Another huge issue for any cre-
ator with a large audience is hate
comments, which can be detri-
mental to a person’s confidence in
making videos.
“When you get a certain amount
of attention on YouTube... at some
point you just have to stop read-
ing the comments,” Illy says. “And
deciding when to do that is hard,
because 9 times out of 10 people
are saying something nice, but
that 1 time is gonna bring you
down. It took me a while to stop
looking at the comments; that’s all
I would do every day.”
For the first hour or so after
putting out the video, Illy watches
the comments come in and in-
teracts with fans in the comment
section; the first viewers tend to be
the most dedicated ones. She also
believes that people who are pas-
sionate about her work will reach
out in the form of making fan art
or sending tweets.
ADVICE TO FELLOW ANIMATORS
For people looking to make their own animations on
YouTube, Ilyssa had some concrete advice: If you’re
able to get out to a convention to hear the experiences
of other creators and experts, and ask questions, Illy
promises it will really help you learn the ropes. “I
learned a lot by going to VidCon and listening to their
panels, which I know is something you have to pay
for, but if you can, I recommend it.”
Another big aspect of gaining traction on YouTube
is putting a lot of thought into thumbnails. With
YouTube’s constantly fluctuating algorithm, it can be
extremely difficult to grab a viewer’s attention and
make them click on your video if they have never seen
your channel before.
“A thumbnail that has bright colors and a bunch
of question marks and circles — maybe that will
be good, but you just have to think, ‘What is it that
nobody else is doing? Maybe a simple thumbnail will
work.’ ... You could make an amazing video, but if the
title and thumbnail just throw people off, they’re not
gonna click on it.”
For the amount of time that animators spend mak-
ing their videos, it would be a shame to miss out on
viewership just because the thumbnail wasn’t intrigu-
ing enough or didn’t set the right tone.ILYSSA
AN INTERVIEW WITH ILLY OF ILLYMATION
IT TOOK ME
A WHILE TO
STOP LOOKING
AT THE
COMMENTS;
THAT’S ALL I
WOULD DO
EVERY DAY.“
In many of her storytime videos, Ilyssa includes a generic almost-stick
figure to represent the viewer and ask questions on our behalf.