of you is part of the Cafe Watercolor. Especially for those of you who bought a painting from me, hired me for commission work, or enrolled my course. I couldn’t have done this without you. So I’m giving away 3 paintings. What I need you to do is to leave a comment in the video and just tell me which video has been the most helpful for you, let me know which is your favorite episode. This will help me to create more content like this for you. I will randomly pick out 3 peoples from the comment section after a week. And I will announce it on my Instagram so be sure you follow me there, just so that this will be easier for me to message you.
Again, thank you so much for all of your love and support, and I hope to continue creating good content for you!